Not an american myself. Picked up a couple of recent satellite radio shows from Howard Stern. Dont know much about this guy (saw the movie Private Parts, which was great),
and seen him a couple of times on Letterman
But to me and a large portion of Europe he is not that well known
I found him quite genius at what he does,very compelling radio say if are driving and want to listen to something not all that important (he makes for a great interviewer though). Especially compared to the morning zoo radio hacks we have where I live, this guy play at completely different level.
Saying this I have only heard a couple of shows. I can see how he way back found a hole in the market, since people are rarely honest and interesting in mainstream media ( just watch the late night shows, larry king etc, its very predictable and sleep inducing)
As I could gather he was a major leaguer in the 80-90s, Is he still relevant and a big player? What is the take on him nowadays in the US?
I haven’t listened to him regularly since he was new to the NYC airwaves (the WNBC part of Private Parts) Back then, his schtick truly was unique. We all just couldn’t help tuning in to see what he would do or say next. God, it was funny.
Now, he’s been imitated six ways from Sunday. I’ll be interested to see if his longtime fans still think he’s as good as he ever was.
I used to listen to him once in a while for years and years.
The last time I heard him, the last time I will ever hear him, was when he played the actual 911 tape of that woman who got her face, jaw, nose, eyes, and fingers chewed off by a chimpanzee .
Stern made jokes, and was laughing the entire time about the entire tragedy while playing the tape.
There is nothing “funny” about a woman getting her face chewed off by a wild chimpanzee.
Stern is beyond “sick”. I will never ever listen to him again., f
Stern can be an exceptionally good interviewer, when he’s not being an asshole. However, some of his audience loves his asshole antics, and he himself loves being an asshole. I found that while I enjoyed some of his interviews, his constant references to how how he found lesbians and his assholery were just too frequent.
He’s had his 15 minutes of fame, he’s pushed the envelope further than he should have, and he’s now just another hasbeen.
I still listen now and then, but I’m guessing that his jump to satellite was a big mistake. Listenership must be down considerably based on the quality of his guests these days. He used to interview A-list stars promoting their latest movies or albums or whatnot, and those shows were usually very funny. Now, however, it seems like he’s talking with D-listers like Lisa Lampenelli (sp?) and other boring comics every other show.
It used to be that when a movie like, say, Iron Man was coming out, Stern would interview Robert Downey Jr. These days, though, the best he can seem to book is the movie’s director or co-star. (Downey Jr. may have in fact appeared on his show…I’m just using this as an example; I do recall an interview with Jon Favreau).
Apparently, celebrities (or their agents) don’t think Stern is reaching much of an audience anymore.
That’s probably true, but at the same time I suspect that directors and comedians generally have more to say than actors. As a listener, it sounds like you’re better off.
The last (and only one of the few) times I heard him he was interviewing a mother-and-daughter yodelling team from, possibly Sweden. This was a real interview with a real championship team, and he was asking them if they ever participated in lesbian sex with other competitors!
I was embarrassed for the women being interviewed and swore I’d never pay any attention to Howard Stern ever again. Thankfully he got kicked off the regular airways a couple of years later. He’s a fucking idiot.
ETA: And don’t try to tell me he’s another Lenny Bruce or George Carlin: he’s not. He’s a fucking asshole.
Though he was based in New York, his radio show was syndicated in a number of other cities. They also showed excerpts from it on the cable channel E!, and on a syndicated late-night TV show. Up until he made the jump to satellite radio in 2006, he was probably one of the two best-known radio personalities in the U.S. (along with Rush Limbaugh).
He made a whole lot of money when he went over to Sirius, and, at least for a little while, he helped Sirius gain a fair number of subscribers. From what I’ve read, he likes the creative freedom he has on satellite (he decried the FCC censorship he faced on terrestrial radio), but he’s far less visible in the general media now than he used to be. From what I’ve read of late, Sirius/XM is struggling financially, so I don’t know exactly what his future looks like.
It’s actually been more than 25 years, and he’s still going strong. I agree that his move to satellite diminished his audience (I don’t have it myself) but he certainly cashed in when he did it.
