from the NY Post
May 25, 2003
May 25, 2003 -- In a possible reflection of her upbringing in the small Texas town of Katy, the actress who commands more than $4 million per movie recently bought a modest home in East Hampton.
She is believed to have paid $2 million for a quaint farm house, built in the late 19th century.
Location is everything, agents say, and Zellweger's new holiday home is down the road from the prestigious Maidstone Club, a Hamptons icon.
But being neighbors might be as close as the actress gets to the oceanfront snob sanctuary. The exclusive club is unlikely to instantly welcome a Tinseltown newcomer to its membership roster, some members said.
The two-story, 2,200-square-foot home is on an acre of land with groves of well-established trees and a long driveway for privacy and security. It has four bedrooms and three baths. The floors are the original wide-planked timbers.
But Zellweger's choice was not a slam-dunk.
"She had her brokers looking for quaint and charming," said a local familiar with the search that began last summer. "There were as many as 15 houses that she had her people pre-qualify before she looked at five or six."
Zellweger's investment reflects a change in this year's East End real-estate trends.
Gone are the salad days of Jerry Seinfeld-like mega-transactions, when celebrities routinely shelled out truckloads of cash for sprawling seaside mansions.
Those buying into the market - like "Sex and the City" producer Darren Star, who purchased a $2.85 million house in East Hampton - have gone toward the lower end of the market.
But shock jock Howard Stern is an exception.
After renting in the Hamptons for the last few summers, Stern became the king of his castle last December when he bought a six-bedroom, six-bath oceanfront mansion on 1.7 acres in Amagansett for $5.5 million - a decent price.
Before Stern settled on the home on Shipwreck Drive, he looked at several high-end properties, including a 7-acre $10 million spread on Further Lane, and a $19 million Rafael Vinoly-designed mansion, also in East Hampton.
from the Boston Globe
March 20, 2003
We didn't think anyone would willingly take credit for a TV show that hinges on the libido of the leathery Lorenzo Lamas, one that makes nudity as sexy as a frog dissection in a tin pan. Who would openly claim responsibility for ABC's "Are You Hot? The Search for America's Sexiest People," a Nielsen-starved spectacle of bloated implants, hidden steroid tracks, and body-image-therapy dropouts?
But last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, also known as "The E! True Hollywood Inventory," Howard Stern filed a $10 million suit claiming that ABC stole the "Are You Hot?" idea from him. According to Stern's complaint, ABC ripped off his radio bit "The Evaluators" and ruined his plans to adapt it into a series of his own. Both "Are You Hot?" and "The Evaluators" expose stripped-down women to the laser wit (and the laser pointers) of three judges.
If Stern prevails, his suit could inspire a blizzard of theft allegations. After all, reality TV has a long list of influences, from Miss America pageants to Mattel's fleet of perfect, plastic dolls. Why Barbie herself could sue for appropriation of hair bounce.
But the fact is that Stern has more right than anyone, except perhaps Andy Warhol and the makers of MTV's "The Real World," to call himself a reality TV pioneer. Whether he deserves $10 million for originating "Are You Hot?," the King of All Media deserves notice as a forefather of what is now America's most popular TV pastime. With his Whack Pack of horny cohorts and nutcakes, he has blazed the trail of today's reality TV aesthetic -- the dating competitions, the carnival challenges, the voyeurism, the exhibitionism -- even if most reality TV fans might balk at the connection.
There's a lengthy list of links between Stern radio segments and reality concepts. Long before "Fear Factor," Stern was offering cash prizes to people for performing acts they find unpleasant. (Yesterday, he offered a straight coworker $250,000 to have gay sex.) Long before "The Bachelor," Stern was hooking up men and women, with players sharing their opinions just as the "Bachelorette" men addressed the camera about Trista. Long before "American Idol," Stern was letting bands perform in front of no-nonsense record producers. Long before "Extreme Makeover," Stern was in the habit of awarding women breast-implant surgery as a prize.
Of course, Stern's take on these sideshow games is more R-rated and fringe than what we generally see on prime time. The women who are cast on the likes of "Joe Millionaire" are PG versions of Stern's endless parade of shapely ladies, most of whom are porn stars or strippers. The Zoras and the Brookes and the Helenes of Fox and ABC don't get naked, even if at least one "Millionaire" contestant and one "American Idol" wannabe were accused of having soft-core pasts. But they do share the same desire to sell their dignity, and maybe play footsie in a hot tub or go for a suggestive walk in the woods, in exchange for a few minutes of media attention and a spot on "Entertainment Tonight."
And Stern's radio games (which are filmed and air nightly on E!) tend to do what reality TV does: They push cultural buttons. He has an instinct for isolating issues of gender, race, and sexuality, then bringing them to the fore in all their eternal controversy. It's similar to the way "Survivor: The Amazon" separated the men and women to create a battle of the sexes, or how "Joe Millionaire" turned dating into a question of greed versus love. Recently, Stern created a game in which politically impassioned men had to choose between delivering a radio speech to America or going on a date with a voluptuous woman. It was a provocative setup that some Fox executive is probably musing at this very moment.
And long before "The Osbournes" and its evil spawn, "The Anna Nicole Show," Stern and his friends were turning their mundane lives into outrageous entertainment. Just as television viewers eavesdrop on the "Real World" kids and the "Surreal Life" celebs, Stern listeners have been intimately acquainted with his romantic ups and downs, his obsessive-compulsive foibles, and his complicated feelings toward his parents, both of whom have been on the air. Listeners have also shared in the office parties and the staff fights, some of which have been comically brutal. It was fitting when Stern regular Stuttering John Melendez, so active in the on-air bickering, was cast on the reality monstrosity "I'm a Celebrity -- Get Me Out of Here!"
Ultimately, the common bond between Stern and reality TV may come down to humiliation. Women and men, and celebrities, agree to appear on both Stern's show and reality TV with the understanding that they may be embarrassed, ridiculed, or put down. And public humiliation -- the rejection by Evan, the insult from Simon Cowell, the failure to eat buffalo testicles, the successful ingestion of buffalo testicles -- is what has made reality such a craze. In 2003, that's entertainment.
from the NY Daily News
February 11, 2003
David Hinckley
NEW YORK WINNERS: WHTZ and WLTW were among the big local winners Saturday night in Billboard Airplay Monitor's 2003 Radio Awards.
In the mainstream top-40 category, WHTZ won as best major-market station and Cubby Bryant as best music director.
WLTW won as best adultcontemporary station in a major market, with WHUD named best in a secondary market. WLTW's Jim Ryan won as best program director.
WKTU's Frankie Blue was named best program director in the rhythmic top-40 category, and 'KTU's Jeff Z best music director.
Tony Mascaro of WPLJ won as best music director in adult top 40, and Mike Peer of WXRK as best modern-rock music director. Howard Stern won for syndicated program of the year.
--snips--
from Newsday
February 5, 2003
New Jersey now can't afford to keep open the Route 295 rest area that once carried the radio host's name. It will be shuttered, reportedly at a savings of $1 million a year.
The closing was detailed in McGreevey's budget, which he introduced Tuesday. McGreevey also cut all funding to the arts, sciences and cultural programs. Aid for higher education, rebates and social service programs were also cut to balance the $23.7 billion budget.
Twenty-three state workers are needed to staff the area around the clock, state officials said. It is one of three operated on state highways. Rest areas on the New Jersey Turnpike and other toll roads are independently operated.
Former Gov. Christie Whitman, now head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, joked that she would christen the restroom afterStern during a 1995 campaign stop.
Whitman's decision raised a hornet's nest of criticism from several groups, including the New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for Women, which says Stern demeans women.
In March 1995 workers installed a black and silver plaque complete with a caricature of Stern peeking from an outhouse at the Springfield Township rest stop.
Within days it was stolen, but someone later mailed Stern the plaque, which had been paid for by the state Republican Committee.
A voice mail message seeking comment from Stern's radio producer was not immediately returned Wednesday evening. His agent also did not immediately respond to an e-mail request for comment.
from the NY Observer
February 5, 2003
Howard Stern has officially ascended from the ranks of Hamptons renters. Recently, the shock jock signed a contract to buy the Amagansett house he's been renting for $5.5 million.
To hear his on-air cohort tell it, the house was already well broken in. During the July 22 broadcast of Mr. Stern's show, "Stuttering John" Melendez told a story about staying at the Amagansett home and becoming so aroused by his boss' romp in the bedsheets with his girlfriend Beth that he and his wife were inspired to have a go at it. When Mr. Melendez asked about the "boom, boom" he heard emanating from the master suite, Mr. Stern joked that it was probably just his nose hitting the wall.
Sources close to the deal confirmed that a closing is imminent on Mr. Stern's two-story shingle-style residence on Shipwreck Drive, a small dead-end road in one of the East End's posher hamlets. It's about 80 miles east of where the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" grew up -- in Roosevelt, N.Y., a small town in Nassau County. His Amagansett spread, which sits directly on the ocean, has six bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, two fireplaces, a one-car garage, and is surrounded by 1.7 acres of land. The house's traditional feel is the work of local architect Frank Hollenbeck (Robert De Niro's onetime designer).
Mr. Stern also owns a penthouse condo in the Millennium Tower on West 67th Street near Broadway.
Mr. Stern has made no secret about his house hunt, giving his radiolisteners -- andTVaudience, on the E! channel-- regular updates on the process. On Aug. 19, Mr. Stern played down a recent New York Post story that had him checking out a $19 million Rafael Viñoly -- designed East Hampton mansion. Mr. Viñoly, the architectural powerhouse behind a semifinalist design for the World Trade Center site, didn't impress the famously under-endowed radio personality, who called the house "gross" and said he wouldn't give $100,000 for the place.
--snips--
from The New Island Ear
November 29, 2002
K.C. Armstrong, associate producer of The Howard Stern Show and one-sixth of triple-x comedy team the Murderer's Row, is a throwback to the sort of man you simply don't see too often nowadays. He still refers to his father as "the old man," uses the word "diarrhea" way too much for someone who's not a proctologist and proclaims that he quit playing sports after college because he didn't want to "go play flag football with the rest of those homos." If that weren't enough, he is, in fact, the man behind the profound prophecy, "When they're your farts, each one's a prize, but when they're someone else's, it's a nuisance." This is also the same Armstrong who is routinely the butt of jokes on national radio for admittedly chewing his own toenails and defecating in his bed, among many other bizarre offenses.
So, it may come as a bit of a surprise that when K.C. sets up an interview at a Holiday Inn bar, he's more likely to be emerging from the hotel gym, sporting a sleeveless gray shirt and orange running pants, clutching a bottle of Gatorade, than lounging in a stool and sipping on an Amstel. As it turns out, he lives "clean during the week," sticking to a steady workout routine and going to bed soon after many of us first get home from work.
He waits for the weekends to get dirty, which is what his self-proclaimed "filthy" performances with the Murderer's Row-comprised of Armstrong and fellow comedians Scott Demo, Jim Florentine, Jimmy "Big Daddy" Graham, the Reverend Bob Levy and Sean Sexton-are all about.
Nearly three years ago, after childhood buddies Armstrong, Demo and Sexton hooked up with Florentine, Graham and Levy by becoming regulars at dwellings like the New York Comedy Club, the six performers began shocking audiences as a collective. With Howard Stern serving as a promotional springboard, the crew quickly gathered a cult following, as audiences flocked to area venues, captivated by everything from Armstrong's unique brand of child molestation humor to Florentine's tips on how to screw with telemarketers (some may recognize Florentine as the voice of Special Ed on Comedy Central's Crank Yankers).
"I love doing the comedy, because you get to do your own thing, and it's all your own ideas," says Armstrong when I ask him to compare his two jobs. "The fun thing about the Murderer's Row is that there's no egos involved. We're like a team-there's no bickering, and we're all supportive of each other."
Armstrong's current career is a far cry from his youth, when he was a "jock that was nice to people," playing a sport each season for Port Jefferson High School and spending his summers practicing at his father's wrestling camp. His years at Western Kentucky University even came on the basis of a football scholarship, where he excelled as quarterback.
