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The special started off with an intro where the announcer, Jim Forbes, talks about what this special was going to be about with many clips of Howard and the other guys on the show talking about some of the stuff that's gone on over the years.
After the intro they went back to January 12, 1954 when Howard was born. Then Howard's mother Ray Stern came on and talked about the day Howard was born and explained how she wasn't allowed to have Ben in the hospital room with her. She talked about how he was told they had a boy. Ben also had a few words to say about that and how he was the one who came up with the name Howard. He said he liked that name and told her that's what they were naming him.
Up next was Howard's sister Ellen who talked about how thrilled she was to have a brother. She was 4 years old at the time. Howard talked about how great his relationship was with his sister over the years. He said that she never looked for the spotlight while he was always looking for it. He would take any attention he could get while she stayed quiet.
Ray talked about living in Jackson Heights and how they knew they had to move from the small home there. She said that they wondered where to go and friends told them to move to Roosevelt because that's where they were all going. They bought a split level house there for $14,500. Ben said that those were the days. Ben said that they moved there when Howard was just a few months old, in June of 1954.
Howard talked about some of the stuff he remembered from living in Roosevelt. He remembered crapping his pants and running home to take them off and burying them in the back yard.
Jim had some of Howard's friends, Jerry Dickowitz, Milton Little and Margie Sickles, talking about growing up with Howard. Each of them talked a little bit about Roosevelt and what they remember of it. They described the town, how big it was, how much traffic there was there and things like that.
The friends talked about Howard's house being red and what it was like to hang out with Howard. Howard talked about those friends and how they were all good friends and a lot of fun to hang out with. Margie talked about how great Howard's parents were. Milton also said that they were great people and they always made them feel good when they were hanging out with Howard. He said they were just ''honest, decent folks.''
Margie said that there were a few families there that would hang out and do things together in that neighborhood. Ray was also saying that they were always involved with the things going on in the world and in the neighborhood.
Margie was talking about the families hanging out and how she used to watch the adults at night just hanging out and they were always having fun and laughing. She said that Ben was always very funny and Ray was always laughing at his jokes.
Howard said that his father really was the life of the party from what he remembers. He said that he was always very well read and up on the news. He said that his mother was always laughing at what he said too. Margie said that Ben telling all of those jokes were probably a big influence on Howard and his career. Howard said that his father was always no nonsense and very opinionated. He said that there was a certain dynamic there that reminds him of his radio show.
Ray talked about how she would volunteer Ben's services to do things at their church and he'd be dressed up as a woman quite often. She said that Howard saw that and that probably made it easy for him to see stuff like that. Ben said that he used to play many female roles in those plays they'd put on at church.
Ben said he used to record himself singing at work and he'd bring home the records for the kids to listen to. He said that he had Shirley Jones come up and record in the studio one time and he sang for her. She told him that it was an awful performance though.
We heard an interview clip where Howard was asked about his father and what it was like growing up with him. In the clip we heard Howard talking about how his mother let him have a Playboy magazine when he was a young boy. He said that sex wasn't that big of a deal in his house. Ben and Ray came on and talked about how they weren't uptight about those things back then.
We heard a clip from Howard's show where he talked about his mother and how she always told him that he should be fearless but then she'd put fear into him when she'd tell him about how people died back when she was a little kid. Howard talked about the things that shaped him into the person he is and how she put all of this fear into him. He was doing an impression of his mother while talking about the crazy stuff she told him. He said he lives in a world of fear because of that.
Howard said that his sister had some friends who were really hot and she'd bring them back to the house. He said he had a crush on one of them, Sharon Landis or something like that, and he always liked when she'd come over.
Howard said that some of her male friends weren't so great and they used to try and scare him all the time. He said that he and Ellen did get along though and things went pretty well for them over the years. He said that there were times when he was a little overwhelming for her though.
Ellen said that she didn't see Howard a lot when they were growing up because they were off doing their own thing most of the time. She said that they didn't really fight that much though. Ray said that Howard was good to her as a kid and he's kept that up. Ellen said that he's still wonderful to her and her kids. She said that he's also there for his own kids and she's very lucky to have him.
Ben said that he could see Howard had fun with the marionettes. Ellen said that he would put on shows for his friends and he really kept people entertained. Margie was on again talking about Howard's comic book collection and things like that as well. She said that she would go over and read his comic books with him and watch his marionette shows that he put on. His other friends also talked about the stuff that they used to see over at his house when they were there. One of the guys said that he saw a nude magazine for the first time at Howard's house.
One of Howard's friends said that they actually got out of class to go do puppet shows and write them for class. Ben said that he used to help him out with that stuff and they did the Fiddler on the Roof puppet show at one point.
We heard another clip from Howard's show where he was talking about those years when he was doing his puppet shows. He said he did a lot of dirty puppet shows when he was around the age of 7. He said that he'd have pirates raping women and things like that. He said that it all got very perverted.
They also played a clip from ''Private Parts'' where Howard is doing a puppet show and having the characters having sex and then having them taken away from him.
Howard's friends said that they think that Howard was exaggerating about the puppet sex shows. They didn't remember that happening and it was much more innocent than he made it out to be.
Ben said that he brought Howard to temple to see one of these radio guys because he knew that he was kind of interested in radio stuff. Ben remembered talking to Howard about radio and what they thought was good and not so good about it back then.
We heard another clip from ''Private Parts'' where Howard's father was bringing him to his studio to watch him work.
Ben said that he used to bring Howard in to work to watch him work and they would see guys like Don Adams, Larry Storch and Wally Cox doing their thing for cartoons. Then we heard another clip from Howard's show where he was talking about the recording sessions and how some of them ended up on a Tennessee Tuxedo DVD that was released not too long ago. He played some of the clips where Ben was instructing the people in the studio on what they were doing. Howard said that Ben was very official sounding in those clips.
Ben talked about how he would record the family at these sessions and Howard would get out of hand sometimes. He said he kept all of these tapes locked up for years. He said that if he knew that they'd turn into what they did, he never would have given them to Howard to play on his show.
We heard a clip from Howard's show where he first revealed the family tapes where he had his father yelling at him. Howard talked about how they all had to perform when they'd go there. He said his father would perform songs and stuff so he played some of that. That's when we heard Ben's ''Shut up, sit down!'' for the first time. In the clip Howard said that he could never yell at his kids like that.
Howard said those were some confusing things going on back then. He said that it was like his parents were asking him ''isn't this exciting?'' and then saying ''Don't get excited!'' Howard's mother asks ''what's wrong with you?'' during that clip so Howard explains that he was just a kid back then. He was just being a kid.
In that bit Howard said that his parents humiliated him on a daily basis. He went on to play some of his father singing and Jackie started laughing his ass off. Howard talked about how his father was laughing in that bit but he wasn't always laughing, he was miserable most of the time. Howard played the ''Shut up, sit down!'' clip a few times and then forwarded through the tapes and tried to find some other stuff. He heard himself playing the piano and screwing that up. He said he wishes he could still play that song that he was playing. He said he wouldn't give his kids piano lessons, he wouldn't want to have to sit and listen to that crap.
In another clip Ray was singing a song and Ben was yelling at her that she wasn't on the microphone. Then Howard forwards the tape and finds an interview that Ben did with him, when he was about 7. Ben asked him about why kids should go to religious services. Howard didn't know what to say and fumbled over his words and didn't say much of anything. Ben then asks Ellen what she thinks about the local football team. She talks about that for a minute and then Ben asks what they think about the United States remaining in the United Nations. Howard gives a goofy answer and Ben tells him ''I told you not to be stupid you moron...'' Howard laughed and said that he was just doing some funny stuff and his father freaked out on him. Jackie said that this was like a sitcom.
Howard continued to play the clips of his father asking all of these goofy questions. Ben asks some political questions and has Howard rambling about nonsense. He also talks to Ellen about the same stuff and neither of them gave good enough answers so he straightens them out on that.
Jim Forbes said that Ellen didn't think that Ben was like that all the time. She then comes on and said that he wasn't always yelling at Howard that way. Ben also had some things to say about that as well. He said that if he had tape of what Howard was doing before he yelled at him, then he'd have something to prove that he should be able to yell at him.
After that we heard more of the Tennessee Tuxedo recording sessions when Howard played them on the show. Howard talked about the way his father was so official and would tell him not to do anything stupid when they'd go into those recording sessions. He and Artie also talked about Ben's job and how he never made a huge amount of money. He did okay but he didn't get rich off of what he was doing.
We heard one of Howard's friends talking about how Howard wanted to get into radio. Ray said that he was talking about that stuff all the time. One of the friends said he didn't remember Howard talking about it all that much at all but he did think that Howard was going to get into show business because he was so funny.
They played another clip from Howard's show where Artie was talking to Howard about his father being in the radio business and how Howard had said that he really wasn't in the business. Howard said that his father doesn't get upset about that stuff and doesn't question him about things he says on the air. He said that they don't get that personal. He said that his father used to call him an idiot if he said that he was going to get into the radio business and make millions. Howard talked about how his father invested wisely in stocks and that's how they live the way they do now.
In another clip we heard from one of Howard's friends, Seth, who said that Howard's father freaked out on them when they were playing around with the reel to reel recorder that Howard's father had. That led to Jim introducing some clips that had never been played before. They had Howard singing some songs from the 1960s. He was singing a bunch of songs that were hits at the time. He was going on and on during the recording. They had to slow down the recordings because Howard had recorded them to make it sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks.
We heard Howard talking about what a big deal those tape recorders were to him back then. They went into some more of those personal recordings where Howard was doing a Batman show all by himself. He was doing the voices, making the sound effects and playing the Batman theme song. He even had some audio from the real Batman show that he threw into the mix.
Howard said that he would make up shows on his own when he was young. He was a fan of Soupy Sales at the time and he would have some of his characters on these shows he did. That led to another clip where Howard was a kid doing these recordings and doing an interview with a friend. It was very short though. They went to commercial break after that.
Ray talked about how she never went to camp and Ben only went for about a week when he was a kid. Ben talked about going to camp himself. Ray said that Howard was always a little shy about his first time going but he made friends with his friend Lou so that helped. His sister was there as well and that helped. She said that he did enjoy it once he started going.
We heard from Howard talking about going to camp and how he had some nice friends there. They were people who accepted him and he fit in there at camp. Dr. Lou had some stuff to say about Howard and how he was a lot of fun to hang out with at camp. He said that they weren't all that great at sports but they still had fun playing. He talked about how they used to play softball and they'd try to knock Howard down by throwing the ball at him instead of letting him get a hit.
