Howard+Stern

Aaron Holmes **Howard Stern**  Howard Stern is an American radio personality who has been in the business for the past thirty years. His obscene topics on his shows have given him great success while also giving him many critics. His journey took him from a volunteer deejay in college to a multimillion dollar a year man. He has written two books that had great success on //The New York Time// Best Seller list as well as a film adaptation for his first book. Stern also ran for the New York Governor position but withdrew after legal issues. His risqué talk show in which he talked about all things having to do with sex pushed the boundaries on what could be said on the air. As Neil Strauss (2011) states in his //Rolling Stone// article, “Howard Stern is no longer just at the top of his field, he is in a league unto himself.” With his long shaggy brown hair and his dark sunglasses, Howard Ste﻿rn has become a pop culture icon. **Early Life** Howard Stern was born on January 12, 1954 to a pair of Jewish immigrants in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City (Stern 1993). He attended Boston University and for two years was in the College of Basic Studies. During his sophomore year, he was a local disc jockey on the air. Stern then transferred into the College of Public Communications and got a degree in July 1975 at the Radio Engineering Institute of Electronics. This allowed him to apply for a first class FCC radio telephone license. In his fall semester of senior year with his license, he worked for WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts and graduated in the spring of 1976 with a degree in Communications, ending his time at Boston University (Stern 1993). **Early Career** Upon graduation, Stern turned down an offer to at a rock station and decided to work at a New York advertising agency where he was a part of the planning of events. Stern decided that this was not what he wanted and in 1979 took a job working full time at a New York radio station (Stern 1993). He then moved to a Connecticut radio station and became their morning host. After working for a year he was unhappy with his pay and took a job as a morning host in Detroit (Soley 2007). During his time in Detroit, he became more open and slightly vulgar and when the station switched from rock to country, he decided to quit. **Rise to Fame** Howard Stern’s next job was in Washington, D.C. hosting the morning show of a rock station. Even though he felt restricted, his morning show was the second highest rated morning program after only a year. He then signed a one million dollar deal with NBC to work afternoons. His relationship with the Washington, D.C. rock station worsened and he was terminated (Soley 2007). While at NBC, he was closely watched while they told him to avoid talk about sexual and religious topics. Within a few weeks, he was suspended for a segment entitled “Virgin Mary Kong,” which had men following the Virgin Mary in a bar in Jerusalem. NBC then hired a program director to make sure that Stern could be cut off if he talked about something NBC did not approve of (Colford 1997). Rising to stardom, he appeared on //The Late Show with David Letterman// in May of 1984. By the end of the year he had the highest ratings at NBC. In 1985, he was fired for “conceptual differences” regarding how the show would be (Colford 1997). **Number One Rated Radio Personality** Stern then went back to the rock station in New York after signing a five hundred thousand dollar deal with Infinity Broadcasting. Philadelphia started to simulcast his show and after a few months, it began a national syndicate (Colford 1997). In 1992, he became the first person to have the number one radio show in both New York City and Los Angeles (Soley 2007). From 1992 until 2001, he won //Billboard// magazine’s “Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year” category every year. During this period, Stern ventured into the television series, pay-per-view events, video tapes, and other opportunities. His great interviews with everyone who came on the show, including strippers, pornographers, prostitutes, and second-tier celebrities allowed him to get to this new level of fame (Soley 2007). **Private Parts and Run for Governor** In 1993, he published his first book called //Private Parts// which spent twenty weeks on //The New York Times// Best-Seller list. Later in the year, he hosted his second pay-per-view event entitled //The Miss Howard Stern New Year’s Eve Pageant// which broke the subscriber record for a non sporting event. In March 1994, Stern announced that he was running for Governor of New York under the Libertarian Party ticket (Colford 1997). He then pulled his name from the ballot after refusing to state where he lives and his financial disclosure form. In 1995, he released his second book //Miss America// in which he wrote about his cybersex experiences and other vulgar topics. The book was the third bestselling book of the year. In 1997, he premiered the film adaptation of his book //Private Parts.// The movie did well financially and he won several awards for it. In 1998, he returned to his Saturday night timeslot with //The Howard Stern Radio Show.// A total of 84 episodes were aired. Many affiliates decided to leave the show after its risqué content. Soley (2007) states that 73.2% of the segments on his show contained sexual content. “News reports on //The Howard Stern Show// are usually, but not always, about popular culture, celebrities, and entertainment which Stern or his co-hosts often turn toward sexuality” (Soley 2007). He also ran the Howard Stern Production Company which produced television shows. **Satellite Radio** In October of 2004, he announced a five year contract with Sirius Satellite Radio which allowed him to be free of FCC regulations (Soley 2007). Many people believed that this would be a bad move and he would end up irrelevant. After exceeding subscriber targets in only a year, he was paid in stock in the company worth around $218 million (Howard Stern, American 2005). A year later he got another $83 million in stock. In December 2010, he agreed to another five year contract. **FCC Fines** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Throughout his career, Stern has accumulated over $2.5 million in fines for indecent material (Howar d Stern, American 2005). He was described by the FCC that he “dwelled on sexual and excretory matters, in a way that was patently offensive" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">(Howar d Stern, American 2005).  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"> He was first fined for his “Christmas Party” broadcast that featured a man playing the piano with his penis, a parody to “White Christmas” about gay sex, and having a hypnotist bring women to orgasm (Howard Stern, American 2005). In 1991, he was fined for talking about masturbating to a picture of Aunt Jemima, fantasies about Michelle Pfieffer, shaving pubic hair, and paedophilia. In 1993 he was fined again for talking about farting, anal fissures, masturbation, penises, and other raunchy conversations. Later in the year his show was fined again for telling a story involving vomiting while performing oral sex. Stern was constantly looked over and censored before he switched to Sirius Satellite Radio (Howard Stern, American 2005). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">**References** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Colford, Paul D. (April 1997). //Howard Stern: King of All Media//: New York: St. Martin’s Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Howard Stern, American. (2005). //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0in;">Esquire //, 144(1), 116-119. Retrieved from EBSCO//<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0in;">host //. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 115%;">Howard Stern [photograph]. (2010). Retrieved April 10, 2011 from: http://www.mamapop.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/07/6a00d8341c5d9653ef012876c812 b4970c.jpg <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 200%;"> Private Parts [photograph]. (1997). Retrieved April 10, 2011 from: http://hypervocal.com/wp- content/uploads/2011/02/howard-stern-private-parts-movie-1997.jpg <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Soley, L. (2007). Sex and Shock Jocks: An Analysis of the Howard Stern and Bob & Tom Shows. //<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #333333; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding: 0in;">Journal of Promotion Management //, 13(1/2), 75. doi:10.1300/J057v13n0106 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Stern, Howard. (1993). //Private Parts.// New York: Simon & Schuster. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Strauss, Neil. (2011, March 31). The Long Struggle and Neurotic Triumph of Howard Stern. //Rolling Stone//. 40-47, 76.