Ultimately though, his true talent was being outwardly immature, and after harassing anyone who would listen, he was allowed to team up with a campus DJ known as "The Brain" for his own radio talk show. As proof that persistence pays off, after sending weekly tapes of the program to Howard Stern's producer Gary Del'Abate, [sic] Armstrong's recorded rant-ings as a frequent guest now famously known by Stern fans as "the singing psychic" caught Stern's attention and resulted in an internship, which got him to where he is today.
When it comes to the debate over whether Stern's show is losing its edge, this is the one instance where Armstrong gets a bit serious, insisting that "Howard's a genius, and I don't know why anyone would say the show's been in danger. They wouldn't say that if they listened."
Granted, this was preceded by Armstrong convincing a middle-aged British man that the hotel's fitness center was closed because he had yet to fully clean up the pool of vomit on the floor.
But this is all part of what makes him oddly endearing. While he confesses that he may not be the most intelligent soul walking the earth, Armstrong is a straightforward, approachable guy who enjoys having lighthearted fun at others' expense, but is equally self-deprecating and humble about to whom he owes his success.
It's doubtful that the girl he intentionally misdirected to a non-existent hotel bathroom felt the same affinity, but it was certainly a shining moment for the juvenile jokester that festers in his brain.
He does warn that the material in his performances can be too crass for some, providing the disclaimer that, "If you don't know what you're getting into and are offended easily, you shouldn't come to this show. It's for people who have a good sense of humor and don't take things too seriously." So, when one audience member fled into the lobby to cry after his routine, complaining that she was molested as a child and did not take his treatment of the subject lightly, Armstrong calmly rationalized for her that, "I got bit by a dog when I was five, but I'm not afraid of dogs now." With that kind of sensitivity, it's a wonder that he not only holds down two successful careers in the spotlight, but a steady girlfriend as well, despite the fact that she doesn't want him "to screw around with other girls."
When pontificating his future after Stern goes off the air, Armstrong strokes his goatee, leans in and says assuredly, "I've got a five-year plan. Wal-Mart's always hiring. I hope the stand-up keeps going, but I can't think that far ahead. We seem to be doing well, and people are enjoying it, so that's what I'm doing."
Perhaps this boundary-less renaissance man summarized his past, present and future more succinctly when he declared, "Everyone thinks the Olson twins are hot, but that Bob Saget's a piece of ass!"
January or February 2002
Congratulations to Howard on winning Billboard magazine's 2002 Nationally Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year award!
from the Newark Star-Ledger
December 12, 2001
All TV: Keeping Katie
WILL KATIE COURIC have to change her name to The 14 Million Dollar woman?
--snips--
On the other hand, when TV deals of this magnitude are leaked, they usually turn out to be correct -- if not in the actual amount, then in the overall sense of how far a broadcaster is willing to go to keep a star on staff.
The estimated $30-$40 million multiyear deals that kept Noah Wyle and Anthony Edwards at NBC's "ER," and the estimated $90 million, multiyear deal to keep Howard Stern at Viacom-owned Infinity Broadcasting, were initially pooh-poohed by management, but later proved more or less correct.
--snips--
-- Matt Zoller Seitz
October 12, 2001
Thanks to all who gave what they could to the Howard Stern Show Relief Fund for the survivors of the police, fire and EMS workers killed on September 11.
Howard gave a check for $3,500,000 to New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani this morning.
[Ed. - Howard denied this story on the air today, saying there's nothing official yet.]
from the NY Post
October 8, 2001
October 8, 2001 -- THE King of All Media is this close to permanently adding a new jester to his court.
"Howard Stern Show" regular Artie Lange is on the verge officially taking over for jokester Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling, and all but has the job, sources say.
Lange, who's been sitting in on the "Stern" show for months, is just days away from inking a new contract with the show that will start on Oct. 29.
Under the deal, Lange will join Stern and company about four days a week, but he'll leave the jokeman's chair open for other guest comics if Stern has someone specific he wants to on the program.
Lange, a well-liked comic within the industry, is from Union, N.J. He most recently appeared on "The Norm Show" with Norm McDonald.
He's also appeared in several movies, including "Lost & Found," with David Spade; "The Bachelor," with Renee Zellweger; "The 4th Floor," with Juliette Lewis; and "Mystery Men," with Ben Stiller.
He got his big break several years ago as an original cast member on Fox's "Mad TV," but first appeared on Stern's show about four years ago to plug McDonald's 1998 film, "Dirty Work."
Martling, 53, a Stern show regular for 15 years, has all but vanished from the public eye, and he doesn't seem to be working.
He angrily walked off Stern's program last February during a contract dispute, but appeared several times to be on the verge of returning.
In the months that followed, Martling was replaced by a rotating roster of young comics, including Dave Chapelle, Friar's Roast cut-up Jeffrey Ross, former E! talk show host A.J. Benza, Doug Stanhope, Greg Fitzsimmons and Craig Gass, the impressionist who does the voices of Gene Simmons, "Baby Al Pacino," and Christopher Walken.
Both Lange and Stern show officials were unavailable for comment.
from All Access
September 21, 2001
FCC Commissioner MICHAEL COPPS issued the following statement following jokes made on the HOWARD STERN show on SEPTEMBER 14. "I am saddened and dismayed at remarks reportedly made on HOWARD STERN's nationally syndicated radio program last week during our NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AND REMEMBRANCE."
COPPS, who said he has received hundreds of comments, said in a press statement that "most of Stern's programming last week seemed sensitive to this and supportive of encouraging a positive reaction to the disaster we had experienced. So it was all the more surprising that remarks were made, from whatever motivation, that so crudely distorted and demeaned the essential nobility of what our people were coming together to accomplish."
While COPPS did not specify which remarks saddened and dismayed him, although SOUTH FLORIDA "anti-indecency" crusader JACK THOMPSON's complaint centered on STERN's suggestion that prostitutes donate oral sex to the rescue workers.
from Radio Ink.com
September 21, 2001
"I am saddened and dismayed at remarks reportedly made on Howard Stern's nationally syndicated radio program last week during our National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. Our country has been through one of the most difficult and trying weeks in its long and sometimes painful history. It was a week of precious lives lost, endless hours of painful and sustained rescue and relief work, countless acts of individual and community heroism, and a reaffirmation of the ties that forge the unity of the American people in times of national emergency.
It was a week when America's broadcast media and other communications companies performed with self-sacrifice and often heroism. Most of Stern's programming last week seemed sensitive to this and supportive of encouraging a positive reaction to the disaster we had experienced. So it was all the more surprising that remarks were made, from whatever motivation, that so crudely distorted and demeaned the essential nobility of what our people were coming together to accomplish. Americans are a tolerant people, but hundreds of complaints coming to me in recent days demonstrate heartfelt revulsion over statements that were, to many, offensive and indecent".
The FCC page of this is here.
from the NY Post
August 14, 2001
August 14, 2001 -- HOWARD Stern says Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling blew his last chance to get back on Stern's payroll by playing the victim and "moaning" to The Post's Page Six on Sunday. [Ed. - see below.]
"I have a TV project I'm producing that I was thinking of perhaps hiring Jackie to write for, but after reading the article I don't want anything to do with this guy," Stern told listeners yesterday.
Martling, who walked off - and then was dropped from - Stern's show six months ago in a contract dispute, told Page Six he "contacted Howard and said I'd like to take the [original] offer, but he wouldn't take me back."
"This is pathetically sad," Stern railed during his show. "Really, the guy should calm down already and stop.
"When a guy leaves and says he doesn't care, I take him at his word," Stern said. "I mean, who knew this was a game?"
Stern implied for the first time yesterday that he had actually "dipped into my own goddam pocket" to rescue Martling after previous contract walk-outs.
"Not only have I bailed him out, he's angry with me - I've done him an injustice [and he's] not being paid his fair amount - then he comes back with a chip on his shoulder," Stern said.
"I'm sick of being mistreated this way. How many times do I have to sit and get put through the ringer?" Stern said, clearly annoyed. "He's still using me to get himself in the paper."
Martling, 53, was believed to be making a six-figure salary at the end of his 15-year association with Stern, but Stern claims Martling's ego was bigger than any paycheck.
"This wasn't about money," Stern said. "This was about teaching me some bizarre lesson - that he's the show and he's the guy."
Martling didn't respond to e-mail requests for comment on Stern's remarks.
from the NY Post
August 12, 2001
PAGE SIX column
By RICHARD JOHNSON with PAULA FROELICH and CHRIS WILSON
August 12, 2001 -- Forgive me, Joke Man pleads.
JACKIE "The Joke Man" Martling is begging Howard Stern to take him back.
"I would love to be back on the show. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out," Martling told PAGE SIX. "I would love for him to give me a second chance."
Martling, who angrily walked out in February in a bid for more money, had rankled the King of All Media by repeatedly threatening to quit unless his high-six-figure salary was increased. Since then, the Joke Man has been relaxing in his collection of houses on the beach in Bayville.
"I wish I could go back to Howard," Martling sighed, "but I don't think so, because I haven't heard from them."
Martling was reluctant to discuss the split: "I don't want to go into the whole thing. I asked for more money, and they didn't want to give it to me. So . . . they offered me a nice raise, and I asked for more, and when I didn't get it, I walked off."
But Martling soon regretted his decision.
"A couple of months later, I contacted Howard and said I'd like to take the [original] offer, but he wouldn't take me back," Martling moaned.
Martling, who worked with Stern for 15 years, said it is too painful for him to listen to the show anymore because he misses it so much.
"I have a little contact with Howard - I mean, we are friends. But I miss laughing and carrying on like a third-grader for five hours a day. I'm sorry if I come across as weird, I am in a weird spot.
"I have been lying very, very low, just living on the beach swimming and riding my bike. I'm not worried about sharks - let 'em eat me.
"It's so gorgeous here, we have fires and barbecues on the beach. I've worked day and night for 20 years, and it's nice to take some time off."
Although Martling doesn't have a steady job, he's gearing up for his uncensored pay-per-view special "Midnight Rider," airing this month on Cablevision. He's also booked some live appearances in casinos and colleges.
As for Stern still using him as a punching bag, Martling said, "Howard ragged on me for 15 years when I was sitting there. I consider him my friend. I would be more upset if they didn't rag on me."
But as much as Martling may want his old job back, insiders say a "hurt" Stern has ruled the Joke Man will never work for him again.
"Howard was hurt by Jackie leaving," the insider told PAGE SIX in June. "He thought they were like family. He thought Jackie was making plenty of money for what he was doing. Howard has said on and off the air that Jackie won't be back."
--snips--
August 7, 2001
In the September 2001 issue of Yahoo! Internet Life, their 5th Anniversary issue celebrating 5 (Internet) years that changed the world, Howard gets two mentions.
In the cover story, page 112, it mentions an article from May, 1997, called "Howard Stern Has Online Private Part-ies." The magazine asked "If you were to exchange sexually explicit e-mails with a woman, would that be tantamount to in-the-flesh infidelity?" Howard answers: "I have a line I draw for all that. My wife, Alison, says that it's cheating and I say it isn't. I say, "Honey, it's just words. It's just play. It's research."
The second mention, page 118, is part of the "Worst of the Internet" for the last 5 years. It happened in May 1998. The article says "Users across the Web heroically unite - to help Howard Stern regular Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf win People magazine's Most Beautiful People Poll online.
August 5, 2001
'SternMD' posted some really good articles in the newsgroup about Howard getting fired from WNBC in 1985 and they're archived here.
from baptizingbyfire.com
by Matthew Randazzo, IV
Howard Stern, like all original entertainers, received a great deal of criticism from the political extreme on either side and his colleagues, who decried his show as a sick man engaging in masturbatory fantasies accompanied by thoughtless, crude humor. The fact that he looked like the offspring of Joey Ramone and a sickly praying mantis did not help; whereas the public and media would have better accepted a more suave, attractive man playing the stereotypical male pig (explain otherwise how the boorish behavior of Russell Crowe is so tolerated), Stern’s appearance alone was enough to put off a great deal of house wives and feminists. With his curly, quasi-Louis XIV mane and heavy metal bands decorating his sleeveless shirts, there was nothing about stern visually that would have eased the acceptance of his often offensive material. He was the normal male id boiled down to a geek show spectacle, devoid of Apollonian traits or masculine myths. With his long, thin body and large head, he even somewhat resembled what a sperm would look like if made human.
