"As a broadcaster, as the CEO and as the father of a 9-year-old girl, I am ashamed to be associated in any way with those words. They are tasteless, they're vulgar, they should not, do not and will not represent what our radio stations are all about."

These words were spoken by Clear Channel CEO John Hogan, testifying before a recent House hearing on indecency in broadcasting. The "words" he was referring to were uttered on renowned "Shock Jock" Howard Stern's show: sexual references and a racial slur by a caller, apparently.

In other words, business as usual for Stern's show.

But, in the wake of Janet Jackson's boob, those words in particular led to the indefinite suspension of Stern's show from all Clear Channel stations.

And a day before that hearing, Clear Channel announced a "zero-tolerance" policy for their stations. Any material that the FCC alleged to be indecent would garner large fines against the stations, as well as the suspension - and possible firing - of the DJ whose show had it.

In short, you can see that John Hogan was shocked - shocked! - to discover that there was indecency on his stations. Apparently being hit with a record $755,000 fine over the antics of "Bubba the Love Sponge" (don't ask) finally woke him up to what was going on.

But that beggars the question: where has Hogan been for the past few years? When has Howard Stern ever been anything but tasteless and vulgar?

And when has Stern's vulgarity and tastelessness ever been a secret? They're what sell his show in the first place.

People don't listen to Stern for quality, family programming. They tune in for booger and fart jokes, sex stories and other lowbrow forms of humor and entertainment.

And people like it, too. That's the reason why Howard Stern's show continues to do so well, and why however many fans tune in - day after day - to hear what Stern has to say for himself.

So how could the CEO of one of the companies that market's Stern's show have been so blithely unaware of the content of one of his hotter properties? Was he really asleep at the wheel this entire time?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, no, he wasn't. I think Mr. Hogan has been aware of what Howard Stern's been about the entire time Stern's been on Clear Channel.

And I think he didn't mind one damn bit, either - at least until the FCC decided to get grouchy after the Super Bowl. And, sure enough, the astronomical raising of fines for "indecency" has done just what the FCC - and the bluenoses who egg it on - no-doubt hoped it would: removed questionable programming from the air, and opened the spectre of even more shutdowns.

My views on the FCC's regulation of program content can be found here. They're over a year old, but have lost none of their scorn, or their base: to invoke Lawrence Ferlinghetti, only the landscape is changed.

But the ire this time is reserved for corporate chickenshits like John Hogan. Who is he to tell those who would micro-manage our culture that Stern's words "should not, do not and will not represent what our radio stations are all about" when they all too clearly do?

Why can't he just be honest? Why can't he just say "Look, this is all about the money. People like Howard Stern, so we put him on. And there's a lot more people who like him, and want to listen to him, than people who don't. Maybe, instead of asking me how I could put this on the air, you should be asking who you're really representing, here, and act accordingly."

But those are words you will probably never hear out of any suit called to testify on Capitol Hill, because - like I said - it's all about the money. Hogan was happy to have Stern on board until it started hitting him in the pocketbook, so now he's trying to weasel out of all responsibility rather than take a stand, or tell it like it is.

It'd be funny if it wasn't so frightening. As it is, it's just pathetic. We carry on with business as usual until someone cries foul, and then everyone points a finger at someone else to avoid blame instead of asking whether the crier was really fouled or not.

And sooner or later, when someone has to take the ultimate blame, they tell us it wasn't their fault. They were just asleep at the wheel.

It's past time to wake up and look where the car is going: steered by amoral moneygrubbers, and sniped at by near-fascistic do-gooders, the journey of American broadcast entertainment seems close to winding up in the ditch.

"They are the same people - only further from home - on freeways fifty lanes wide - on a concrete continent - spaced with bland billboards - illustrating imbecile illusions of happiness"

"In Goya's Greatest Scenes We Seem to See" - Lawrence Ferlinghetti