They played another clip from Howard's show where he was talking about going to camp and what they'd do there. He said that they didn't have all that many activities there other than sleeping out in the woods. He said he hated doing that because of the bugs and stuff. He said the camp was crappy and you'd have to make doody in the woods. He explained what it was like to lash two logs to a tree and dig a hole to crap in. He explained to Robin about how he would have to hold in his doody for 2 days and how uncomfortable that was. He also talked about making a lean-to and using a tarp to do that.
Howard said that they had one kid fall into a fire and then roll out. They had to pour milk on him to put the fire out. Howard said that the camps they have today are more like going to a hotel than when he was going. Howard said that camping to him these days is going to a second rate hotel like a Ramada Inn and staying for a night.
Howard's friends from camp talked about how Howard would fart a lot when he was a kid and he always found it amusing. One of the guys explained the farting thing and how much he'd do it. Howard said that he loved farting and it always came naturally to him.
Ray talked about Howard and all of the positive things that his camp counselors would write about him. She said that they told her that Howard was a leader but he didn't use his skills there at camp.
Howard's friends talked about Dr. Lou and how he was on his way to being a doctor even when he was a kid. They also talked about Howard using that Wallensack recorder that he had to do interviews and stuff so it was almost obvious as to where he was going.
The friends talked about the band that they created as a goof. Howard had a drum set and they used to play songs but they were really horrible. One of the guys also talked about how Howard had this girlfriend by the name of Irene that was very pretty. One of the guys wasn't sure how Howard got her because she was so good looking. He said he's not sure how far he got with her back then. Things were much different back then.
Ray said that she remembers Irene and how sweet she was. She wasn't sure but she thought that she lived in Queens or Brooklyn so they weren't able to visit each other after camp. Ray said that Howard always respected girls and would defend them if his friends were in the car making fun. Ray said that one of Howard's friends in college told her that Howard was ''one of the girls'' when they were hanging out.
They went into another clip from Howard's show where he was talking about Irene and how she was his first love. He said that she was only 13 but she had big boobs and she was hot. He said his friend Dr. Lou told him he should play the field and that led to him breaking up with Irene. Lou told him that there would be tons of chicks after that so he broke things off with her. The next day she had a boyfriend and every guy wanted to date her. He didn't have any chicks to go to after that. He said he's always thought ''what if...'' ever since then. He said he'd like to get her on the show but she doesn't want anything to do with him now. He said he thinks that she's still pissed at him over the break up.
Then we heard Howard's friends talking about what happened to Roosevelt and how they were in school in the integrated school that was in town. Some of the families thought that it would be best to get out of town before their kids moved into junior high. The town changed and most of the white people in the community moved out.
Howard's family stuck around Roosevelt long after most of their friends had moved out. Ben said that Howard used to write and draw to keep himself busy back then. Ray said that Howard liked chess, reading MAD magazine and things like that. She said that whatever he was interested in he'd put his time into.
Howard's childhood friends talked about how Howard would go to camp and come back and tell them what they should be doing. They learned a lot from him about stuff that they didn't know about when he'd come back from camp.
Howard's friends talked about the band that they created and how one of their friends ended up moving out of town first.
Ben said that Howard got interested in music so he got him an electric keyboard and a clarinet. He said that Howard didn't last too long with that and he was the worst clarinet player ever. He said that he sold the clarinet for him and had him take piano lessons.
One of Howard's friends talked about the keyboard that Howard had and how it sounded like a crow walking when he'd play it. That led into a clip of Howard playing some of the tape he had of his band playing when they were kids. They were originally called The Plumber's Union and eventually became Electric Comic Book.
In the clip we heard Howard talking to Robin about the people who were in the band and how they had a couple of go-go girls come out and dance for them while they played. Howard was going to play Psychedelic Bee for Robin during that discussion. She was afraid that it was going to be one of the world's worst songs and it would be stuck in her head all day long.
Howard played the song and Robin picked it apart. Howard tried to explain it to Robin but she was laughing and just going along with whatever he said. Howard said for a 6th grader it wasn't so bad. Robin continued to laugh at him and goofed on the song.
After that we heard more from Howard's friends who said that they didn't really play many gigs. They only played about 2 or 3 songs at a bar mitzvah. They went back into another clip from Howard's show where Howard talked about another song that he wrote as a child. That song was ''Silver Nickels Golden Dimes.'' Robin was already picking it apart before Howard even played it. He played the song and goofed on it himself when he heard the intro.
Robert Carger, one of the guys in the band, called into the show that day and said that he wasn't sure that he should be taking credit for the music because he helped out with that. Howard and Robert talked about the old days in the neighborhood for a few minutes after that. Howard said Robert kind of abandoned him and never called him after he left. Robert said he was afraid.
Ray talked about how Howard used to show her his muscles on his arm as he was getting older. Ben said that Howard used to show off his strength by lifting him up. He'd have bruises on his arms from that and he'd tell people at work that he was getting abused at home.
Jim mentioned that Howard got bar mitzvahed in 1967. Ray talked about how Howard got kicked out of his class for the bar mitzvah. She said that he eventually did it and he did just fine. She said that it was very low key and they did it in the neighborhood and it went just fine. Some of his friends were there and so was Irene.
Howard talked about how horrible Hebrew school was for him. He said he wasn't into it. He said that it was a guy who got up and sang in a foreign language that made no sense to him. He just wasn't into it. One of his friends said that Howard is actually 100 percent ''Hebe'' contrary to what some people think.
Howard said that he only did well because of performance pressure. He said he didn't give a crap about the bar mitzvah back then and he still doesn't feel much for the religion. While all of this was playing we heard clips of Howard singing his Hebrew songs and doing a thank you to a family member.
Margie and Dr. Lou also talked about the changes that happened in Roosevelt and how tough it must have been for him. Dr. Lou said that Howard had a really tough time growing up there. He wasn't sure why Howard's parents hung on as long as they did in that neighborhood.
We heard an old news report about the ''white flight'' that was going on at the time in Roosevelt. That story came from Newsday in 1968. That led to more discussions about the way the families were bailing out of that neighborhood and moving. It was like a domino effect with one family after the next just leaving.
Jerry Dickowitz talked about how he remembered that Ben and Ray were like the only family that didn't move out of that neighborhood at the time. Everyone else left at the same time.
We heard a clip from ''60 Minutes'' where Ed Bradley was talking about Howard's move away from Roosevelt and how his parents kept him there even though he wanted to leave. In the interview Howard said that it was horrible living there. He said that he had to fend for himself in school and his mother had no idea what was really going on. He claimed that sometimes a kid would just turn around in class and punch him in the face, just because he was white.
We then heard a news report about Martin Luther King Jr. being shot and killed. Then we heard from Ray about how she was told to go get Howard from school the day that King was killed. She didn't do it and she said that may have been a mistake. She said that he did some home unharmed though. Ben said that he got calls too and he let Ray handle it that day. One of Howard's friends said that it was a very awkward time for Howard because of what was going on in school.
We then heard an old clip from Howard's show where he talked to this guy Dennis who was the only other while kid who stayed in Roosevelt back then. Howard and Dennis talked about how it was very dangerous to go between their homes. Howard said they didn't hang out that much. He went on to talk about how the real estate agents were the ones who decided who was going to move into which neighborhoods and that's how Roosevelt went from white to black just about over night. Howard said that the problem was that they'd move in like 5 families into one house instead of just one family.
Dennis said that he got beat up the day after the Martin Luther King Jr. Shooting. He didn't get beat up as much as Howard did in school though. Dennis said that's because he played football and the kids would leave him alone. Howard said that he wanted to stay home after that shooting but his mother said she wasn't afraid to send him to school. Howard said he didn't get beat up the day of the shooting but the next day he did. He said that a math teacher also got stabbed.
After that we heard more from Howard's friends talking about what went on after the Martin Luther King's death. One of the guys talked about how there were riots there in Roosevelt and businesses were burned down. He said that it was a very tough time for them there in town.
In another clip we heard from Howard's friends about what happened when they moved out of the neighborhood. They talked about how there were a few families that tried to stop what was going on. It didn't work and the families had to move out of the area. Some of Howard's friends would get reports about what he was up to even after they moved.
Ray said that they didn't want to move but it was tough for Howard to stay in school getting accosted for money all the time. She said that she only knew of getting hit one time, by a garbage pail. She said that Howard had befriended a black boy back then and he was told that he couldn't be friends with him. Howard got hit in the face over that and that's when they figured they had to move out.
We heard a clip from Howard's show where he was talking about what was going on with the old high school that day. He also talked about some of the stuff that went on shortly before they moved out of Roosevelt. He said his mother wondered why they were beating up the one white kid who actually wanted to stay in the same neighborhood with them. Howard said that they weren't that well thought out. Robin said it sounds like his mother wasn't that well thought out either. Howard and Robin spent some time talking about that situation and how they really didn't think it out ahead of time.
One of Howard's friends from Rockville Center talked about how Howard was devoid of many basic skills and he was very awkward. He said that he wasn't able to run or jump in gym class and they used to call him ''Gunkard Stern'' because he was so awkward.
Ray talked about her son and how different he was when he came home compared to what he was like at school. She said he was relaxed at home but not in school.
They went into another clip from Howard's show where he talked about high school and being in Key Club. He said that they took him in shortly after he moved there from Roosevelt. He talked about how miserable he was in Key club and doing stuff for them. He said within a few days he was standing outside collecting money dressed up like Santa.
They played another Howard clip where he was telling Robin about the move his family made out of Roosevelt and into Rockville Center. He called it a despicable little town that was a hot bed for anti-Semitism. He said that the first guy he laid eyes on was this guy Dave Lucy who had the whitest skin and the bluest eyes he had ever seen. He said that's what he should have looked like. He said the guy talked to him a couple of times but not all that much. He said that the only people who would talk to him were the 5 biggest nerds there. He looked awkward because he had long hair but was wearing slacks and loafers because his mother wouldn't let him wear jeans. He said that she was a very sick woman and she had no idea she was.
Howard said that the 5 guys he made friends with were the biggest douche bags in school. He said they were losers but he was uncomfortable going to any other tables in the lunch room. He and the guys spent a few minutes talking about that time in school and how Howard had nothing going on for himself at the time.
We heard a clip from Howard's show where he talked about his mother cleaning his dirty underpants that were stained with doody. He said that she'd do it in front of him and make him watch as she was cleaning them. He said she'd leave them in the sink soaking so they could see the accident. Gary asked how old he was at the time. Howard said he could have been 12 or 13 but it went on his whole childhood. Howard's mother called in during that segment and said that it never happened, she never cleaned his underpants in front of him. Howard went on to tell her about what he remembered her doing and how she scrubbed the underpants. She said that he had to be dreaming this.