Howard Stern, at his greatest, however, was never a cutely defiant male stereotype, like The Man Show, but a fresco of many facets of American life. The American male, especially the married one, was, by the 1980's, stuck in a society that felt his thoughts and desires to be barbaric and pornographic. Feminism had won a great deal of ideological victories, in that its beliefs were adopted by the media as a whole and most people as correct; while many of their positions were justified, the militant distaste with which feminist ideology viewed men, especially white men, was an increasingly oppressive force in American culture. Furthermore, while Reagan’s regime was supported by the average American male, his presidency introduced another new cultural trend, as the white collar businessman and his soulless business instincts were glorified while the American economy left the blue collar workers behind. While the average worker may have voted for Reagan, his jingoistic propaganda appealed more to their pride than to their daily lives. With families to feed and issues they were too overwhelmed to handle or understand, these were men looking for someone to relate to, someone to dignify and publicize their lives.
Stern was the perfect package for his audience. Most importantly, he was a married man who, his entire life, was an undeniable loser: a loser in the eyes of his parents, a loser in the eyes of his employers, a loser in the eyes of women. Now, after a life of getting stepped on and being the failure, it was his turn to strike back, and he did so loudly, viciously, and, though his critics will never admit it, with hilarious originality. While the vast majority of men could relate to a man striking back at all things that had spurned them their entire lives, women also took to Stern, as he encompassed the two stereotypes most attractive to women: the dedicated family man and the bad boy. The fact that, as far as badboys go, he was all talk, and that his marriage stopped him from indulging in his fantasies kept him from being considered more than a normal guy, imprisoned in marriage with the libido of a teenager, by the male audience and a respectable person to his female audience. Added to these core dynamics which were instrumental in retaining his audience, was absolutely outrageous comedy and the voyeuristic thrill of hearing Stern tell every detail of his personal life. These last two sections of his repertoire would gain him the publicity and curiosity listeners, and the above factors would create a bond with the listener.
Stern at his best is an uncontrollably honest and reckless experience: whether it is the extremely revealing celebrity interviews of idiot savant Stuttering John (he presents a ruthless trial by fire for coddled egos, and, naturally, I approve), the hopelessly cruel evaluations of hopeful Playboy Playmates, or one of the many in-house spats, the Stern show is captivating entertainment. Lest it be forgotten, his two autobiographical books and movie were massive hits for a reason: they were funny, very funny. I direct anyone who doubts this statement to the Michael Jackson chapter in Miss America or Private Parts, the movie version. In the movie, Stern, at his best, is distilled perfectly in a surprisingly touching and competent film. He comes across as a man hopelessly bound to both his family and the adolescent alternate universe of his job.
Granted, there were always serious things wrong with the program. First of all, and most redundantly obvious, is the fact that strippers no longer make interesting interviews; a decade or two ago, it was risque and entertaining. Now, when done for the at least 2000th time, devoid of change or innovation, the strippers, porn stars, and prostitutes interviews are usually just vacuous wastes of 20 or 30 minutes, often revolving around painfully dull attempts to get them to disrobe. Stern’s segments with his trademark "Wack Pack" of various freaks are just as likely to be funny as they are to be repetitive, cruel geek shows, Stern and his crew mocking a certain characteristic or personal defect until it has become doubtful whether some of the show’s regulars are not mentally deficient themselves. These sections of the show are, by far, the most offensive, though I am not really offended as much as unimpressed. If all a program can do is point and laugh at someone’s speech impediment for half an hour, that is grotesque laxity on the show’s part. However, for as long as I have been exposed to Stern, segments that were spectacular failures were always measured out by moments of uncontrollable hilarity and unexpected insight.
Howard Stern, however, can no longer be sure of this balance. The most obvious reason for this is that his wife left him, and Howard, the career monogamist, has become a free agent. While this basically destroyed what Stern himself (judging from his movie and books) considered the most important facet to his show’s success, it did not necessarily have to be a disaster. Stern could have frankly dealt with the pain and troubles of going out on his own again, detailing his long-awaited (and assuredly clumsy) return to the singles scene. He, however, felt he needed to protect his teenage daughters from hearing the troubling details of his personal life and has therefore kept an extremely low profile. While this is an uncharacteristically unselfish goal on his part, his show suffers mightily from it, as his audience feels slightedafter two decades of complete disclosure, and his material is now glutted with the inanities of his daily life rather than the meaty issues and topics. Even worse, his audience now is now bombarded with seedy tabloid stories of personal life, such as his supposed dates with Carmen Electra and Angie Everheart. Many of Stern’s listeners had been comforted in the fact that Stern would always be the hapless loser with the ladies that he has always been; how would they react when there were stories of him playing the market like Puff Daddy on New Years Eve?
They reacted, unsurprisingly, by leaving the show. Until very recently, Stern’s audience had been taking a nose dive since his wife left him, to the number of over 600,000. This was compounded by Howard’s refusal to get involved with head comedy writer Jackie Martling’s negotiations, which resulted in Martling leaving the show. Predictably, the carefully constructed comedic balance of the show was destroyed, and Howard, not helping matters, has responded by replacing Jackie with an endlessly changing carousel of guest cast members, alternating between unknown comics, failed actors, low-level entertainment executives, and violent gossip columnists. The show, which was once a reliable family, is now an unorganized mess, and the great comedy comes much more infrequently now that Martling has left the show.
The looming question about The Howard Stern Show is whether it has anything left to offer. It completely remade the radio playing field over the past two decades, and it broke down countless barriers and taboos, for which it has paid dearly due to an Orwellian campaign by the FCC. However, Stern seems more disconnected from the average person’s reality by the day. What defense can there be made for Howard’s attacks against Hamptons’ culture and the rich New Yorkers who go there during the Grubman story when, for months, he has spoken about going to the Hamptons and how much he enjoys it. One can only claim ignorance to the daily grind of most Americans when he endlessly chatters about having to wait in traffic in his limo, his problems with his TiVo system, and his obsession with high-priced, avant garde restaurants that no one but the most elite eat at. Even worse, his domineering demand to be the best, to win the rating wars and constantly innovate, has suddenly vanished. His inferiority complexes lead to some of his best, most inspired radio. He seems, more or less, content with his show’s status quo; there have been no new innovations, no new campaigns, nothing at all to suggest a dynamic, changing enterprise. He continues with his tried and true stripper and porn star routines and his increasingly less revealing celebrity interviews, where he usually is content with just asking if the star likes anal sex and the chit-chatting without any rhyme or reason from there . Like many originators, it seems, Howard Stern is prepared to leave his initial innovations as his final ones. While his tried and true formula will lead to passable entertainment, a static, docile Howard Stern is no more relevant in today’s entertainment environment than Jay Leno.
July 26, 2001
The fight: AJ Benza gets banned from the show for trying to punch Stuttering John. See it here in Real Media format.
from Catholic League Press Release
On July 2, Catholic League president William Donohue wrote a letter to Jeffrey C. Bible, the CEO of Philip Morris Companies, Inc. (Philip Morris owns Miller), requesting that Miller drop its sponsorship of the show; Miller is the most prominent sponsor of the program. Philip Morris directed the issue to Miller Brewing and on July 13, Michael Hennick, marketing communications director for Miller, told the Catholic League that the decision to sponsor the show is based on what "our consumers are telling us they want to see and hear." While he regrets that the program offended people, he also said that the Miller Brewing Company was standing by the "Howard Stern Show."
William Donohue announced today the Catholic League's response:
"In my letter to Mr. Bible, I told him how Unilever, which owns Lipton, had recently acted responsibly by withdrawing an ad that offended Catholics. I was hoping that Miller would also act responsibly and drop its support for the 'Howard Stern Show.' But instead they have decided they'd rather stick it to Catholics.
"Howard Stern is no Mel Brooks. His assault on Catholic priests is mean-spirited, vicious and humorless. That Miller Brewing would stand by this attack is reprehensible."
from Catholic League Web Site Press Releases
Catholic League president William Donohue spoke for the league today:
"It will not do to say that Stern is not an anti-Catholic bigot because he is known for targeting every group. It is one thing to poke light fun at African Americans by playing 'Black Jeopardy,' quite another to trash priests in the vile way that he did on Friday. Moreover, if he goes too far with making fun of blacks, his sidekick Robin Quivers stops him. Just who is around to stop Stern when he-and Quivers-attack Catholics?
"Miller Lite is one of Stern's sponsors. Philip Morris owns Miller and that is why I am writing to Philip Morris CEO Jeffrey C. Bible asking him to get Miller Brewing to stop advertising on the 'Howard Stern Show.' If he shuns his corporate responsibility, he will leave the Catholic League with very few options. It is my hope that this can be resolved quickly, fairly and amicably."
from All Access
--snips--
Hats off to R&R Publisher ERICA FARBER and her entire crew for an incredible convention this past weekend at the CENTURY PLAZA HOTEL. Over 2000 folks turned out for the event which was highlighted by keynoter President BILL CLINTON on FRIDAY (6/15).
Here is a complete list of the winners from R&R's Acheivement Awards. Congrats to all who won:
NATIONAL RADIO AWARDS
--snips--
Syndication Personality/Show Of The Year - HOWARD STERN, DON BUCHWALD AND ASSOCIATES
--snips--
from Lycos Top 50
We talk a lot about television shows and movie stars on the Lycos 50, but what about that other big communications medium: radio? Reports of radio's demise have been greatly exaggerated so many times that Mark Twain might as well retire the phrase.
I'm an old radio jock myself (here's a link to one of my old stations) so the Lycos 50 decided to take a look at the leading radio hosts online. And the winner won't surprise you: it's the King of All Media himself, Howard Stern. Stern can now add King of the Internet to his titles.
Here is a listing of the top 20 radio hosts and teams with the most searches over the past two months. We've computed each host's percentage when compared to the King of all Media, just to show how dominant in his field Stern is.
Howard Stern has been the most popular radio host each week since we began compiling the Lycos 50 two years ago. The only exception to this was immediately before and after the 2000 election when he was toppled, briefly, by Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh is down to 5% of his peak during election week, but in his defense that week was the best-ever performance by a radio host on the Lycos 50 (he was #11).
There are two major surprises here. The first is Don and Mike at #6. They are a syndicated team who appear on WNEW in New York and WJFK in Washington, among other stations, from 12-3 pm Eastern. Their regular guests include "Homo Joe" and "The Nipple Guy" so their show seems to feature fairly adult humor. I must admit they are the only names on this list I had never heard of before compiling this report.
The other surprise is how far down Don Imus is. While Imus is beloved by the media and the Beltway crowd, he is less popular on the Internet than the shock jock team of Opie and Anthony or the classic American voice of Paul Harvey.
Nearly every host here is syndicated in some fashion; Phil Hendrie of KFI in Los Angeles is probably the only one who has no syndication deal. The one host who seems to be growing over the past few months is Jim Rome. He is by far the most popular sports talk host on the Internet.
Of course, radio in the twentieth century comes out of your computer, as well as your car dashboard and home stereo. Lycos has you covered with both our musical Lycos Radio (at the Lycos Music page) as well as the talk jocks of Lycos Talk Radio. Start you career as a budding Howard Stern (or even a budding Michael Medved) by hosting your own show on Lycos.
TOMORROW: Someone you might be hearing on the radio very soon.
from the NY Post
Martling, who angrily walked out in February in a bid for more money, rankled the King of All Media by repeatedly threatening to quit unless his high six-figure salary was increased.
"Howard was hurt by Jackie leaving," says an insider. "He thought they were like family. He thought Jackie was making plenty of money for what he was doing. Howard has said on and off the air that Jackie won't be back."
Martling did not return calls, but in late April he told The Post that he hoped to come back and hasn't been able to listen to "one second" of the show since he quit.
