In a move that may cost the company millions of dollars, CITY-TV and owners CHUM Ltd. are banning shockjock Howard Stern from their airwaves, both on TV and on radio.

CITY announced yesterday that it was walking away from its one-year deal to carry the Saturday night Howard Stern Radio Show. CHUM followed suit saying it is pulling its highly rated Stern morning show from the airwaves of Montreal's CHOM-FM.

The TV show, which debuted Saturday to negative reviews from Stern fans and critics, is still available here on Buffalo's Ch. 29.

"We knew the show was going to be put together mainly from the morning radio show," said CITY programming VP Jay Switzer. "But we had some expectations that the producers really would put on the best of the week, with lots of celebrity interviews, and that's not what we got."

CHUM Ltd. outbid several other stations and networks for national rights to Stern's TV show sight-unseen. Switzer wouldn't comment on the cost, but it is rumored to be in the mid-five-figures per episode.

The company could end up paying for more than 40 episodes. That is, of course, if The Howard Stern Radio Show isn't cancelled in the U.S. before then.

Switzer admitted he'd be "obviously very happy" if Stern's show were cancelled in the next couple of weeks.

"We're not comfortable with the amount we're losing, but we don't consider it onerous," he said.


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