Howard's End: WBDC Axes Shock Jock Stern By Lisa de Moraes Thursday, February 4, 1999; Page C07

Washington's WB affiliate station has decided it won't renew its pact to air the "Howard Stern Radio Show," currently on Saturdays at midnight. WBDC will continue to air the shock jock's television show until its contract is up, in August.

The reason: The station can't sell ads in the show and is losing money on the deal.

"We've opted not to pick it up," said station President and General Manager Michael Nurse. "We are not pleased with the economic performance of the show."

Nurse said, "It's been a disappointment in terms of its programming quality and it's extremely difficult to sell -- a lot of advertisers don't want to be associated with the controversy."

When producer CBS originally pitched the show to station executives, they were told it would include animation, comedy sketches and other original material. What was delivered was a show that consisted largely of clips from Stern's radio program.

When Stern debuted on WBDC in August, the station's ratings in the time slot jumped 144 percent. That spike has subsided and though the show, which has since been moved to midnight due to its content, continues to improve the station's ratings in its time period, advertisers have fled after expressing initial interest.

And WBDC has a lot of ad time to sell in the show -- 12 minutes' worth each week. CBS, which distributes the show through its Eyemark Entertainment division, retained just two minutes of ad time to sell itself -- that's called a barter arrangement. Usually when a company sells a weekend program to a TV station it keeps half of the ad time to sell itself. But in exchange for the additional ad time, WBDC agreed to pay CBS $4,500 each week for Stern's show. So the station not only has more than the usual amount of ad time, which it can't sell, it's also paying for the program.

WBDC's Nurse said he would air the show through August "should it continue." Asked if the show was going to be pulled by Eyemark before then, he said, "It's a possibility; I think this show has not performed as well as expected around the country."

That rumor gained steam yesterday when the New York Post reported that Bob Cook, executive vice president of the Eyemark distribution division, said, "The show is not making a lot of money and if it doesn't continue to grow in the ratings, it won't exist."

An Eyemark spokeswoman said Cook was quoted incorrectly. "Bob was speaking hypothetically," she said.

"The series will not only be on this season, because it is doing extremely well, but we fully expect to renew it for next year. . . . We are continuing to aggressively sell it during this renewal period," she said. She noted that nationally, the show had quadrupled its time-slot performance among men 18 to 34 years of age.

That's a very hard group for the broadcast networks to bring in, many having migrated to cable, satellite, online and other media.

So where, if any place, will Stern fans be able to see his show in the Washington market?

"Perhaps WDCA will choose to carry it since they are now carrying Jerry Springer," quipped Nurse.

WBDC had won broadcast rights to the show last year in a heated bidding war with WDCA. The latter recently snared Springer's also controversial daytime talk and slug show; it debuts Monday.

"We don't have any room for it," shot back WDCA GM John Long.

And, on the subject of controversial programming, the Federal Communications Commission says it has received 45 complaints about the World Wrestling Federation's Super Bowl commercial.

The ad in question offered a typical "day at the office" at WWF headquarters in Stamford, Conn.

WWF wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in the ad said the WWF offers "a nonviolent form of entertainment," then slammed a folding chair against a passing executive. Other executives brawled and bodies crashed through glass partitions and a window.

The ad also showed a couple in an embrace with the woman's legs wrapped around the man's waist as the female wrestler Sable walks by saying, "We never use sex to enhance our image."

That bit drove the TV watchdog group American Family Association to file a formal complaint with the FCC; AFA says the ad was indecent and should not have run during the annual sports event because many children were watching.

WWF officials said most people who saw the ad -- including officials at the Fox broadcast network -- found nothing offensive about it and said they intend to run it elsewhere.

The Tupelo, Miss.-based AFA filed its complaint against local Fox television affiliate WLOV in West Point, Miss.

Howard Stern is no doubt familiar with this group; the FCC has in the past fined radio stations that carried his controversial show after AFA filed protests.

WWF marketing executive Jim Byrne said the ad was a tongue-in-cheek parody. "Everything about it was so over-the-top that for anyone to interpret it literally is interesting.

"There will always be people who take themselves way too seriously who are extremely vocal," he said.

Fox declined to comment.