From: alexc@pollux.usc.edu (Alex Campbell)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.howard-stern
Subject: Philosophical musing on Stern
Date: 4 Sep 1992 20:43:44 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: pollux.usc.edu


I am a long time listener to Stern. My roommate at USC (the West Coast
representative for the now defunct newsletter) was a complete Stern junkie
who could only sleep at night by putting headphones in his ears and playing
Stern tapes turned me on to Stern by playing some of the WNBC tapes of Stern
having problems with Soupy Sales and Boy Lee. This is some of the best Stern
I have ever heard, with Howard railing about Soupy's salad dressing being 
everyhwhere and making the woman who reported traffic cry. I wish that this
early stuff could be on Best of, but I'm sure contactual obligations 
prevented this. Anyway, my only exposure to Stern came through tapes sent
regularly from the East Coast for many years until last summer when Stern
began simulcasting in LA on KROQ.

When I started listening to Stern everyday for multiple hours a strange thing
started to happen. My friend and I started to go into "stern raps."  We could
talk for hours like Stern -- with the inflections and phrases that Stern
would use. I began to talk like Stern a lot and it took awhile to get
back to my normal psyche.  I can still switch on the "stern rap", when I want
to, but it is funny how a radio personality can influence one's life so much.

One of the things that I like least about Stern is the constant patter about
woman's breasts, etc.  I find that longtime listeners agree with me. We would
rather hear Howard talk about other things, like current events or his
own life. However, Howard is damned if he doesn't talk about it and damned if
he does. Howard needs ratings and stuff like lesbian dial-a-date brings
the ratings more than ever -- although I will admit that this mornings
show was awesome -- I just get tired of the strippers and massages.  Howard
needs this aspect of his show to get male listeners. If he didn't have it,
his ratings would drop. He also wouldn't be as controversial with the FCC.
Howard has to push the envelope and sex is the one sure way to do that. The
bikini girls were one of the reasons that the TV show was so popular and one
of the reasons I didn't like the TV show. In the last season they had really
hit their peak and it was some of the greatest TV I have ever seen. (I'm a
film major, so I've seen a lot of TV). I loved the last episode with the
stuff that didn't make the shows -- especially the documentary on Underdog
Woman. How I would love to see the complete documentary. -- The mock
newlywed game was great as well, but the reason it was great was that it
dealt with the people on the show, not strippers from New Jersey. This part
of the Stern sex talk is good, when he talks about his wife. But I could
care less about Chesty Love and all the other bimbos who make it onto the
show.

On to the Larry King issue. Stern implicitily supports Capt. Janks and the
gang by playing their tapes. People get upset about it because they think
it is disrespectful.  Think about this however. These call-in shows are
scams. They rarely talk about anything substantial. There is no disclaimer
about what you have to talk about on the air, i.e. you must talk about the
author's latest book, etc.  Stern callers are just asking what the celebrities
think about Howard Stern. It is a legitimate question. The guests on the Larry
King show are opening themselves up by requesting people to call in.  This same
attitude applies to Stuttering John.  The celebrities that he questions are
in the public eye andhave no grounds to get upset with John for the qquestions
that he asks. If they don't like it, they just don't have to answer the 
question. Stuttering John and Capt. Janks are practicing media guerrilla
warfare. They are poking holes in our collective media's complacency, showing
the utter ridiculousness of their self important stance.  Stern summed this
up best this week when talking about Jimmy Conners response to John's questions
(paraphrase) "Jimmy is better than all the rest of us and his shit doesn't
stink."  The most significant example of the media guerrila warfare campaign 
was John's questions of Gennifer Flowers. John's questions pointed the
stupid nature of the press conference and helped deflate what media critics
have termed as pseudo-events. The Gennifer Flower press conference was 
completely orchestrated by the Star tabloid and they are getting upset
by John's questions. In my mind, his line of questioning was completely
in tune with the nature of the event. While Bill Clinton would never
admit to it, Stern proably helped save Clinton's ass on this. John's 
questions really made the straight press question the whole affair and
took some heat of Clint, in my opinion.

On to the new market Cleveland. People in the media in Cleveland and the
other radio stations are saying that Stern won't be popular there. Well,
it's a familiar story.  We've heard it all before. NY, DC, Philly, and
LA markets have all said the same thing. I will not repeat the litany of 
statements that have been made by his detractors. They always say the
same thing. Lets look at the facts -- Stern is bringing KLSX, a station
in the low 20's in morning drive time a year ago to almost beating the
#1 FM station, KLOS (Mark and Brian) in one year. I have no doubt that
Howard will be #1 when the next ratings book comes out in LA.  Howard
does not draw from the same format that the host radio station plays,
instead he takes from across the board. I laughed this week when the
caller from Cleveland told Howard he sucked and that he wanted his 
old morning guys back.  Because Stern doesn't need the core listeners
from the classic rock station in Cleveland. He will take everyone who is 
listening across the dial and make them into his listeners.  People
are also saying that he bashes Cleveland too much and that people will
backlash against that. Wel, show me a city that Howard doesn't bash on this
planet. He routinely complains about NY and LA and he has huge ratings in those
city.  The audience in todays urban America is highly diverse. I am
sure that other people in Cleveland agree with Howard. In fact, I bet
that Howard enjoys his quickest success yet in Cleveland, a relatively
small market that he will quickly take over.  Dallas will be Sterns
true test. If he can suceed in Dallas, I am sure that within two years
he will have 65% penetration in the US (by penetration, I mean the percentate
of population that can listen).  

Stern draws across the board, old, young, black, white, male, female. How
many of you heard the 54 year old woman who called in  today to complain
about the lesbian show. Normally she is riveted to the chair with her
teenage son, but today she couldn't listen.  Friends of mine in LA who
I would never dream of listening to Stern are now avid listeners. Grandparents
and parents of friends of mine are also avid listeners.

The most interesting question I have ever heard a caller pose was when did
Howard think his popularity would peak.  Howard thought about it for
a few minutes, but couldn't think of the answer, obviously because he can't
see into the future.  But it is an interesting question. Will it come when
Howard is in so many markets that he can't keep up with all the different
goings-on all over the country? Or will Howard simply get boring and tired?
Notice the patter that Stern has used to go out across the country -- first
the east coast, which he now practically owns -- now the West Coast, LA, where
he is having success. Bring on Cleveland as a test for the Midwest and Dallas
as a test for the South. If Howard has success in all these markets, watch out.
Howard will soon be on a radio station in your neighborhood.  After that, who
knows, maybe Canada.

Well, this is the end of my ramblings on Stern. I hpoe it wasn't too boring.
I'm not going to check this for spelling or grammar because it is too damn
long. I hope it gave you something to think about. I still haven't figured
out what to call into the hotline number about, so you will have to wait
get that number.

Alex Campbell, USC Film School
alexc@pollux.usc.edu

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Newsgroups: alt.fan.howard-stern