Encyclopedia
Howard Allen Stern is an
American radio and
TV personality, media mogul, humorist and author.
Above all, Stern is a finder and cultivator of talent, bringing together a unique and eclectic collection of creative and funny characters and mixing them into an original, ongoing, and ever-evolving entertainment form. In this sense, Stern is a modern-day
Andy Warhol.
Howard Stern currently hosts
The Howard Stern Show is Howard Stern [i]'s radio show heard four or five days a week on Howard 100 [i] ...
varying between four days a week and five days a week on
Howard 100, a
Sirius Satellite Radio station. On some Fridays, members of the Stern crew get together for the Friday Show, a recap of the week's shows and clips from older shows. Replays of the show can be heard throughout the day on
Howard 100 and various times on
Howard 101.
The "King of All Media" has been dubbed a shock jock for his highly controversial use of scatological, sexual and racial humor. Stern and many of his fans hate the term "shock jock". He has said that the show was never about shocking people, but primarily intended to offer his honest opinions on a gamut of issues . Though controversial, he is one of the highest-paid radio personalities in the
United States and the most fined personality in radio broadcast history.
He is best known for his national radio show, which for many years was syndicated on FM radio stations throughout the
United States until his last
terrestrial radio broadcast on December 16, 2005. He began broadcasting on the subscription-based
Sirius satellite radio service on January 9, 2006.
In 2006, Howard was elected into
Time Magazine's "Time 100: The People who shape our world"
and was ranked #7 in
Forbes Magazine's 2006 annual Celebrity 100, which lists the most influential celebrities in the world.
Early life
Howard Stern was born into a Jewish American family in Roosevelt,
Long Island,
New York. His father Ben owned a Manhattan recording studio, where Howard developed an interest in broadcasting as a child. Although both his parents are Jewish, Stern has long claimed on his show to be "a half-Jew" and "half-Italian". This claim is most likely a comedy bit, as Stern sometimes utters Yiddish phrases on the air which he claims to be
Italian phrases. Stern's Hebrew name is Tzvi; his paternal grandparents, Froim and Anna Stern and maternal grandparents, Sol and Esther Schiffman, were Austro-Hungarian Jews from who immigrated to America at about the same time.
Stern often said that his parents verbally "abused" him as a child, which was corroborated during a 1990 broadcast when he played old family recordings, many of which have become his soundbites, including paternal gems such as "I told you not to be stupid, you moron" and "Shut up! Sit down!" being screamed at a 7-year-old Howard. These old recordings were later used in a parody commercial for the "Ben Stern School of Broadcasting", which specialized in graduating self-loathing and emotionally disturbed workaholic media leaders. Stern said his mother ran her house with "the intensity of
Hitler" and that his father often called him a moron. However, he also has stated this was just part of his gimmick and that his parents were warm, loving and supportive.
Stern attended Roosevelt Junior High School, where he was supposedly one of the few white students in a predominantly
African American school. During a 1992 special, Howard Stern's former gym teacher mentioned that the school's student body was 60% black, revealing Stern's claims to be an exaggeration. When Stern's family moved in 1969, he transferred to South Side High School, where he graduated in 1972 . In 1976, he received a bachelor's degree in communications from
Boston University, carrying a 3.8 GPA where he had worked as a volunteer at the campus radio station WTBU. Stern now funds a scholarship at
Boston University.
On June 4, 1978, Stern married college sweetheart Alison Berns at Temple Ohabei Shalom in
Brookline, Massachusetts. They have three daughters: Emily Beth , Deborah Jennifer and Ashley Jade . A hallmark of Stern's humor was his claiming to be tempted by the
strippers, porn stars and
lesbians who appeared on his show, but always insisted that he had to be faithful to his wife.
Terrestrial Radio Years
After graduation, he worked as a disc jockey for WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, in
Westchester County, New York, playing rock music. He discovered a talent for
Lenny Bruce-type comedy, and developed a wide-ranging confrontational style. In 1978, Stern landed his first morning show job in
Hartford, Connecticut at WCCC-FM and WCCC-AM, whose progressive rock format promoted Howard's development as a "free-form" personality. It was at the Hartford radio station where Howard met his future show writer and producer,
Fred Norris, who was working as an overnight deejay at the time. Stern moved to FM radio station WWWW in
Detroit, Michigan, and further developed his show until the station adopted a country music format, and then went to DC101
in
Washington, D.C. for a year, making it the #1 station in town. In 1982, he returned to New York to work at NBC's flagship AM radio station,
WNBC Radio. Also working at NBC was
David Letterman, who became a fan of Stern's radio show. Stern's guest appearance on
Late Night with David Letterman on June 19, 1984, launched Stern into the national spotlight and gave his radio show unprecedented exposure. Stern would appear on Letterman's show many times thereafter.
Stern and his crew were fired from NBC in 1985, ostensibly in response to a particularly outrageous sketch —- "Bestiality Dial-A-Date" —- although relations between station management and Stern had been strained from the beginning. He quickly returned to FM radio by joining local rival station WXRK, premiering November 18, 1985, returning permanently to the morning drive time slot in February 1986. By year's end, his show was simulcast on
WYSP in
Philadelphia; before long it was also heard in Washington, and then was syndicated nationwide by
Infinity Broadcasting. The program made great sport of feuding with other cities' top-rated DJs, and soon Stern's broadcast was #1 in important markets, including Philadelphia and Los Angeles. His Arbitron numbers were strongest in the country's #1 radio market, New York, where his morning ratings more than tripled his station's average numbers the rest of the day.
