The Howard Stern Show is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 and Howard 101, Stern's two uncensored channels on the subscription-based satellite radio service SiriusXM, since 2006. Other prominent staff members include co-host and news anchor Robin Quivers, writer Fred Norris and executive producer Gary Dell'Abate, along with former members Jackie Martling, Billy West, John Melendez, and Artie Lange.
Stern began his radio career in the mid-1970s and developed his show through morning positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, WCCC-FM in Hartford, Connecticut, and WWWW in Detroit. In 1981, he began at WWDC-FM in Washington, D.C., where he was first paired with Quivers and became a ratings success. That was followed by three years at WNBC in New York City. After his abrupt firing, Stern moved to WXRK where he remained for 20 years until December 2005. During this time, The Howard Stern Show was syndicated to 60 radio markets and gained an audience of 20 million listeners at its peak. In the New York area, it was the highest-rated morning radio program from 1994 to 2001. The show is also the most fined in radio history, with a total of $2.5 million in fines issued by the Federal Communications Commission for indecent material. In 2004, Stern signed the first of several five-year contracts with Sirius; the first was reportedly worth $500 million.
In addition to radio broadcasting, The Howard Stern Show has been filmed since 1994 and broadcast on various networks, including the E! and CBS television channels. It moved to HowardTV, Stern's own on-demand digital cable channel from 2005 to 2013.
In the SiriusXM era, the program has increasingly emphasized long-form interviews, with official SiriusXM materials promoting the show's celebrity interviews, staff-driven segments, and archive programming across Howard 100 and Howard 101. Notable later broadcasts have included Stern's 2022 in-studio interview with Bruce Springsteen, his April 2024 interview with President Joe Biden, and his October 2024 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Format and channels
Since moving to Sirius in 2006, the program has been centered on two dedicated channels: Howard 100, which SiriusXM describes as the exclusive home of The Howard Stern Show, and Howard 101, which carries The Wrap-Up Show, Sternthology archive programming, celebrity specials, concert performances, and other related material. SiriusXM's channel descriptions emphasize that Howard 100 features Stern's in-depth celebrity interviews, commentary on current events, behind-the-scenes staff segments, and phony phone calls, while Howard 101 functions as a companion channel built around archival content and post-show discussion. Beginning September 1, 2026, the two channels' programming will be consolidated onto Howard 100 as part of a broader realignment of the SiriusXM lineup.
History
1975–1981: Early development
Stern landed his first professional radio job while at Boston University, performing on-air skits, news casting and production duties at 1550 WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts, from August to December 1975.Stern, p. 123. He also hosted a show with three fellow students on WTBU, the campus radio station; the show was named The King Schmaltz Bagel Hour, which was cancelled during its first broadcast for a sketch called "Godzilla Goes to Harlem".Stern, pp. 116–117. After his graduation, Stern landed some cover shifts in December 1976 at WRNW, a progressive rock station in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where he was subsequently hired full-time as the midday host. He produced more creative commercials by calling business owners live on the air, which he wrote "was mind-blowing to everyone there."Stern, pp. 119–121.
In 1979, Stern responded to an advertisement for a "wild, fun morning guy" at WCCC-FM, an album oriented rock (AOR) station in Hartford, Connecticut.Stern, p. 125 He produced a more outrageous audition tape, playing Robert Klein and Cheech and Chong records mixed with flatulence routines and one-liners.Colford, p. 45. He was hired for the job, his first in a large radio market. As the station's public affairs director, Stern also hosted a half-hour interview show on Sunday mornings, which he enjoyed as it contained no music. He would ask unusual questions to his guests, such as their dating habits. Stern held a two-day boycott of Shell Oil Company during the summer of the 1979 energy crisis, which put Stern and the station into the national news. Stern also began his "Dial-a-Date" routines at WCCC, and met Fred Norris, the station's overnight disc jockey who provided Stern's show with various comedic impressions of celebrities.Stern, p. 127 Norris would join the show as Stern's writer and producer in 1981.Colford, p. 74.
Stern left WCCC after being denied a raise in salary.Stern, pp. 129–130. He began a new morning shift at WWWW, a struggling rock outlet in Detroit, Michigan, on April 21, 1980. He learned to become more open on the air and "decided to cut down the barriers ... strip down all the ego ... and be totally honest ... I still sounded like an FM announcer". Stern held a bra-burning event and wrestled women outside the studios, and invited listeners to confess the most outrageous places where they had sex, and record their calls for the air.Colford, p. 57.Colford, p. 60. A stunt in which listeners paid $1.06 (the station's FM frequency) to hit a Japanese car with a sledgehammer earned Stern national mention. For his performance, Stern won a Billboard award for "Best Album-Oriented Rock Disc Jockey" and was featured in the Drake-Chenault "Top Five Talent Search" contest in the AOR category.Stern, p. 134 Published in January 1981, the fall Arbitron ratings showed that Stern trailed his three rock competitors with a 1.6% market share of the listening audience during an average quarter-hour.Lucaire, p. 238. It was the final straw for management, which turned WWWW into a country music format on January 18, 1981. Stern made a brief, half-hearted attempt to be a country radio DJ but realized it wasn't to his liking. Stern left the station soon after and declined offers to work at CHUM-FM in Toronto, WXRT in Chicago and WPLJ in New York City.
