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.
93.3 is WMMR out of Philly. I was a avid listener back in the early 1970s.
Once Jackie left the show went downhill. Once Artie left Stern made his move to shill. It’s been unlistenable ever since.
-SB
All the analysis of Howard Stern makes me laugh. I listened for years, they were hilarious at times. But Howard Stern is not a serious person he’s a greedy selfish money machine and his whole on radio persona is a fake.
Whether it was part of the shtick or not (well it was but then again...) Howard’s defining trait was always meanness. He did horrible things to his competitors, his former friends and many others. Probably John DeBella is the best example. After destroying his career Howard made DeBella appear on his show and bow to all Howard’s viciousness - especially about how DeBella’s wife had committed suicide.
Howard Stern is a prick.
Having said all that, in the emegency of 9/11 he stayed on the air and was the ONLY person telling the truth that day. I’ll never forget him saying “You know that second tower is coming down next”.
Jackie didn’t just leave Stern pushed him out because Jackie wanted a few more bucks. Then Stern promptly made a billion selling the show to Sirius.
I’ve seen Jackie at conventions he’s a nice unassuming guy.
I learned of the towers going down while driving to work and listening to Stern. In my memories it was Gary Dell’abate coming in and telling Howard and Robin that a plane had gone into the WTC.
Howard Stern used to be a dime-store pornographer with a radio show. Now, he’s basically a Woody Allen character: a completely neurotic New York freak.
His back and forth with Meg Griffin was classic.
He should take his own advise to Meg: “Calm the Frig down, Meg”.
93.3 is WMMR out of Philly. I was a avid listener back in the early 1970s.
Bought an FM converter for my 64 Galaxie just so I could have MMR on in the car. Way high tech then!
The golden age of radio was in NYC at the time. But I don’t think Howard was in that class. He was funny at times but made his money by being dirty so the kids could listen and snigger.
I remember when it was called “underground.” The little promos of the Marx Brothers (That’sa funny,what do you take for a haddock?) and an old one of Bill Murray saying “everybody get out,there’s a lobster loose!”
“At 93 point 3 FM, You’re listening to WMMR, Philadelphia...The Radio Station.” Vintage station IDs with “The Radio Station” slogan can still be heard from time to time on WMMR.
http://www.phillyradioarchives.com/history/wmmr
One and ONLY morning show in Detroit = The Drew and Mike Show.
We have a couple shock jocks in Omaha and several years ago, they were in support of raising property taxes because it penalized the apartment owners who were raping their tenants.
Called the show and asked them if an apartment owner had 10 units and their property tax was raised by $100, what was to keep the apartment owner from raising their rent by $10 a month. They kept saying the cost couldn’t be passed along as it was meant to punish the landlord. Both are “college” graduates. Must have missed Econ 101.
“Townhall used to feature great content, now it’s reduced to some guy with a satellite radio subscription writing about shock jocks.”
The author, Derek Hunter, is a voice that deserves greater attention.
You can click on the link above and read more of his columns. He subbed for Rush a few months prior to Rush’s death and hosts a podcast with an hour + every weekday of smart commentary.
Yep, once he divorced Alison, it wasn’t the same anymore.
Howard should have listened more to his Dad.....”SHUT UP! SIT DOWN! SHUT UP! SIT DOWN!...I told you not to be stupid, you moron!”
The problem is, Stern went Hollywood, and kisses Hollywood’s ass now.
This is pretty much it. He went from bucking the system to becoming its cheerleader. Not so funny anymore.
“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.”
There is yet a third option: That Howard Stern has become a tool of organized crime.
Gang guys always do that: They claim to extol their wives and offspring, but you and your offspring are their meat. They are rich no matter how many people they hurt: You try to be honest and upstanding and you have trouble paying all your bills. They claim to be conservative one minute and liberal the next. They wallow in things that most rational adults would run from in horror every weekend, but smile in your face and shake your hand with their nasty hand at church on Sunday morning. Whatever they say they are at the moment, that’s what they are.
Try criticizing them and see what happens. You can just be a 20-year-old working at McD’s or whatever and they will utterly ruin your life.
Meanwhile you wonder why they regularly humiliate or contradict themselves - not often, but at predictable times. Then later you see that they get a bunch of money from somewhere, no matter how lame or insulting their program is - like Stern got for turning on Donald Trump.
He’s not being inconsistent: He’s involved with organized crime. Not in a way he entirely likes, from all appearances.
This writer “psychic stoner” what a joke is living in a fantasy if he thinks they won’t turn their attention to him eventually.
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