Stern dollars

[Shawn Mamros]

>[...]  Their contract with Stern may well allow them to take him off the air 
>but keep him under contract to them for the duration of the contract --
>effectively keeping him off the air for the next 15 months.
>
>That's what ABC did when Johnny Carson, who hosted a weekday afternoon
>quiz show on their netork, agreed to host the Tonight Show.  [...]

I have a hunch Stern's current contract with Infinity gives him far
better terms for that sort of thing than what Carson would've had
in the early 60's (when he wasn't a complete unknown, but nowhere
near being as a big name as he became on the Tonight Show).  Don't
know that Stern could've gotten himself an outright "no-suspension"
clause (though maybe with his friend Mel Karmazin heading Infinity
at the time, he did), but I can't imagine he'd leave himself open to
the possibility of an extended suspension without being able to walk
away from it.

And the fact that he is still apparently talking about Sirius, and
getting away with it, probably confirms just how much leeway he's
been given in his contract.  If things are really weighted that much
in his favor, Viacom (now Mel-less) may have plenty of incentive to
allow him to walk early.

-Shawn Mamros
E-mail to: mamros -at- mit dot edu