Martling has been replaced by a rotating roster of young comics, including Dave Chapelle, Jeffrey Ross, E! talk show host A.J. Benza, Doug Stanhope, Greg Fitzsimmons and Craig Gass, the impressionist who does the voices of Gene Simmons, "Baby Al Pacino" and Christopher Walken. It is unclear if Stern is auditioning a permanent replacement for Martling or whether he is content to dole out guest gigs.
"From my perspective, it's like if you've been watching the Flintstones all your life and they asked you to come on and be a character," says Ross, a stand-up comic and formidable Friars Club roaster. "I said, 'sure.' I mean, it's Howard. You gotta pinch yourself."
While Ross and the other comics summoned to Stern's show are pinching themselves, Martling is probably kicking himself for leaving the popular morning gabfest, which landed him stand-up gigs and drove sales of his comedy albums and "Jokeman" merchandise.
Martling, a Stern show regular for 15 years, has all but vanished from the public eye and doesn't seem to be working. He pined for his old position in an interview with The Post's John Mainelli six weeks ago.
"My only regret is that I'm not still there," Martling mused then. "Nobody believes me, but I haven't listened for one second.
"I tried for five minutes once and I felt terrible. If it's funny, I feel bad. If it's not funny, I feel really bad."
But Martling, 53, maintained that he is not staying home feeling sorry for himself. He recently appeared at a celebrity golf tournament in Florida and has been on the road plugging his latest CD, "F. Jackie."
--snips--
from the New York Radio Message Board
First of all, Opie & Anthony, like Howard Stern, understandably don't want to distance themselves from their young male fan base by having it known they make more than all of them will ever see.
Secondly, I can't reveal the sources for $30 million estimate, but I can assure you it's very close to what the team will collect over the next 3 years.
Thirdly, some perspective on today's incredible paychecks for radio's mega-talent:
-- Detroit DJ Jim Harper last week jumped stations for a formally-announced $25 million over 7 years. That's $3.6 million per year vs. O&A's $10 million -- more than a third of what O&A now make for New York and 22 other major-market Infinity stations. And Harper's getting that in DETROIT with NO SYNDICATION!
-- Howard Stern collects $20 million per year under his new deal (he denies it also). That's twice what O&A are now making, even though O&A have an excellent chance of generating considerably more than 50% of the spot revenue that Stern does. In other words, O&A are a relative bargain at their new rate. (There's also a very good chance that O&A will end up having more Infinity stations included in their master agreement than Stern does.)
-- Newsweek said, in a 1999 profile, that Don Imus makes "$7-10 million" per year. When the Post (me) pointed out that $5 million was more like it, Imus (who doesn't mind appearing rich) protested loudly, claiming Newsweek had it right. In any event, when you look at Imus' ratings in recent years, and his dwindling affiliate base, O&A look like an incredible bargain compared to him -- whether he's making $5 mil or $10 mil.
from Entertainment Weekly
Hot Topic
July 16, 2001MILLER BREWING STICKS IT TO CATHOLICS
On June 30, porn star Rebecca Lord, Howard Stern and Robin Quivers (Stern's sidekick) slandered Catholic priests on the "Howard Stern Show" on E! Entertainment television.
"I am writing to all the nation's bishops telling them what Stern and Quivers said about priests. It is nothing if not slanderous to wildly charge Catholic priests with child sexual molestation. I will also make copies of the tape available to those who are interested. But most of all, I will tell the bishops, and our members across the nation, about the corporate arrogance and irresponsibility of Miller Brewing.
July 2, 2001HOWARD STERN SLANDERS PRIESTS
On Friday night, porn star Rebecca Lord appeared on the "Howard Stern Show" on E! Entertainment. When she said she had a comment to make about religion, Stern gave her the okay. Lord said her complaint was with the Catholic Church for being critical of her line of work. At that point Stern jumped in saying, "Catholic priests are having sex with young boys." He added that those who work in the pornography industry were healthier than Catholic priests. In an angry voice, Stern charged that priests show boys pornography so they can molest them. Then his companion Robin Quivers commented that the Catholic Church would like to stop Lord from practicing her profession. Lord then undressed on the show.
"Thanks to someone who had seen the Stern show Friday night and had alerted me to it, I saw the show when it was repeated on Saturday, July 1, at 2:30 a.m. What I witnessed was not a Mel Brooks comedic spot but a vicious segment that libeled all Catholic priests. Perhaps most revealing, the segment was wholly devoid of humor. This was not a colorful satire of priests-it was a hate-filled attack.
June 18, 2001
June 13, 2001Radio Radio
Aaron Schatz
100.0% Howard Stern
30.3% Rush Limbaugh
23.6% Art Bell
15.8% Dr. Laura Schlessinger
9.7% Paul Harvey
9.4% Don And Mike
5.5% Opie And Anthony
5.4% Don Imus
5.2% Jim Rome
3.5% Tom Joyner
3.5% Mancow
2.9% G. Gordon Liddy
2.6% Larry King
2.2% Phil Hendrie
1.9% Tom Leykis
1.5% Joan Rivers
1.4% Oliver North
1.2% Dr. Demento
0.8% Michael Medved
0.7% John Boy And Billy
June 7, 2001PAGE SIX
By RICHARD JOHNSON with PAULA FROELICH and CHRIS WILSONJune 7, 2001 -- Stern bars door to Jokeman
FORMER Howard Stern sidekick Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling desperately wants his old job back, but insiders say a "hurt" Stern has ruled Jackie will never work for him again.
Posted by John Mainelli on June 6, 2001 at 19:23:08:
Re: Re: Question for Allan about OA
In Reply to: Re: Question for Allan about OA posted by Allan Sniffen on June 06, 2001 at 17:26:29:
May 23, 2001
Sex Drive
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Lately, news reports have detailed a downturn in the ratings for Howard Stern's syndicated radio show, including his fall to second place in both L.A.'s and New York's morning drive slot. Those stories have also advanced a number of theories as to why. Some suggest that the recent China crisis and stock market instablity sent listeners scurrying to all news stations; others blame disappointment over the loss of longtime cast member Jackie "the Joke Man" Martling, boredom with the limited entertainment value of LISTENING to women get naked on the air, or frustration at the exhaustingly long commercial blocks that interrupt the comic action.
At least some of that speculation is on the mark, but for me, a devoted fan for nearly 20 years, something more insidious -- and heartbreaking -- has happened: Howard Stern has become a celebrity. Yeah, I know, he's been rich and famous for a long time, but somehow he just never FELT like a beautiful person before. Somehow, despite the multimillion dollar income and stratospheric ratings, we longtime fans felt a deep kinship with a guy who spent his off duty hours holed up in a Long Island basement, a mass of melancholy, misanthropy, and sexual frustration.
We identified with him in his rage against name dropping "phony baloney" jet setters, saving particular ire for those middle aged stars who, as soon as they hit the Hollywood jackpot, dump the long suffering spouses who stayed with them through the salad days, only to hook up with bodacious chippies a decade or two younger than them. That Us against Them kinship may have been illusory, but it was an exciting, comforting illusion, crucial to the familial devotion felt by fans for the ostensible King of All Media.
Then in 1999 Stern got separated from his wife Alison (his long suffering spouse who stayed with him through his salad days), bought himself a fabulous new apartment in Manhattan, and began living the single life. Since then, Howard has sounded decidedly more content and engaged with life than ever. Unfortunately, he's also become one of Them... and it shows.
These days you're prone to hear Bizarro Howard blather on about the fabulous cuisine he sampled the night before at one chi chi New York eatery or another, or the marquee name acquaintances he made at various velvet roped hotspots. Or maybe, as he did recently, he'll reminisce about taking in a performance of "Cabaret" on Broadway so as to see his sexy "friend" Gina Gershon, or recall a hopping Malibu beach party where he hung out with another new pal of his, Carmen Elektra.
At the same time, he's seemed to acquire a disturbing taste for the mediocre, whether it's jumping on the "Survivor" bandwagon or buddying up to the likes of E! channel gossip hack A.J. Benza and unctuous frat boy Craig Kilborn. Say what you will about showbiz oddities -- and former Stern show regulars -- like "Grandpa" Al Lewis and "The Legend" Steve Rossi, they were not mediocre.
The whole thing has been a traumatic spectacle for true Stern acolytes, something like that agonizing high school moment when your best friend suddenly deserts you and starts sitting at the cool kids table. Presumably, to love someone is to want them to be happy, which Howard seems to be. And his is still the funniest syndicated show on the air, bar none, still capable of reaching the gut busting heights of its halcyon days. But something deeply special has been lost, and us former fanatics have to wonder, Was it all a big lie? Has Howard Stern grown up... or just flaked out?
from Talkers via Radio
Business Report
May 3, 2001
The estimates of weekly audience are based on Arbitron ratings and other factors, and rounded to the nearest quarter-million. We’ll let the results Talk for themselves.
Rank Host Audience
(in millions)
1. Rush Limbaugh 15.00
2. Dr. Laura Schlessinger 14.00
3. Howard Stern 8.50
4. Dr. Joy Brown 5.75
5. Jim Bohannon 4.50
5. Don Imus 4.50
5. Bruce Williams 4.50
6. Ken & Daria Dolan 2.50
6. Clark Howard 2.50
6. G. Gordon Liddy 2.50
6. Mike Siegel 2.50
7. Neal Boortz 2.25
7. Dr. Dean Edell 2.25
7. Mike Gallagher 2.25
7. Michael Savage 2.25
8. Tom Joyner 1.75
8. Kim Kommando 1.75
8. Tom Leykis 1.75
8. Jim Rome 1.75
8. Doug Stephan 1.75
9. Bob Brinker 1.25
9. Matt Drudge 1.25
10. Phil Hendrie 1.00
10. Motley Fool 1.00
10. Dave Ramsey 1.00
10. Michael Reagan 1.00
from the Los Angeles Times
April 27, 2001
Stand-up comedians need radio exposure, particularly the kind offered by "The Howard Stern Radio Show." In addition to Stern's sizable reach (at least 8.5 million listeners over the course of a week, according to the radio industry publication Talkers magazine), there is also the stamp of approval from Stern, who has the kind of clout to make an endorsement meaningful. Ask touring comics about promotion, and chances are they've been on endless local "morning zoo" shows, doing two minutes of material to tease that weekend's club dates.
Unlike television, there are fewer opportunities to reach chunks of the country at once. Comics go on "The Bob and Tom Show," the morning-drive show syndicated out of Indianapolis, to reach Middle America. But it doesn't beat exposure on "Stern."
So when Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling, Stern's resident comic and joke writer, left the show in a contract dispute in March, comics and managers smelled an opportunity. Though the show--heard locally on KLSX-FM (97.1) and syndicated by Viacom-owned Infinity Broadcasting Corp.--hasn't presented their appearances as such, numerous comics seem to be auditioning for Martling's role.
Stern indicated on the air this week that Martling wouldn't be back. In his place, the young, anointed ones have included comedians Doug Stanhope, Craig Gass, Greg Fitzsimmons and Jeffrey Ross.
"Howard now has the opportunity to cast out to see what other elements may work on the show," said Don Buchwald, Stern's longtime agent. "We've culled a list of people, some comics, some writers, some voice people who have been participating on the show."
They aren't exactly household names, but neither was Martling when Stern enlisted his services in 1983, shortly before the radio personality's move from Washington, D.C., to New York and gradual ascension to "King of All Media"-hood. Martling was along for the ride, part of Stern's comedy circus, an encyclopedic teller of off-color jokes and plugger of stand-up dates at places like Governor's comedy club on Long Island.
What fewer listeners realized was that Martling was also writing material for Stern--one-liners he would hastily print on a piece of paper with a Sharpie pen. Martling says he would then put the paper under a camera lens so that the gags and messages would appear on Stern's monitor. Sometimes Stern ignored the jokes, sometimes he used them--the point was to get them up there, to feed the Stern maw. "Flying gag writer" is what Martling called himself.
"As far as I know, I invented it, not that there's any great invention to it," Martling said. ". . . I don't remember ever seeing pictures of Bob Hope talking on radio and someone handing him notes as he went along. He was reading from a script."