I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love him and think he’s hysterical. Does he miss the target sometimes? Sure, but he’s also provided me with some of the best entertainment I’ve had over the years. I admit to having a juvenile sense of humor, which is probably necessary in this case. Just as an example, many years back he sent his then “reporter” Stuttering John Melendez to a press conference with the Dalai Lama. When the ill-advised press secretary called on him, Melendez stood up and asked (I’m paraphrasing here), “Do people come up to you and say, ‘Hello Dalai?’”
Of course, the Dalai Lama didn’t get the reference; and it was silly and somewhat embarrassing all around, but it cracked me the hell up. Nothing is sacred with him.
Since I live in a Puritanical backwater no station around here would carry him when he was on regular radio. There was one station that did for just a few months until the outrage was too much, and during those few months I thought he was hilarious a lot of the time. Not all the time, but when he was in the groove he was hilarious. I especially liked it when he would get two feuding parties on the phone and pretend that he wanted to patch things up, but he was really just egging them on. I remember he did that with Tom and Roseanne Arnold, and also with Sam Kinison and Bobcat Goldthwait.
I also liked it when he would have some KKK retard on and make him look like an idiot.
Still like Howard. Still like Gary Dell’Abate. Still like Fred Norris. Don’t like Robin Quivers as much as I used to. I miss Artie Lange.
But I am sick to death of his giving over large chunks of his show to dwell on the personal lives of unfunny, uninteresting staffers like Benjy Bronk, Lisa G., Medicated Pete, and so on. It’s way too inside baseball, and I largely couldn’t care less about the inter-office squabbling that goes on from day to day over at Howard 100/101/Howard TV. It’s self indulgent and boring as hell.
I have never really understood why anyone would get satellite radio. Maybe if I was a long distance truck driver or something like that. I never listen to radio in the house. I figured when Howie went to satellite his show would be the same with a litany of four letter words and utter tastelessness.
Howie made something in the neighborhood of $500 million dollars for a 5 year contract, or some incredible sum along those lines. I never got Howard Stern. I am not a New Yorker and I am not Jewish. The Gentile fart, pussy, deviant sex jokes are far less inventive than theirs. People will pay money to hear this freak say how small his penis is. That’s America.
I don’t like the guy, but he pushes the boundries of the 1st Amendment, much like Larry Flynt. I don’t like the way Flynt perceives womanhood, but he should be able to print what he wants for an adult audience.
I’ve been a listener since the early 90’s, and in his heydey he was a genius. His ability to interview was truly amazing and you didn’t ever want to leave your car for fear of what you might miss.
Now I have Sirius in my car and have really, really tried to hang in there with the show. It has failed miserably. Another poster mentioned the HUGE chunks of time devoted to fussing over menial staff members, but the cut-rate celebrities, incessant porn-star interviews, waaaay too much time with the Sybian, his bizarre obsession with seeing Jay Leno fail, gloating over his amaaaaaazing wife Beth Ostrosky, his amaaaazing house in the Hamptons, etc etc. He’s become a caricature of what he used to despise in the Hollywood set. He constantly accuses random people of stealing all of his ideas which is starting to make him sound insane.
I really liked listening to his show in his last days on-air. I found the FCC and CBS dramas to be really compelling and interesting radio. His regular programming, however, does not interest me.
Mr. Sali has been following Howard Stern since forever and is his biggest fan, but he says since Artie Lange isn’t on any more, the show has gone waaaay downhill. He may not renew Sirius next year. … Myself, I’ve laughed hysterically about a quarter of the time when I used to listen, and was pretty disgusted the other three quarters. But when he was funny, he was funny… There have been imitators who have failed, and failed miserably. It’s one thing to hear Howard Stern say outrageous things, and something else altogether for some ugly nobody, who thinks he is witty, to try to do the same. … I would like to say that the day of 9-11, I became aware of it when Howard Stern’s radio show was playing on the radio, very low, as I was cleaning house, and I thought, “what are those idiots yelling about?” and turned it up…I think they did a good job on-air that day. I remember laughing when Robin said her chauffeur had disappeared, and she said “where did he go? He always said, ‘I’d take a bullet for you, Robin’ and he just took off on me!”…I wouldn’t be surprised if Howard Stern quit Sirius when his contract is up. He’s done it all. But then, what else would he do with himself? I think he’d miss show biz.