Tell me about Howard Stern.

Cafe Society
1

I’ve watched ‘Private parts’ twice in the space of a week (the first time I caught it about a third in, the second time I was able to catch it when it started so decided to see the first third I’d missed. Ended up watching the whole thing again)

I lived the film and now have a curiosity about the man himself. As a furrn’r I’ve never been able to catch the show (And I’m not a fan of radio anyway) so until that film all I knew of Howard was that he as an out-in-the-sticks off the wall DJ. But the film seems to say he’s America’s (or New Yorks at least) #1 DJ.

Is he still on the air? Still with WNNNNNBC? Still married? Still off the wall? Still popular?

Being an anti-christian-fundementalism™ Atheist. I am somewhat curious in a devious sort of way what the Middle-American reaction is to him.

2

Imagine if we made pronunciation mistakes as commonly as we made typing errors. Imagine how dumb ‘I lived the film’ would sound. Obviously I meant ‘loved’.

3

He is still rather popular. His marriage ended a couple of years ago and he is now dating some model named Beth. He has recently been in some trouble with the FCC after Janet Jackson’s “Boob Heard Round the World” episode galvanized the religious right.

To avoid FCC regulation, he has decided to move to satellite radio sometime next year. That’s it in a nutshell.

4

I have been a fan of Howards for more than 20 years.

Howard and Allison have been divorced for about 5 years; she is remarried and he is with a model. Two of his kids are adults now.

He left WNBC in '85 and has been with NYC’s WXRK since then (did anyone know that he was the afternoon man when he first arrived at K-Rock?), but is syndicated in many cities. I don’t live in NYC anymore and haven’t for about 9 years, but he was huge then. I don’t know how huge he is now; all I know is I love him. He’s been off my local station in Providence since February and so I get him out of Boston now. He does still get some big name guests in addition to the strippers and porn stars.

His fans are as rabid as his detractors.

Robin is still on the show. So is Gary “Bababooey” Della Abate and Fred Norris. Jackie “The Jokeman” Martling is no longer on the show, but they have the wonderful Artie Lange instead.

For me, the overtly dirty stuff is boring, but when he’s just talking to the gang, he has the same sense of humor as me - a little cranky, a little silly, more than a little irreverant.

Censorship has taken its toll on Howard, forcing him to re-edit stuff that was once okay when he does re-runs. I will be going to satellite with him. He feels it is because he did not support President Bush in the last election that things have become so difficult.

Of course he has a website. www.howardstern.com.

5

I watched Stern’s E! show back in the mid-late 90s. My favorite bits were when the brilliant **Billy West ** would take out the “Jackie puppet” and just go to town on whoever was being interviewed (Conan O’Brien was a particularly funny target). Also, as infantile as they are, the Stuttering John-crashes-a-showbiz-event-and-asks-mortifying-questions bits were always satisfying.

6

On his TV show (which I presume is the same as his radio show) he’ll actually have segments such as “Ask Jimmy the Retard” in which listeners call in and ask a question to an actual guy with an IQ of 57 (how he gets away with this with as many agencies as there are to protect the retarded I have no idea). He also has a Hollywood Squares* parody in which the panelists, all of whom are real, may include a transvestite whore, fagbashers (the Fred Phelps family), KKK members, neo-Nazis, heroin addicts, etc…
*If you’re not familiar with Hollywood Squares , it’s a gameshow in which nine celebrities are seated in a giant Tic Tac Toe board and are asked questions. Contestants must determine if the celebrity is answering the question correctly.

7

What is Jackie “The Jokeman” Martling doing these days?

8

What makes him worth a bazillion bucks to satellite radio?
More importantly concerning music on Sirrius WTF would someone pay money to listen to annoying DJs?

9

When I lived in the East, I listened to Howard every morning for 10 years. I had an early job that let me listen to the show from beginning to end. It was lots of fun.

When I moved to TX, it was difficult to hear him, but I followed his career.

Eventually, I moved back to the east coast and Howard was almost uiquitous across the dial. He was fun and I had friends who listened to him as well. We enjoyed discussing his excesses.

I stopped listening to Howard Stern on Friday, September 12, 2001.

As he always said, “If you don’t like me, turn it off.” I did.

Howard’s xenophobia, his hatred of arabs, and his statements that “they” should all die were more than I was willing to deal with. I turned him off forever.