Martling, 53, got on the phone with the media this week to promote his appearance on "Son of the Beach," the "Baywatch" parody on cable's FX network. It's a low-rated series, but it has Stern's name on it (he's executive producer), and Stern has made ample use of his airwaves to talk about how fantastic the show is. Stern's radio show, in fact, has increasingly become less a show than a PR platform for his TV production arm, whether it's "Son of the Beach" or his late-night shows on CBS and E! Entertainment Television or an animated series, "Doomsday," that has been in the development ether at UPN for several years.
Martling, for his part, seemed to be yearning for a return to his former radio family. "Everybody keeps e-mailing me and saying, 'Why don't you compromise?' " he said.
Martling declined to discuss financial specifics, although it is believed the sides were at odds over six-figure proposals. "We were ready to keep negotiating. . . . But what do you do? What card do I have to play? I have one card, and that's [to] stay home."
Martling isn't just staying home--he's still on the road and pushing his latest CD, "F. Jackie" ("I just did a show at Trump Marina [in Atlantic City]. It wasn't advertised on the Stern show, and we sold out 1,600 seats," Martling boasted.
Becoming part of Stern's world is not a position gained easily. Like Martling, Stanhope, says Judi Brown, his manager, had been sending his material to the show for a year and a half before Stern began playing a suicide bit from Stanhope's CD, "A Little Something to Take the Edge Off." Stanhope's Sam Kinison-esque subjects--sex, death and midgets, to name three--evidently helped recommend him. He has sat in during the show twice, an honor that for today's comic is something akin to Johnny Carson's coveted "wave-over," wherein Carson invited certain comics to sit down with him after their "Tonight Show" sets went well.
Doing well on Stern's show, Brown and others say, doesn't involve polishing your best six minutes. It involves understanding Stern's rhythms, the fact that he's not looking for material so much as a personality with whom he can mesh.
"Howard is amazing to watch work," said Ron Zimmerman, a comic and writer who has known Stern for more than 20 years and has been a writer-in-residence on the show in recent weeks. To see Stern work, Zimmerman says, is to understand how seamlessly he blends disparate voices and comedic elements. Zimmerman likens it to a bandleader. "Howard is like Duke Ellington. Everybody is an instrument in the orchestra that is 'The Howard Stern Show.' "
Lately, says Zimmerman, who lives in L.A., he and Stern have been informally brainstorming on-air bits via phone calls and e-mails. "We have very similar senses of humor about show business and women," he said.
Martling's departure comes at a time when "The Howard Stern Radio Show," while still powerful, has suffered some ratings defeats. In the media centers of Los Angeles and New York, the show dropped in the winter quarter Arbitron rankings, released Monday, finishing behind AM all-news stations in both cities. In L.A., the show trailed KNX-AM (1070), placing seventh overall among morning-drive shows.
* "The Howard Stern Radio Show" can be heard weekday mornings on KLSX-FM (97.1) live from 3 to 6 a.m. with a rebroadcast from 6 to 10 a.m. Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times.
from the NY Daily News
April 26, 2001
Howard Stern yesterday slammed the door on a return of former sidekick Jackie Martling.
 Buy it now! |
"It's not working," Stern told listeners. "It's done. I don't know how to be any clearer about it."
In March, Martling walked off the job after failing to agree on a new contract with WXRK radio, home to Stern's popular morning show. At the time, the two sides could not agree on money.
Martling told The News he would love his deal with WXRK to work out and that he missed his former radio colleagues.
"My intention was not to break up the Beatles," he said.
Rather than negotiate with Stern, Martling's previous contracts were with WXRK radio, and that's where the problems arose. He and station management could not come to terms.
Stern, based on what he said on-air, didn't sound open for a reunion with Martling anyway.
"Somehow, we're getting along without him," Stern said.
Indeed, yesterday Stern filled out his on-air team with comics Craig Gass and Jeffrey Ross. Likewise, Stern mentioned how much he liked having the other voices on and that he'd want the other comics around even if Martling were still part of the program.
A spokesman for Infinity Broadcasting yesterday reiterated what Stern said on the air.
Martling did not respond to an e-mail request for comment.
"It's over," Stern said. "Go to 20 other radio shows. I don't care. It doesn't even matter to me. That's the end."
from the NY Daily News
April 24, 2001
Jackie Martling, who left Howard Stern's morning radio show back in March, may not be out of the picture altogether.
Martling told the Daily News yesterday he hoped a deal could be worked out to get him back on the popular show, though when pressed, he declined to discuss specifics.
"The only thing I'll say is I would love for it to work out," Martling said.
Asked if talks were going on, Martling was similarly vague: "I can't say yes, I can't say no."
Martling has been off the Stern show since early March, when he and the management at WXRK radio failed to reach an agreement. At the time, Stern told listeners that Martling had stopped showing up for work and hadn't discussed the matter. He said he was upset that Martling left without talking to him.
"My intention was not to break up the Beatles," said Martling, who explained that although he worked on Stern's radio show, his contract was with the radio station, and that's where the money problems erupted, prompting his walkout.
A spokesman for Infinity Broadcasting, which owns WXRK, declined to comment.
Since leaving, the comic said he has had "some tiny irons in the fire" and last weekend performed at Atlantic City. Tonight at 10, he turns up in a bit on the Stern-produced series "Son of The Beach" on FX.
Indeed, considering what occurred with the Stern radio show, Martling admits he's a bit surprised his "Son of the Beach" clip remained in the program. In the segment, which airs at the end of the episode, Martling shares some ethnic jokes with series star Tim Stack.
"I'm thrilled," he said. "It's a funny show. It was right up my alley. There's no animosity on my part. I thought they would cut me out of the show. But they're my friends. I would love for things to work out."
Besides the "Son of the Beach" part, Martling said he was working on a movie and had ideas for hundreds of projects.
"I'm flirting with a lot of stuff in my mind," he said. "I've got a little bit of savings and a little bit of time."
Another gig in radio is not in the cards, though. That was something, he said, that only worked with Stern.
"I'm not a radio guy," he said. "Me and Howard banged into each other, and it was a perfect marriage."
Martling said he hasn't tuned in to the show since he left. "Not for one second," he said. "There's no upside. If I listened -- first of all, if it made me laugh, I'd feel terrible. And if it didn't, I'd feel terrible.
"The last time I was off for contract negotiations, I tuned in," he continued. "I got a bad feeling about it. It's like an old girlfriend. If it doesn't work out, hide the pictures in a drawer. And if it does, bring them out."
While he doesn't listen, he certainly gets reports back on what's said about him.
He won't say whether he has spoken to people on the show.
In the week after he left, Stern repeatedly referred to the problem being over a difference between the two sides of about $50,000.
"I'm not talking about money," Martling said. "I will say, everything that was said was way off."
Stern has relied on a group of comics, as well as CBS executive Vinnie Favale, to help fill out his on-air staff. And he has often made mention of how the station has more money in its coffers because Martling is gone.
"I miss Howard and Robin [Quivers] and the whole gang, no matter what's said by anyone," Martling said. "How much is true and how much is theater, I don't know."
from the NY Post
April 24, 2001
April 24, 2001 -- LONGTIME Howard Stern sidekick Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling says there's still a chance he might return to Stern's show - despite all evidence to the contrary.
Martling, who walked out nearly two months ago in a salary dispute, told The Post he seriously misses the shock jock's show - and hasn't been able to listen to "one second" of it since he bolted.
"I'm still hoping there's a chance it can work out," said Martling, who will be appearing in an episode of the Stern-produced "Son of the Beach" tonight (10 p.m.) on cable's FX.
Martling, who filmed his segment of the raunchy "Baywatch" parody before he split on March 5, refuses to bad-mouth his former boss.
"Anything I say can and will be held against me," he said. "I love the show and have always loved the show."
Asked if negotiations for his return continue, Martling said they're "at a standstill. I don't know. Who knows if it's the end."
Martling, 53, says he has no regrets about his decision to cut his 15-year association with Stern - even though Stern has hinted on the air that Martling was making in the neighborhood of a cool million.
Stern is believed to be making $20 million per year under a new contract inked last December.
"My only regret is that I'm not still there," Martling says. "Nobody believes me, but I haven't listened for one second.
"I tried for five minutes once and I felt terrible. If it's funny, I feel bad. If it's not funny, I feel really bad."
Martling, who insists his salary demands "weren't really outrageous," said he's talked to Stern "a little" since his walkout but wouldn't say if they've talked lately.
"I refuse to answer that, but I miss them all. It's a good job," he said.
Stern hasn't mentioned Martling in weeks and happily continues auditioning potential replacements.
A spokesman for K-Rock owner CBS/Infinity declined comment on the status of negotiations that the company, not Stern, has handled.
from The Record - Bergen County
April 20, 2001
After more than 15 years helping Howard Stern reinvent radio, Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling recently left the morning radio program.
So, what's next for the walking dirty-joke encyclopedia who will appear Saturday at Trump Marina?
"I'd love to tell you I have big plans to take over the world, but I don't," says Martling, 53, who gained national prominence by supplying Stern with a steady stream of off-color and deliciously irreverent one-liners and by being the constant target of ridicule by other cast members.
"The whole idea is to rethink things," he says. "I don't know if I'll be doing a lot of stand-up or no stand-up, whether I'll do 20 more CDs or no more CDs. I don't have a battle plan. I'm just going to take things as they come." While he is contemplating the future, Martling is reveling in one aspect of life after Stern.
"It's great sleeping late," he says after years of rising in the middle of the night. "You'd be amazed at how easy it is." As Martling weighs his options, he will not be totally out of sight. In June, he can be seen in the comedy "High Times Potluck," co-starring Jason Isaacs ("The Patriot"), Cheech Marin, and Frank Gorshin. And in late summer, he will be seen in "Red Squares," a comedy starring Danny Aiello.
There's also his online business, www.jokeland.com, through which fans can order his videos, five CDs, and other merchandise.
And, of course, he'll be at the Marina, ripping through scores of jokes that are alternately politically incorrect and X-rated (and often both). In this age, how does he get away with it?
"It's just good fun; it's not vicious," he says. "You realize I'm making fun of everybody. Everybody gets a shot taken at them."
Martling recalls the only time someone complained about his material.
"About 10 years ago, the publisher of a Polish magazine heard about me and got upset. So, he sent a bunch of people to check me out at a show. Afterward, they came up to me and said, We loved the Polish jokes. You were hysterical."
from the Boston Herald
April 13, 2001
The Federal Communications Commission released an incredibly detailed - and sometimes downright lurid - document last Friday defining what it considers to be indecent on the airwaves.
But the agency doesn't monitor radio or TV broadcasts nor does it blow the whistle when someone crosses the line. It depends on documented complaints from the public before it will investigate.
So what can listeners do the next time they think Howard Stern on WBCN-FM (104.1) or Rocko and Birdsey on WAAF-FM (107.3) has gone too far?
A simple phone call to the FCC won't do the job, neither will a letter with second-hand or general information.
"Given the sensitive nature of these cases and the critical role of context in an indecency determination," the guidelines state, "it is important that the Commission be afforded as full a record as possible to evaluate allegations of indecent programming."
That record generally must contain:
1. A full or partial tape or transcript or significant excerpts of the program. (No wonder many "cutting-edge" stations claim they don't tape their daily broadcasts. Many would be setting themselves up for a potential fall.)The whole package then must be sent to the FCC's Investigations and Hearings Division. All tapes and documentation filed with the FCC become its property and won't be returned.2. The date and time of the broadcast.
3. The call sign of the station involved.
If a complaint isn't documented according to the guidelines or if the "indecent" comment occurs during the "safe harbor" hours of midnight to 6 a.m., the FCC will immediately reject the complaint. The offended listener will receive a letter of explanation from the FCC and it's likely the station will never know it was targeted.
But if the complaint passes Round One . . . well, that's when the fun begins. The FCC would choose an "appropriate disposition," which could range from a dismissal of the case all the way to a hefty fine or a license suspension.
Records indicate 144 indecency complaints have been filed with the FCC since November 1999. The agency pursued nine cases, and sought legal action three times, while 75 cases were dismissed and 60 have not yet been investigated.
from the NY Post
April 10, 2001
April 10, 2001 -- Many of the nation's largest broadcasters were uncharacteristically silent yesterday about a massive FCC "policy statement" that threatens to crack down on out-of-control radio shock jocks with fines - or worse.
