Posted on 02/22/2022 3:56:14 AM PST by Kaslin
According to the movie “Private Parts,” Howard Stern once worked in Detroit. I was alive at the time, though very young, therefore I have no memory of him. Growing up in Detroit, we were not a city that had his nationally syndicated morning show, so I’d never heard of him until he started doing TV – first David Letterman, then his own local show on WOR on New York and, through the miracle of cable, everywhere else. I liked it. Not because it was great, it was just fair most of the time, but because it seemed to be pushing the standards allowed on television, it took risks. They didn’t always pay off, but he took them. Howard Stern takes no risks anymore.
When someone says, “This isn’t your mother’s” something or other, it is usually appropriate. Things change and time marches on. But if you were to say “Howard Stern isn’t your mother’s radio,” it would only be true depending upon when you said it. In the 1980s and 1990s, no doubt your mom would’ve been very upset you were listening to, and likely laughing hysterically at, “that filth on the radio.” Now, thanks to age or cowardice, Stern mostly says things that your mother would likely approve of…if your mother is paranoid when it comes to COVID 19.
I have SiriusXM in my car because it was incredibly cheap, $5 per month, and I enjoy The Beatles Channel and some of the news. I’ve had it for a few years now, always holding off on re-upping my subscription until they drop the rate to the bottom of the barrel.
I also enjoyed Stern in those years, as more of an add-on than an attraction, but still enjoyed it. Since COVID, his show is unbearable.
I get anyone being cautious, especially at the beginning of the pandemic – no one knew anything and the paranoia stoked by the media and Democrats was not seriously challenged by anyone. We simply didn’t know enough about the bug to know what to think.
But it didn’t take too long for us to figure some things out, and the more we figured out the less afraid we became. Well, most of us became, not all of us.
There are people who still boil every piece of mail or get into scuba gear to go grocery shopping. You see these people looking like a dime-store welder with their face shields, unaware of how air works. You almost feel sad for them.
Howard Stern is one of them, or at least he plays one on the radio.
The thing about Stern is you never know when it’s a joke. You used to be able to, mostly by whether it was funny or not, but now you can’t. He made his name playing a character on the radio he swore was not the real him – a pervert making uptight squares uncomfortable with strippers, hookers, and whatever else his team could find. Then he divorced the wife he’d sworn he was loyal to and in love with…
The fact that he’s played a character his whole life does make you wonder if you’re getting the real him now, or if you ever have. But whatever he is, how he is on the radio now is a nerdy shut-in absolutely convinced COVID 19 is hunting him. This could be done in a funny way, but it’s not.
When he talks to staff who’ve attended events, like the Super Bowl, he always asks about people wearing masks. He openly whines about people who oppose vaccine mandates, while he advocates forced shots or exclusion from health care. The “rebel” is now an appendage of the state. I’ll leave it up to you to choose which appendage.
If he’s not playing a character, it’s sad what age can do to a once clever guy. If he is playing one, it’s a sad commentary on what time has convinced him is an interesting one.
Whatever the case, Stern has lost a few steps. With every guest he gets around to whining about vaccines; he assumes everyone he has on agrees with him, which makes for boring chunks of interviews.
I never really got to listen to the mythical Howard Stern on terrestrial radio, but I’m told he was brilliant. I only caught glimpses on TV, which were different at the time, but feel tame now. Whatever he was, he’s not anymore. COVID broke a lot of people – think about any “Karen” you’ve seen video of screaming at people for not wearing a mask outside. That’s now Howard Stern. COVID broke him. If he can’t be put back together again, if he doesn’t have the content in the front of his underwear to move on from his paranoia, he should at least spend less time talking about the content in the back of his underwear that paranoia scared out of him.
I used to listen to Howard Stern on the radio when I was in High School, but I grew out of him, and now I can’t stand him.
These are just weird people who I will never understand.
Howard Stern ... the Tiny Tim of talk radio ...
“Shock Jocks” aren’t BFF’s with Oprah and Gale King.
Who still listens to him, anyway?
People that can’t let go of 1983?
Stern is now a menopausal old woman complete with cats thanks to Beth.
Used to listen to him driving to school when he had a morning slot on WWDC - DC101. ~1980. Yeah, we had some good laughs about his show.
Seems he went off the deep end later.
I sometimes wonder what Don Imus would have to say about masks and lockdowns ...
Ditto, except i first heard of him early in college.
Townhall used to feature great content, now it’s reduced to some guy with a satellite radio subscription writing about shock jocks.
Never cared much for shock-jocks
I spefically rejected Sirius XM Radio because of Howard Sternum’s association with it, and I ain’t no prude.
Ironically I've been a Sirius subscriber practically since it began and yet I've never listened to the Howard Stern station even one time. Last time I heard Howard Stern was on terrestrial radio some 30 years ago. Even then, he was old hat with his sophomoric jokes about breasts and farts. You have to be a 15 year old boy to fully appreciate them.
Stern has always been an insecure boy who never quite grew up. He did have the vision to see how being a "shock jock" could make him famous and rich but it was all just an act. The real Howard Stern is nowhere close to the character you hear on the radio.
Circa 1993-2003 I lived in NJ and worked on W 57 & 12th. Had to be at work by 7am and would switch between Stern (93.3?) and 1010wins. WINS was usually more amusing.
Nor I. Maybe that's because I was more shocking than the lot of them.
I haven't listened in years, even though I too have XM. He's allegedly "matured" into a great interviewer. Well, I listened to an interview with Robert Plan on YouTube and he sucks.
Howard is no longer relevant, and THAT probably eats him up more than his covid paranoid.
In contrast, on WABC the Curtis and Kuby show was MUCH better, entertaining, enlightening, and informative. Ron Kuby is as liberal as they come, but he was smart and at time reasonable (other times he was a loon). Curtis...well...he's a showman but he bleeds NYC and was the perfect compliment to Kuby. That show trumped Howard.
I spend my commutes now streaming Bandcamp and their recommended new, unsigned music. In turn, anyone under 40 is streaming Rogan on their commute. Times change.
Was a huge fan in the NBC days, and the K ROCK era up until “Private Parts,” when the decline started. Did not subscribe to Sirius as even back then I saw him falling more in love with himself.
He lost me with his Trump bashing and believing someone ate a bat that caused all this.
Wasn’t Howard Stern a shock jock or something back in the 80’s. I thought he died a few years ago . . .I guess not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.