Howard Stern is one of the most controversial figures in entertainment history. The self-proclaimed “King of All Media” has hosted his self-titled radio show since the 1980s, starting on terrestrial radio before moving to Sirius XM satellite radio. Howard Stern is the most iconic example of a “shock jock,” a genre of radio hosts dedicated to using taboo subjects, vulgarity, outrageous stunts, and poor taste to captivate their audience. Other famous examples include Don Imus and Opie and Anthony. Before podcasts and satellite radio, shock jocks pushed the limits of what was acceptable to broadcast over the airwaves. In recent years, Stern has changed his style and tone significantly, pivoting away from outrageous stunts and toward a more earnest, in-depth celebrity interviewer. As the “shock jock” persona has waned in popularity, so has Stern’s show. Recently, Stern’s show made headlines when several major changes were announced. A large portion of the show’s staff had been let go, the show would go from five days a week to one weekly episode every Monday, and a condensed version of Monday’s show would stream weekly on HBO Max every Thursday, with the first episode streaming this past Thursday, September 17th. Longtime fans of Howard Stern have been critical of his stylistic shift in recent years. He has been labeled a “sellout” by fans who listened to him during his prime in the ‘90s, and is often accused of becoming everything he used to make fun of. Stern, on the other hand, has claimed that he has genuinely changed as a person and that his outrageous and offensive past behavior no longer reflects who he is. Today’s article will examine the history of The Howard Stern Show, some of its most controversial moments, and the evolution (or de-evolution, depending on who you ask) of the man himself, Howard Stern. 

Before I begin, I would like to say something about Howard Stern, so that you can see where I am coming from as the author of this blog. I do not like Howard Stern, per se. I think that at his best, he is a funny person and a good interviewer. At his worst, I believe he has said and done things that are genuinely disgusting and, in some cases, have led to real-life harm. Some of these moments will be referenced in this article, so take this as your trigger warning. I do believe he is objectively an interesting person, whose place in popular culture will be a topic of discussion for a very long time. I do not think Howard Stern is someone to look up to. However, for comedy history and analysis (which is what this blog is dedicated to), I believe he is an interesting figure to examine.

Howard Stern dreamed of being a radio personality since he was a kid, watching his father, a radio engineer, work closely with on-air personalities. Using some of his father’s leftover equipment, Stern would pretend to be a radio host, “hosting” his own show in his basement. Stern attended Boston University, where he studied communications and hosted a show on his campus radio station. His show was canceled after its first episode due to an offensive sketch that Stern performed on air. It was at Boston University where he also met his first wife, Alison. After graduating, Stern bounced around for several years between various stations. During this time, he met and befriended on-air personalities Fred Norris and Robin Quivers, who are still on his show to this day. His biggest break came in 1982 when he was hired as a radio host for WNBC. Stern clashed with management at WNBC over his on-air antics, which drew national attention. Soon, Howard Stern was frequently making news for his shock value, and he also appeared on shows such as Late Night with David Letterman. Stern was fired by WNBC in 1985.

Determined to beat WNBC in ratings, Stern stayed in New York City and brought his show to WXRK, and started hosting in the morning time slot to directly compete with fellow shock jock, Don Imus, with whom Stern had a longtime feud. Stern’s popularity only grew from there, and his show became nationally syndicated, making Stern an even bigger celebrity and leading to television deals and live stage shows. Stern leaned further into his shock jock persona, relying heavily on taboo subjects and crude humor. One notable sketch was the recurring superhero character “Fartman.” Stern famously appeared at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards as the character. The character was so popular that there were even discussions for a movie based on him titled The Adventures of Fartman. The project was shelved when New Line Cinema wanted a PG-13-rated script, and Stern insisted on an R rating. What made Howard Stern so popular during this time was that even though he was crude and shocking, he also presented himself as an everyman. He would frequently talk about his personal life as a married man, and when he mocked his bosses on air, it came off as relatable to listeners on their morning commute. These characteristics of Stern’s on-air persona would gradually fade in the years since. 

Howard Stern continued his usual schtick into the 1990s and 2000s. He published a memoir, Private Parts, which was later adapted into a film of the same name, starring Stern as himself. Throughout the 90s, Stern’s persona became increasingly controversial, and he also grew much more arrogant and mean-spirited. He hosted several pay-per-view events, including 1993’s The Miss Howard Stern’s New Year’s Eve Pageant, which the New York Post called “the most disgusting two hours in the history of television.” Stern also received criticism for offensive and insensitive remarks he made in the wake of tragedies such as the killing of singer Selena and the Columbine High School shooting. Stern gained a reputation for being exploitative and purposely making his guests uncomfortable. Stern often invited people onto his show who were clearly suffering from mental disorders or going through rough times in their lives and careers, and used them for entertainment. One such example was recurring guest Debbie Tay, a woman who appeared on Stern’s show several times throughout the 90s and claimed to have experienced alien encounters. Tay died of an overdose, and Stern invited a friend of hers to appear on the show for a “tribute” to Tay, bringing a box of her cremated remains. Stern used this segment to mock Tay’s death and made several insensitive comments, including saying that he wanted to “glue her back together” and rattling her remains around the box into the microphone for the audience to hear. Tay’s family was angered by this segment and sued Stern. Another notable instance of this is his 1999 interview with Dana Plato. Plato was an actress, famous for her role in the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes. Since her success in the 1980s, Plato struggled in her career and personal life and battled addiction. While on Stern’s show, Stern and his callers mocked Plato, questioning the validity of her sobriety, with many callers accusing her of lying. Stern himself sarcastically started offering her drugs and had Plato cut some of her hair to be used for a drug test, which Stern later claims she made him give back to her. The next day, Plato died in what was initially believed to be a drug overdose, but was later ruled a suicide. Some have suggested that her appearance on Stern’s show may have been a contributing factor, and it is often cited as one of the worst things Stern has done on his show. Stern and his fans would defend his most controversial moments, often saying that he is only joking, or that he has a right to say what he wants, and that listeners who don’t like what he says can simply change the station. By the late 90s and early 2000s, Stern was seen less as funny and crude and more vile and gross. Stern’s show was fined by the FCC several times during its run, for a total of around $2.5 million. He also had falling-outs with the show’s staff, notably with contributors such as Stuttering John, Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, and, later, Artie Lange. His on-air antics and his off-air personality also contributed to his 2001 divorce from his first wife. By the mid 2000s, it had become clear that Stern’s shock jock persona was starting to hurt him more than it was helping him.