The radio industry is digesting long-awaited FCC "indecency" guidelines that Commissioner Gloria Tristani fears will become a "how-to manual for those . . . who wish to tread the line drawn by our cases."
CBS/Infinity, which broadcasts the raunchy Howard Stern show, and execs from 1,170-station giant Clear Channel, which owns five New York City stations, didn't respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters said its lawyers are still reviewing the FCC document.
The 28-page document - containing dozens of extremely graphic examples of sexually explicit no-nos and not-so-bads - was released late Friday to settle a 7-year-old suit brought by a now-defunct radio group demanding specific guidance for avoiding FCC punishment.
"Understandably, the public is outraged by the increasingly coarse content aired . . . at all hours of the day, including times when children are likely to be listening," said FCC Commissioner Susan Ness.
"It is time for broadcasters to consider reinstating a voluntary code of conduct. The flood of letters and e-mails we receive reflect a high degree of anger."
In its report, the FCC promises to lower the boom on DJs who are "explicit" and "graphic" when they "dwell on or repeat at length descriptions of sexual or excretory organs or activities" and if their comments "[appear] to pander or [are] used to titillate" or are "presented for . . . shock value."
Ironically, examples of indecency cited from Stern's syndicated K-Rock (92.3 FM) show were the tamest of the lot, even though his long-time employer - Infinity, now owned by CBS - has been fined several times and paid $2.1 million in the late '80s to clear the table of remaining FCC complaints.
The report goes on to cite dozens of much steamier, more raunchy and tasteless examples of comments the FCC won't tolerate, while conceding that the feds will consider the "context" in which allegedly offending comments are made.
The FCC continues to allow raunchier programming during the so-called "safe harbor" hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. - but cautions that "obscenity" won't be tolerated at any time.
Stern is on vacation and several executives and lawyers from CBS/Infinity couldn't be reached or declined to comment.
from Reuters/Variety
April 9, 2001
WASHINGTON (Variety) - The Federal Communications Commission has pulled a stun gun on shock jocks, releasing unprecedented indecency guidelines for broadcasters.
In other words: Howard Stern, the government has just given the public a big bar of soap to wash out your mouth.
The FCC order, released late Friday, refers to several examples of morning radio banter -- as well as songs -- in spelling out what might be lewd and patently offensive to the listening public.
"Understandably, the public is outraged by the increasingly coarse content aired on radio and television at all hours of the day, including times when children are most likely to be listening or watching," Democratic FCC commisisoner Susan Ness said. "The flood of letters and e-mail we receive reflects a high degree of anger. Despite an onslaught of on-air smut, the commission necessarily walks a delicate line when addressing content issues, and must be careful not to tread on the First Amendment -- the constitutional bulwark of our free society."
Indecency has long been defined by the FCC as broadcast programming that describes or depicts sexual or excretory organs or activities. New parameters are designed to make it easier for everyone involved to figure out what's not acceptable. A main thrust of the guidelines is premeditation and intent.
The FCC has not and will not monitor the airwaves; rather, it will be the average citizen who brings a complaint.
Punishments Real
If a broadcaster is cited for airing indecent content, the FCC can revoke a station's license, impose a fine or issue a warning.
The ban on patently offensive broadcasts runs only from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., the hours when kids are most likely to be tuning in.
Issuance of the document is a defining moment for new FCC chair Michael Powell, a Republican appointed to the top slot by President Bush.
In 1994, a court directed the FCC to clarify what's patently offensive, the longtime standard. It has taken the FCC until now to do so, with Powell the first chairman apparently willing to tackle the matter.
Powell did not release an accompanying statement to the order, as did his colleagues Ness, commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth and commissioner Gloria Tristani.
Key Factors
Here are factors the FCC will consider when processing indecency complaints:
-- The explicitness and graphic nature of the broadcast. The more explicit the language, the greater the likelihood of indecency. To illustrate the point, the FCC referred to several Howard Stern comments, including "Have you ever had sex with an animal? Well, don't knock it. I was sodomized by Lambchop."
-- The extent to which sexual innuendo is repeated. The FCC referred to a segment of KLOL-FM's "Stevens and Pruett Show" in Houston, in which the shock jocks talked about size.
The more fleeting the reference, the less likely it will be judged indecent. Conversely, persistent references to sexual or excretory organs or activities may get a broadcaster into trouble. FCC cited the song "Bubba, the Love Sponge" as indecent, for its repeated reference to a sexual act.
The FCC, however, deemed that a newscaster on KPRL-AM/KDDB-FM in Paso Robles, Calif., was not indecent for the expletive "Oops, fucked that one up," since it was a fleeting and isolated statement.
FCC cautioned that even a fleeting reference may be indecent if it describes, let's say, sex with a minor.
Audibility also plays a factor. A garbled track may be off the hook, even if explicit.
-- The extent to which a broadcast panders, titillates or possesses intentional shock value. The purpose of the broadcast weighs heavily in determining whether it's indecent.
The FCC referred again to the following transcript of the "Stevens & Pruett Show": "Sex survey lines are open. Today's question, it's a strange question and we hope we have a lot of strange answers. What makes your hiney parts tingle?"
Just because explicit language is used doesn't make it indecent. For instance, a bona fide news report using such language is probably in the clear.
Context Important
Context plays a critical role. In the past, the FCC has ruled that a radio talk show discussing sex education and teens was not indecent. Same went for an "Oprah" segment addressing how to have better sex with a partner. Likewise for "Schindler's List," which pictured frontal nudity.
Democrat Tristani, a longtime champion of citizens' filing indecency complaints, said the regulatory agency didn't go far enough, and more rigorous enforcement rules are needed.
She said the guidelines will "likely become instead a 'how-to' manual for those licensees who wish to tread the line drawn by our cases."
Ness said it is time for the broadcast industry to take responsibility and institute a voluntary code of conduct.
"Release of this policy statement alone will not solve the festering problem of indecency on the airwaves. However, it is entirely within the power of broadcasters to address it --and to do so without government intrusion," Ness said. "I encourage broadcasters, the Bush administration and Congress swiftly to resolve any antitrust impediments to such action and move ahead."
from fmqb.com
April 6, 2001
Since 1978, the Commission has defined indecency as language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary and community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs. In its new policy statement, the Commission says the determination of whether certain programming is patently offensive is not a local one but is based on "an average broadcast viewer or listener." The Commission also emphasizes the context in which the material aired: "Explicit language in the context of a bona fide newscast might not be patently offensive. While sexual innuendo that persists and is sufficiently clear to make the sexual meaning inescapable might be."
More specifically, the Commission reveals that it uses three criteria in ruling on indecency complaints.
1. Explicit and graphic versus indirect or implied. The more explicit and graphic the description or depiction, the greater likelihood the material will be deemed patently offensive. But, and this is an important "but," just because the material consist of double entendre or innuendo doesn’t mean it’s not indecent, "if the sexual or excretory import is unmistakable." So when someone on The Howard Stern Show said, God my testicles are like down to the floor.. you could really have a party with these… use them like Bocci balls, the Commission ruled it indecent. But when The Bob & Tom Show aired a bit containing the line, Dick suggests maybe getting like a mega-Dick to help out, but you know, you remember the time the King ate mega-Dick under the table, it’s not indecent because the "surrounding contexts do not appear to provide a background against which a sexual import is inescapable."The entire 28-page policy statement can be accessed at www.fcc.gov.2. Dwelling and repetition versus fleeting reference. Repetition and "persistent focus" on sexual and excretory activity increases the likelihood of material being deemed indecent, while a one-off or "fleeting" reference decreases that likelihood. As an example of repetition working against a licensee, the Commission quotes long passages from Bubba The Love Sponge, including one where he asks a listener to take the phone and rub it on your Chia Pet and uses the word beaver a dozen times. Yet, surprisingly, stations that used the phrases motherfucker, and oops, fucked that one up were not fined since the phrases were "fleeting and isolated."
3. Pandering or Titillating or for Shock Value. Howard Stern has long maintained that Oprah Winfrey and other daytime TV talk show hosts get way with graphic discussion of sex because they’re supposedly "instructional" or "clinical." This portion of the FCC policy statement will do little to appease Stern because it talks about how the "apparent purpose for which material is presented can substantially affect" whether it is deemed patently offensive. Material that’s "pandering or titillating" or done for "shock value" is an exacerbating factor, while discussions that are part of a bona fide news story or public affairs programming or instructional or clinical in nature mitigate that determination.
from Reuters
April 6, 2001
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government issued formal indecency guidelines for radio and TV broadcasters Friday, seven years after announcing its intent to do so and 27 years after the Supreme Court allowed limits on indecent material.
The Federal Communications Commission policy statement offers no radical departures from existing practice but simply spells out the agency's enforcement criteria, satisfying a 1994 agreement to help broadcasters determine what constitutes indecency.
The guidelines go beyond the list of "seven dirty words" made famous by comedian George Carlin -- never a basis for FCC policy -- to emphasize that context and tone are important factors in determining whether a broadcast is indecent or not.
FCC spokesman David Fiske said the guidelines are meant to provide a fleshed-out legal summary of previous indecency decisions.
"It's case law. This isn't a checklist," Fiske said.
Offensive descriptions of sexual or excretory acts have no place on the public airwaves, according to the FCC, which provides many examples of both decent and indecent material.
Foul language itself, such as spontaneous cursing by newscasters or an expletive-laden tirade from convicted Mafia boss John Gotti, is not indecent if it is unintentional or part of a bona-fide news story, the commission said.
The Holocaust movie "Schindler's List," which depicts full nudity, and an "Oprah" TV show featuring explicit discussion of sexual relationships were also given the green light, as both were determined to serve a legitimate purpose.
Radio "shock jock" programs such as the "Howard Stern Show" and "Bubba the Love Sponge," with their repetitive, explicit description of sex acts, were held up as examples of indecency.
Material that relies primarily on innuendo could be found indecent as well, the commission said, if its intent is unmistakable.
Programs broadcast between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. are given greater latitude, as children are less likely to be listening at those hours.
Commissioner Gloria Tristani issued a dissenting statement, saying the agency should focus more on enforcement rather than issuing guidelines that could encourage more abuse.
"This policy statement will likely become instead a 'how-to' manual for those licensees who wish to tread the line drawn by our cases," she said.
Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth voted to approve the report, but said the need for content restrictions may fade as the media landscape diversifies.
"As alternative sources of programming and distribution increase, broadcast content restrictions must be eliminated," he said.
Both Tristani and Furchtgott-Roth criticized the agency for taking seven years to issue the statement, a process that should have taken nine months according to the terms of the 1994 agreement.
Fiske said he did not know why the agency took so long.
The Supreme Court said in 1974 that the FCC has the right to regulate offensive speech on radio and television, due to the "uniquely pervasive presence" of the medium.
Obscene material, which is not protected by the First Amendment, is not permitted on broadcasts.
Reuters/Variety REUTERS
from Newsday
April 7, 2001
In one of its most significant actions in years regarding what one commissioner called "an onslaught of on-air smut," the Federal Communications Commission issued a long-awaited policy statement Friday about broadcast indecency standards.
The 28-page document that summarizes and explains how the commission reaches its decisions includes detailed examples of what the FCC has previously ruled to be unacceptable. Interestingly, Howard Stern, who has been fined millions of dollars for his show, is named only once, while "Bubba the Love Sponge" of WXTB/97.9 FM in Tampa, Fla., is cited four times.
Although the report was approved by a vote of 3 to 1, the commission appeared to be badly split. Commissioner Susan Ness, decrying "an onslaught of on-air smut" and a "festering problem of indecency on the airwaves," urged broadcasters to work with Congress and the president to reinstate a voluntary code of conduct. But Harold Furchtgott-Roth argued that, what with the Internet and cable there are now so many sources of content, all restrictions should be eliminated.
Still, they both supported the statement. The one dissenter, Gloria Tristani, said that the real problem was "lax enforcement" of the rules, that the statement would become "a how-to manual" for broadcasters, and demanded that the FCC "get serious" about enforcement.
