Before he moved to Sirius, Howard told Esquire magazine:
"On January 9, when I go to satellite, you will hear two full channels of the most outrageous programming. The Howard 100 brand on Sirius is going to be what National Lampoon was back in the day. We're going to give you sitcoms, movies, game shows — even news. We have a full-fledged news service following everything in the Howard Stern world. There are seventeen newspeople — hardcore newspeople. I gave them complete autonomy. I said, "If you hear I'm doing something wrong, you investigate me." I have no say over it. I won't become the FCC. I'm not going to censor my own news department; that would ruin the concept."
The "two full channels of outrageous programming" that Howard promised are vastly different today than they were back in 2006 when he started at Sirius, and not necessarily in a good way.
As we have recently seen, the Howard 100 news team is virtually running on fumes in 2015.
On Howard 100, the Stern show is live three days a week at most, during the weeks when Howard is not on vacation or dancing with other dudes on America's Got Talent. Back in the early satellite days, he at least worked four days a week and initially pretended as if he would only take "some Fridays" off during an appearance with David Letterman.
Today, Howard also no longer needs the FCC to censor the program, as he avoids saying such dreadful things like the "n-word", "r-word" (Gary the Retard has become "Gary the Conqueror"), etc. and the wild Stern show now features guests like Lena Dunham while long-time former friend of the show Gilbert Gottfried has become persona non grata.
Howard 101, the alleged second channel of great entertainment, has become a total wasteland, airing only the West Coast feed of the Stern show, stale replays and a shell of original programs:
Here's a look back at some of the programs that have filled the airwaves on Howard 101 over the years.
Bubba and Ferrall - The Early Days of 101
In the early days of Howard 101, Stern included some original content on the channel and he was able to get Bubba the Love Sponge and Scott Ferrall, radio veterans who were well-known. Both had syndicated shows before but were a bit down on their luck when Stern signed them, so he was probably able to save some dough while getting some decent names for his second channel.
Scott Ferrall was also a client of the Don Buchwald Agency (the same agency which represents Howard, Robin, Fred, Gary and Jon Hein), which probably didn't hurt his chances to join Howard 101.
In the early days, Howard had a reason to fill the channels with original content - if he was able to generate enough subscribers, he would have been entitled to performance bonuses of up to $75 million per year (the basis for his unsuccessful lawsuit against Sirius/XM). One of the many fun facts about his lawsuit is that no one would have known the amount of such bonuses had Howard not filed the flimsy claim against Sirius/XM.
Both Bubba and Ferrall have moved on from Howard 101, and no one opened up the coffers to replace either of them (consistent with the frugal decision to not replace Artie Lange on the Stern show). Bubba left at the end of 2010 amid rumors that he was asked to take an 80% pay cut and Ferrall left after 2012 to take his show to CBS Sports Radio.
During a recent podcast interview, Ferrall said he saw the writing on the wall that his gig would not last that much longer at Sirius/XM, especially after seeing Bubba get offered nothing. His agent at the Don Buchwald Agency told him that they "were not sure Ferrall was in their plans" and "they were not sure what they were going to do with the channels", which Ferrall interpreted as code for run for the hills.
Audio link (starts around 1:08:00 mark): Al's Boring Podcast - Scott Ferrall
Invention of the Dreaded "Hiatus"
Over the years the Howard 101 channel was also filled with programs hosted by backroom staffers and other amateurs, some of which were more successful than others, although almost all of the filler shows that aired on Howard 101 over the years have now been shut down.
Surprisingly, the Back Office Radio show hosted by Jason Kaplan and Will Murray was somewhat entertaining, as it contained some honest discussions about what was going on behind the scenes. However, it was quickly put on 'hiatus' (a Stern channel code for 'never to air again'), as a few sensitive people (rumored to include Steve Brandano) allegedly complained to Stern about the honest content.
Lest anyone forget, Howard 101 had this lineup of non-Stern show programs in 2011, almost all of which are now history:
The manner in which the shows disappeared is also interesting. Howard at least acknowledged the hiatus (which is still in effect) of Back Office Radio in March 2013, although his rationale for the hiatus was not very convincing - "[Howard] said he won't say it's canceled but they have too many guys working on too many shows."
At this point, given how infrequently the Stern show airs and the lack of original shows on Howard 101, one has to wonder how Jason and Will are "working on too many shows" in 2015, unless they are doing work related to Stern's recently-announced venture with Whalerock Industries.
Even shows hosted by other Don Buchwald clients were not safe - Robin's awful show the Chatter departed with no mention, although for some reason the rotund Ms. Quivers mentions this obscure program on the cover of her book, The Vegucation of Robin.
Howard 101 also aired a program called Dealin' Straight, hosted by two former lawyers/convicts, which also aired on AM radio - not quite the kind of cutting edge programming anyone expected to pay for with a satellite subscription and the Dealin' Straight guys announced that their show was off the Stern channels on Twitter:
The super fan roundtable was hosted by a gentleman who runs a Stern fan forum, and he also let people know that SFRT was history on Twitter:
Abe Kanan, whose hacky program was heard on Howard 101 for a few years, got the unfortunate news that his show was cancelled while he was at his brother's wedding in January 2014.
Recent Departures
The most recent shows that have been cut from Howard 101 are the Harry Fisch show and Jon Leiberman's "Leiberman Live" program.
Dr. Fisch announced his departure on Twitter last month:
Earlier this year, in mid-January, Jon Leiberman mentioned on his last program that the show would be going on the dreaded "hiatus" and Howard was asked about this on his own radio show. Howard denied knowing anything about Leiberman's show going on hiatus and said that he is not that involved with the channel.
