Source : Canadian Press

TORONTO (CP) - Howard Stern says the Canadian government hates him.

The infamous American radio shock jock's Sirius satellite radio show made its Canadian debut Monday morning with a lengthy discussion about the Super Bowl followed by the usual raunchy fare.

But Stern also informed listeners it was the first day his show was airing on Sirius Canada, nearly a month after his U.S. debut.

"That whole Canadian Sirius thing is weird," he said. "Like on the one hand they want us because they know that we sell radios, but on the other hand they kinda want to keep us low-key because the Canadian government hates us."

His on-air sidekick Robin Quivers observed that the Canadian carrier didn't want to have to field expected complaints from listeners.

"I mean they gotta embrace it," Stern replied, adding that his Howard 100 news department was looking into the situation.

Stern also put a caller on the air who said he was listening in Canada but via the grey market, meaning an unauthorized receiver picks up the U.S. signal after the customer provides a fake across-the-border address.

The talk show, which airs on the Howard 100 channel, had no shortage of profanity and political incorrectness. There were also commercials despite Sirius being a subscription-based service.

The self-proclaimed King of all Media was dropped by CHOM-FM in Montreal in 1998 and in 2001 by Q-107 in Toronto after thousands of complaints to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council - the industry's voluntary watchdog agency.

Sirius Canada has said it does not expect Stern to run into censorship trouble this time because his satellite show is a pay service and has developed special lockout technology for customers.

But a spokesperson for the CRTC has said that any abuse of human rights under the Broadcasting Act would still be investigated if there are complaints.

Sirius Canada is 40 per cent owned by the CBC, 40 per cent by Standard Radio and 20 per cent by Sirius in the U.S.

Stern announced last year that he was jumping from conventional radio to satellite to avoid the jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. He's also taken potshots in the past at Canadian regulatory bureaucrats he said lacked a sense of humour.

© Canadian Press