Howard also claimed that his mother used to hit him with a wooden hanger when he did something wrong. She claimed she didn't do that either and she'd be willing to take a lie detector test to prove it. Howard said he'd take one as well. They went back and forth about that stuff for a few minutes.
Howard eventually told his mother that he made all of that up and he was actually a happy son. Robin asked Ray if she thought he was actually a happy person. Howard said it really doesn't matter what she thinks. Robin said that she thinks that Howard is miserable.
After that bit they went to another commercial break.
They went into another clip from Howard's show where he talked about those six weeks of the year where he had fun at camp. He said he was surprised that his parents didn't send him to a black camp or maybe a prison for those six weeks.
In another interview clip we heard from one of Howard's friends who talked about not going on a Western trip with Howard. Ben and Ray also talked about that trip. Ben said he wanted Howard to go up to Boston and do some stuff up there so he could get in some acting work. He decided to go on that trip instead.
After those quick interviews they went back into Howard's show clip where he was talking about that Western trip and how he didn't try to pick up any of the campers even though one of them wanted him. He was 19 at the time and this 16 year old was coming on to him. He didn't go there with the girl though. He said that he could have gotten into some trouble if he had.
Howard talked about going out to Kansas and sleeping in a corn bin out there. He said that it was a lot of fun. He said that all of the kids were getting it on back then and he had a counselor who just wanted to be his friend. He said that he asked her to get it on with him but she told him no. He said he whined and nagged her to zip her sleeping bag into his and she eventually did it. Then he begged her for hours to kiss him. He said he thinks that she French kissed him and that was it. Gary asked if the girl ever told him to get lost. Howard said that's what she did all night.
A couple of Howard's friends talked about working in the kitchen at camp and how that went for them. They shared some stories about that before they went into a tape from Howard's show where he talked to one of the guys he was in camp with. Howard and Kenny talked about the old days and how much fun they had at camp. They had more clips of Kenny talking about what went on back then and how he had pulled a prank on ''Howie'' one day and dumped a bucket of water on his head when he came out of the kitchen.
One of Howard's buddies said that Howard loved lighting his farts on fire. Then we heard Howard talking about how much he loves farting and how his father got him interested in that stuff when he was younger. One of the guys talked about blowing up a toilet at camp with a firecracker.
One of the guys talked about how they missed out on Woodstock which wasn't too far from where their camp was. They could have gone if they had known about it. They found out about Woodstock after some of the other camp counselors had gone up there but it was too late by then. One of the guys said that they once broke into the canteen there at camp and stole some food so that was the start of Howard's life of crime.
Howard's parents still think that Howard didn't do drugs as much as he said he did. Howard said that he was an unhappy kid and he may not have ever recovered from that whole experience. That's why he was self medicating. He said he was doing pot, hash, mescaline and qualudes and stuff like that in high school. Kenny said that Howard introduced him to qualudes and that was the first drug he ever tried, thanks to Howard.
Kenny said that he told a friend of his about how the first time he ever smoked pot was with Howard Stern and that got him into some trouble with Howard. That led to them playing a clip from Howard's show where he calls Kenny on the air and goes off on him for spreading stories about him.
In the clip Howard calls Kenny and asks him not to spread these stories about him. Kenny gets on the phone and Howard asks him why he's going around telling these stories. Kenny said that he didn't tell more than one person the story. The two of them spent a few minutes talking about the old days in camp and talking about the good ol' days.
Howard's friends talked about the girls that Howard did get and that led into another Stern Show clip where Howard spoke to one of the girls he went to camp with, Karen. She brought her husband with her so Howard spoke to the two of them for a few minutes. Howard said that he likes to humiliate women on the show because of the way he was treated when he was young. He said that Karen wasn't into him at all and she didn't want him. She said that Howard waited for all of Lou's rejects instead of getting his own girls. Howard figured that Karen regrets not having sex with him back then because she could have had quite a story to tell. She said she did.
Howard talked to Karen about some of the wild things he gets to do today and how she could have been part of that if she was his wife. He told her she blew it. He said that he would have jumped on her bones in 2 minutes and would have worshiped her. Howard said he hopes that she gets a terminal yeast infection along with all of the other women who rejected him in his life.
Kenny talked about Howard coming to him one day and told him to smell his finger because he had gotten there with some chick. Ray said that Howard was always very open and thought he had syphilis at one point and told her about it. They took him to the doctor but he was fine, he didn't have anything. Howard said that the relationships he had were very spotty. Sometimes he'd get a really hot chick, then he'd have nothing for a while. He said that he thought that 16 was late to get laid but some other guys have told him that they didn't get any until they were like 18 or 19. He said he did have some women but it wasn't all that many.
Howard had sex with a woman by the name of Robin back when he was 16. Jim said that Howard recounted that moment in his book ''Private Parts'' and then we hear Crackhead Bob reading the excerpt from the book. It was unintelligible so Jim said that the interpretation was that Howard finally got laid.
One of Howard's camp friends, Howie B, talked about this Succah that they built in the back yard of his parents house and how they had customized it to be a club house. They set it up so they could go play cards, drink beers and smoke cigarettes. He said they did that for a few years and then they'd eventually have some people back to the club house to drink and smoke. He said that Howard exaggerates the story about that clubhouse though. That led into another Stern Show clip where Howard talked about it.
In the clip Howard talks about the Succah and how he and Howie built it. He said that they used to get laid in there and they used to smoke weed and get loaded in there. He claimed that they'd tell Howie's parents that they wanted to get into the religious part of the whole thing when they were really trying to get high and laid.
Howie said that Howard wasn't doing much kissing in those days. He said he has embellished that story quite a bit in his opinion.
Jim talked about Howard's love for Rock and Roll after that. Howard was talking about how much he loved the Beatles back then and how the kids in school would make fun of him for liking that stuff. He said that he was also into Mountain back then. He talked about how phenomenal their music was to him. That led to a quick interview with Leslie West where he talked about what he knew about Howard and his love of the band. They also played a clip from ''Private Parts'' where Howard is listening to Mountain and getting high.
They were about to go to break but they had a quick favorite moment from the show from Dee Snider. He talked about the Baba Booey mistake that Gary made on the show. They went to another commercial break a short time later.
Howard also talked about going to college and feeling a responsibility to do well for his parents because they were paying for him to go. He said he ended up graduating the second highest in his class. He said he did very well there.
Howard's mother Ray said that Dr. Lou and Howard shared living quarters in college. She said that Howard's friendship with Lou meant a lot to him. Howard met his first wife there and he was very happy as far as she could tell. She wasn't sure if it was because his father was paying so much money for him to go or not. She talked about how much writing Howard did and how that's when he really opened up at that point.
Dr. Lou talked about going up there and getting a call from Howard who had a really weird roommate. Lou had one too. He said that Howard came to visit him and loved the dorm he was in so they made a switch and he moved in with him for that first year.
Ray said that Howard came out of his shell at that point and he really opened up. Dr. Lou said that Howard fit in very easily there and he was able to relate to some of the other guys at school.
They played a Stern Show clip where Howard was telling Robin and Gary about going to school and what it was like in the dorms and going out to clubs and stuff. He said that it was tough for him being so tall because he stood out in a crowd. He said he tried smoking cigarettes to look cool but that really didn't help. Corey Feldman was in the studio at the time so he was talking to Howard about that stuff. Howard said he'd go to the clubs with his friend but he was always the one who wanted to leave the party early.
Howard told a story about this beautiful woman hitting on his friend Dr. Lou at a part and Dr. Lou ended up leaving the party early with the girl. He was kind of upset that Lou left him behind there. He also wondered why none of the girls came up to him at all. He said that even the ugly girls weren't approaching him.
We heard another clip of Dr. Lou talking about Howard getting some blotter acid and how he really didn't want to do it but Howard ended up taking too much of the stuff. He said Howard ended up flipping out when he took it because he was so freaked out by what he was seeing. Dr. Lou said he put on some Grateful Dead song and that made Howard freak out even more. He put his hands over his ears and screamed at him to stop it. He said Howard ended up being awake for the whole night and he had to stay up with him. Howard never did acid again and stopped the experimentation at that point.
Howard's mother talked about the Transcendental meditation that she's done for many years and how she got Howard into that. She said that Howard has told her that he gets a lot out of that and he's able to come up with great ideas while he's meditating. She said that the whole family believes in it and they all benefit from it. She said they start their day off with it and end their day with it.
Howard said that his mother had become very depressed when her sister died and that's when she started doing the TM thing. He said it was like overnight she got rid of her depression. He said that led to him going to a TM meeting with his mother and he started to get into it himself. He said he's always liked it. After the show is over he goes into his office for at least 20 minutes and he feels totally refreshed. He said it's not a religious thing, it's just a technique like brushing your teeth.
Jim talked about Howard working at Boston University's radio station WTBU. Then we heard a couple of clips from those days when Howard was doing his thing and introducing some songs. Dr. Lou talked about how it was a big break for Howard to get into that station and do some stuff on air. He wasn't trying to be outrageous at the time, he was just doing a regular DJ thing.
Howard said that he met this guy Bob Petrick while he was working at WTBU. He said that he was very key in his career. We also heard Bob talking about meeting Howard back then and what had gone on back then. They talked about what they could do with the free time on the air that they had and started talking. Howard said that Bob knew two guys Bruce Katz and Joel Cohen who had a show that they did together. Bob asked him to work with those guys. Howard said that's when the King Schmaltz Bagel Hour came about.
Howard said that he and the guys tried to create a show that turned out to be very similar to what he does today. That led to them playing a commercial that Howard had done for the King Schmaltz Bagel Hour. Then we heard a clip of Howard talking about the history of the King Schmaltz Bagel Hour and how he was hired by Bob Petrick to do the show. The clip was very old and Howard didn't sound much like Howard.
We heard more of the King Schmaltz Bagel Hour show where Howard was speaking in some kind of bizarre accent. Then he gets on as himself and talks to Bob Petrick and then to their co-stars Joel Cohen and Bruce Katz. They talked about what show used to be on and how they shortened it from 4 hours to 1. The guys said that they were out to offend someone that night and if they didn't, they were going to jump off a building. They tried to get some people to call in but the phone wasn't ringing.
Howard asked the guys to explain what King Schmaltz was. One of the guys explained it as being a ''sticky substance'' but then said that it was radio for the viewer and they were going to be doing giveaways every week. They had a vinyl disk to give away that day.