Indecency is defined, the FCC said, as "language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs."
But indecency, it continued, depends heavily on the context of the broadcast; one or two words in a newscast are acceptable, as is an Oprah Winfrey program about sex. But persistent, clear sexual innuendo might be indecent. In addition, the measurements of "patently offensive" and "contemporary community standards" do not refer to any one town or area, and do not consider the sensibilities of any one individual.
"The full context is critically important," the FCC declared.
The principal elements in deciding whether a broadcast is indecent, according to the statement, are the explicitness or graphic nature of the description, whether the matter is dwelled on or repeated at length, and, most important, "whether it appears to pander or is used to titillate, or whether the material appears to have been presented for its shock value." As for the specific examples cited, none could be printed here. One involved using the names of candy bars to symbolize sexual activities, another graphically described excretion, and another referred to sex with a child.
The broadcast industry had no immediate response to the statement. "Our lawyers are looking over it," said Dennis Wharton of the National Association of Broadcasters.
[Ed. - This is what the FCC is using as an example of Howard's breaking the rules. To see what other shows are doing click the link for the FCC's policy statement. Lots of stuff worse than Howard is out there...]
from FCC Policy Statement (FCC 01-90)
April 6, 2001
--snips--
13. Following are examples of decisions where the explicit/graphic nature of the description of sexual or excretory organs or activities played a central role in the determination that the broadcast was indecent.
WYSP(FM), Philadelphia, PA "Howard Stern Show"Indecent - Warning Issued. Infinity Broadcasting Corporation of Pennsylvania (WYSP(FM)), 2 FCC Rcd 2705 (1987), aff’d 3 FCC Rcd 930 (1987), aff’d in part, vacated in part on other grounds, remanded sub nom. Act I, 852 F.2d 1332 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (subsequent history omitted). Excerpted material (only some of which is cited above) consisted of "vulgar and lewd references to the male genitals and to masturbation and sodomy broadcast in the context of . . . ‘explicit references to masturbation, ejaculation, breast size, penis size, sexual intercourse, nudity, urination, oral-genital contact, erections, sodomy, bestiality, menstruation and testicles.’ - 3 FCC Rcd at 932.God, my testicles are like down to the floor . . . you could really have a party with these . . . Use them like Bocci balls.
(As part of a discussion of lesbians) I mean to go around porking other girls with vibrating rubber products . . .
Have you ever had sex with an animal? Well, don’t knock it. I was sodomized by Lambchop.
--snips--
If you'd like to contact the FCC, their contact information is here.
from the NY Daily News
March 21, 2001
Stern & Co. said they saw Martling in his car, riding around the building that houses WXRK Radio. Martling apparently told some folks not to mention that they saw him.
Of course, the Martling sighting set off Stern.
"Dude, we're not at war with you," he told listeners yesterday. "If you don't want to work here, we can't force you. It's okay."
"What does he think we're going to do, kidnap him?" said sidekick Robin Quivers.
"He wishes," Stern shot back.
Turns out that seeing Martling around the WXRK building is not unusual because he still rents garage space nearby.
Martling has been off the air since earlier this month when he and 'XRK management failed to reach terms on a new agreement. Stern has repeatedly mentioned that the two sides are $50,000 apart.
Insiders say that Martling is done for now and that no talks have been held.
With Martling out of the picture, Stern has brought in a handful of different comics and personalities - including one CBS executive - to provide humor for the show.
Richard Huff
from the NY Daily News
March 10, 2001
Howard Stern said yesterday that sidekick Jackie Martling's walkout this week was an attempt to undermine his wildly popular morning show on WXRK-FM.
"It's almost like an angry thing at me," Stern told listeners.
"I don't know what it is; it seems like a vendetta," he said later.
Martling stopped showing up for work after he was unable to negotiate a new contract with WXRK management. His absence became a topic of conversation all week.
Stern recently signed a five-year deal with CBS estimated to be worth nearly $100 million. However, Martling deals directly with the station, not Stern. Stern said Martling admits the two sides are close on salary figures.
"In his income bracket, if it's a $50,000 swing, $100,000 after taxes, if you're making that kind of dough, you're not going to blow your deal with us over $50,000," Stern said. "I say it's spite."
Stern noted that he started the show without all his sidekicks - Robin Quivers, Fred Norris and Martling - but that he and the show were better with them.
"But the show will go on, and as a matter of fact, next week we start bringing in other people who do this kind of work," he said.
It's not the first time Martling has walked out on Stern. The last time, he was off the air for six weeks. Likewise, such walk-off stunts have become commonplace in radio lately. For example, WNEW-FM recently pulled off a programming lineup change, which was presented to listeners as a walk-off and and firing of some on-air talent.
 Buy it now! |
from the NY Daily News
March 9, 2001
Martling stopped showing up for work this week when he couldn't come to terms with WXRK-FM over a new contract to sit alongside Stern.
Yesterday, Stern told listeners that over the next couple of weeks, comedians would be sitting in on the show to fill in for the missing Martling. Indeed, Stern said he might ask frequent guest Gilbert Gottfried to come on at least once a week.
Martling has walked off in the past in similar situations -- the last time it lasted six weeks -- only to return in the end.
However, insiders sense this time could mark the end for Martling.
"This is not a stunt," a source said yesterday. "Howard doesn't need the publicity."
Stern recently signed a five-year deal worth an estimated $100 million. However, Martling deals directly with WXRK-FM and not Stern.
It's not publicly known how much Martling makes. In addition to the money he received from the show, he was paid for appearing on Stern's E! show as well as Stern's syndicated series that airs locally on WCBS/Ch. 2. Perhaps more important, the multiple shows provided a platform for Martling to endlessly plug his comedy albums and shows.
Martling did not respond to an e-mail message yesterday.
Stern also told listeners yesterday he might try to get former show regular Billy West back on board. West, known for creating multiple voices and characters, also left the show over money.
Richard Huff
 Buy it now! |
R.H.
--snips--
from FMQB
March 8, 2001
Stern told listeners on Wednesday (3/7) that he didn't think Martling would be back with the show this time. (Martling walked off the show for six weeks during a contract dispute in late '97.) "We're done with each other," Stern said. "I spoke to him last night on the phone... told him he made a big blunder, and wished him luck."
The New York Post (3/8) said Martling called after reading that Stern was upset with him for not talking with him before walking off the show. "He goes, 'I didn't want to involve you in negotiations,'" Stern continued. "I go, 'What negotiations? You work with me for 15 years and you don't pick up the phone and say goodbye and tell me what's on your mind?... The thing that pisses me off is that you walk out and expect me to keep the show going and make everything nice and comfortable for you.'"
from Newsday
March 8, 2001
Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling is at it again. The head writer for Howard Stern's morning show on alternative K-Rock (WXRK/92.3 FM) has walked off the show in a contract dispute, just the way he did in 1997.
And Stern is saying just about the same things about it now as he did then.
Martling, a Long Islander who had a career as a stand-up comedian before he hooked up with Stern in 1986, left after Friday's show and hasn't been back.
Stern and those around him don't respond to phone calls, but the big man himself discussed the matter on Monday's program. "He tells me he loves me, but he sends me a note-doesn't even call me. It's like, 'screw you, keep the show going while I walk out,'" he said.
Martling's contract was up at the end of December.
According both to Stern on the air and sources at Infinity Broadcasting, the walkout is about the terms of the writer's new contract. Stern and the rest of the cast settled their contracts in the fall.
But Martling has a history of troubled negotiations. He was off the air in 1997 for six weeks.
Back then Stern complained very much the way he did now: "Jackie is going through another one of his contract disputes, which I don't think will ever be settled. So I think Jackie's gone. Just split, didn't say goodbye to any of us or nothing."
from the NY Post
March 8, 2001
WANNA be the next court jester for the King of All Media?
Howard Stern says he's actively seeking a replacement for Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling, the longtime comedy writer and sidekick who walked off Stern's show this week after three months of contract talks stalled.
"I spoke to him last night on the phone . . . told him he made a big blunder, and wished him luck," Stern reported to K-Rock (92.3 FM) listeners yesterday. "I told him I hope he gets all the money he wants somewhere else, but I don't know that he can."
Stern said Martling called him after reading in The Post that Stern was upset because Martling didn't phone him before he bolted.
"He goes, ‘I didn't want to involve you in the negotiations,'" Stern relayed. "I go, ‘What negotiations?! You work with me 15 years and you don't pick up the phone . . . and say goodbye and tell me what's on your mind?'
"I raised my voice to him and said, ‘If I sound angry, I am. I love you and think you're a great guy, but you gotta understand, our show goes on,'" Stern continued.
"I told him, ‘The thing that pisses me off is that you walk out and expect me to keep the show going and make everything nice and comfortable for you.'"
When a caller asked if Martling, 53, might come back as he did after a six-week "strike" three years ago, Stern was emphatic: "No. We're done with each other."
New York's top-rated morning man announced he'll audition replacements by playing "Win Jackie's Money" - a take-off on Comedy Central's "Win Ben Stein's Money" game show.
"When I told a comedy writer in L.A. what Jackie was making, he fell off his chair and I said, ‘Yeah, and they offered him more!'" Stern said.
Martling, who didn't respond to e-mail from The Post, is not only losing a fat paycheck, but also on-air promotion for his stand-up comedy appearances and his merchandise-packed website (jokeland.com) - not to mention numerous other Stern-show perks and, possibly, additional appearances on TV's "Hollywood Squares."
"No offense, but I don't think ‘Hollywood Squares' would be calling me if I left the show," Stern warned.
If you're a Jokeman (or Jokeperson) wannabe who covets Jackie's job, be advised that professionals-only need apply.
 Buy it now! |
from the NY Post
March 6, 2001
LONGTIME Howard Stern sidekick Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling has walked off the show in another contract dispute and - this time - Stern vows he won't be back.
"Quite frankly, that's it. It's over," an exasperated Stern told listeners yesterday morning. "I love Jackie, think he's a great guy, but we've got to move forward."
The "Jokeman" turns deadly serious when he negotiates contracts - going AWOL for a full six weeks when his last deal expired three years ago.
(Martling negotiates with CBS/Infinity's K-Rock, not with Stern himself.)
Martling, 52, also refused to let E! photograph him for its Howard Stern simulcast until he got his own contract with the showbiz cable channel.
"Much to my chagrin, after 15 years, the man has walked out because - out of all of us - he's the only guy who can't figure out how to get a new contract without walking out," said Stern, who successfully negotiated a five-year renewal for himself last December worth nearly $100 million.
Martling, who started with Stern as a part-time comedy writer in 1983 when Stern was at the now-defunct WNBC, went full-time in '86 when the show moved to K-Rock (92.3 FM).
It's not known what Martling currently collects, but Stern told listeners: "I know what they're offering . . . and I guarantee there's a lot of writers out there that would fall on their head [for that]."
Stern says he's especially upset about the way Martling handled his latest ankling.
"He tells me he loves me, but he sends me a note - doesn't even call me," Stern moaned. "It's like, 'screw you, keep the show going while I walk out.'"
Meantime, Stern partner Robin Quivers - the show's most senior veteran and never a fan of Martling's - happily fanned the flames.
"You gave him a job. Tom [Chiusano, K-Rock's manager] didn't give him a job," Quivers clucked. "But who does he lash out against when things go bad? You!"
After his 1997 walkout, Martling told The Post he never threatened to write a tell-all book about Stern, contrary to widespread rumors at the time.
Martling didn't respond to e-mail from The Post and, as of yesterday, hadn't included anything related to his "strike" on his website (jokeland.com).
Chiusano didn't return calls but told Stern's listeners yesterday that Martling delayed his walkout while talks continued.
"We negotiated long and hard in good faith and we just couldn't agree," Chiusano said. "We made what I thought was a real, significant and substantial offer."
March 5, 2001
Howard announced this morning that Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling has left the show, again, in a contract dispute. He left after the Friday, March 2, 2001, show without saying anything to anyone. Jackie had been working without a contract since December 31, 2001.
