
What Happened to Howard Stern? - nautilus
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/31/arts/howard-stern-sirius.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below
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MrMullen
Late career Howard Stern show is a fantastic show. Yes, there are the usual
collections of low-brow humor, stunts and fart jokes. However, every now and
then there will be an A or B level movie/TV/sport star on and Howard can spend
an hour or hour and half extracting every little juicy story out of them. He
can get people to tell all kinds of stories about their lives and keeps them
on task and focused on telling the story. You hang on every word and every
sentence and you just don't want to get out of your car when you listen to
him. I really believe that there is simply no better interviewer than Howard
Stern. He has the ability and the medium to do such a fantastic job.

~~~
leftnode
What's ironic is that most longtime fans hate the late career Howard Stern.

I've been a daily listener since 1997 and enjoy both pre-Sirius and post-
Sirius shows immensely.

~~~
bitwize
That's because in the 90s Howard Stern filled the same role as Tucker Max. He
was the douchebag people dreamed of being. He said the things you couldn't. On
the air. He banged the chicks you couldn't. ...On the air.

Now that he's become a judge for one of those talent shows and that, and
hobnobbing with celebrities, he's mollified his image, and it isn't as
ZomgRebelliousAlternativeEdgy as his fans were craving.

------
nlh
Great article (I'm a fan of the show.) If I may turn the discussion toward
something a bit more HN-relevant, a few questions:

* The engineer in me is always intrigued by the operations of the show. Does anyone have any details on the equipment / software they use? I tried to gleam some juicy stuff from this shot:

[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/07/31/arts/31STERNJP1/3...](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/07/31/arts/31STERNJP1/31STERNJP1-superJumbo.jpg)

But the blur effect makes it hard to make anything out.

We get to hear littles glimpses of things in the Gary-to-Howard banter
("Howard check JD Page 3 in Blue").

* Any sense of what Fred uses on his end? He obviously has a library of clips from the ages that he can pull up pretty quickly.

* Does he get real-time feedback / jokes / stuff from his writers / Benjy? Does that work over IM, or are people handing him slips of paper?

~~~
joemi
I don't have any solid answers, but...

* You might have some luck browsing [http://www.bhphotovideo.com/](http://www.bhphotovideo.com/) to try to match up the hardware. B&H has a lot of Pro-sumer and straight up Pro products, in addition to all their consumer stuff.

* In radio parlance, devices/software that lets you store and play various clips is called a "soundboard". Or at least it was last time I knew anything about radio... might have newer terms now that everything's definitely digital.

Like I said, nothing solid, but this might help you look into it a bit more.

~~~
joemi
Jeez... Downvoted for attempting to help? Rough crowd.

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at-fates-hands
I'm seriously surprised its taken this long for the Times and the media in
general to realize what an incredible interviewer he is. He pulls stuff out of
people you never hear anywhere.

I can say some of the celebs they have on there I truly despised, then I hear
Stern interview them and come away actually liking them. He just seems to get
people to open up and then tell some heartfelt stories.

Case in point - never a huge Billy Joel fan. Stern had him in a few years
back. Billy sat at a piano during the interview and would plunk around and
sing parts of songs while Stern asked questions about everything. It was
simply one of the best interviews I've heard. So laid back, and Billy is one
smart cat. So many things I learned about him and how his brain ticks and his
process for creating music.

I came away from that having a huge change of heart and a ton more respect for
what he's done in the industry. No one, and I mean no one, could have an
interview like that with Billy. I'm convinced Stern was the only guy capable
of pulling out the stuff that he did and the piano and everything, just
amazing.

The other interview I will always remember was the TV show he had where he
would interview celebs. He was the last person to interview Phil Hartman, with
his wife there no less, days before he was murdered. Another great interview
that showed a lot of his insecurities and how talented he really was. At the
end, Stern had this list of accents (around 8-10 I think) and Hartman, in
classic fashion whipped through them all, flawlessly I might add to end the
interview.

I think if you weed through all the sexual innuendos and stripper games, you
can see not only is Stern incredibly talented as an interviewer, but the love
he has for his guests and the rest of the people he works with (Robin, Fred,
Ba Ba Booey, Scott, Richard and Sal) is clear.

~~~
username3
What did Howard pull out of Phil? Coincidence?

~~~
at-fates-hands
Took some digging, but here you go:
[http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k3lgWD6rUo9JaR31UDa](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k3lgWD6rUo9JaR31UDa)

~~~
hellbanTHIS
"So this is the woman you're going to spend the rest of eternity with". Hoo
boy

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rmason
I made a typical snarky baby boomer comment at a dinner about the talent of
Lady GaGa in her meat dress days.

Someone sent me a link to a performance of hers on Howard Stern. Told him now
I have two reason not to listen to it ;<).

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cce36nhHTP8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cce36nhHTP8)

But I listened and was blown away. For those not listening Stern said after
she was done that it was one of the best live performances in the history of
his show.

~~~
abritinthebay
GaGa is actually an incredibly talented singer and musician.

She just knows the value of heavy handed marketing (after her initial, more
natural, career in NYC didn't take off she pivoted... and the rest is history)

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softawre
Love Stern, listen to him almost every day. I also generally don't care for
celebrities, but when he interviews them I do care. It's the most real you'll
ever see them.

~~~
degenerate
Any specific interview you recommend? The few I tried listening to were not
worth finishing... simply un-interesting. I'd like to hear one or two of the
memorable ones that his fans really enjoyed.