Howard took a phone call from a guy who was just trying to find the station on the radio. Howard told him that they were on 640 AM.
Lou said that Howard's first show was probably his most nervous show and that was the one that he remembered most. That show was almost the last show. Bob Petrick said that they were just horrible radio people and they couldn't get their act together that night. He said that they were cutting in and out, they had problems with the phone and stuff like that. Bob said that the guy who ran the station heard what was going on and called in to let them know what he thought.
They played the audio where Howard takes the phone call from the guy telling them to guess who he was and they had 3 tries. Then he tells them ''you're fired!'' when they can't guess who it was. Bob said that he can remember that call and how he felt that night. He said that he knew that they were going to be banned from radio for life after that night.
Howard said that he remembers that night too and how he and Bob ran out of the studio scared for their lives. They wondered if they were really fired. Bob said that they were afraid they were going to be turned into the FCC and they were going to be banned forever. They wanted to convince people that they were really trying to do a good show.
Howard said that Bob was able to talk to that guy Hank and let him know that they were really trying to do something new. Howard said that he thinks that Hank really hated that show and what they were doing because he was afraid that they were going to get in trouble. He doesn't know how they convinced the guy to let them back on the air but they were back on the next week.
They played some audio of the second King Schmaltz Bagel Hour show where they talked about getting into trouble with the FCC after that first show and had two citations from them. Howard said that he should have asked those guys to go out and do radio together right then. He said it's probably best that he didn't because he was still working on his delivery and stuff.
Jim said that the King Schmaltz show ran for 9 weeks and set up Howard for doing many things such as Godzilla Goes to Harlem. That led to Bob Petrick talking about that bit and how it came about. He explained some of the stuff that was in the bit and then they went into that bit from 1975. The bit is Howard doing his WABC announcer voice and introducing a song. Then they break in with a news report from New York City where they talk about the strange monster that was in the city. They go to a couple of reporters who are doing reports from Harlem. They have one guy talking to Godzilla and trying to mug him, asking for his wallet.
Bob said that these guys were in their late teens, early 20s and they were basically talking to a tape recorder. He said they still had their wits about them and they were able to come up with this stuff. There was another bit that they did where he was trying to be a serious news man but he ended up being the one who couldn't stay serious and would laugh when he'd read this name ''Ellie Tubs.'' He said that they had to do about 17 takes to get it down.
After that description we heard some of the outtakes from that recording session. In the clip we could hear Howard talking to the guys about where they were sitting. Then they start the session and Bob tries to get through his script but breaks up laughing when he reads the ''Ellie Tubs'' name. Then they do another take and he cracks up again. Howard tried to get him under control but Bob kept laughing.
Dr. Lou said he thinks that there were about 3 listeners back then and they included him, Howard and the guy next door who had to listen because he had the radio turned up so loud. He said that not that many people were listening because they were in Boston and had so many other stations to listen to.
They went into another clip of Howard doing a bit on The King Schmaltz Bagel Hour. He took a call from a guy who said that he wanted to know how he could beat off some guy who was ravishing him. Howard told the guy that he had a potty mouth and couldn't call in again. He told the guy to be more original and not just curse on the air trying to get a laugh.
We heard more from Bob Petrick who said that he's pretty sure that not many people heard the show and no one would remember it, but he and Howard kept tapes of the show and they thought it was something special. We also heard from Ben and Ray Stern who were talking about the stuff he was doing back then and how they told him that he had to cater to the outside audience and not just goof around with the guys in the studio.
We heard another Stern Show segment where Howard talked about those days at WTBU doing the King Schmaltz Bagel Hour thing that got his father all pissed off at him. He said he just sat there belching for hours and his father got all upset with him over that. He had some tape of that and said that he sent it to his father when he was in school and his father didn't like it at all.
Howard was talking about how that was revolutionary stuff because they were doing that in 1975. He said that his father told him it was horrible and if he had any brains he would have told him that it was great and he should keep going with it. He said that he was crushed when his father told him what he thought of it.
Ben and Ray talked about how they think that they straightened Howard out by telling him that stuff. Ben said that everything that Howard did after that was good.
We heard Howard and the guys from the King Schmaltz Bagel Hour show saying goodbye in their last show. They were pretending to cry and humming ''Auld Lang Syne'' as they were saying their goodbyes. They went to commercial break after that.
Jim said that Howard had put Alison in his movie for his cinematography class. Bob Petrick said that the movie had a bunch of Howard's friends and Alison's roommates in it. Bob played Jesus Christ in the movie. He explained the movie as they were playing the audio in the background. Bob explained where they shot the movie and how he was supposed to have been chopped up into pieces and thrown over the roof of a building. He said that it was actually kind of frightening and if people had seen it, they might not think of Howard the same way. He said he hopes that Howard eventually airs it so people can see it.
Up next was another Stern Show clip where Bob Petrick was sitting in the studio while they were doing the show. He joked that Bob was going to be giving them the gay point of view but he was just kidding about that. Howard also talked about how Bob was the guy who was a sperm donor who was making donations at a sperm bank to make money while they were at school. That led to Howard talking to him about how many kids he must have out there now.
Jim explained how Howard graduated from college in 1976 and went out to find a real job. That led into another clip from the Stern Show where Howard was talking about leaving college and going to find a real job. He said he panicked when he got out of school because he was filled with insecurity. He said he knew that he was going to be on the radio but he never did anything other than college radio. He said that no teacher ever wanted to offer him a job. He never even had an internship. He said he went home to his parents house and told them he was going to find a job. He got a suit and put it on and went out with a briefcase filled with resumes trying to find a job.
Howard said that he went out and got his hair cut because that's what his professor told him to do. He eventually went out and found a job in Newton, Massachusetts and they hired him up there.
We heard from Ben and Ray again in the middle of that bit. Ray said that she didn't remember much about that story, she just remembers that they had to buy him a car.
They got back to the Stern Show clip and Howard said he got the job up there and they refused to pay him because he was so bad on the air. He went on to talk about some of the stuff that he was doing up there and how he was the laughing stock of the station. He said that he was trying to do a voice when he was on up there and he sounded a lot like Kermit the Frog. He met a bunch of people in the business while he was going out and doing interviews.
Howard said he was going out trying to find jobs all over the place and found a couple of guys who wouldn't even return his calls after he contacted them. He said that his life was a mess for a few years there. He was driving all over the place trying to find a job and thought that he could get something in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He talked about a guy that got a job that he wanted and he figured that he was screwed at that point. He started going into the city on the train and went around giving out his resume to everyone he could. He said that everyone had something to do, but not him.
Howard said he put the pressure on himself to find a job because he had just gone through 4 years of college. He said he was afraid that his father was going to yell at him about what he should have done. He thought he was going to have a nervous breakdown.
Howard came home with a lottery ticket one day and his father gave him a hard time about that telling him that only unemployed people buy lottery tickets. Howard said that he found a job with Bloomingdale's and figured that would work. He didn't think that it could be that big of a deal to take that job. He said he got really depressed and couldn't find a job so he'd go home and tell his parents that he was out interviewing and stuff.
Howard said that at one point a guy drove up to him and asked him if he wanted to come to a meeting and hear ''the plan.'' He said that he must have stuck out like some kind of loser target. He took the address and found out they were Amway guys. He said that it was really depressing that he was getting stuck with that kind of stuff. He eventually got a job as a media buyer at a real business.
Howard said that his boss was telling him what to do that day and he kind of freaked out and was in tears not knowing what to do. He said he was in way over his head and didn't know what to do. He said that one of the guys there told him he'd help. He said he was asked to do a bunch of things and he really didn't know what to do. He did try though. He said that there were a lot of really talented people working there and he was there busting his balls trying to figure out what to do.
Ben Stern came on and said that Howard hated that job and they told him to leave the job. His mother said they told him to get out of there if he didn't like what he was doing.
They got back into the Stern Show clip where Howard was talking about his job history. Howard said that his father ended up finding a job for him so he went in for an interview for that. He was told he could be a salesman but Howard didn't want to do that either. He gave him a tape and that guy told him he'd give it to Larry Miller who was running WKTU at the time. He wasn't hearing from him but eventually got a call from the guy telling him he was horrible.
Howard said he went in and quit his advertising job and didn't even give them notice. He said that very day he got a call from Benton Bowles to work in their film division. He said that was a big break for him but the advertising job screwed things up for him. He said that they heard about him quitting the advertising job at Benton and Bowles and fired him on the spot. He said that he looked so bad to them that they canned him that day.
Howard losing his job there was good fortune for his friend Ken Fried who got hired there after they fired Howard. He was told that Howard ''left'' after a day.
Howard said he went in for another job interview at a place where he saw a guy putting perfume under his arm pits. It was another advertising job and he was told he should go out and sell advertising but trade for it, not even sell. He said he went in and quit that job and the place was being raided. He wasn't sure what that was about but he had to go back and explain to this one Chinese guy that he had spoken to about advertising. He went back and told the guy not to advertise on radio because it won't work. He said he felt so alone after that he wanted to crawl back into his mother's womb.
Howard said that Alison told him that he should call back the guy at the radio station that wanted to hire him. He got some fill in work and asked him for that job. He got the job.
Jim said that tomorrow they'll be talking about Howard getting into radio and meeting people like Fred and Robin along the way. Today's show was over by about 12:35pm.
Host Jim Forbes tells us about Howard going to work at WRNW in 1977. They had an interview with DJ Meg Griffin who worked with Howard at WRNW. She described this house that they worked out of back then. The Program Director from the station also said a few words about Howard working there for a few seconds. We heard from a couple of other people who worked there at the time as well. They talked about the conditions of their work place and how everything was set up. They all mentioned the bathroom in the building and how the roof was slanted. They also said that it was a very low rent type of job but it was also their first time in radio.
Each of the employees talked about all of the stuff they had set up in the house and how it was very old fashioned stuff back then. Howard came on and talked about how he wasn't a good broadcaster at the time. Meg Griffin said that they all knew about this newcomer and they were afraid that he may take their job or something. She said that he seemed to be as much of a loner then as she was. She said that he was an unmistakable presence though because he is so tall. She said that he may have been kind of insecure and that's why he was so quiet at the time.
One of the guys said that Howard really was into his job and it was nice to have him around. He said he was hard working and committed to doing radio. He was only making $96 a week and working ridiculous hours. Howard said that his father told him that he was lucky to be getting paid at that point in his career.
Howard's father came on and said that he knew a guy who could help Howard out with his voice. He sent him to this voice teacher and took it from there. Ben said that he told Howard that he has to have diarrhea of the mouth to be in radio.