Howard sounded pretty down about the announcement...maybe this time Jackie's walk-out is for good. Howard put up with this once before but this time says he's not going to help out and is ready to move on without Jackie. Tom Chiusano claimed that during contract negotiations he wanted Jackie to stay but that Jackie thought he was insulted. Apparently all Jackie really wanted, according to Tom, was a pat on the back and when he didn't get it he walked out...
Howard is turning it into a bit he's going to call "Win Jackie's Money" where comedians and/or writers will be invited in for a week at a time and get Jackie's salary during the time they're there.
Jackie left the show once before, in December 1997. You can read about that walk-out here. That walk-out lasted about five weeks.
Howard said this report of his earnings is not true on today's (March 2, 2001) show...
from Radio & Records
You can view the entire "Celebrity 100" list, courtesy of Forbes, here.
Older crew salary information can be found here.
Today (January 12, 2001) is Howard's 47th birthday. Here's a listing of some historical events for today as well as some other people who are having a birthday today.
from the Associated Press
Today's Highlight in History:
On January 12th, 1971, the ground-breaking situation comedy "All in the Family" premiered on C-B-S television.
On this date:
In 1519, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian the First died.
In 1773, the first public museum in America was established, in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 1915, the U-S House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.
In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U-S Senate.
In 1942, President Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board.
In 1945, during World War Two, Soviet forces began a huge offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe.
In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race.
In 1964, leftist rebels in Zanzibar began their successful revolt against the government.
In 1966, President Johnson said in his State of the Union address that the U-S should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there was ended.
In 1986, the shuttle "Columbia" blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz.
Ten years ago: A deeply divided Congress gave President Bush the authority to wage war in the Persian Gulf. The Senate voted 52-to-47 to empower Bush to use armed forces to expel Iraq from Kuwait; the House followed suit on a vote of 250-to-183.
Five years ago: Chechen fighters holding more than 100 hostages in the Russian village of Pervomayskaya freed about a dozen of their captives and pledged to release the rest if four top Russian officials took their place.
One year ago: The U-S Supreme Court gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer. Forced to act by a European court ruling, Britain lifted its ban on gays in the military. Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills was killed in a crash during a drag race.
Today's Birthdays: Actress Luise Rainer is 91. Former South African President P.W. Botha is 85. Country singer Ray Price is 75. Singer Ruth Brown is 73. Singer Glenn Yarborough is 71. The Amazing Kreskin is 66. Country singer William Lee Golden (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 62. Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier is 57. Singer-musician George Duke is 55. Rock musician Cynthia Robinson (Sly and the Family Stone) is 55. Actor Anthony Andrews is 53. Movie director Wayne Wang ("The Joy Luck Club") is 52. Political commentator Rush Limbaugh is 50. Country singer Ricky Van Shelton is 49. Radio personality Howard Stern is 47. Actress Kirstie Alley is 46. Rock musician Tom Ardolino (NRBQ) is 44. Rock musician Charlie Gillingham (Counting Crows) is 41. Actor Oliver Platt is 41. Rock singer Rob Zombie is 35. Rapper TBird (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 34. Model-actress Vendela is 34. Rapper Raekwon (Wu Tang Clan) is 31. Rock musician Matt Wong (Reel Big Fish) is 28. Actor Andrew Lawrence is 13.
December 15, 2000
Howard announced today that he signed another 5-year contract with Viacom/Infinity. This contract will run out at the end of December, 2005. Some news stories I've collected on the new contract are here.
from Radio Ink magazine
Neither the FCC, the religious right nor copycat competitors have been able to uproot Howard Stern from his entrenchment as, arguably, the most successful Radio personality of all time. If you were to ask Stern, he’d tell you that no one comes even close. Has Stern decided to uproot Stern?
His Radio success opened the door to becoming a superstar spanning all media, including books, television and the movies. The Internet will soon follow, according to Stern. With a successful production company, asyndicated Baywatch spoof called Son of the Beach on cable, and movie ideas and scripts thrown at him from many hollywood Howard lovers, has Radio run its course in Stern’s life? After all, getting up at 4 a.m. and talking for more than four hours a day, five days a week, can get pretty old. At the end of this year, Stern’s contract with Infinity Broadcasting expires. The big question is: Will Stern be back?
INK: In the Year 2001, will Howard Stern be heard on the Radio?
STERN: I have thought long and hard about this, because getting up early is the bitch, but I am motivated to do Radio. I love doing it, and I think I will be doing it, provided I can come to an agreement with Infinity or whoever they are. I think they are Viacom or CBS now. It changes daily. If that can all be worked out, then I will absolutely be on the air.
Have other groups, such as Clear Channel or Emmis, tried to woo you over?
I have heard from a lot of people but, first and foremost, I would like to work out an agreement with Mel [Karmazin, president/COO of Viacom], because Mel is someone I have been with for 15 years. He has been tremendous to me. He is somebody I feel a sense of loyalty to. At the same time, I have to be realistic. I hope the deal can be worked. If that happens, then I am in business.
At times it sounds like you are fed up with Radio and, to some extent, the company you work for. Is that true or just part of the show?
Like anyone with a job, I get frustrated. On the air, I let everything come out. If I am sitting there and a piece of equipment doesn’t work, then I blow off steam about it. There are things about Radio that frustrate me, particularly the censorship issues, but for the most part, I still feel Radio is my primary career. If I were not on the Radio, then a huge chunk of my life would be missing. I blow off steam on the air, but I have been doing that since I first got into it. Nevertheless, I do love it.
Could you ever imagine yourself not being on the Radio?
There are times when I fantasize about moving into other areas. I actually have gotten a tremendous amount of satisfaction executive producing this Son of the Beach show and working with the writers on Doomsday, which is an animated series. My production company has a couple of films in development. I enjoy that.
People who know you say you really do love our industry.
Yes. Honestly, I knew what I was going to do with my life when I was 5 years old. I knew I would be in Radio. My father was a Radio engineer. I was fascinated with it. Later on, my father had a recording studio, and I watched Don Adams and Larry Storch record cartoons all day. I was enamored with the industry. I was not a kid who grew up listening to a lot of Radio. I did not listen to the Top 40 DJs. I listened toTalk shows. It was always my dream that I would go on rock ’n’ roll stations and talk. I don’t know where that came from. I would do these Radio shows into a tape recorder until I was 13. I would do characters. I did these skits. Oddly enough, when I was offered my first job in Radio, I almost backed away. I got cold feet. I could not imagine I would be able to make a living in Radio. I could not imagine people letting me do the kind of work that I wanted to do. Low and behold, many would not, but there were those few who did.
With all the changes Radio has experienced since our last interview (four years ago), do you still feel that way?
Yes. I think consolidation has made it less of the romantic notion I had. What I used to love about Radio early in my career was packing my bags every nine months and ending up at a different Radio station. Now, with consolidation, you work with one company, because there are only three. Nevertheless it is still Radio, and what is so brilliant is its immediacy — the fact that I don’t have to go through a bunch of layers to get my program on the air. Whatever ideas come into my head, I go on the air and do them. Radio is such a natural medium for me, and I love it. I have always felt I had my finger on the pulse of what people want. I must, because there are 10 million other guys doing what I am doing.
Are there fewer FCC issues with your program than there were five years ago?
It is no less a problem. The FCC and I have learned to coexist. I am able to function within their ridiculous guidelines. If I sit there and dwell on the FCC, I become Lenny Bruce, reading court transcripts and fighting about them. The fact is, the audience always comes first. I want to entertain my audience. I don’t want to sit there and listen to a bunch of asshole government bureaucrats try to prove to the constituency that they are doing something. They are not doing a thing. What little child has heard what I do on the air? You know from looking at the ratings that we don’t have children listening. Six to 10 in the morning is the only time people actually supervise their children. They are getting them ready for school. It is ludicrous to think there are unsupervised kids listening to my show. All these sex shows that are on at night are what kids listen to and watch unsupervised. That is the funny thing about it. I am not going to dwell on it, because it gets boring after awhile. It was exciting at the beginning, but now it is mundane. I will leave it to others to fight it.
Did you ever really think you would be able to create a media empire when you first got into this business, back when you were interviewing the head of the ASPCA in Hartford?
My father always says he loved that public affairs program in Hartford. He told me it was some of my best Radio -- just me, sitting there, making these guys interesting. Frankly, that show represented what I wanted to do on Radio more than anything. Take the average guy and dissect what he does. Robin (Quivers) says one of the reasons she became so attracted to working with me was because of an interview I did with a hooker in Detroit. It was very matter-of-fact. I was not judging her. I was just finding out how much money she made and what her life was like.
Who else besides Mel Karmazin has affected your career?
First and foremost would be Don Buchwald [Stern’s agent]. He understood my work for the market. He has been a tremendous friend to me. I can’t place a value on how important he has been to my career in helping me understand the business and my own worth. He was one of the people who was instrumental in sticking by me when I said I didn’t want to over-commercialize. I did not want to sell cups, mugs, T-shirts, and bumper stickers, like DJs. I wanted to elevate my career, and he assisted me in that. He understood my career from the beginning. I thank him a lot. He took care of a lot of the business that I couldn’t. And there’s Mel, of course. And Robin has been so good with me on the air. My whole Radio crew -- Jackie Martling, Fred Norris and Gary Dell’Abate -- has supported me in every way. When I got really down, like during the worst part of the FCC thing, they were there for me.
You have unwavering loyalty to that group?
Absolutely. Early on, there were some people in management who were amazing, like Wally Clark. I will always have a warm spot in my heart for Wally. When I was in Detroit, it was a tough time in my career. He was very supportive of me. He sat me down and told me I was one of the most talented guys he had ever heard in Radio. Wally bolted to St. Louis, but he was good to me. Randy Baumgarten, at NBC, liberated me there. I was under siege, as documented in my movie, Private Parts. Management was brutal to me, but Randy came in and told me I was terrific and stuck by me. There have been some great people in my career.
Did you get any feedback from the people who were negatively portrayed in the movie?
No. Oddly enough, the guy who in real life was my Israeli GM at WRNW was thrilled. I have not spoken to Kevin Metheny in years. He said the movie was an exaggeration -- yeah, I made him look too nice.
How much of your show is staged before you go on the air? You are constantly ragging on yourself. Is it all a gag?
Very little on the show is made up. I am one of those people who can look at ice cream and gain weight. I run six miles a day. One of the weird things about having the Radio show on TV is that you have to look at yourself a lot. When I first got into Radio, I was so against looking at myself. I am a Radio guy. I don’t have to worry about my appearance, but my health was going to hell. I was overweight and getting sick. So, I watch what I eat.
March 2, 2001Radio Stars Earn Top Dollar
Limbaugh, Stern place on Forbes' "Celebrity 100"
The money magazine will publish its list of the 100 most-powerful celebs in its March issue, and it states, "What radio lacks in glamor, it makes up for in dollars. With rich profit-sharing deals and hours more airtime to sell, deejays do just fine." No kidding. Rush Limbaugh landed at No. 27 with a $31 million take (and access to a corporate jet, thanks to his latest deal with Premiere Radio Networks). Close behind at No. 29 is Howard Stern, who took in a cool $30 million in earnings (which, Forbes says, will grow even more next year thanks to a new deal with Infinity Broadcasting). ABC's Paul Harvey landed at No. 31 with $29 million in income.
Today in History - Friday, January 12th, the 12th day of 2001. There are 353days left in the year.
September 9, 2000
Interview
Howard Stern: Will He Be Back in 2001?
Early in my career, I needed to be the guy out front. There are times now when I enjoy being part of the writing, working with writers and being behind the scenes to solve problems in a management capacity. But a huge part of me still has to be out front and get a lot out of my system. It is sort of cathartic. So much of who I am is me on the air, so it would be hard to walk away.
I don’t think when I was in Hartford I could ever have imagined it would become as big as it did. I remember getting on my knees and praying during one show to get me out of Hartford. It was so horrible working there. There was no money. As good a job as I was doing and, for the hours I was putting in, I was not rewarded financially. I guess I did not have any idea how big it would get. I just wanted to make my living doing Radio. I did not get into it for the money.
When I first went on Letterman, the coolest thing, I thought, was I never gave a thought to what I looked like. I j