Howard Stern, the bad boy of radio


Howard Stern. What pops in your head when you hear his name? His views on censorship? Crude jokes? His usual porn star radio guests? Love him or hate him, Howard Stern has influenced talk show radio tremendously. He has been in the radio industry for many years starting with his first radio job in 1978 for a Hartfort, Connecticut radio mourning show. His career blossom and worked at stations in Detroit and Washington D.C., where his show straight to number one. He also worked for The David Letterman Show, but was fired for an inappropriate sketch. In February 1986, he had a permanent mourning slot for WYSP in Philadelphia, which eventually went nation wide. Besides a radio show, he was given the opportunity to star in his own movie called Private Parts, which to my surprise had great reviews.

I believe Howard Stern's show was one of the earliest form of "reality" radio broadcasting. The Howard Stern show was filled with comedy (prank calls), news, (celebrities and "real" news) celebrity guests, and his opinions Stern did have a serious side and times would discuss politics. During the late 1990s, the tragic Columbine shooting occurred, but this time Stern really angered many people. He made a comment he regarding the shooting, which offended many.

"There were some really good-looking girls running out with their hands over their heads. Did those kids try to have sex with any of the good-looking girls? They didn't even do that? At least if you're going to kill yourself and kill all the kids, why wouldn't you have some sex? If I was going to kill some people, I'd take them out with sex."

In my opinion, the comment was a bit uncalled for, especially because the event was so tragic. To be blunt, it was a asshole comment, but he's entitled with the right of freedom of speech. Fast forward to February 25, 2004 the Clear Channel Communications suspended him from six markets because of alleged sexual and racist comments during his show. Moreover, Stern was fed up with the CCC's suspensions and fines that he decided to move to satellite radio.

Howard Stern did not have the greatest reputation, because to many he was "real" maybe even the people's voice. The media a deceiving industry, so its difficult to distinguish who's "real" or not in the media industry. For all we know Stern might be saying outrageous statements to increase his ratings, but thats another story.

I have to appreciate Stern for not sugar coating anything. Yes, many found him offensive at times, but Stern will go down in media history. Many listeners tuned to his show and Stern was able to communicate his opinions, views, etc. to millions. Talk about impact! To have that much power and influence is huge. Howard Stern may be a little too offensive for my taste at times, but he was an entertainer. Stern, would anger me at times because of his crude comment, but then again he made me laugh with this potty mouth jokes. All and all, Radio media would not be where they are today without Stern.