Going to the Head of the Crass : Low Road Leads Howard Stern to New Heights

When “shock jock” Howard Stern debuted in Los Angeles a year ago, about 50 of KLSX-FM’s advertisers refused to allow their commercials to air during his morning radio show because of the raunchy reputation that preceded him.

Stern’s scatological humor and outrageous comments had drawn fire in other cities, where he was regularly accused of attacking gays, women, blacks, Latinos, homeless, stutterers and a host of others. The Federal Communications Commission had cited him for indecent broadcasting.

Though he had become the No. 1 morning personality in New York, many predicted that Stern’s show--which originates from New York and is also heard in Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore--would simply not work in Los Angeles.

Since his debut on KLSX (97.1) on July 25, 1991, however, Stern has leapfrogged up the quarterly Arbitron ratings. He began in 21st place, rose to 14th, then to eighth and, in the most recent survey covering last spring, placed fourth, pitting him against such top morning shows as KLOS-FM’s “Mark and Brian Show,” KABC-AM’s “Ken and Barkley Co.” and KIIS-FM/AM’s Rick Dees. He ranks first among male listeners.

Not surprisingly, advertisers have changed their tune. The show is now loaded with commercials for cars, beer, tires, cellular phones and auto insurance.

“For every advertiser we lost, we’ve gained back two,” said Andy Bloom, program director at KLSX, where Stern is heard weekdays from 3 a.m. to about 11 a.m. (the first four hours are broadcast live, then repeated on tape).

KLSX isn’t the only one reaping benefits. Stern credits his success in Los Angeles, the show business capital, with having helped catapult his career.

Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates his radio show, is negotiating to expand Stern’s reach to Cleveland, Detroit and Dallas. And last week Stern announced that he had entered into a deal with New Line Cinema to star in and supervise the writing of a movie, budgeted at $11 million and set to open next summer.

“I think Howard’s popularity and the momentum that he’s gained is only going to increase,” said David Permut, who is producing Stern’s film. “He’s a real original. He’s much more than just a sophomoric, crass, crude radio personality. I think he talks about what may be on a lot of people’s minds but (what they) wouldn’t say in a million years.”

Permut--whose credits include “Blind Date,” “Dragnet,” “The Marrying Man” and “29th Street”--promised that the Stern film, which is barely “in the embryonic stages,” will be as irreverent and unconventional as its star.

In characteristic fashion, Stern has been quoted as saying he and Permut will make “the most disgusting movie ever made.”

The Stern juggernaut found another new outlet last Friday as he made his first appearance on “The Tonight Show.” Stern roundly criticized former “Tonight Show” co-stars Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen for appearing on Arsenio Hall’s rival late-night show. He also blasted Hall (whose commercials run during Stern’s radio show on KLSX).

The barrage of insults drove “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno to dive under his desk at one point. “I feel like I’m in hell,” Leno quipped.

But Stern’s loudmouthed appearance made for good ratings. Overnight figures from 25 major markets showed Friday’s “Tonight Show” running higher than average, with 17% of the available audience tuning in across the country. The best numbers came in Los Angeles, where 28% of the available audience--about 424,000 homes--was watching.

“Right now everything I touch turns to gold,” Stern proclaimed at a news conference that he broadcast on his program Tuesday.

But in fact Stern called the media event to talk about the one aspect of his career that is not growing brighter: his television series. For the past two years he had been hosting a weekly, late-night comedy show that was syndicated to 56 markets across the country (including KCOP-TV Channel 13 in Los Angeles), but two weeks ago, WWOR-TV, the New Jersey station that produced the program, announced that it had “discontinued production.”

Stern claimed that it was his decision to end the show, which he said was prompted by the station’s refusal to provide the resources to improve production values.

WWOR officials said that they dropped Stern’s show even though it got good ratings in some markets--on occasion beating its main competitor, “Saturday Night Live”--because it failed to draw a sufficient number of advertisers.

“We made this business decision, even though Howard Stern’s show had high ratings, because the cost of the show exceeded the revenue,” WWOR spokeswoman Grazia Manziano said in a telephone interview. She declined to provide specific figures.

“This idea that they couldn’t make money with it is an absolute lie,” Stern said at the press conference. “They called every day trying to make me stay on.”

He added that, in the meantime, he has been contacted by several companies who are interested in producing another Stern television show, though he refused to name them. But he indicated that he planned to concentrate on his movie for now. He said that he had told WWOR executives:

“I’ve been offered a film deal and . . . I’ve proven everything I can prove on television. It’s time to go into the world of film.”

Despite his 5 million radio listeners, a burgeoning film career and growing popularity, Stern still complained that he gets no respect from journalists.

“Most of the media has a great distaste for me,” he said on the air Tuesday. “I’ve never understood why. I’ve certainly tried to make radio interesting. I think the people who really appreciate me are the people commuting every day in their cars, sitting there miserable for an hour-and-a-half: They get to listen to something funny and entertaining.”

Indeed, his fans are rabidly devoted to the talk-show host, who discusses his bathroom habits and sexual proclivities on the air the way others might muse about the weather.

Some of those fans were encamped overnight outside the “Tonight Show” studio in Burbank last week hoping to get in, resulting in one of the highest demands ever for tickets, according to NBC officials.

Even Leno, in his audience warm-up before Friday’s show, said about Stern’s very vocal fans: “I feel like Ed Sullivan before the Beatles come out.”

Frank LaVeaga, a Stern fan who attended the “Tonight Show” taping, described Stern as “a man’s man. (His appeal is) kind of a ‘90s thing where everybody’s growing up but they don’t want to let go of their adolescence.”

Donnie Gallagher, a fan who came out from Verona, N.J., to see Stern make his “Tonight Show” debut, saw the same appeal as film producer Permut: “He says what everyone else wants to say--but is afraid to.”

The Rise of Howard Stern

Since debuting on KLSX-FM (97.1) on July 25,1991, Howard Stern has climbed steadily in the ratings to the point where his program is now challenging KLOS-FM’s “Mark and Brian Show,” KABC-AM’s “Ken and Barkley Co.” and KIIS-AM/FM’s Rick Dees for leadership among English-language morning radio shows.

Source: Arbitron