~~~
colordrops
This is not a new one, but dives into a world most aren't familiar with, that
of the independent cartoonist. This particular interview is with the creator
of Ren and Stimpy, and his antagonist, the voice of Stimpy, who had a major
falling out:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PheypE68BKc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PheypE68BKc)

~~~
Hannan
Just watched all of that, thanks for posting. As an old (young?) Ren & Stimpy
fan, I had no idea of the backstory. Also, even though Howard Stern's dad
weighed in, I'm not sure who I side with. I can honestly see both sides to the
argument and that's... unsettling.

Bonus Godwin's Law reference for those that didn't want to watch, it's about
45 seconds from this start:
[https://youtu.be/PheypE68BKc?t=30m32s](https://youtu.be/PheypE68BKc?t=30m32s)

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trappedintime
NYT can't go a single, off-topic article without crap-smearing Trump. When a
media outlet covers a person 100% negatively, at what point does its
readership begin to realize there may be a conflict of interest? Or does the
collective cognitive dissonance take care of that all by itself?

~~~
cholantesh
It's two sentences. You might be overreacting a bit.

~~~
jlappi
2 sentences in a large number of unrelated articles becomes tiresome I'd
imagine.

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maxerickson
His 1997 (semi?) biographical film _Private Parts_ is full of lascivious
shenanigans that you might expect from a "shock jock", but it's also
thoughtful and charming.

~~~
l33tbro
That's why I'm at w loss for the titling if the article. Stern has always been
wonderful, ahead of the curve and a game-changer for radio. Private Parts is a
great primer for anyone not familiar, and is not bad at all for a biopic.

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mcphage
My wife, a conservative Christian, was dismayed when he joined America's Got
Talent as a judge, due to his radio antics. But he quickly won her over as her
favorite judge—he was good, he was insightful, he was serious and honest in a
way the other judges never managed. I was impressed how he managed to show a
very different side to himself from what people expected, and I'm sure it won
him a lot of new fans. It was a great move on his part.

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StanislavPetrov
I'd just like to point out that in addition to his radio show he had a very
unique and entertaining sketch comedy/variety show. Known to many fans as the
"Channel 9 Howard Stern Show" (as not to be mistaken for the "Howard Stern
Show"). It ran from 1990-1992 on Saturday nights and contained all original
content and skits (as opposed to video of his radio show like the E! show that
came later). Extremely entertaining and original, definitely worth checking
out for anyone who has an interest in the evolution or career of Howard Stern.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Howard_Stern_Show_(WWOR)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Howard_Stern_Show_\(WWOR\))

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ben174
Sirius did a huge audio production called "The History of Howard Stern" which
they'd play when Howard went on vacation or filming America's Got Talent. It's
absolutely massive. Must be 60+ hours.

It goes into incredible detail of every point of his career and plays all the
old key moments. It's an amazing listen. Really interesting watching his
personality evolve from a geeky Weird Al type guy into what he's become.

I loved it so much I converted it into a podcast feed for myself to listen to
whenever I have free time. I think I'm only like 75% through and I've been
listening to it for over a year.

------
angryasian
Howard has always been fantastic at interviews, no matter what time frame
you're looking at. Its everything else that has changed. I miss Artie.

~~~
lawpoop
The Artie period was the best.

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icebraining
Howard Stern, the vanguard of the Society of the Spectacle.

~~~
1439205948
As in Guy Debord? In what way? I've only heard his show a few times but it
didn't really scream "commodity fetishism" to me. Although I suppose there's
an essay you could write on living vicariously through his celebrity guest
stars.

------
tnuoccapass
“What stops us from looking at ourselves and seeing ourselves is that we’re
kind of ugly, if we really, if we look really hard,” Mr. Murray replied.
“We’re not who we think we are. We’re not, uh we’re not as wonderful as we
think we are.”

Classic example of an ugly person who has limited awareness of the fact that
he is an individual who is individual from other people.

~~~
jackmott
I got lost in the levels of indirection there. Can you flatten that out?

~~~
danem
I think they are saying "speak for yourself".

~~~
cholantesh
Probably, but nobody will ever believe them.

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olivermarks
What an odd article to be posted on hacker news. Stern is the consumate shape
shifting media personality, in turns erudite, vulgar, brash, sensitive - all
to keep the listeners tuned in and consuming the ads. He's a variant of the
Kardashians - famous for being famous having adopted the style of an eighties
rock musician.

Anything to stay in the limelight...

~~~
at-fates-hands
Last time I checked, the Kardashians got famous because of Kim's sex tape.
Before that, I hardly think many people who know Kim, remember her far more
famous dad Robert who was an attorney on the OJ case.

~~~
Johnny555
I always figured that most people that know of the Kardashians know of them as
just some amorphous blob. I know the name, know they are famous for being
famous, but couldn't tell you anything in particular about any of them. I
don't even know how many there are, and until reading your post, didn't even
make the connection to the OJ case.

~~~
DonHopkins
To me, they're famous for South Park making fun of them all the time. Other
than that, I couldn't tell you much about them.

