Howard Stern

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Howard Allen Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and TV personality, media mogul, humorist and author.

Stern currently hosts The Howard Stern Show four or five days (Monday-Thursday / Monday-Friday) a week on Howard 100, a Sirius Satellite Radio station. Replays of the show can be heard throughout the day on Howard 100 and various times on Howard 101.

The "King of All Media" (the title was a joking reference to Michael Jackson's appellation "The King of Pop") has been dubbed a shock jock for his highly controversial use of scatological, sexual and racial humor, and exploitation of his guests. Stern and many of his fans hate the term "Shock Jock." He has said himself, "The show was never about shocking people."^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} Rather he claims that the main thing he offers on the air is his honest opinion, which can be given on any issue ranging from world affairs to the weight problems of a co-worker. 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 (and a few AM stations) throughout the United States until his last broadcast via terrestrial radio on December 16, 2005. He began broadcasting via the subscription-based Sirius satellite radio service on January 9, 2006.

His national television shows include The Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV, which ran in the early 1990s; Howard Stern, consisting of segments from his radio show, which ran from 1994 to 2005 on E!; and The Howard Stern Radio Show, which ran from 1998 to 2001 in syndication. The Howard Stern Show was a weekly skit-driven show that was produced in the Secaucus, New Jersey studios of WWOR-TV and shown in selected markets. The other shows were produced from video footage of his live radio broadcast.

Since November 18, 2005, Howard TV has been available on television through the iN DEMAND video on demand pay service that various cable TV systems offer. Currently, this includes uncensored versions of shows which previously aired on E! and video from his Sirius show. Howard TV also includes movies (Ex. Supertwink), skits, bits, wack packer videos, behind-the-scenes videos and anything else related to the show.

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 annual Celebrity 100[Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities] Forbes.com, June 2006, which lists the most influential celebrities in the world.

Contents

1 Early life and career

1.1 The Move to Sirius Satellite Radio
1.2 CBS Lawsuit

2 See also
3 Notes
4 External links

4.1 Source Links and others
4.2 Fan Sites

Early life and career

Howard Stern was born into a Jewish American family in Roosevelt, Long Island, New York. His father, Ben, owned a recording studio in Manhattan, and Howard developed an interest in broadcasting as a child when he would accompany his father to work. Although both his parents are Jewish, Stern long claimed on his show to be "a half-Jew" and "half-Italian" via his mother Rae. This claim is most likely a comedy bit, as Stern sometimes utters Yiddish phrases on the air and says he is speaking in Italian. Gilbert Gottfried joked about his supposed "half-Jewishness" at Stern's 2006 birthday party, making tongue-in-cheek anti-Semitic comments. Stern's Hebrew name is Tzvi; his paternal grandparents, Froim and Anna (Gallar) Stern, and maternal grandparents, Sol and Esther (Reich) Schiffman, were Jews from Austria-Hungary who immigrated to America at about the same time.

Stern often said that his parents "abused" him as a child, and presumptions of verbal abuse were confirmed when Stern played old family recordings during a 1990 broadcast.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} Many pieces of those old recordings have become soundbites, with such paternal gems 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 one of the few white students in a predominantly African American school, until 1969. Stern's family then moved, and he attended South Side High School, where he graduated in 1972 [It Happened In Long Island] Newsday. In 1976 he received his Bachelor's degree in communications from Boston University, carrying a 3.8 GPA where he had worked (before being fired) as a volunteer at the campus radio station WTBU. Stern now awards at scholarship[Office of Financial Aid] Boston University at Boston University.

24-year-old Stern at WRNW, circa February 1978.

After graduation, he worked as a disc jockey for WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, located 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. The radio stations with a progressive rock format lend itself nicely to developing Howard's "free-form" personality. It was at the Hartford radio station where Howard also met his future show writer and producer, Fred Norris, who was working as an overnight deejay as well. He migrated to an FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan (WWWW known as W4). After developing his show at W4 (and after the station moved to a country format) he moved on to Washington, D.C. (putting in a year at DC101 and making it the #1 station in town in the process), and returned to New York in 1982 to work at NBC's flagship AM radio station WNBC-AM. 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 the FM band by joining local rival station WXRK, premiering on November 18, 1985 and returning permanently to morning drive in February 1986. Stern's show was syndicated nationwide starting in 1986 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.

On June 4, 1978, Stern married his college sweetheart, Alison Berns, at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, Massachusetts. They have three daughters: Emily Beth (b. 1983), Deborah Jennifer (b. 1986) and Ashley Jade (b. 1993). A hallmark of Stern's humor was that he often expressed how tempted he was by the strippers, porn stars, and lesbians who appeared on his show, but always insisted that he had to be faithful to his wife.

In October of 1999, Stern announced that Alison was divorcing him, due to the fact that he is a workaholic. The couple's divorce proceeding resulted 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 show, Howard and Carmen deny anything more intimate than an outdoor shower in bathing suits took place. 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.

The Move to Sirius Satellite Radio

On October 6, 2004, Stern announced on his show that he signed a five year, a $500 million deal with the satellite radio service Sirius. An additional $225 million one time stock bonus which he would receive if the show attracted a certain amount of listeners in a given time, which it did.

The $500 million contract and $225 million stock deal placed Stern at second richest celebrity of the year at $302 million dollars. Ahead of George Lucas, Oprah Winfrey, The Rolling Stones and even Tom Cruise.[The Celebrity 100] Forbes.com The deal, which took effect on January 1, 2006, would enable Stern to broadcast his show without, at present, the content restrictions imposed by the FCC. In addition, the deal would also enable Stern to program an additional Sirius channel.

CBS Lawsuit

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, seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Not to be outdone, Stern earlier in the day (and prior to CBS's announcement) held a press conference at which, among other things, Stern said CBS added to the media attention and it, booking him for appearances on its news magazine show "60 Minutes" and "Late Show with David Letterman." "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?"^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Leslie Moonves himself 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 even added that he bought Sirius stock. This revelation was brought up to the public by Howard himself numerous times. Stern himself even brought up the fact that 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 saying and putting out before the public.

On May 11, 2006 CBS claimed they were near settling the lawsuit with Stern. "We have an agreement but there are details that have to be worked out" , CBS lawyer Irvin Nathan [Stern nears settlement with CBS] Reutuers

On May 26, 2006 Agreement Announced. [Stern CBS Reach Agreement] Reuteers

On June 7, 2006 As a result of the CBS lawsuit settlement, Howard Stern announced on his show that Sirius now has exclusive rights to all his tapes from his CBS days (about 23,000 hours) for a payment of $2 million (approximately $87/hour of tape).

Notes

External links

Source Links and others

[Howard Stern Official Web Site]
[Howard Stern On Demand official site]
[Marks Friggin] (daily radio show summaries; extensive archive!)
[King Of All Media Website] (Before there was Howard 100 News, there was KOAM.COM!)
[Howard Stern] at About.com
[The Complete Howard Stern Links!]
[SternSounds.com]
[Stern Soundboard]

Fan Sites

[Stern Fan Network]
[Stern Fans Uncensored] Message Board
[Howarldallanstern.com] News, Blogs and Forums
[SternAndMore Yahoo! Group]
[SternShowOpinion.com] Blog-style opinions of Stern show staff, guests, & events

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