Many of my readers will be surprised that I am a Howard Stern. He was a part of my growing up in the 1990s. You never knew what was going to come out of Stern's mouth. 1994 was a lot different than 2024. Howard Stern is a lot different now. Before Stern went mainstream there was just something so wrong about him that you had to listen to him. It is impossible to listen to him now and talk about the latest cat he saved with his young wife or the latest interview he had with the boring Bruce Springstein. When did he change? Here is the timeline:
December 2009: Amid continuing addiction issues, Artie Lange departs the Howard Stern Show. The show chooses not to fill the "Artie Chair"
January 2011: At the start of a new contract with SiriusXM, the show drops from airing regularly 4 days a week (Monday to Thursday) to airing regularly 3 days a week (Monday to Wednesday).April 2012: Stern and Buchwald's lawsuit against SiriusXM (over claims that SiriusXM did not pay them annual subscriber bonuses after Sirius merged with XM and absorbed XM's subscribers) is dismissed "with prejudice." Though Stern continues working with SiriusXM and signs (at least) two 5-year renewals with the company, it has been suggested by fans that this leaves Stern bitter and less willing to develop original content for his channels.
2012: Marci Turk, with no previous radio experience, is hired as Chief Operating Officer of the Howard Stern Show. Unlike other staff members, she is rarely referenced on air. In media profiles since her hiring, Turk has been credited with "softening" the image of Stern and his show and attracting bigger-name celebrities to come on as guests.
October 2012: Longtime regular Gilbert Gottfried makes his final appearance on the show, though rumors persist that he was ostensibly banned for spitting on cupcakes in the hallway during a previous appearance in November 2010. Gilbert later reveals in interviews that he was told by Baba Booey that the show "doesn't book stand-ups" anymore. Please note that Amy Schumer is a regular guest on the show over the next decade.
December 2012: Though the video is not leaked until 2019, Stern addresses his staff at "Revolution 2013" that has become known as "The Pelican Brief." During the nearly hour-long presentation, Stern lectures his staff on numerous topics, including how to attract more "A-list" celebrities to the show. This includes the often-ridiculed suggestion that he created the careers of major stars like Jerry Seinfeld and that the staff should create fake Twitter accounts to encourage celebrities to go on the Stern show.
December 2013: Howard TV is discontinued. Stern hypes its upcoming replacement, "Howard 360", which is eventually revealed to be simply video clips from the show on the SiriusXM app. Notable Howard TV personalities that contributed to the show, such as Scott DePace, are gone from the show.
September 2014: Eric the Actor, whose calls regularly took up hours of airtime, dies. C-level callers like Bobo and Hanzi are soon elevated, likely to fill Eric's usual airtime. Hanzi is banned from the show in April 2016.
January 16, 2015: The Wrap-Up Show officially becomes the Jon and Gary call-in show with the occasional D-level guest that rarely features anything but Jon and Gary talking about how great the show was that day. Other staff members are banned from sitting in on the show.
May 2019: Stern publishes a book of interview transcripts, Howard Stern Comes Again. Promotion for the book further pushes the "World's Greatest Interviewer" angle. In the book and promotional interviews, Stern cites a disastrous interview with Robin Williams as one of his biggest regrets (and that he tried to apologize to Williams before he died), though no one can find such an interview as it is described by Stern. The book sells 147,000 copies in its first week. In contrast, Private Parts sold over 1 million copies in its first 3 weeks.
March 2020: As a result of COVID-19, the Howard Stern Show staff begins "broadcasting" from their homes. Listeners suspect that some content and interviews are pre-taped, and the staff continues to work from home long after many other prominent broadcasters have returned to their studios. Robin's News, a staple of the show from decades, is abruptly ended. As of March 2021, the show is still being broadcast from home...
RIP: The Howard Stern Show...
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