The History of Howard Stern

Last updated
The History of Howard Stern
History of howard stern title crop.jpg
GenreDocumentary
Running time4-6 hours per episode
Country of origin United States
Home station Howard 100 and Howard 101
Starring Howard Stern
Robin Quivers
Fred Norris
Gary Dell'Abate
Announcer Jim Forbes
Original releaseDecember 17, 2007 
December 31, 2010
No. of episodes35
Opening theme"Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie

The History of Howard Stern is a radio documentary series about the life and career of American radio personality Howard Stern, covering the years from his childhood through 2001. It originally aired across 35 episodes in four "acts" on Howard 100 on SiriusXM Radio between December 17, 2007 and December 31, 2010. Each episode includes segments from The Howard Stern Show , interviews with the show's staff, celebrity guests, and his family, and excerpts of news reports. The series is narrated by Jim Forbes.

Contents

In 2008, the series won a Communicator Award. [1] Act III was given a Silver World Medal award at the 2010 International Radio Programming and Promotion Awards in the History category. [2] An additional episode covering the show's final two years on terrestrial radio in 2004 and 2005 aired in July 2015.

Background

On June 7, 2006, Stern announced on his show that the lawsuit settlement with CBS Radio (formerly Infinity Broadcasting) finally gave Sirius exclusive rights to his entire back catalogue of radio shows from his time at terrestrial radio station WXRK, which spanned over twenty years from November 1985 to December 2005, totalling almost 23,000 hours. [3] It was reported that Sirius agreed to pay CBS $2 million for the rights, approximately $87 per-hour of tape. [4] [5] Sirius held the rights to the tapes until the end of Stern's initial 5-year contract with the satellite company on December 31, 2010, when all rights returned to Stern. On December 2, 2009, it was announced that every tape had been digitized on a server taking up multiple terabytes of data. The process took close to five years to complete. [6] This has allowed all specials broadcast on Howard 100 and Howard 101 to be produced.

Personnel

Episodes

Act I

No.TitleYear(s) coveredOriginal air date
1"The Early Years"1954–1977December 17, 2007 (2007-12-17)
2"Howard's Radio Journey Begins"1977–1981December 18, 2007 (2007-12-18)
3"Mr. Stern Goes to Washington"1981–82December 19, 2007 (2007-12-19)
4"Welcome to the Big Apple"1982–84December 20, 2007 (2007-12-20)
5"End of the WNBC Era"1984–85December 21, 2007 (2007-12-21)

Act II

No.TitleYear(s) coveredOriginal air date
6"K-Rock: A New Beginning"1985–86December 22, 2008 (2008-12-22)
7"Morning Glory"1986December 23, 2008 (2008-12-23)
8"Philadelphia Freedom"1986–87December 24, 2008 (2008-12-24)
9"Video Thrilled the Radio Star"1987December 25, 2008 (2008-12-25)
10"Radio Wars"1988December 26, 2008 (2008-12-26)
11"New Faces, New Places"1988December 29, 2008 (2008-12-29)
12"Fight the Good Fight"1989December 30, 2008 (2008-12-30)
13"Unforced Errors"1989December 31, 2008 (2008-12-31)
14"The Radio King"1990January 1, 2009 (2009-01-01)
15"Television Triumph, Radio Tragedy"1990January 2, 2009 (2009-01-02)

Act III

No.TitleYear(s) coveredOriginal air date
16"West Coast Story"1991December 21, 2009 (2009-12-21)
17"Hello Goodbye"1992December 22, 2009 (2009-12-22)
18"It's a Gas, Gas, Gas"1992December 23, 2009 (2009-12-23)
19"Bury 'Em"1992–93December 24, 2009 (2009-12-24)
20"Howard Stern's Private Parts"1993December 25, 2009 (2009-12-25)
21"A Political Party"1993–94December 28, 2009 (2009-12-28)
22"Radio D-Day"1994December 29, 2009 (2009-12-29)
23"The Kingmaker"1994December 30, 2009 (2009-12-30)
24"It's Not Fun"1995December 31, 2009 (2009-12-31)
25"Author, Author!"1995–96January 1, 2010 (2010-01-01)

Act IV

No.TitleYear(s) coveredOriginal air date
26"A Star Is Born"1996December 20, 2010 (2010-12-20)
27"Cast of Characters"1996December 21, 2010 (2010-12-21)
28"King of All Media Blitz"1997December 22, 2010 (2010-12-22)
29"Private Parts The Movie"1997December 23, 2010 (2010-12-23)
30"Pushin' Limits"1997–98December 24, 2010 (2010-12-24)
31"Here's to The Losers"1998December 27, 2010 (2010-12-27)
32"My Personal Life Is At Like a 2"1999December 28, 2010 (2010-12-28)
33"Life's a Beach"2000December 29, 2010 (2010-12-29)
34"Should I Stay or Should I Go?"2000–01December 30, 2010 (2010-12-30)
35"In Memoriam"2001December 31, 2010 (2010-12-31)

Additional material

An episode covering 2004 and 2005 aired on July 17, 2015 which included the departure of John Melendez, the early period of JD Harmeyer, the show's run-ins with the FCC, and Stern's departure from terrestrial radio for Sirius. The episode was narrated by AJ Allen.

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References

  1. "Communicator Awards - Winners". Communicator Awards.
  2. "2010 Silver World Medal "The History of Howard Stern - Act III"". New York Festivals.
  3. "Coming Soon...Classic Howard Stern Show Tapes 1985-2005. 06/07/06. 7:05am". MarksFriggin.
  4. "Stern Gets Old Tapes, CBS Gets $2M". CBSNews.com. May 25, 2006.
  5. Ahrens, Frank (May 27, 2006). "Stern Gets Rights To Tapes In Settlement With CBS". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  6. Mercer, Mark. "Howard 100 News And Wrap Up Show Previews. 12/02/09. 9:55am". MarksFriggin. Retrieved 2009-12-03.