Howard Stern television shows

Stern in 2000.

Howard Stern is an American radio personality who is best known for his radio show The Howard Stern Show. Stern (along with his followers) describes himself as the "King of All Media" for his successes in the radio, television, film, music and publishing industries.

The Howard Stern Show (Fox)

Opening title for Stern's Fox pilot.

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 bandleader 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]

The Howard Stern Show (WWOR)

The Howard Stern Interview

The Howard Stern Interview is a late-night talk show featuring Stern hosting a half-hour, one-on-one interview program with a celebrity guest. Shown on the E! 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.

The Howard Stern Radio Show

Opening title

The Howard Stern Radio Show is an American late-night television series that ran on Saturday nights in syndication (mostly on affiliates of CBS) from August 22, 1998 to May 19, 2001. Although the show was syndicated it was largely sold to CBS affiliates, with only a handful of other stations airing it- it was in fact syndicated by CBS' in-house distribution firm of the time, Eyemark Entertainment, which was previously Group W Productions prior to the CBS-Westinghouse merger of 1995; after 2000, Eyemark was merged into the newly-acquired by CBS King World. Most of CBS' stations, including those in rural areas, did not pick the show up. It ran for a total of three seasons including 84 episodes. The show featured taped 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 also included new segments such as animations of song parodies and exclusive behind the scenes footage.

The show was intended to compete with 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, nationwide. It also lost two-thirds of its original affiliates over the course of the three-plus years the show was on air.

Howard Stern

Opening title

E! announced on May 31, 1994 that Stern confirmed a deal with the entertainment cable channel to bring his radio show, which was broadcast from WXRK at the time, to television.^[5] 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."^[5] 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 11:00 PM marked the 1,000th and 2,000th episodes respectively.^[6][7]

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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

Howard Stern On Demand/Howard TV

In January 2006, Howard TV is launched as an on-demand pay television service, to coincide with the beginning of his 5-year contract with Sirius XM Radio, and his new 5 year contract in 2011. It covers the daily happenings of Stern's radio show, as well as providing original programming and footage from the E! show.

Howard TV was owned and operated by In Demand through a joint ownership with Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks. Howard TV was not available on Verizon FIOS or other cable companies, since In Demand did not offer the exclusive content of Howard TV to their competition. Unlike normal cable networks owned by corporations that are under FCC rules about equal carrying of channels, on-demand content is under no such restrictions.

On September 16, 2013, Stern and In Demand announced that the Howard TV contract would not be renewed, and the service would end in December.^[11]

"Howard 360"

Following the cancelation of Howard TV in 2013, speculation of idea began to arise regarding Stern's future in television; future ideas mentioned include his own online streaming service, a return to cable, the creation of an exclusive cable network, and partnering with an already-existing online streaming service.^[12] On December 15, 2015 speculations were confirmed and an upcoming video streaming service was announced by Stern directly.^[13] The service, tentatively called "Howard 360", is still in production by Whalerock Industries, with no official launch date announced.^[14][15]

References

Bibliography

• Colford, Paul (1997). Howard Stern: King of All Media (2nd ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-96221-0. 
• Luerssen, John (2009). American Icon: The Howard Stern Reader. Lulu. ISBN 978-0-557-04204-3. 

External links

• Howard Stern television shows at the Internet Movie Database