Howard said he thought that he was going to have to be an announcer in radio to make it. He was awful at it though so he had to do something about it. Jim says that Howard's first shift there was a disaster. That led into a clip from the Stern Show where he talked about what happened that first day. Then they broke into a clip from ''Private Parts'' where he dropped stuff on his turntable and the record skips. Then they got back to Howard talking to Robin about the record player locking up and how he wasn't able to fix it. He had an engineer come in and fix it while he was still on the air. He said he was the laughing stock of the station at the time.
We heard from Meg again who said that it probably wasn't even Howard's fault that the equipment froze up. She said she had the same problem and the equipment there was really old and not taken care of. Some of the other guys there talked about Howard's voice on the air back then and how strained he seemed to be.
Meg said that she thought that Howard was really conservative at the time. The other guys talked about how insecure Howard was and how he was just looking to fit in at the time. It wasn't easy for him.
They went into an old clip where Howard was coming out of a song and giving the weather. He was talking about the cold weather and talking about how he likes the word ''blustery'' instead. He was putting on some kind of voice that sounded odd.
After that we heard more from the other employees from WRNW who spent a few more minutes talking about what Howard was up to when he was there. They went into another Stern Show clip where Howard was continuing his story about working there at WRNW. He was telling Robin about how he selected the music there and he didn't take much care in that. He said he'd just throw a dart at the wall and pick songs. The other jocks were much more prepared.
Meg Griffin said that she would ask for copies of albums for each of the jocks there so they could all take them home and listen to them. She mentioned Elvis Costello's ''Allison'' and how Howard was seeing a woman by the name of Alison. She said that she gave Howard a copy and he told her that he just couldn't play it. She said that Howard hadn't figured out who he was yet and he was endearingly shy.
We heard more of the Stern Show where Howard was talking to Robin about WRNW and how bad he was on the air. He told her that he was on the air doing his thing and sounding a lot like Kermit the Frog. He told Robin he started to work with this guy Mark Drucker back then and there was this thing called News Blimp and he wanted to start doing bits with Mark to get them into this News Blimp thing. He said they had to do a really cool announcer voice and it wasn't working for him. He was doing a bad impression of those guys. He said he'd get these scripts and he and Mark would have to produce them. He had nothing else to do at the time and couldn't even afford to buy a comedy album.
Howard said that he was only making $96 at the time and he had to make money somehow. He had a copy of one of the News Blimps that he produced back then. He played that old tape and he had old clips of Stella and Mira in the bit along with him doing some announcing. Howard didn't even know what he was doing at the time. He just had to read the scripts along with the clips that were in there. Robin said she didn't even know what he was saying in this bit. Howard didn't either.
Howard said he thinks that he slowed the tape down to make his voice deeper. He said he sent the bit into the people he produced it for and they rejected it.
We heard from Ben Stern again who said that the most amazing thing that happened was seeing Howard in the New York Times when he was working there at WRNW. Howard said that he was the last man on the totem pole at WRNW but they still gave him coverage. Ben said that he thought that was a signal that this was meant to be. He said it was an amazing feat for him to be picked out like that. Ray said that Howard's career moved very quickly, right from the beginning.
In another Stern Show clip Howard said he was living at a monastery at the time because it was a cheap place to live. He lived there with the monks for about a year. He said that he was doing the meditation thing at the time. He said that he was living in silence at the time because that's the way things work there. He said that the silence can actually hurt your ears. It's so quiet that it starts to hurt. He said you have to adjust to it. Howard was able to live there, with meals included, for $100 a month and that was a great deal. He said that his father helped him out with a car. He said that he didn't have a lot of money though.
We heard from one of the guys that worked with Howard at the time and he thought that Howard was living in his car or something back then. He was always at work on time though. One of the guys siad that Howard would go out to his car to meditate and his girlfirend would alwyas be there so he figured he was living in there. One of the other jocks said that she was meditating at the time so she and Howard would do that together.
Meg was talking about how Howard was always a mix of strange things. She said that he was conservative and doing meditation at the time but then he turns into a lot of people's nightmare which was kind of strange.
We heard another clip of Howard doing one of his bits for WRNW. It was pretty lame with Howard doing the announcing and a voice of a goofy listener.
Jim said that Howard didn't get a lot of support from anyone back then. That led into another Stern Show clip where Howard was talking about this guy Yubi who used to run WRNW and gave him his first job there. Howard talked to Yubi about the old days and how well the guy played him in the movie ''Private Parts.'' Howard claimed that he used to wear a jump suit but Yubi claimed that wasn't true, he never wore one. Yubi is working with the company IDT and he's trying to get him to sponsor the show. Yubi's kids were with him so Howard spoke to them as well.
Meg Griffin said that Yubi was a creep. She said that he wore lots of gold jewelry, lots of cologne and used to come on to the women there. She said he was kind of like the character Borat. We heard from some of the other employees who said that Yubi was kind of like the guy in the movie. One of the guys said that they used to do the Steve Martin ''two wild and crazy guys'' impression to Yubi thinking that he was doing that impression. He didn't know that he spoke like that normally.
We heard another clip of Howard doing a commercial for WRNW. Then they went into some more clips from the people that worked with Howard at the station. Ben Stern also got on and said he helped Howard out by getting him to stop saying ''Uh'' while he was talking. That was a big deal to get rid of that. The guys also talked about how they renamed Howard ''Howeird'' and wanted him to use it on the air. The guys told him that he was weird but he thought they were just joking around.
Howard said that the other jocks there were much better than he was and he knew that he would never be as good as them. That led into another ''Private Parts'' clip where Howard is asked if he wants to be Program Director there at WRNW and offered $250 a week instead of $96.
Ray Stern said that Howard was a very responsible guy and they always wanted him to be in management. Ben thought that was a bad idea because that's where they put you when they don't want you on the air. Ben said that he didn't want him to give up his shift and told him to keep both jobs. He said Howard listened to him and stuck with it.
In another Stern Show clip we heard Howard talking about Meg Griffin working at WRNW and how he was made the production director there. He said he was hired to do that but then he was told that he had to fire this guy Joe from Chicago that he really liked. He said that Joe was really talented and he knew that he could get a job somewhere. He decided to take the job but he made this woman Donna the music director and had her picking out the songs.
We heard from Joe about how he was fired from the station and how Howard was put into that job. Meg said she thinks that they saw that Howard could be molded into something they wanted. The new owners didn't like what they were playing on the air and they wanted Howard to control that. Meg said that she listens to Howard every day now but back then he was pretty tight assed and a much different person. She said that he was very conservative back then. She thinks that something happened to him in Washington DC that changed him.
The other people from the station were talking about how conservative Howard was back then and how much he seems to have changed. Howard said that he was always very serious about his jobs and he didn't want any bullshit. He said that he took his job very seriously and this whole thing was the real deal for him to be in radio. He said that fun things happen around him but he's not the life of the party by any means.
Meg Griffin said that she thinks that Howard picked up some stuff from other people like her husband over the years. She said that all of the jocks and people at the station would do stuff together but Howard was never there. She didn't remember him doing any of that stuff with the rest of them. We heard some more clips of Howard working there at WRNW. He was doing a commercial where they promoted all of the stuff they were playing there at the time.
Up next we heard one of the women from the station talking about how she was in charge of these ''god tapes'' that they were running there. She said that she did that for a few weeks and then heard that Meg had been fired from the station and she got her job. She said that Howard gave her her first job. She said that Howard didn't seem to be interested in the music at all back then. She said that he really didn't care and it was odd that he was in a job like that if he didn't care about the music.
Jim said that Howard was working on his live commercial reads back then. We heard from one of the jocks who said that they used to get food and stuff from the sponsors if they mentioned them on the air. They used to get all kinds of ads for $6 a minute and they'd do some weird commercials for sponsors who were thrilled to get on the air. That led into a Stern Show clip where Howard was telling Robin about the sponsors he had like The Cheese Wheel. He said that was the big one he had up there and they're probably still there in Westchester.
We heard from Howard again who said that he had all kinds of awful jobs over the years. He worked up at a Holiday Inn as a DJ and he ended up getting fired because he had no idea what to play. That led into more of the Stern Show audio where Howard was telling Robin about that stuff. He was talking about how he'd play The Beatles instead of dance music for people to dance to. He said he just wanted people to tell him what to play. Howard said that it was like 1976 or 77 when he was doing that. Jackie said that he worked at the Elmsford Holiday Inn himself.
Howard said that they got rid of him within a week and hired some kid to take over for him. He said that it was a nightmare working there and he was very disorganized the whole time he was there. He said that every record would start off slow and every segue sucked. He said it was very unprofessional sounding. He said that they were desperate to get people into that place and they were paying him good money. He said it was $200 for just one day and it was unheard of at the time. He didn't know what to wear either. He didn't go to clubs so he didn't know what people were wearing.
Howard figured that the job would have lasted for a couple of months or maybe a year. He lasted a week. He said that Meg Griffin worked up there too but she didn't last any longer than he did. He said that the kid who took over for him lasted a long time.
Jim said that things weren't going very well for Howard at the station either. One of the jocks said that she was a real novice in radio and Howard called in and made it sound like things were fun and exciting at this remote he was doing. She said that Howard can be like a steam roller and he just goes on and on. That led into another Stern Show clip.
In the clip we hear Howard talking to Robin about this movie premiere he went to so he could do this remote to promote the Sergeant Peppers album. He said that he was talking to just a couple of people and had to pretend that there were a bunch of people there. There were only two people in the theater. He played a clip from that broadcast where he was hyping the whole thing up to make it sound interesting. He said the theater owner was all pissed off and he was just having a hard time.
In the clip Howard was playing it sounded like there were a lot of people there at the theater but he said he rehearsed them a long time to make sure that they sounded like a big crowd. He asked the audience to sing some of the Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and one woman yells out to him ''Go blow...'' so he knew he was in trouble then.
Howard didn't want to keep playing that stuff but Robin told him to keep going. He listened to a little more of that clip but had to bail out saying that he hates hearing it. Robin wanted more so he did play a little bit. Howard said that he was there with two kids who didn't want to talk to him and it was an impossible assignment. Howard thinks that Donna didn't like him that she didn't jump in and say anything while he was choking. They went on with that for a couple of minutes before they had to break for The History of Howard Stern.
Jim said that Howard was laying the groundwork for his future shows back then. We heard from Howard again who was saying that he knew that he had to do training somewhere and that's what stations like WRNW were for. He said that they didn't pay much but it was a good way to start out. He said he was in the business and he was able to tell people that he was in the business.