People with suspicious minds may not be totally convinced that this is true, for while Howard may leave some of the details to his minions, he may still get a cut of the ad money from all of the programs on his channels if his current deal is like his first contract (see below). If that is the case, one would doubt that any subordinate would dare change the programming without Howard's consent.
At least there something that Stern fans can be thankful for - given the fading content on Howard 101, it is a good thing that Howard never developed the third channel on Sirius that was mentioned when he initially joined the company.
Great post! "The most honest man in radio" sure has acted shady of late. What is even more funny about the H101 wasteland is that there was originally going to be 3 channels. Can you imagine? Howard must have done the marble math on that one early on and aborted.
ReplyDeleteWhy aren't you talking about Marci Turk, Howard's svengali and COO of his channels? Gary, Jason, Will, and Steve all talk about her privately but they don't dare share their feelings in public. It's well known that she has brain washed Howard and completely destroyed the show in the process. Plus Marci has turned the once loyal Howard into a cold and disloyal shell of his former self. It's sad that Howard hasn't done his homework on her to find out who she really is.
ReplyDeleteGiven the wasteland that is H101 and how weak H100 is he doesn't care anymore. He's already checked out. The slide started when the Jackie/Artie chair stayed empty and sped up under COO Marci Turk. She's running the channels into ground and he doesn't care. She's one of those getting things done bullshit management types. He's not resigning with SiriusXM. He'll just do AGT and work 30 days a year and paint watercolours the rest of the time.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he actually paints. Just an image he wants. The may has gotten quite pretentious.
DeleteThis post is great. It highlights a lot wrong with the show but I wanted to add bit more:
ReplyDelete1. callers - for most of the history of the show, listeners were contributors the same way studio folks were. People would call in after a Gary appearance, or seeing Fred/Jackie at dinner and give Howard the scoop. This is also how the Gary tape was found out. Result = epic radio.
Now the callers = sideshow freaks. His 4 go-to callers, Marianne, Bobo, Jeff/Drunk, Hanzi are now the main weekly content. I know it’s bad if I hear Ralph and am thankful for a “normal” call. The rest of the callers are not treated with respect anymore, it’s ‘have a point or goodbye’ while he lets those other losers ramble on. I’m not paying my Sirius vig for those losers, sorry.
2. howard100 news. Interesting that Lieberman’s signoff is now something like “Jon Lieberman, Howard Stern Show correspondent” now. No mention of H100 news at all. Where is howard saying something about it?
3. wrapup show - this is the weirdest one. The show worked great and was universally liked. Why change it? What could possibly explain breaking the format of a highly effective well regarded show? Yes I know they don’t care about ratings but they do care about advertisers. That show’s loyal listener following translated into ad-rates. Jon/Gary and some staffers - great backoffice content and usually good content for Howard the next day. Changing it to the crap that’s on now is a head-scratcher.
4. backoffice staff - For decades the staff was a large part of the show’s content. We were and are invested in their lives. Now we rarely hear about anyone. But I know Bobo moved to FL and I couldn’t care less.
5. howardTV???? - Howard was just on the Letterman show. He spent most of the following morning talking about how weird the vibe was there and going into detail about their staff. He mentioned by role the audio folks, the guy who does pre-interviews, whether or not Biff is in a union, etc…
He did _nothing_ of the sort for HowardTV. He never brought the staff out to thank them. He didn’t plug them for public recognition. He didn’t even mention except in passing THAT it was going away. IMO quite disrespectful to those folks who have been with him DECADES. It’s disrespectful to them but it’s also disrespectful to the listeners.
6. listeners are treated like a-holes - We know the show brags the age/income/education demographic to advertisers, but then treats us like a-holes when it comes to keeping us in the loop of the content that THEY ASKED US TO CARE ABOUT.We have invested months, years, decades into HS’s world. That investment is trust in him to bring us along for the ride - like a good show, don’t kill off good characters. We have heard a ton about Scott D, Gange, Sal, Tim S, etc… that HS should at least pay us the respect of explaining that we won’t be hearing from them anymore. I realize there may be HR issues or privacy needs, we get it - treat us like loyal adult fans that we are.
Which brings me to my last sad point. I finally see that HS is hanging it up. He may not retire but he’s phoning it in. Even his celebrity interviews, while still great are starting to sound like the same interview. You often hear Howard talking over them trying to get them to sound like him rather than trying to hear what they sound like themselves. When it’s not a celeb interview day he just drags out his idiot regular call-ins, plays 1-2 phony phone calls, does some lame Letterman or Romney bits and gets to Robin.
Even his last Letterman appearance was lame. He just jumped around, kept going back to the RS/Montana bit, and when he couldn’t intellectually challenge Letterman, did what he rails against - took up physical violence with that hostile kiss that was intended to be demeaning.
I have no idea if HS will re-sign but it doesn’t matter as I think he has already retired. I don’t begruge him for retiring but I also don’t have to pay a LOT of money (multiple Sirius radios) for the content he’s barely interested in himself.
Great,great post. Covered all the points about the decline of the HSS.
DeleteHoward is doing us a favor by having a lame shoe since Artie left - now we don't care if he is not on anymore, as he hardly is on now. Howard's lame celebrity kiss-ass interviews, Ellen Degeneress, totally a no-talent, and how many times can Howard be fascinated on how long it takes a musician to write a song. Howard is PC and rants constantly in support of gay marriages and celebrating abortion INSTEAD OF BEING FUNNY! Artie should be back on the show! Where the heck is Gilbert Gottfried? Stern has surrounded himself with kiss-ass minions and is phoning it in. Luckily, Howard has zero competition. RIP.
ReplyDelete