In our country, any idiot who can speak into a microphone can get a radio show. They all deserve it.

We deserve it. This is the finest country is the finest notion that has ever exited. And Howard Stern is an asshole.

–Savonarola (aka cao)

10

I think the question we need to be asking is, “#1 compared to WHAT?” I think Howard is a loud-mouthed, bigoted, self-important asshole. His sexual banter with the female guests is infantile and boring. He’s abusive to his staff, and I don’t know nor do I care how much of that is a put-on to get ratings. The prank calls they do are silly and contrived.

BUT - I begrudgingly admit that I listen to his show, only because I’m bored sitting in the car and there’s nothing better on. For a long time, the choice was Howard, one of the endless supply of blathering right-wing tools on all the other stations, inane pop-music, or Spanish stations. And actually, now that Air America is on, I only listen to Howard when they’re on commercial breaks.

(So now I listen to blathering left-wing tools.) :wink:

11

Well, he’s worth a bazillion bucks to Satellite radio because he’s the most popular radio show in America.

His move to satellite gives them credibility (at least marketing-wise) and due to the loyalty of his listeners, perhaps will push them past the point of subscribers they need to achieve profitability.

As to your second question: people will listen to talk radio on satellite for the same reason they listen to talk radio on regular broadcast radio. . .some people prefer listening to talk radio instead of music.

Radio is not, and never has been, solely the domain of music. Radio programs, and talk radio, have always had as much of a place on the airwaves as music.

I have XM, not Sirius, but I spend most of my time on XM on talk stations even with 100 channels of music. I much prefer talk radio, even Howard Stern, to music.

Also, to the OP: when “Private Parts” came out, he was already done at WNBC. In between the end of the movie, and the actual filming of the movie was MANY years that he totally left out. I’m actually surprised that he hasn’t followed Private Parts up with something else.

He really loves radio, though. I’m sure he could put out another best-selling book, or another number 1 movie if he tried, but he really is dedicated to his show. As childish as he can be, it’s obvious to lsiteners that he puts in a lot of time and work. No one would dispute that.

About the “middle-america” reaction. . .his show is scrutinized, fined, was dropped by Clear Channel Broadcasting (a huge radio conglomerate) in several big markets. Most of those markets he was picked up by other stations.

He is even more restrained now because of the FCC than he used to be. That’s all going to change when he goes to Satellite.

12

I expressed it badly. Why are there DJs on the really nice music stations on Sirrius?
If I paid money for it, I’d expect just music, like the CD channels on Dish Network.

13

What’s Jackie up to?(Other than kicking himself) :wally

14

In case anyone was interested, here’s Howard’s girlfriend, Beth O. I really, really hate him.

15

I’ve been listening to Howard for almost 15 years now. I own Butt Bongo Fiesta on VHS and have seen Crucified by the FCC. Watched the old Channel 9 show (with my parents no less). I’ve gone through my love/hate periods with him, but always, ALWAYS come back. For all the times when he pissed me off, he did something so funny and original that I re-devoted my undying love to his show. He has an undeniable talent for getting information out of people that you wouldn’t expect, and finding people to be on his show that are bizarre in an appealing way. Take for instance Beetlejuice. A bizarre little guy who has a 3rd grade education and an unproportionally small head. Can’t spell “red” and answers every question with “Who me?” Does naked sit-ups in his living room while the Chinese food delivery guy drops off food to his apartment. The new guy to replace Jackie Martling is Artie Lang who is the answer to every blue collar worker’s prayers. A Jersey guy who loves sloppy Italian food, gambling, jack and water, and also a recovering drug addict. The day he told his story of how he went to buy cocaine while wearing a pig costume during his days at Mad TV is priceless. I actually had to pull over on the side of the road and listen to the story so I wouldn’t crash my car from laughing so hard.

But that’s what I mean. Where in the world would you find such riff raff put together to create something so unpredictable. Some days it’s so funny I can’t stand it. Some days I can’t listen at all.

And to answer the person as to why someone would want to pay for talk radio on satellite, it’s because someone like me wants to hear Howard without the friggin’ FCC edits and standards. I want to hear him as he’s meant to be. If it works, great, if it doesn’t then he will know it’s time to move on.