Meg Griffin said that Howard has followed his dream since that time. She talked about how Howard used to goof on her about losing her jobs and following her music to do what her heart told her to do. She said she's just doing what Howard did but their financials worked out differently. She said that they really do deserve what they have now. She said that she learned a lot at WRNW and they're both still doing what they want to and what they believe in.
Some of the guys from WRNW talked about the way things worked out for Howard since that time. They talked about how happy they are for Howard now that he's made his career into what it is. Howard also said that his lessons from WRNW meant a lot to his career. It was an education working there. He said that led to him getting a job at WCCC in Hartford.
We heard another Stern Show clip where Howard was talking to Robert Kline and told him that one of his records helped him get a job at WCCC. He said that he went in and did a morning show for the Program Director and ended up playing one of his albums during this test show he was doing. He said that Robert was funny and they hired him because of him, not because he was funny himself. He said he owes his radio career to Kline.
Jim said that Howard met Fred Norris there at WCCC. That led to a clip of Fred talking about working up there and how he wasn't allowed to watch TV back then because his mother didn't have one. Fred's brother sucked in school so neither of them were allowed to watch TV. He said he read a lot of books instead and that's why he's got so much useless knowledge in his head. Fred talked about some of the jobs he had before getting into radio and said that he worked in a machine shop for a few years.
Fred was doing overnights there at WCCC and playing records and just doing what the program director wanted him to. Then Howard met him one morning when they were changing shifts at the station. That led to a clip from ''Private Parts'' where Fred and Howard first met. Howard was all out of breath because he was late and nervous. He ended up getting right on the air and doing some impressions as he was going into a Cheap Trick song.
We heard from Fred about how it wasn't a big deal when they first met. He said that Howard did seem to be very talented and he was more than just the average radio guy. He said that most guys come in and just punch the clock and run out. He said that Howard put his heart and soul into that job.
Howard said that Fred was a great talent and he was a college student at the time and he's still not sure how he functioned doing that overnight shift and going to school during the day. Howard said that he had a voice guy once he met Fred and he was very quick on his feet. Fred said he was doing voices and Howard asked him to stick around during the show once in a while and that's how he'd go from doing his shift to doing voices on Howard's show.
Howard said that he didn't have much social grace and he can't really talk to people off the air. He said that he and Fred didn't really talk during the show and they never talked much about what they were going to do, they'd just do it. He said they didn't have any ''real discussions'' at all. They he said that once he was done with Fred he'd just say goodbye to him and Fred would run off.
Fred said that Howard would call him with about 30 seconds left before he was going on the air and he'd ask him to do a voice. Fred said that he'd try to come up with something and it would only last a few seconds on the air.
We heard another Stern Show clip where Howard was asking to talk to Bruce Nozzle who hired him up at WCCC back then. He gave him his first job there at WCCC. He talked to Bill and thanked him for giving him that job. If Bill hadn't hired Fred too, he never would have met him. He begged Bill to take Fred back as he was letting him go.
Howard talked about some of the old days and how they were made to wear white gloves to make sure they didn't scratch the records that they used.
Joe from Chicago heard that Howard had gone to Hartford and he knew that they changed formats just about every other day so he figured that it was just another one when Howard started there. That led into a clip of Howard up at WCCC doing his thing. Then they went into another Stern Show clip where he and Fred were talking about some of the stuff they used to do up there at WCCC. They used to play ''Devil Went Down to Georgia'' a lot up there so Fred was doing his impression of that song. Gary was getting in on that and goofing on the song with Fred.
Howard said that Hartford was a weird place. He and Fred talked about some of the other weird music they played on the station at the time. They threw out all of the different names of the bands that they were playing and goofing on them all. They'd sing a couple of lyrics and make fun of them all. Fred was really getting into it. Howard said that it was the worst station and they never had good ratings. They'd get blamed for it if they didn't get any ratings too.
Fred talked about the days up at WCCC and what Howard was doing. He was working Monday to Saturday. He had to do six hours on Saturday after doing 4 hour shifts 5 days a week. He said that Howard didn't have a support staff either. He said that he'd go over once in a while to help him out. The room would always be a mess after Howard was done though. He had to do everything himself and it was tough to keep it clean. Fred said that there would be records all over the place and he could tell that Howard was having a hard time so he'd help him straighten up. He felt like Howard was drowning in records so he was helping to clean up.
Ben Stern said that he went up to visit Howard and he'd play tapes for them. He said that one of the interviews sounded terrific to him so he told him to keep it up. He liked what he was doing and the interview was wonderful so he gave him the advice to keep it going.
We heard from Howard's childhood friend Seth Darvic who said that he remembered seeing Howard doing his thing and closing his eyes while he was working. Fred said that you could see Howard's mind at work while he was doing his thing. That led into another old clip from WCCC where Howard was talking about picking up women at a grocery store by bumping into her cart.
One of the guys said that Howard's neighbors didn't like him and people would write obscenities on his door. That led to another Stern Show clip where he said that the neighbors he had were real scumbags but he'd always say hi to them. Then when he started to get famous he'd get signs hung on his door saying that they wanted free speech like he had free speech. He said that it was a townhouse community that he was living in and talked about how awful they were as neighbors. He said they'd play loud music and tell him that they had free speech like him. He started playing loud music too so it was like a war. He mentioned that he ended up going to Detroit after that.
Jim said that Howard and Fred were working very hard back then. WE heard from Fred again and he was talking about the public affair shows that they had to run on the weekends. He said that they had him doing everything up there. That led to another Stern Show clip where Howard was talking about how they had him doing all kinds of jobs up there at WCCC.
Fred was on again and talked about what they were doing back then and how it's nothing like what they're doing now. He said that they had him doing everything. They went into another Stern Show clip where Fred and Howard were talking about the program director up there and all of the stuff they had to do. Howard brought up the white glove thing and how they had to wear them to handle these certain records they got up there because they were supposed to be returned without scratches.
We heard another Stern show clip where Howard was talking to this guy Sy about working up there at WCCC. They talked about some fun stuff that went on up there. Howard said that they had a guy up there who thought that Lynrd Skynrd was a man and he'd call them ''Mr. Lynrd Skynrd.'' Howard spent a few minutes talking about that stuff.
Ben and Ray Stern were on and talking about how Howard would make a big deal out of everything in his life and that's how he made his career into what it became. Ben said that Howard had ideas that were kind of different and the station owners would fight him every step of the way. He had to overcome management whenever he'd go to a new station.
In another Stern Show clip Howard was doing his impression of what it was like to do his thing up there at WCCC. He had to do it a specific way without saying anything wrong or he'd get yelled at.
Fred talked about the equipment they had up at WCCC and how some of it looked like stuff they'd picked up at a garage sale. We heard from a guy who talked about how great Fred is at playing his sound effects. That led into another old clip from WCCC where Howard was doing the pick up thing in a grocery store.
We heard more Stern Show clips where Howard was talking to this guy Brian about working with him up at WCCC. The guy was on the air one time and whipped out his penis and flopped it on the table. He said that he took a record and tried to swat it but the guy pulled it away just in time so it didn't get hit. Howard said they had some fun back then doing stuff with him. He told a story about Brian doing something with a Paul Harvey tape where he says ''Good day'' and ends his show. He said that Brian edited a tape and had him pause for about 2 minutes before he finished his show end.
Howard said they make it sound like fun up there but it was actually a nightmare to work there. He said that Brian was one of those guys who made it kind of fun once in a while. He said that he worked at a place that was a real toilet bowl before WCCC so that wasn't nearly as bad.
After that we heard a guy talking about something Howard did up there at WCCC when he'd have listeners call in with their girlfriends number so he could call them on the air and try to get them to dump their boyfriends. They went back into that Stern Show segment with Howard and Brian talking about that stuff.
Howard and Brian were talking about the goofs they did with the women on the phone back then. Brian said that no one was doing anything like that on radio at the time.
We heard from a guy who was saying that there wasn't much joking around on the air back then. There were some funny people on the air but most of the radio guys were just doing straight news reports. That led to a news report about Paul McCartney getting arrested for pot possession in Japan. Howard said that he called Japan back then and tried to get them to release Paul from jail. He said that no one was doing stuff like that at the time and people loved it. He said that he realized how powerful radio could be at that point. Fred said that really inspired him to do some stuff back then and the program director gave him a hard time about a song parody he wanted to play on the air. He wasn't sure why he gave him such a hard time about it. He said that they should have just played it.
Back into the Stern Show segment Howard and Brian were talking about that Paul McCartney bit that they did at WCCC. Howard got into trouble for calling Japan even though people loved that call.
Howard talked about the Shell oil boycott he wanted to do back then. He said he saw that he could start these mass movements then and it turned out that radio was a really strong medium. He said that he didn't have Fred to help him out all the time and he was doing a lot of this stuff on his own. He said that people were really starting to notice him at the time.
Fred said that Howard was doing this ''To Hell with Shell'' thing back then and it really made an impact in the market. He said it was pretty ballsy for Howard to do something like that. The station let him do it too and that was a big deal. They could have been a potential advertiser and you just don't do stuff like that if they could be an advertiser. He said that they could get fired for something like that easily.
Fred said that the station backed Howard up on the Shell thing and it made the news. He said that the local papers picked up on it and they must have been thrilled. Howard said that he was hoping that he'd be able to get out of Hartford because he was miserable there. He wasn't able to get a $25 a week raise from the owner after being there for a year.
In a Stern Show segment we heard Howard talking about how he had to get out of Hartford when he couldn't get that raise. He said he asked God to help him get out of there and he thinks he actually listened to him. He said he was just about carried from Hartford to Detroit. He said he had a really deep discussion with the lord and he just had to get out of there. He said that he felt like killing himself at that point but he didn't threaten God or anything. He said that he was contacted and told that there was a job opening in Ohio.
We heard from this guy Dwight who said that he had heard Howard's tapes and thought he had something going on. Howard said that he was offered a job out in Columbus, Ohio and a deal was worked out. Then he saw that there was a job available in Detroit and he wanted to go there because it was a bigger city than Columbus. He was told that he didn't want to work there but they ended up giving him the job. Howard said he went out and met with these people and they were going to give him $28,000 a year to work there. They told him that they were working on a new facility for the station. Howard said that he asked them for $30,000 and they actually gave it to him. They went to break after that.
We heard a clip from ''Private Parts'' where Howard went to Detroit and was introduced as looking like Big Bird by the Duke of Rock. They had the real Duke of Rock on the phone and talking about Howard's New York accent and his whole ''new York Jew'' thing going on and he wasn't sure if it was going to work.
