Free FM
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"Free FM" is the moniker and on-air brand of several FM talk radio stations in the United States owned by CBS Radio, created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to re-establish that you pay for satellite radio. In his last days on FM radio, Stern attacked the "Free FM" moniker, arguing that while it may cost nothing to listen, "Free FM" is far from free, in regards to FCC censorship.
History
On October 25, 2005, Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio) officially announced that it would be replacing Stern on many of its radio stations with David Lee Roth in New York City and several other eastern markets, and Adam Carolla in Los Angeles and several other western markets. On the same day, several of these Infinity/CBS radio stations became known as "Free FM", some of which already had an all-talk format, while others switched from a music format, and WXRK New York announced that it would become "Free FM" starting January 3, 2006. Jimmy Kimmel is to serve as creative consultant for the format, and Penn Jillette will be hosting an hour-long live radio talk show.In April 2006 rumors were reported that Roth's show would be dumped due to low ratings (The Ratings for Roth's show in Morning Drive went down eighty percent compared to Howard Stern's Ratings in the same slot a year prior) and would be replaced by XM's Opie and Anthony. The move will mark Opie and Anthony's return to the New York terrestrial radio scene and to CBS Radio, their show was cancelled by CBS/Infinity in 2002 when their were syndicated through sister station WNEW due to a broadcast of the Sex For Sam III skit from St. Patrick's Cathedral that generated a lot of controversy.
The move was confirmed by Opie and Anthony on their show and web site on Friday, April 21. As of that date, David Lee Roth's [Web site] has disappeared along with any mention of him on the Free FM local affiliates. On Monday, April 24, a flash presentation presented on the Free FM local affiliates alluded to a debut time of 9 a.m. that day for the announcement of the return of the Opie and Anthony show. The show debuted on the former David Lee Roth affiliates on April 26.
As of April 7th, 2006, John London's show has been removed from FreeFM. London and his staff were fired after London offered $5,000 for the murder of FreeFM's Penn Radio host and well-known magician Penn Jillette, "$7,000 if he suffers". This offer was made because Jillette went on a five minute rant about how Paris Hilton should never sink down to the level of Mother Theresa. Jillette's contention was that Mother Theresa was a demented, twisted woman who gained pleasure from watching the sick and poor people of Calcutta die slowly. London typically spent the first few minutes of his show criticizing Jillette's show, Penn Radio (which preceded London's), due to its obscure topics.
Free FM stations
- Baltimore, Maryland – WHFS 105.7 [link]
- Chicago, Illinois – WCKG 105.9 [link]
- Dallas, Texas – KLLI 105.3 [link]
- Detroit, Michigan – WKRK 97.1 [link]
- Los Angeles, California – KLSX 97.1 [link]
- New York City, New York – WFNY-FM 92.3 [link]
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – WYSP 94.1 [link]
- Phoenix, Arizona – KZON 101.5 [link]
- San Diego, California – KSCF 103.7 [link]
- San Francisco, California – KIFR 106.9 [link]
- Washington, D.C. – WJFK-FM 106.7 [link]
Reference
External links
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