I have not listened to Howard even a little since his E! show and roughly the late 90’s or so on the radio. It was good interviews mixed with stupid, kind of really terrible vulgarity. Just low-brow stuff all around.
I am hearing he and his shown have at least somewhat grown up a bit. What is his show like nowadays? Still really “shock radio” style or more just…well, what? What do they do for a few hours every day on there?
I don’t have, and will never have, satellite radio. I don’t even know I’ve ever used one except in a rental car.
It has changed some. I wee bit more mature? He has had some great long-form interviews over the last bunch of years including Hilary Clinton, all kinds of music stars (today he interviewed Paul Simon,) and many others. On the other hand, they are coming up on the 3rd or 4th annual C*cktober celebration, so there’s that.
I’ve never listened to Howard Stern, because I never thought his style of potty humor was funny. But my wife, who doesn’t like vulgar humor at all, listens to his show. She says he’s a good and interesting interviewer.
That was weird: I was listening to the Howard Stern clip from reddit below when I saw this thread just now. I’m not really a fan of his but palatable in small bites like this:
Back when Stern was available on local radio, I heard him interview Artemus Pyle of Lynyrd Skynyrd on what happened in the plane crash that killed several of their members and crew. I heard details that I had never known before, like how Pyle was looking for help after the crash, all bloody and limping, and scared a farmer who then shot him. He didn’t bear a grudge either, because he understood the farmer was protecting himself and his family.
Stern just has a way of coaxing out those details and making compelling interviews, and I miss that.
I remember Howard Stern from his days with DC-101 in 1981-82. Looking him up on Wikipedia, I’m surprised to see he was only there for about 16 months; I’d have guessed he was there for three or four years at least. He was quite the presence there.
My one experience with his show was years ago, long before he got the satellite channel but after he got a national syndication deal. A local radio station picked it up; so I thought, let’s see what he’s all about. I tuned in to hear Stern ranting about an assistant who he asked to get 4 cups of hot water (to soothe his throat, I think), and the assistant brought him water that was merely tepid. He was going on and on about it, so I bailed.
A full 10 minutes later, I thought, eh, I must have tuned in at an unfortunate time. Let’s give it another chance. So I tuned back in and he was still ranting about the tepid water.
To add to the Artemus Pyle interview, he never publicly included the shooting in his re-telling of the event for many years after. This was to protect the farmer from getting harassed or beaten by crazy Skynard fans.
…and Stern managed to wrangle that story from him. IIRC, after the interview was over, somebody on Stern’s staff caught wind of some legal trouble Pyle was in with a minor. They called him back and asked him about it. He said his lawyers advised him not to talk about it, but sure, why not. He said it was basically a he said-she said situation.
Turned out he pleaded no contest and had to register as a sex offender.