The Howard Stern Show moved to Sirius XM satellite radio after the FCC cracked down harder on broadcasting following the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. Initially, Howard Stern brought his shock jock persona to Sirius, now that he was not under the threat of being fined by the FCC. Comedian and MadTV alumnus Artie Lange was added to the show to replace Jackie Martling and became a fan favorite. Lange left the show in 2010. Stern also continued to include “The Wack Pack” in his show, which features the character “Beetlejuice,” a fan favorite who has become a popular internet meme. During his time at Sirius, the show’s tone and style began to shift. Stern gradually toned down the more shocking elements of his show and wanted to start doing more in-depth celebrity interviews. In a meeting with his staff that was leaked online, Stern is seen angrily lamenting the lack of celebrities willing to appear on the show and even encouraging his staff to create fake Twitter accounts to encourage celebrities to appear. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Stern started hosting his show from his home and has largely continued to do so ever since, only returning for a handful of interviews with big guests such as Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Bruce Springsteen. 

Howard Stern has attributed his change in tone to a few different key factors. His marriage to his second wife, model Beth Ostrosky, his going to therapy, his age, and also a health scare in 2017 that he did not publicly disclose until 2019. His decision not to disclose the health scare was a humbling experience for him, acknowledging that he felt admitting it to the audience would be admitting that he is old. Stern published a third book in 2019, Howard Stern Comes Again, which features reflections of some of his favorite interviews, as well as his regrets over past behavior on his show. Stern has described his old self as “an angry young man,” saying he had a “scorched earth policy,” and that going to therapy has made him realize why he used to act the way he did on the air. Stern’s show has declined in popularity significantly over the last decade. Most of his old fans dislike his new style, and many feel he is hypocritical, especially given his past. In September of 2026, it was announced that his show would be significantly downsized, moving to only one show a week, and that a new deal with HBO Max would stream a condensed version every Thursday. HBO Max streamed the first episode of The Howard Stern Show on Thursday, September 17th, and I watched it. The episode did not feature a celebrity interview and instead focused on Stern bantering with his staff, which still includes longtime sidekick Robin Quivers and producer Gary Dell’Abate. His banter is just as crude as ever, but one has to wonder if this is Howard Stern trying to prove that he hasn’t changed all that much. In the trailer for the HBO Max show, the tagline reads “He’s grown, but he hasn’t grown up.” The problem with this, though, is that he has grown up. He is 72 years old and still trying to prove that he is just as vulgar as he was in the 80s and 90s. Stern has proven himself to be a great interviewer. His celebrity interviews over the last decade are genuinely great. He does an amazing job of getting people to open up and talk about things they normally wouldn’t, and he does so respectfully, not in the aggressive manner he used to. If Stern wanted to make his show solely an interview show, I think it would be more interesting to listen to and probably more interesting for Stern himself.

The question that is on the minds of Howard Stern’s fans and critics alike: Has Howard Stern actually changed? And if he has, is that actually a good thing? For those who pine for the raunchier, meaner, “old Howard,” the answers to those questions are “yes” and “no” respectively. But many who did not like “old Howard” and were critical of his past comments and behavior may believe that any change he has undergone is too little, too late. For some, Howard Stern’s past actions may not be forgivable, and any positive change he may have made in recent years does not erase the harm he has caused. The problem with Stern and other shock jocks is that, at a certain point, the goal is no longer to be funny but to be shocking for the sake of shocking. I personally find “Fartman” to be funny. Yes, it is crude and sophomoric, but it is at least an attempt at a genuine comedy character. As time went on, however, Stern leaned more and more into “shock,” which gave us moments such as his controversial responses to tragedies and his interview with Dana Plato. I do think Howard Stern has changed, but I also feel that the change only happened once he started to feel the professional and personal consequences of his actions. Whether Stern can be forgiven or not is a personal choice for his listeners, past and present. Still, I believe there is something to be said about Stern’s longevity, especially given his dated format and style. His new deal with HBO shows that there is still an audience for him, and his celebrity interviews are genuinely good and interesting. I do feel that some of the grief he gets for changing over the years is unfair; however, I also feel that he created a very specific image for himself, and I cannot really blame his longtime fans for feeling that it is hypocritical for him to now decry the old persona that he spent decades curating and cashing in on. Howard Stern’s legacy will likely always be that of a complex and controversial figure. For me, Howard Stern serves as a cautionary tale about the lengths some are willing to go to in order to secure an audience. Being a “shock jock” is not sustainable, and Howard Stern is another example proving just that.