Howard Stern is an American radio personality who his best known for his radio show, The Howard Stern Show. Stern describes himself as the "King of All Media" for his successes in the radio, television, film, music and publishing industries.
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On April 16, 1987, a meeting was held between Stern and management of WNYW, the flagship television station of Fox Broadcasting Company. The network was considering Stern as a replacement to The Late Show hosted by Joan Rivers in its 11:00 pm hour.[1] Five one-hour pilots titled The Howard Stern Show were recorded at a cost of about $400,000.[2] They featured rock guitarist Leslie West of Mountain fame as band leader and Steve Rossi as announcer and singer.[3] By early June, air dates were yet to be scheduled; the pilots were instead being tested among focus groups in California. With no formal announcement, the network cancelled the series in July.[4] Paul Noble, the former executive producer for WNYW, was never told of Fox's decision. "By today's standards, they were absolutely tame." He also said, "They were not the kind of thing that a local New York television station was prepared to get involved with at that time. It was more like off-the-wall radio."[4]
Stern was approached by Bob Woodruff, vice president of program development at WWOR-TV, in early 1990. He agreed to host a weekly late night television show at a production and salary budget of $100,000.[5] The Howard Stern Show made its launch on July 14, 1990 with four Saturday night pilots. The program entered national syndication in January 1991 by All American Television.[6][7] Unlike the Fox pilots, Stern enjoyed greater creative freedom. The WWOR show featured outrageous segments including "Guess the Jew" and "Lesbian Dating Game". A critic of the Los Angeles Times described the show as "at once incredibly funny and incredibly vile."[6] In the New York market, The Howard Stern Show often doubled those of Saturday Night Live on NBC during the half-hour the two programmes overlapped.[8] In Los Angeles, the show managed to attract a 34.4% market share at 12:30 am in the males aged 18 to 49 demographic.[9]
In July 1992, The Howard Stern Show came to an end. "We made this business decision, even though the show had high ratings, because the cost exceeded the revenue," a WWOR spokeswoman explained.[10] A total of 69 episodes were broadcast to 65 markets across the country; the last airing on August 8, 1992.[11][7]
The Howard Stern Interview was a late night talk show featuring Stern hosting a half-hour, one-on-one interview program with a celebrity guest. Shown on the E! Entertainment Television channel from 1992–1993, Stern signed a contract for a reported $1.1 million for a total of 36 episodes. It quickly became the highest-rated show on the E! network, demonstrating Stern's ability to carry a show by himself, without the rest of his radio show staff. The interviews were known for being intimate and personal, with questions that celebrities were not normally asked.
The show, first airing on November 27, 1992, ran for 30 minutes and was produced by Mark Keizer. E! re-aired Stern's interview with Phil Hartman and his wife Brynn Hartman after she murdered her husband and then committed suicide.
E! Entertainment Television announced on May 31, 1994 that Howard Stern confirmed a deal with the entertainment cable channel to bring his popular morning radio show, which was broadcast from WXRK at the time, to television.[12] Six robotic cameras were installed in the small studio at 600 Madison Avenue to film the five-hour radio show. "The best part of all this is that my genius will be seen in so many more homes now" Stern said. "It's a dream come true."[12] Two sneak preview shows were aired on June 18, with the first official episode being broadcast on June 20. The television shows broadcast on January 21, 1999 and February 5, 2004 at 11:00pm marked the 1,000th and 2,000th episodes respectively.[13][14]
On October 6, 2004, Stern announced that he had signed a five-year contract with SIRIUS XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, that began from January 2006.[15] The move allowed Stern to broadcast without the content restrictions imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that he faced while broadcasting on terrestrial radio. As a result, the E! show came to an end as Stern announced on August 3, 2005 that he made a deal with iN DEMAND Networks, a Video on Demand digital cable service, to create Howard Stern on Demand.[16] The new, uncensored channel allowed the filming of the radio show at SIRIUS XM in high-definition. The radio show broadcast on July 1, 2005 was the last to be filmed for a "new episode" for airing the following week on July 8. The hour-long special featured members of the E! show staff saying their farewells (although some of the crew continued working for the show at SIRIUS XM) and telling their favorite show moments. The show was a consistent performer in the network's ratings.[17]
The Howard Stern Radio Show was an American late night television show that ran on Saturday nights on the CBS network from August 1998 to May 2001. The vast majority of CBS affiliates never carried the show, particularly those that covered rural areas. It ran for a total of 3 series including 84 episodes. The show featured filmed highlights of The Howard Stern Show, in a similar format seen in Howard Stern, the half hour show that was broadcast on E! from 1994 to 2005. The Howard Stern Radio Show however, included new segments such as animations of song parodies and exclusive behind the scenes footage.
The show was intended to be a rival for Saturday Night Live on NBC. Though the show often got higher ratings than SNL in New York City, it was routinely in second place, or sometimes third place to MADtv on Fox.
In January 2006, Howard TV was launched as an on-demand television service, to coincide with the beginning of his 5-year contract with Sirius Satellite Radio. It covers the daily happenings of Stern's radio show, as well as providing original programming and footage from the E! show. In 2008, it was decided that Howard TV would continue to at least January 2011 (the end of Stern's current radio contract).
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