We heard from a few other guys who worked out there in Detroit at the time. They talked about Howard's start out there and how that went. They also talked about the awful place Howard was living in at the time. Ben and Ray Stern also talked about some of the stuff that was going on back then and how dedicated he was to his work. Ray said that they went out there to visit Howard and he told them that he had the best Chinese food out there and they soon found out that it was the worst they'd ever had. Ray said that Detroit wasn't a big impact for Howard.
In a Stern Show clip we heard Artie Lange asking Howard how things went out there in Detroit when he was working there. Howard said he was only there for 2 months or so. He said that he was a short drive from work when he was out there. He said he'd just sit in his room and wait for the next show, do the show and they go home, get something to eat, and then go home and wait for his next show. He said that he'd go out to get food but that was it. He'd get biscuits and chicken for every meal and that was it. Artie said that it was sad so he's glad that he has a happy ending.
Howard said he was insane back then and just concentrated on doing the radio show. He wouldn't go out and talk to people unless he had to work at the radio station on the weekends or something. He didn't talk to anyone or do anything but watch TV. He said he probably got some ideas for the show from doing that. He said that he was there alone for 2 months before Alison came out there. He said they were there for another 9 months after that.
Howard said that he was trying to prove to his family that he was going to be able to make a living doing this stuff. He felt he had to succeed. He said that it's a weird way to live.
In another old clip we heard Howard on WWWW making a phone call to the Iraqi embassy in New York to try and end a conflict that was going on. He was dialing on a rotary phone in the clip. Howard got a hold of someone there at the embassy and tried to talk to them about fighting with Iran. He spoke to the guy for a minute and thought he had the war ended by the end of the call.
Jim said that W-4 was just like every other station, they were understaffed, over worked and under paid. That led to more discussions from the guys who worked there and what they did. Ben Stern also said that Howard was working very hard. Howard said that he was producing all of his stuff on his own but he did have a news woman and a producer who helped him out a little bit. He said that the sound of the show was kind of shitty because he had to tape the calls off the air and things like that.
The one person that Howard missed was Fred Norris. That led to Fred talking about how Howard had told him that they'd work together again some day. He said he figured Howard meant well but that would never happen. He figured that no program director would ever hire him to work with Howard. He figured it was nice to know Howard and they'd just go their separate ways.
Howard said he tried to get Fred out to Detroit but there was no money. Fred would call in and do voices for him though. Fred said that Howard kept calling and things must have been going okay if he kept him on the show. He said he never got paid extra to do those calls though. He said they liked it but it was just a fun thing to do. He said he thought Howard was funny and he liked having fun with him.
We heard another Stern Show clip where Howard was talking to some people during a birthday show. Robin had gotten this guy Dick Hungate to call in. Dick was his boss at WWWW and Howard figured that he had gone on to bigger and better things after telling him how to run his show. Dick was out in Richmond, Virginia. Howard laughed at him for not going anywhere with his career. Howard and Dick talked about the old days and some of the stuff they did out there. Dick worked at WYSP for a time so he said hello to the people there.
Howard said that he feels very good that he's surpassed Dick in his career. He said that the guy was a good guy and he thanked him for calling in. He told him he hopes that he gets back into a high position in the industry soon. He told him to come by and visit him so he can show him his 7 member staff and take a ride in his limo.
After that we heard some more clips of the guys that worked with Howard out there. They talked about how Dick had gotten fired and they brought in a new guy. They talked about some of the changes they made there at the station and how they made Howard play his bits in weird places during his show.
We heard a classic bit that Howard did as Jimmy Carter talking to a woman on the phone. Jim Forbes said that there were a lot of bands going through the city at the time so Howard got to see the Rock and Roll lifestyle. They had some of the WWWW guys talking about the Van Halen tour and how they stopped by the station back then. That led into a Stern Show clip where Howard was talking about staying in the same hotel that Van Halen was staying in. He had people banging on his door asking where Eddie Van Halen was.
They had one of the guys from WWWW talking about what it was like when Van Halen stopped by the station. He went into details about the whole Van Halen experience.
We heard another Stern Show clip where Robin brought up Steven Perry from the band Journey. That led to Howard talking about what a dick that guy was. He ran into him in 1980 at WWWW and what a cocksucker he was. He said he was very arrogant and he hopes that he's miserable now. He said that he was a fish out of water back then and doing his morning show. He said the guy walked in with the whole band and said ''look at Big Bird over there'' in front of everyone. He let that go and said that he went to their concert and had to bring them up on stage. He was back stage making out with chicks and stuff. He figures that he'd be all nice to him now though. Howard said that Journey played to about 80,000 people that night. Howard said that Billy Squire was really cool to him back then though.
Jim said that Howard started with his Wack Pack back then when this woman by the name of Irene came on as the Leather Weather Lady. They had a DJ talking about the stuff she would do on the show doing the leather in her leather dominatrix outfit. Howard said that he was interested in reality so he wanted to know more about this real dominatrix. He said that it was pretty out there for 1980 when they were on back then.
Irene said that back then in 1980 there wasn't much being said on the radio so she had to be careful about what she said. She said Howard wasn't even allowed to say ''sex'' on the radio. That led to them playing a clip of her calling Howard's show in 1980 and saying ''dirty sex'' and getting lectured by Howard that she can't say that on the air.
The guys talked about Irene and her leather outfits and how she was always in that stuff. She was Goth before there was Goth according to Howard. That led into another old clip where Howard talked to Irene about her leather fetish. She told him that he asks her stupid questions all the time. Howard said he didn't know much about it so he had to ask her those stupid questions. Irene was supposed to just do the weather but she was going on and on about her leather stuff.
We heard more old clips from Howard's show where he was talking to this guy Wally that he used to work with at WWWW.
In July of 1980 Howard arranged a bra burning bit. Jim introduced that and then we heard an audio clip from that show.
We heard another Stern Show clip where Howard talked about the appearances he used to have to do at WWWW and how much he hated doing those. He said that he had to do a race one time against one of the other DJs in a race car. He didn't care if he got beat but the other guy did. He said he was told how to drive but he didn't want to push it and end up crashing. He didn't care if he lost or not.
We heard more clips from WWWW where he was talking about all of the appearances he was supposed to be making that weekend.
There was more Stern Show audio where Howard was talking about going to do host a Rocky Horror Picture Show one time and having people throwing toast at him. He said he was in a Dracula outfit and feeling like he'd rather be out drag racing or something.
WE heard from some of the guys from WWWW about how Detroit may not have been a good fit for Howard. They didn't like that Howard wasn't into the rock and roll stuff that they were playing on the station. They were talking about some of the stuff that worked and didn't work for him. They talked about how the show wasn't quite what it is today.
In another clip we heard Howard talking to a woman about her nice figure and asking her about her measurements. He almost got them right when he guessed. He was doing a dial-a-date for her and got some guys on the phone to go out with her.
In another interview clip we heard Howard talking about the stuff he was doing back in those days like drinking and passing out on the air. He said that things were really wild back then for him. That led to some interviews about this belly dancer that used to do Howard's show back then. She talked about what she used to do for Howard's show and how they had people drinking beer at 8 in the morning back then. She talked about Howard's look and how geeky he was at the time. She talked about having her bra pop off during an appearance she was making.
Dr. Lou remembered calling Howard into the show back then and Howard telling him that he knew what his listeners wanted. That led to another classic WWWW clip where Howard was calling London to try and get someone to talk to him. He got a woman in Scotland Yard on the phone and asked for someone to talk to him about the John Bonham case. She put someone on the phone and Howard told him who he was and why he was calling. He brought up the John Bonham death and wanted to find out more information. The cop over there didn't know anything about it so Howard actually knew more. Howard gave the cop the information he knew since the guy was clueless.
Howard was talking about how good radio was back then in 1980 and how he knew that he wasn't quite up to par. He said he knew that it was his attitude. He said he could have whipped all of their asses but he needed to change his attitude.
We heard from Jimmy Kimmel about how he heard about Howard when his uncle Vinnie would send him tapes of the show. He said that he would listen to the tapes that he sent over and over and over again. Then 10 years later Howard came on out there and he was able to barely pick it up on his crappy 1981 RX-7 car radio as he was driving to work. He said those 12 minutes were the greatest. They went to break after that.
We heard a clip of Howard on W-4 taking a phone call from a guy in Milwaukee that he'd placed a bet with. He and the caller talked about the bet they had and how Howard was going to send them some Stroh's beer. He said that his leather weather lady was going to bring the beer to him and she was going to make them drink each one of the empty cans of beer they were going to send to them. Howard goofed on the guy's accent for a few minutes before hanging up on him.
Jim introduced this woman Velma that was Howard's wrestling partner back in those days. She talked about how innocent Howard was back in those days and how much he's changed. She also talked about the morning that Howard called the Russian embassy in Moscow one morning. That led into a clip of that call from WWWW. In the clip Howard got on the phone and called the international operator to get through to Russia. He tried to get through but the operator said they'd have to call him back in a half hour or so. They said that Russia was a manual phone company and they had to call there and give them a message and get back to him.
In another clip we heard Howard calling a guy as Jimmy Carter and thanking him for voting for him. He said he was calling every person that voted for him. He would then ask them for some cash since he wasn't re-elected. He said he needed the money to buy braces for his daughter. Then he broke the news that he had just won a contest that he had entered to win the day off from work.
We heard a story about how W-4 had lost ratings and they got their Arbitron ratings book. They were awful and just a few days later Howard was doing a show where he was drinking on the air and trying to let people know that they shouldn't drink. One of the guys from the station told a woman to call in and goof on Howard about the ratings. The woman got through and goofed on him about the ratings and Howard went nuts and flipped out on her.
Howard said that the whole station fell apart and they ended up doing a format change to country from rock and roll. They all knew that something was going on when they turned on the radio that morning. They ended up flipping formats on a Saturday night at midnight. Howard stayed another couple of weeks and then he bailed out.
Howard said that he became Hop Along Howie after they did the format change. They went into a clip where Howard was introducing a song and giving the weather after the format change. He didn't sound happy.
In another Stern Show clip we hear Howard telling Robin about those days and how awful they were. He said that he only stayed on the air for about 3 days after they changed formats. He was getting paid pretty well at the time though so he didn't mind that. He said he needed that money because he was flat broke. He said he had to get out of there though. He said he started goofing on the music they were playing and they told him to get out.
