.Howard Stern has been labeled as many things, such as offensive, obnoxious, discussing
and by the majority of his listeners a genius. He grew up in a suburb of Manhattan in the early
sixties. His father, Ben Stern, worked at radio station WHOM where the was the engineer. His
father commuted every day about 40 miles to and from work.
Howard would spend little time
with his father but on occasion he would get to go to work with him. This is what interested
Howard to being on the radio.
At the time, the area Howard lived in was going through a racist change. His mother told
his friends who were making racist comments about the negros that she and Howard were part
negro, but they werent really. Roosevelt High School, his school, was a fully integrated
educational system, which in his words meant six thousand black guys and him.
In his high
school years he turned to marijuana because he had to deal with several personal problems.
He said the personal problems affected his personal life forever.
In his college years it was pretty hard for him to find a date. So, he stayed at home and
masturbated constantly.
His senior year he got on at the college radio station known as WTBU.
That year he met the woman who would be his future wife. She was in his first film for his film
class. He won an award for the film.
After completing college Howard went to his first job interview on May 12, 1977. His
interview was at WRNW and he got the job. After two months on the air, the manager who said
he would never be a good DJ and that he had a lousy voice, promoted him to program director
because he was a hard worker and came to work on time.After saving money and working
for awhile he then married Alison. They got their own place and was doing well with Howard
making $250.
00 a week.
After three months of being program director Howard quit his job because he didnt want
to fire an employee. So, Howard was nowunemployed himself. Howard decides to make a
major decision and move to another city. He moves to Hartford and begins working as a morning
man on WCCC.
Time has moved to October , 1979. Howard then met his partner Fred who will
work with him in the future. He finds what he is good at, being himself.
Howards wife then left him after acquising him of cheating on her with movie actress
Brittany Fairchild.
He really didnt cheat on his wife because he took a bubble bath with Brittany
with his underwear on...it didnt take them off.
..which meant he didnt cheat on her. At least this
is what Brittany told him and she started making a lot of sense at the time..
.Both he and his friend
Fred ended up in the same bubble bath. Brittany needed her shoulders rubbed while she was
relieving stress in the tub. Alison found his wet underwear under the car seat the next day. He
thought he was safe until she revealed this to him while eating lunch the next day.
On April 21, 1980 Howard started work at a Detroit radio station, WWWW. He was the
morning man. He presented a morning show that Detroit never experienced before. He did it his
way. The manager told him he talked too much but he continued to talk too much.
After all
this Alison came back.
WWWW changed its format from rock to country. Howard quits. He tells the listeners
that Hopalong Howey never drove a truck, went to college, and never had sex with his daddies
sister.
So, he quits....
Howard feels like a quitter because he left WWWW. He wants to become more intimate
with his listening audience.
He says everytime he thinks he shouldnt say something that he
should just blurt it out. He has to go all the way. Alison supports him.
Howard then goes to Washington D.C.
He was hired by an FM rock station on March 2,
1981 and thats when he meets the other woman in his life. Robin Quivers. The station was
DC101. After his first show the managers call a special meeting in their office because he talked
about sexual satisfaction on the air. They try to separate Robin and Howard.
The FCC fines Howard for saying testicles over the air.
The DC101 looses sponsors after
Howards escapades. He costs the station $40,000 in sponsors. Alison wants a child. He says he
is not a piece of meat and that he needs to be romanced. She tells him to strip one afternoon
when she comes home from work. She does get pregnant but looses the baby.
The FCC fines Howard again for inducing an orgasm from a woman during a live
broadcast. But, ratings go up and sponsors come back around. Four traffic accidents were
causes during the broadcast.The audience loves the broadcast. Howard gets fired and then
within 2 minutes another manager comes and tells the ratings are soaring and up. Howard talks
the managers into hiring another person whom he recommends.
Guarantees the ratings to come
up 2 points. Fred comes back...Howard then makes a startling discovery, lesbians equal ratings.
He is self proclaimed hero of the lesbian community.
During the interview with a lesbian Alison
calls the station, asks to speak to Howard on a personal line and they put her on the air live. She
then tells Howard she is pregnant. After this news he hits the top of the charts.
Howard then gets an offer from NBC. He gets an offer from WNBC in New York
offering him $150,000.
00 per year during the afternoon drive. His program would be syndicated
all over the country. This is what he has always wanted.The crew that hired Howard originally
for New York was fired.
On August 4, 1982 he aired his first show at WNBC.At this time
Don
Imus was number one disc jockey in New York. Howard was told how to say WNBC their
way.Once Howard goes on air he is told to do characters.
He creates a character who is the
first gay disc jockey and pretends to gargle semen and say the call letters right.
Howard is almost fired for the characters he did. He is then warned of use of the 7 dirty
words. They then fire Robin to try to break them up again. They hire a new news man Ross
Buckton to replace Robin.
The program director accuses Howard of being the Antichrist. Ross
then quits. They then hire Robin back.
Howard has the first nude woman on his show and the program director takes them of the
air. When a poll was taken they found that the average radio listener listens for 18 minutes, the
average Stern listener listens for an hour an a half, they say I want to see what he will say next,
the average Stern hater listens for two and a half hours a day, they say I want to see what he will
say next.
Howard is invited to be on the David Letterman show and talks down about NBC. On a
July of 1985 he tops the rating charts in New York. A rally is thrown for his accomplishment
AC/DC plays at the ceremony. It is held in Central Park, on the field it is a sold out show.
During
the concert Alisons water breaks.
He named his first daughter Emily.
Three children later he is still the best known radio personality in years. Occasionally he
might make a fool of himself in public like the MTV music award incident as Fartman. To this
date the FCC still wants him off the radio and so does every other fundamentalist group in the
United States.
Most of the things he does are mostly misunderstood but that is the fate of most
geniuses right?
Stern, Howard (1997). Private Parts. New York City, NY: NBC
Retived (11/17/00)From http://www.california.com/rpcman/HOWARD1.HTM
Retived (11/17/00)From http://www.sgi.net/jon/howard/
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