Posted on 12/16/2005 4:19:04 AM PST by Momaw Nadon
NEW YORK - The free ride for Howard Stern fans ends Friday. Stern, a New York radio fixture for 20 years and host of a syndicated show for 12 million daily listeners, bids farewell to his fans with a final show on terrestrial radio. On Jan. 9, Stern makes his move to satellite radio — where his once-free speech will cost listeners $12.95 a month.
Stern, no surprise, will not leave quietly. He's scheduled a two-hour party in midtown Manhattan to say goodbye to his loyal listeners. And he plans to deliver an address to fans on his final show, finishing up a quarter-century on terrestrial radio as arguably its most influential figure.
Stern leaves behind a plethora of imitators spawned in the wake of his success, when his show enjoyed an unprecedented ratings run to hit No. 1 in New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Los Angeles.
His move to Sirius Satellite Radio, while somewhat risky, comes with a huge financial reward: Stern signed a five-year, $500 million contract to create two new channels for Sirius. The salaries, overhead and other programming costs come out of his windfall.
During his career, Stern evolved into the center of attention in First Amendment issues and censorship. Infinity Broadcasting paid $1.7 million in 1995 to settle complaints by the Federal Communications Commission against Stern. In April 2004, Clear Channel dumped Stern from six stations because of his show's content.
Sirius is depending on Stern to reverse its money-losing ways. Since the 51-year-old shock jock announced his move last year, the number of Sirius subscribers jumped from 600,000 to more than 2.2 million. That figure is expected to hit 3 million by the end of the year.
LOL! What is that writer smoking?
But he WAS on the Grassy Knoll!
IT's pouring in NYC..cold hard rain..his parade is getting dumped on...guess God has a sens of humor, eh?
The World is a better place with Howard Stern off of it.
He's got fans?
What does it tell you that of all the posts, yours is the only one to find him enjoyable?
Beware lest the portal close too rapidly and smite thee where thou should have been more oft smitten lo, these many years.
Can't stand him...never watched him....
Hey FCC! Checkmate! Ya douchebags.
I've done a lot of stupid things in my youth and I've stayed up all night lots of times but I've never GOTTEN up at 3AM only to get totally plastered by 4:30.
This can't end well.
> Thanks for telling me that. I've been laughing at him for the last 22 years and now I find out he's not funny. What was I thinking???
Dunno, mate. If I saw Stern hanging around a playground full of kids, I'd call the cops. Be his motives good, bad or indifferent: he's creepy, his mind is constantly in the gutter, and his sewer mouth desperately needs a good washing with detergent.
I'm no prude, and I know and use more choice sailor words than are good for anybody, in several languages. And I know a few dirty jokes. But I don't use 'em to put bread on the table and to feed and clothe my kids. And I don't subject all-and-sundry to them over the public airwaves.
Neither should he. So good riddance.
Howard Stern......you're no Bob Grant.
That picture of that pencil necked, chicken chested, foul mouthed Midnight Cowboy really needs a Barf Alert!!!!
Have you ever even heard the show?
To have this filth on the public airwaves did nothing more than degrade community standards.
Perform in a club, do private parties, spew his schmuts on MTV, fine.....but far too many teens thought this guy was cool.
IPUS is irrelevant so he does less harm than Stern who seems to have garnered a cult following.
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