We heard more from the jocks that worked with Howard over there at WWWW and they knew that Howard wasn't going to last there for long. We heard a couple more clips of Howard doing his thing at WWWW and talking about the weather and going into more awful songs.
They flipped between that stuff and the Stern Show clips where Howard was talking about how much it sucked when they flipped formats. Howard said that they were owned by Shamrock which was owned by Roy Disney. He said that they didn't know much about him at the time though. Howard said he got a call from someone on Sunday morning telling him that they had switched formats overnight. He had just worked the day before.
Howard talked about how they go about doing a format change like that. He said that Doug Podell had to be dragged out of there when this big moving van showed up to take everything out. They ended up handing out a bunch of cowboy hats and stuff like that before they did the change. Then Doug had to do the change from rock to country in the middle of the night. Howard said that everyone there didn't know what to do when they made the change. The Doc of Rock didn't know what to do. He said he stayed there himself for about 2 weeks with that new format. He was called Hop Along Howie for those two weeks. He said they told him that he could make a great country DJ though.
Howard said that he ended up goofing on the people who were listening to that awful music and they ended up kicking him out. He said he hated the music and he'd goof on the people who called in. He didn't even know how to pronounce the name Reba McIntyre's name at the time.
In another interview clip we heard one of the guys talking about Howard going on the air and talking about the people listening liking to fuck sheep. He had his microphone down at the time though, he just made the other DJs think that's what he was saying over the air. They played a clip from ''Private Parts'' where Howard learned of the new format there at WWWW.
Up next we heard some people talking about Howard's time at WWWW and how it just wasn't the right place for him. The demise of W-4 was the end of his time there in Detroit. There were people who said that they really liked Howard working there. They're happy for him that things worked out in the long run. Howard said that he didn't just sit there and flounder around too long. He said that he had people watching him that wanted to see him do his thing for a few more years before they brought him to New York. Howard said that DC-101 was one of a few stations that wanted him. They cut his salary a little bit from what he was making in Detroit though.
We heard some of the people who made that DC-101 deal happen talking about how that all worked out. The woman who worked with Howard was Denise Oliver and she said a few things about how she had offered him a job just weeks before the station changed formats. He turned it down at first but then the format change happened and he accepted the job. Howard said that he decided that he was going to put everything he could into this new job and make things happen.
They played another clip from ''Private Parts'' where Howard was telling his wife that he was going to be making some changes and doing things differently in Washington DC. After that we heard Jim promoting what they had coming up tomorrow on the show. Howard moves to Washington DC and meets Robin. They wrapped up today's Howard Stern History around 10:50am.
We heard from Robin about how she thought she wanted to be a nurse for a living. She did that for six years and then stumbled around for a few years and fell into this radio thing by accident. She said she looked in the yellow pages and tried to figure out what she could do. She went to a few different schools and ended up going got the broadcasting school and knew that's where she should be. She said that she knew that she had to do the news because the regular DJ job wouldn't allow her to talk enough.
Robin said that she was told that she could go places in the industry before she even finished school. She went to Carlisle, Pennsylvania for a job and did some work there for a short time. She said she was only at the station for one day. The guy who hired her ended up leaving the station the day she started and he asked her to go there with him. She did that and moved to Harrisburg, PA. She said she was having fun doing radio and every day was different for her. She worked there for 6 months and then figured she got all she could out of that place and called some people in Baltimore. She got a call from someone in Baltimore and got hired to do an afternoon show with some other people.
Robin said she didn't stay in Baltimore very long because Denise Oliver heard her. Denise said she heard Robin and knew who she was so she called Robin and told her she wanted her to send her tapes and courted her to work at the station in Washington. Robin said that she had to coerce her into working in Washington because she didn't think she was ready. She said she knew she had to move there after Denise played her a tape of this new morning man, Howard Stern.
Robin said that Denise popped this tape into the tape machine and she heard Howard interviewing a prostitute as if she was a molecular scientist. She said that he was asking her all of these questions like she was a normal person and no one had ever done that. She said she had to meet Howard after that and took the job just so she could do that.
Howard said that when he was on in Detroit he knew that he wanted a good partner that could mix it up with him. Denise Oliver told him that she had played this tape of him for Robin and he had some tape of Robin to play for him.
Denise said that when she introduced Howard and Robin, she was the only other person there. She said that she talked to Robin about being in the military and why she did that. Robin said that she didn't think that things could be that bad in there. Denise said that Howard and Robin hit it off right from the start and she knew that they'd make a great team. That led to a reading of some of Howard's book ''Private Parts'' by Crackhead Bob. It was unintelligible.
After that we heard a clip from DC-101 where Howard was talking to a guy on the phone about his ideas for picking up women. Howard introduced him to Robin and had him try and pick her up. He said something about her breasts so Howard had to cut him off.
Robin said that Howard would never say what she looked like when people would ask about her on the air. He used to let them believe that she was tall and blonde. Denise said that she thought that Robin was going to kill Howard when he held a contest to let people guess what size her breasts were. Robin just laughed it off though and things went just fine.
Howard said that Robin fills out the show and people underestimate what she brings to the show. He said that his father was always a fan of hers and he told him that she fills in the show like that. She has a good voice and she's got a lot of information.
Ben and Ray Stern had some things to say about Robin too. Ray said that they hit it off right away and she's amazed that they're still together after all this time. Ben said that Robin really was more important as a sidekick than as a news person and Howard had to convince management about that.
Howard said that Robin was always laughing on the show but she was just having fun and not putting on a phony laugh. She would know the right stories to get him going and they never really worked things out off the air. He said that they've had very few off air discussions about radio over the years. She said they never really planned anything. She knew what to do and he relied on that.
Robin said that she figured that being on Howard's show was a great way to get her name out there in a big market. Denise said that she's glad that she was able to bring those two together back then. She thinks that it would be a different show without her. She said she always liked Howard and Robin as people too.
We heard another clip of Howard and Robin talking back at DC-101. Howard ended up asking Robin about what she did over the weekend and she let him know it was none of his business. He guessed that she was in a leather mask or something. She laughed the whole time.
Jim Forbes said that Howard and Robin weren't in the same studio together for very long. Management separated them because Howard was spending too much time talking to her. That led to them playing a clip from ''Private Parts'' the movie where they separated them and told her not to let Howard intimidate her.
Denise said that there was an FCC regulation that said they had to do the news so she'd have to go in and talk to them about that. She said that she had to encourage them to do some news on the show. Robin said that Howard's interactions were welcome but she had a tough time doing her reports with him interrupting so much. She was never prepared to answer all of the questions that he had for her. She said it was good because she got more air time though.
Howard said that he knew that he was going to be number 1 in Washington with Robin working with him. He said he never thought he was going to be super successful, he just wanted to make a living in radio.
We heard another clip from DC-101 where Howard was making a phone call to a elementary school and claimed to have Prince Charles on the show. He told the guy who answered the phone that Prince Charles liked young girls and he was looking for a date. The guy on the phone knew it was a joke but Howard kept it going and had a guy doing a Prince Charles impression, very poorly.
Howard pointed out that Prince Charles was 32 and he was dating a 19 year old. The guy who answered the phone was a custodian at the school and said that he's actually an engineer there. Howard thought that was kind of funny and goofed on him about that. Howard asked if he could set up a date with one of the 11 year olds at the school. The guy told them to try high school instead.
Howard's Lesbian Dial-A-Date took place in May of 1981 and caused a stir in Washington DC. Denise Oliver talked about how they were planning this dating thing and they were going to do a gay man dating thing but she thought that might not fly with management. Howard changed it to lesbian and she thought that might work. Robin said that she thought that it was pretty innovative at the time.
We heard a clip from that show where Howard did his first Lesbian Dial-A-Date. He spoke to the woman who was playing the game who hadn't come out to her parents yet. She talked about the way she picks up women and finds other lesbians. Howard went through the stereotypes that she has to put up with and then moved into the game. He said they had a few women from around her age who wanted to play. Howard said that he was going to be chaperoning the date and nothing crazy was going to go on.
Howard went to the phones and picked a few women to play the game. He went through each woman he had on the line and asked them a couple of questions about their lesbian experiences. He was calling the contestant Ms. X during the segment. He asked her what kind of women she likes. She said she's into women who are into sports. She had no preference on hair color. Howard asked the women on the line what they looked like and went through all of that with them.
Howard picked out the women to play the game and went through details of each of the women's lives. He wondered if they buy magazines like Penthouse and Playboy like he does. The women said they didn't which surprised Howard. Ms. X said that it's a different thing for them than it is for men. One of the contestants was 5'9'' tall so Howard was into her. He told her that if she ever goes straight, she should give him a call. After going through all three women Ms. X went with number 1. She said she went with her because she agreed with a lot of her concepts and the way things had gone for her in her life. Howard let the other women know that they had lost.
Howard told the girls that they were going to go to a basketball game or something together and he would be there to chaperone them.
After that we heard from Andrew Dice Clay about one of his favorite moments from the show. He said he thought that they were going to come to blows one time on the show when they were fighting. He said that Gary came in at one point and said that people were pulling to the side of the freeway to listen to the show. He said that a show has to be great for people to do stuff like that. Dice said that he really wanted to kill Howard at the time because he said that the mother of his kids wasn't a good mother.
We heard from Robin about how Howard used to call her mother on the show when they were in Washington DC and they stopped doing that when they moved away to New York. Robin said that she stopped talking to her mother fore about 10 years so that was another reason they stopped calling her.
They got back into the DC-101 clip where Howard called Robin's mother and got a guy on the phone. It turned out it was her father but Howard just wanted to talk to her mother. He went on to tell her that her daughter is very nice but she's always trying to hug and kiss him. Robin's mother said she thought she taught her better than that.
Howard took some phone calls and asked the people if they wanted to ask some questions. One guy asked how she raised Robin to be such a prim and proper girl. Mrs. Quivers didn't know. Howard wished Mrs. Quivers a happy mother's day and let her go. He said that his mother would never come on the air with him.
We heard from Ben and Ray again and Ray was saying that they started hearing stories from people about hearing their son on the radio and he was really making a name for himself. She said that he really took off down there in Washington DC.
Jim Forbes said that one of the guys who picked up on what Howard was doing was this guy Petey Greene who had a public affairs show on Sunday morning. Howard talked about Petey and what he'd do on his show. He said he loved Petey's show and he was surprised that he was stuck to doing those Sunday morning shows. Robin said that he was very entertaining and Howard really did love him.
We heard a clip of Howard and Robin talking about Petey Greene's show because Howard was going to be appearing on it. He joked that he was going to show up with a white sheet over his head but he said he was