And I’m the antithesis of who the “right wing” thinks are Stern listeners. I’m a 30-year old, Catholic, married, mother of one with a full-time job and do charity work on the weekends. I listen to Howard because I’m able to make up my own mind as to what’s funny and appropriate for my own entertainment. When my son is old enough to start understanding these kinds of things, I’ll only listen to Howard in my car or when I’m alone. Because I know how to turn the radio off when my kid is around.

Jackie Martling has appeared in a few independent films over the past few years but is mostly doing stand up in the Long Island area. His website can be seen here. You’ve never seen so many links in your life.

16

Artie Lange is so funny on that show. I heard that one about the pig costume.

He was talking about going to Yankees game once.

He said he was going out to eat with his uncle before the game at an Italian place. The conversation was like . . .

Howard: so what did you eat before going to your uncles.

Artie: Nothing. We were going out to eat.

Howard: C’mahn.

Artie: Well, I had a pastrami sandwich, but that’s because I didn’t know how far away the restaurant was.

He ate a sandwich at his place, something at his uncles, went to the restaurant where the clam sauce on the pasta is so good, you can just dunk an entire loaf of bread in it, went to the yanks game where he had like 6 jack and waters, ice cream and hot dogs, then got a slice after the game. And got up like 2 hours later to make it to the show.

His stories about eating food are epics.

17

He’s still on K-Rock every morning. I’ll listen for a bit and if I get bored I’ll change it. Some mornings he’s entertaining, others are just annoying when they’re just yelling and arguing. I wouldn’t get satellite radio just for him, but it would be nice to hear him uncensored, because those entertaining segments are almost always bleeped for something or other. I’ve been considering satellite radio anyway, for the availability of music when I’m in the mood. Seems like most of the stations around here play mostly commercials during rush-hour times.

18

Savonarola:

nitpick: September 12, 2001 was a Wednesday, not a Friday.

19

Winnie, you could be me, except I’m a 41 year old mother of 1, living in an affluent suburb of Providence, RI. You would not expect me to be a Howard fan either. (Hell, you wouldn’t expect me to be rockin’ out to Metallica in my SUV on the way to the soccer field either, but I do.)

Yes, there are times when Howard bores me, but I always come back and I’m never sorry.

Yes, there are some creepy people on the show, but I do get that it’s not always just a freak show. Howard demonstrates that KKK guys are idiots, for example, as are the Fred Phelps folks. Yes, he has them on, but certainly they aren’t portrayed in a good light.

Howard has come a long way over the years in terms of being open minded. Does anyone remember when he was homophobic? Probably not.

I have such great Howard memories. I was listening on my walkman on the way to the J Train the day Bababooey got his name. I remember the Jackie puppet and the Gary puppet. I remember Richard Simmons being a regular. I remember when he and Robin used to analyze cheesy songs like “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro. “Robin, I cannot talk to you right now! I am listening to a Bobby Goldsboro song!” "Oh, Howard, Honey didn’t just grow the tree, she loved it!

Good times, good times.

20

I still listen to Howard whenever I can.

To the OP: After the events of the movie, Howard was fired from WNBC. He moved to another station in NY and continued being #1. He began to broadcast in Philadelphia and then Washington DC. He later began broadcasting in LA and other major markets. He’s been fired from some and rehired again. Over the last few years, his show has been increasingly censored. The radio station hired someone to listen to the show (it is broadcast with a 7-10 second delay) and when he hears something he thinks is inappropriate he hits a button. We hear a hiccup and rejoin the broadcast to hear them laughing or talking about how that last bit was most likely censored out.

Presumably, on satellite broadcasting no rules apply as to language and content. He’s always been restricted on his language.

As for fond memories, the time when Billy West (he’s the voice of Fry on Futurama) was on the show. He did a killer Larry from the Three Stooges.

My favorite moment was listening to Stuttering John (OP: Howard hired a stutterer to go to celebrity events and interview the celebrities. He asked rude questions) interview Ted Williams. He asked him if he ever farted in the catcher’s face while he was batting. I had to pull over I was laughing so hard. Looking back now, it’s only mildly amusing, but the way it was presented was just so brilliant.

Nowadays he’s into using that spanking machine and interviewing porn stars. I much prefer hearing the guys on the show make fun of each other. There’s only so many times you can hear a porn star say she wasn’t abused as a kid and find out that she doesn’t know how many states there are in the US.