The Howard Stern Show is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern. It gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005. The show has been exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, since 2006. Other prominent staff members include co-host and news anchor Robin Quivers, writer Fred Norris, and executive producer Gary Dell'Abate. The show developed in 1979 when Stern landed his first morning shift at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut, four years into his professional radio career. He continued to break out as a morning personality at WWWW in Detroit, Michigan in 1980, and was paired with Quivers in 1981 at WWDC in Washington, D.C.. In 1982, Stern's success in Washington led to a spot at WNBC in New York City, where he hosted the city's top afternoon show until his firing in 1985. That year, the show began a 20-year run at WXRK in New York City where it aired on a total of 60 markets across the United States and Canada and gained an audience of 20 million listeners at its peak. In the New York area, the show was the highest-rated morning program consecutively between 1994 and 2001. A total of $2.5 million in fines were issued to station licensees that carried the show by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for what it considered indecent material. Following Stern's contract with Sirius in 2004, the show left terrestrial radio in December 2005. Since 1994, the show has been filmed for television broadcast on E! (1994–2005), CBS (1998–2001), and HowardTV (2005–13), an on-demand digital cable service. In 2016, it will be available on an upcoming audio and video streaming service currently in development. Stern landed his first professional radio job while at Boston University, performing on-air skits, news casting and production duties at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts from August to December 1975.[1] He also hosted a show with three fellow students on WTBU, campus radio station, named The King Schmaltz Bagel Hour which was cancelled during its first broadcast for a sketch called "Godzilla Goes to Harlem".[2] After his graduation, Stern landed some cover shifts in December 1976 at WRNW, a progressive rock station in Briarcliff Manor, New York where he was subsequently hired full-time working middays.[3] He produced more creative commercials by calling the owners of businesses on the air, which he wrote "was mind-blowing to everyone there."[3] In 1979, Stern responded to an advertisement for a "wild, fun morning guy" at WCCC, rock station in Hartford, Connecticut.[4] He produced a more outrageous audition tape, playing Robert Klein and Cheech and Chong records mixed with flatulence routines and one-liners.[5] He was hired for the job, his first in a large radio market. As the station's public affairs director, Stern also hosted a half-hour interview show on Sunday mornings, which he favored as it contained no music. He would ask more unusual type questions to his guests, such as their dating habits.[6] Stern held a two-day boycott of Shell Oil Company during the summer of the 1979 energy crisis, which made Stern and the station make national news. Stern also began his "Dial-a-Date" routines at WCCC, and met Fred Norris, the station's overnight disc jockey who provided Stern's show with various comedic impressions of celebrities.[6] Norris would join the show as Stern's writer and producer in 1981.[7] When WCCC-FM was sold and ended its rock format on August 1, 2014, Howard called the station, talked about when he started and his time there, and thanked everyone for listening to the station. After Stern left WCCC for being denied a raise in salary,[8] he began a new morning shift at WWWW, a struggling rock outlet in Detroit, Michigan on April 21, 1980.[9] He learned to become more open on the air and "decided to cut down the barriers...strip down all the ego...and be totally honest...I still sounded like an FM announcer". Stern held a bra-burning event and wrestled women outside the studios, and invited listeners to confess the most outrageous places where they had sex, and record their calls for the air.[10][11] A stunt in which listeners paid $1.06 (the station's FM frequency) to hit a Japanese car with a sledgehammer earned Stern national mention. For his performance, Stern won a Billboard award for "Best Album-Oriented Rock Disc Jockey" and was featured in the Drake-Chenault "Top Five Talent Search" contest in the AOR category.[12] Published in January 1981, the fall Arbitron ratings showed that Stern trailed his three rock competitors with a 1.6% market share of the listening audience during an average quarter hour.[13] It was the final straw for management, who turned WWWW into a more successful country music format on January 18.[12] Much to his dislike, Stern left the station soon after and declined offers to work at CHUM in Toronto, WXRT in Chicago,[12] and WPLJ in New York City.

• published: 21 Mar 2016
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