In 1994, Stern embarked on a political campaign for
governor of New York, formally announcing his candidacy under the Libertarian Party ticket. Although he legally qualified for the office and campaigned for a time after his nomination, many viewed the run for office as nothing more than a publicity stunt. He subsequently withdrew his candidacy because he did not want to comply with the financial disclosure requirements for candidates.
In 1997, he starred in
Private Parts, a biographical film chronicling his rise to success. The film is based on his 1993 autobiography
Private Parts. The film premiered at the top of the box-office in its opening weekend with a gross of $14.6 million. It grossed slightly more than $41 million in total. With $23 million of the film's gross going to movie theaters and a production budget of $20 million, the film did not make a profit during its original run, although it did garner additional revenue from DVD rentals and sales.
It received mostly positive reviews from critics, most notably from
Siskel and Ebert, who were frequent guests of Stern's radio show. Some critics claimed the film glossed over his use of sexual and racial humor.
For his performance, Stern won the
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Male Newcomer. The awards are given by the result of write-in votes from fans, and Stern won by a wide margin. Stern was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture . He was also nominated for a
Razzie Award for Worst New Star.
In October 1999, Stern announced that his wife Alison was divorcing him, because he was a workaholic. The divorce ended in a settlement, and Alison remarried in 2001 to David Simon. Stern soon started a period of single living in Manhattan, during which time he dated dozens of women including Angie Everhart and
Robin Givens. Despite spending time with
Carmen Electra a reported "5 times" during this period, as revealed on the July 29, 2002 broadcast, the two deny anything more intimate than an outdoor shower in bathing suits. Since early 2000, Stern has been dating model
Beth Ostrosky, who is 19 years his junior. Ostrosky frequently appears in the men's magazine
FHM, and hosts
Filter on the G4 network.
Satellite Radio Years
On October 6, 2004, Stern announced on his show that he signed a five-year deal with the satellite radio service Sirius. Sirius set up a budget of $500 million to be used to pay Howard and other employees; it was not used solely to pay Howard's personal salary, as he has said repeatedly. His salary has not been revealed. Other media sources have claimed that Stern got an additional $225 million one-time stock bonus for meeting subscriber quotas, which he did meet in January 2006.
The deal, which took effect on January 1, 2006, enabled Stern to broadcast his show without the content restrictions imposed by the
FCC. Moreover, the deal also enabled Stern to program an additional Sirius channel.
On February 28, 2006,
CBS Radio announced it had filed a lawsuit against Stern, Stern's agent Don Buchwald and
Sirius Satellite Radio, saying Stern used CBS's airwaves to unfairly promote the satellite service and enrich himself. The lawsuit also claims that Stern "repeatedly and willfully" breached his contract with CBS, "misappropriated millions of dollars worth of … airtime" for his own benefit, and "fraudulently concealed" his performance-related interests in Sirius stock. The suit, filed in New York state court, sought compensatory and punitive damages. Not to be outdone, Stern earlier in the day held a press conference at which he mentioned that CBS added to the media attention, booking him for appearances on
Late Show with David Letterman and its news magazine show
60 Minutes. "I made them millions of dollars. If I was hurting them, why did they keep me on the air for 14 months?" Stern said. "How can you have it both ways?"
Leslie Moonves appeared on one of Stern's final shows to compliment him on his move to Sirius and thank him for the record advertising revenue the network sold. Moonves told Stern that he bought Sirius stock. Stern said the network had the option to "push the button" on his program, taking him off the air, if they did not agree with what he was presenting to the public.
On May 11, 2006, CBS said it was near settling the lawsuit with Stern. "We have an agreement, but there are details that have to be worked out," said CBS lawyer Irvin Nathan . Details of the agreement were officially announced May 26.
As a result of the CBS lawsuit settlement, Stern announced on June 7, 2006, that Sirius gained exclusive rights to his entire back catalogue of radio shows from his days at CBS . The shows cost approximately $2 million, which equates to approximately $87 per hour of tape. Sirius has the rights to the tapes until the end of Stern's current contract with Sirius, and then all ownership rights will return to Stern.
Trivia
- Executive produced Son of the Beach was a television series [i] that was a spoof of Baywatch [i], the chief joke be ...
, a comedic parody of Baywatch for FX.
- Is a strong supporter of the Death Penalty. When he ran for governor of New York in 1994, he promised to restore the death penalty, limit road construction work to nighttime hours and abolish tolls.
...
- Suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder but claims to have been cured after having an epiphany while reading a book written by Dr. John Sarno .
- Once mentioned on a broadcast that his all-time favorite song is Purple Rain by Prince.
- Claimed to be a chronic masturbator during the 1980's and 1990's, going so far as to pray for a cure.
See also
Notes
External links
Official Sites
Fan Sites
- Message Board
- Message Board
- News, Blogs and Forums
- Blog-style opinions of Stern show staff, guests, & events
- Everything Sirius
- News, Rundowns, Videos, Pics and more!
- A dedication to Sterns favorite prank call