1981–1985: Washington and WNBC On March 2, 1981, Stern began his third morning job, this time at WWDC-FM, a rock station in Washington, D.C. He was determined to become a success, and noticed the importance of news segments for satire. He requested a news person to riff with him in the studio and not just deliver news briefs, returning to the newsroom when they were finished.Stern, p. 135. Robin Quivers, a news anchor and consumer reporter from WFBR in Baltimore was eventually chosen.Lucaire, p. 174 She agreed to meet Stern after hearing him interview a sex worker on the air. Quivers at first "thought I would come in and do the news ... but it wasn't that way ... he wanted someone to play off of ... he wanted a real live person there with him".Colford, p. 68 The show began to break format, and Stern held a lesbian edition of "Dial-a-Date" in May 1981. He formed the Think Tank, a cohesive trio of male listeners who conversed with Stern and played along with quizzes and routines, which helped the show sound more natural.Colford, p. 71 By January 1982, Stern had the second highest-rated morning program in the city.Colford, p. 78. On January 14, one day after the crash of Air Florida Flight 90, Stern made listeners believe he asked Air Florida the price of a one-way ticket to the 14th Street Bridge, the location of the disaster. "Is that going to be a permanent stop?" asked Stern.Stern, p. 150 On June 29, 1982, Stern's contract at WWDC was terminated. Later, he wrote that the Air Florida segment was not the reason for his departure, nor did anyone complain about it. He had signed a contract with WNBC in March,Colford, p. 81. and began to berate management and other DJs on the air.Colford, p. 85. Quivers, who left the show early on June 17, worked at WCBM in Baltimore until rejoining Stern on October 18, 1982.Colford, p. 86Lucaire, p. 232 Stern presented a farewell show on August 8, 1982, on competing station WAVA-FM. He had more than tripled the station's ratings during his stay.Colford, pp. 87–89.
Stern began his WNBC program in September 1982, working from 4–8 p.m.Colford, p. 93 Concerned about its corporate image and his risque personality, management told Stern to avoid discussions of a sexual and religious nature. Within his first month at the station, Stern was suspended for several days for a controversial segment known as "Virgin Mary Kong". The skit featured a new video game by God in which a group of men chase the Virgin Mary around a singles bar in Jerusalem. In February 1983, comedian Jackie Martling was hired to make weekly appearances as a comedy writer. With his on-the-fly style, he provided jokes for such show bits as "Stump the Jokeman" and "The Match Game".Colford, p. 118 Martling assumed the role full-time in August 1986 when he replaced Al Rosenberg, a comedian and writer at WNBC who could no longer commute from Washington, D.C. Also hired was Gary Dell'Abate of the station's traffic department, who started as the show's assistant in September 1984 and went on to become executive producer. Stern continued to break out of the station's strict format. He had a naked woman on the show for the first time and attempted to make another reach orgasm through her radio speaker, both of which were reenacted in his film Private Parts (1997).
The Arbitron ratings released in 1984 showed an increase in listeners to Stern's show. Having moved shifts to 3–7 p.m., he attracted audience shares of 3.8%, 4.2%, and 4.6% that year.Colford, p. 110Colford, p. 114 The show was popular among males aged between 18 and 34, a highly marketable demographic for advertisers. Stern acquired a 5.7% share in 1985, the highest rating at the station in four years,Colford, p. 128 pushing the station's ranking in afternoons from eleventh to first place in three years. Amid the success, tension between management and Stern grew further. On September 30, 1985, the show was cancelled due to what management termed "conceptual differences" between themselves and Stern regarding his show. "Over the course of time, we made a very conscious effort to make Stern aware that certain elements of the program should be changed", said program director John Hayes, whom Stern had nicknamed "The Incubus". "I don't think it's appropriate to say what those specifics were."Luerssen, p. 12 In 1992, Stern believed that Thornton Bradshaw, at the time chairman of RCA which then owned WNBC, was driving in his limousine having heard his "Bestiality Dial-a-Date" segment and ordered his firing. Later, NBC chairman Grant Tinker admitted that it was his decision, after corporate communications director Bob Rukeyser alerted him about the risqué material on Stern's show.
1985–1994: WXRK and start of syndication Stern returned to the New York airwaves on rock station WXRK, where he began his 20-year residency at the station in afternoons from 2–6 on November 18, 1985. Following his move to mornings from 6 am on February 18, 1986, Stern entered national syndication on August 18, 1986, when WYSP in Philadelphia first simulcast the program. In the 18-plus male demographic, WYSP rose from eleventh to second place in three months.Colford, p. 171 Stern began a rivalry with the number one host John DeBella of WMMR, and was determined to beat him in the ratings. He achieved his goal in April 1990, and held a celebratory "funeral" for DeBella on May 10 in Rittenhouse Square which aired live.