Stern, Howard (1954—)

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Stern, Howard (1954—)

Howard Stern evokes the kind of controversy that you wouldn't expect from a typical celebrity. Stern, however, is not a typical celebrity. The audience for his nationally broadcast morning show numbers in the millions, and it is comprised mostly of men, aged 25 to 54, who listen religiously. A typical morning on the Howard Stern Show might include discussions on sex, lesbianism, race relations, lawyers, the latest tabloid stories, or flatulence. His radio show transcends the bounds of good taste and has tested the limits of radio broadcasting codes and regulations for over 20 years.

Howard Allen Stern was born on January 12, 1954, in the Queens borough of New York City. His father, Ben, was an engineer at a Manhattan radio station and was hard on his only son, frequently calling him a "moron." Stern describes his mother, Ray, as an overprotective woman who thought that her son would grow up sensitive if he played with puppets. The idea backfired, however, when little Howard put on X-rated puppet shows for his friends in his parent's basement.

Stern graduated from high school in 1972 and enrolled at Boston University, where he pursued a degree in broadcasting. Graduating in 1976, he started working for WRNW-AM in Briarcliff, New York, as an afternoon disc jockey (DJ) and eventually took over several other duties, including both program and production directors. It was at WRNW that Stern realized that he would have to be funnier than normal DJs if he wanted to be a success. His first antics on the air included bizarre commercial spots complete with weird sound effects and off-color calls to the business owners. Stern lasted about two years at WRNW before moving to Hartford, Connecticut, to work for WCCC. Further honing his comedic technique, he experimented with on-air gags such as the "Cadaverathon," a fundraiser for the Yale University Medical School, which was purported to lack corpses for its students. Another event was his "To Hell With Shell" campaign aimed at gas companies and the long lines at the pumps during the late 1970s fuel shortage. Routines like these got him noticed by WWWWFM in Detroit, a rock station that took him on in 1979. More irreverent gags and sketches followed, including a bra-burning demonstration in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, and a raunchy daily piece in which a dominatrix would call in and give the weather forecast. Then, literally overnight, WWWW changed its format to country and Stern left.

In 1978 Stern married his college sweetheart, Alison Berns, a social worker. Stern tested the strength of his marriage by making it the subject of frequent on-air conversations. When his wife miscarried their first child Stern did a sketch on it, a call from God himself who denigrated him for not being able to reproduce. The consequences were disastrous, for the gag hurt his wife severely. Reaching a point where nothing was sacred on his show, Stern would even make fun of his wife's clients and their odd behavioral habits. Stern apologized for such antics in his first book, Private Parts (1993), but still jokingly attacks his marriage to Alison on his show. The two have three children, all girls, and Stern does insist that he is a family-oriented man.

In 1981 Stern began working for WWDC-FM in Washington, D.C. Building a base for his morning show, he persuaded his supervisors to hire Fred Norris, a comedy writer with whom he worked in Hartford. Though Stern jokes that Norris does nothing for the show, Norris's part is a large one, doing voices, sound effects, and bogus recordings of celebrity voices. It was at WWDC that Stern first met Robin Quivers, who has been Stern's news anchor ever since. Quivers, a Baltimore native, had her reservations about working with Stern at first, but was clearly impressed with his spontaneous, unrehearsed style. In February 1982, Stern pulled what may have been his most outrageous stunt when, in the wake of the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into the 14th Street Bridge, he called the airline and asked how much a one-way ticket to the bridge would cost. The call offended many listeners, though Stern claimed that he was expressing his own outrage against the flight crew that allowed the plane to take off without the wings being de-iced. Shortly thereafter Stern was fired from DC-101 (though not for the prank call—he was fired for referring to station management as "scumbags").

Stern was quickly hired to work for WNBC-FM, fulfilling his dream of working in New York City. But Stern found himself in frequent disagreements with his superiors at NBC. In order to control Stern's antics, his superiors would often write new rules and regulations for him to follow. Stern usually refused and was suspended several times before he was fired in September of 1985. It wasn't long before a competing New York station, WXRK-FM (K-Rock), picked him up. The station promised Stern no restrictions in running his show. Stern brought along Quivers, Norris, Gary Dell'Abate, a former producer for NBC and the show's punching bag, and his chief comedy artist, Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling, who did a large part of the show's writing. One addition to his crew of regulars was "Stuttering" John Melendez, whose own speech impediment was put to use by Stern. Stern believed that no one would turn down an interview with a stutterer, even one that asked rude questions. Only months after starting at K-Rock, Stern was given the chance to move his show to the coveted morning slot, in direct competition with fellow "shock jock" Don Imus. Stern prized the rivalry with Imus, who remained the whipping boy for Stern and his crew into the 1990s.

In 1986 Stern completed his objective, surpassing Imus in the ratings. To celebrate the event, Stern organized a mock funeral at Rockefeller Center.

In 1990 Stern launched the TV version of the Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV in New York. The program was a visual rendition of his radio show but was ultimately canceled because of budget setbacks. The Howard Stern Interview followed but also didn't last. In 1994 the E! network began broadcasting a 30-minute simulcast of his radio show, using several stationary cameras placed in the radio studio. In August 1998, Stern launched yet another talkshow, called The Howard Stern Radio Show, which aired directly opposite Saturday Night Live.

Private Parts is mostly a memoir of events in Stern's broadcasting career as well as his childhood, and became the fastest selling item in the history of its publisher, Harper Collins. The book saw a resurgence in sales in 1995 when Stern released his second book, Miss America, which featured Stern himself on the cover in drag. Private Parts was made into a full-length film in 1997. Stern supposedly rejected 13 scripts before settling on what he thought was the best representation of his book. The film received positive reviews and is mostly a tribute to his relationship with his wife. A very funny and surprisingly touching film, it reenacts many of the sketches that marked his early career. It also gives more insight into his partnership with Robin Quivers and their undying friendship.

Though his radio show has brought him millions of fans, he has had one consistent enemy throughout his career: the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Stern's radio station owner, Infinity Broadcasting, was fined $600,000 in 1992 after Stern boasted about masturbating to pictures of Aunt Jemima and having rough sex with Michelle Pfeiffer. It was not the first but only the most dramatic in a series of inquiries, reprimands, and fines aimed at Stern since 1986. Stern alleged that the FCC had a personal vendetta against him, and told Rolling Stone that he'll never win against the powerful government organization "because they're bureaucrats … they've got all the time in the world and they're going to sit there and just wear me down."

Howard Stern has been called the "poet laureate of urban American white trash" and the funniest man on radio. He cites as his major influence Lenny Bruce, another comedian with the same disregard for moral standards. In total contrast to the neurotic personality he portrays on the radio, Stern and his wife practice transcendental meditation and lead a very normal life.

—Tom Trinchera