"Down with the FCC! They have ruined commercial broadcasting."

Howard Stern certainly knows how to attract a crowd.

Today in Manhattan, Stern distributed 500 free Sirius boom boxes and 20,000 certificates redeemable for free radios and subscriptions. Sirius, for those who don't know, is one of America's top providers of commercial-free satellite radio.

They jumped at the opportunity to nab the rights to a Howard Stern show on their airwaves for a cool five years at $500 million dollars after the self-proclaimed "King of Shock Jocks" became fed up with years of conflict with the Federal Communications Commission over the contents of his consistently racy radio show (he is currently employed by Infinity Broadcasting). His new show on Sirius -- slated to begin in early 2006 -- allows him to say and do whatever he wants. Satellite radio, you see, is free of the FCC restrictions that plague radio stations nationwide.

While satellite radio isn't free, I've heard it's considerably better than traditional broadcast radio, if only because of the lack of commercials and the sheer variety of music and talk radio to choose from. I wasn't aware that DJs had the liberty to do whatever they please, as Stern will have eventually, but it makes me wonder why this newer generation of broadcasting has fewer restrictions. If he can't, for example, hold a competition between two strippers involving bobbing for hot dogs in a toilet (no exaggeration, I've seen it on his E! television show before) on his current gig, how is satellite radio different?

Normally, I wouldn't agree with most of the things that Stern partakes in, but it's a welcome relief that someone is taking a stand against the FCC. What's your opinion on this whole thing?