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What Happened to Howard Stern?

nytimes.com

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Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#41

Post by daughart »

nlh wrote: post #27

Great article (I'm a fan of the show.) If I may turn the discussion toward something a bit more HN-relevant, a few questions: * The engineer in me is always intrigued by the operations of the show. Does anyone have any details on the equipment / software they use? I tried to gleam some juicy stuff from this shot: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/07/31/arts/31STERNJP1/3... But the blur effect makes it hard to make…

The database and internal messaging is at least in part customized IBM software. Howard is friends with IBM Lotus Vice President Jeff Schick and talks about him occasionally. They also seem to use RCS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Computing_Services) Prophet/NexGen software.

As for jokes, I know they don't type (neither Fred nor Benjy can type quickly), and I don't think they hand over pieces of paper (Fred and Benjy sit behind the guests now) -- I believe they have cameras on Benjy and Fred's paper with a live feed to a monitor on Howard's desk.

Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#42

Post by ben174 »

gluelogic wrote: post #21
olivermarks wrote: post #11

What an odd article to be posted on hacker news. Stern is the consumate shape shifting media personality, in turns erudite, vulgar, brash, sensitive - all to keep the listeners tuned in and consuming the ads. He's a variant of the Kardashians - famous for being famous having adopted the style of an eighties rock musician. Anything to stay in the limelight...

Howard Stern went through a very expensive and drawn out war with the FCC, of which most of the lawsuits were fought around content that is commonplace in mainstream media today. I think the battles he fought in the 90s went a long way to reducing government censorship in the US. In addition to that, I think he's an incredible interviewer. Maybe one of the best ever.

He also won the nomination for the Libertarian party for governor of New York. He dropped out of the election when they demanded he reveal tax returns.

Like him or not, he's hugely relevant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_gubernatorial_electio...

Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#44

Post by mcphage »

My wife, a conservative Christian, was dismayed when he joined America's Got Talent as a judge, due to his radio antics. But he quickly won her over as her favorite judge—he was good, he was insightful, he was serious and honest in a way the other judges never managed. I was impressed how he managed to show a very different side to himself from what people expected, and I'm sure it won him a lot of new fans. It was a great move on his part.

Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#45

Post by danfernandez »

degenerate wrote: post #25
softawre wrote: post #8

Love Stern, listen to him almost every day. I also generally don't care for celebrities, but when he interviews them I do care. It's the most real you'll ever see them.

Any specific interview you recommend? The few I tried listening to were not worth finishing... simply un-interesting. I'd like to hear one or two of the memorable ones that his fans really enjoyed.

There are so many to pick, but here are a few.

Music - Lady Gaga - I was not a fan until I heard her performances and story - Jewel - Gwen Stefani

Comedians - Louis CK - Doug Stanhope - Eric Andre - Hannibal Burress - Chris Rock

Celebrities - Quentin Tarantino - Arnold Schwarzenegger - Danny Trejo (Machete) - Mike Tyson - JJ Abrams - Jerry Seinfeld - John Goodman

Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#46

Post by rmason »

I made a typical snarky baby boomer comment at a dinner about the talent of Lady GaGa in her meat dress days.

Someone sent me a link to a performance of hers on Howard Stern. Told him now I have two reason not to listen to it ;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cce36nhHTP8

But I listened and was blown away. For those not listening Stern said after she was done that it was one of the best live performances in the history of his show.

Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#47

Post by percept »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #17

I'm seriously surprised its taken this long for the Times and the media in general to realize what an incredible interviewer he is. He pulls stuff out of people you never hear anywhere. I can say some of the celebs they have on there I truly despised, then I hear Stern interview them and come away actually liking them. He just seems to get people to open up and then tell some heartfelt stories. Case in point - never…

If you enjoyed the Joel interview, a bunch of his Q&A's during college tours are on YouTube, and they can be quite funny and insightful.

Check out this one about 'Uptown Girl' (yes, I know, but there's interesting and funny stuff in there, from Beethoven to model-dating):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UqhaLFpBM4

Another one, on 'James' (somewhat about the song, but more about the songwriting process, for him and the Rolling Stones, he throws an impersonation in there too):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrYWXFynnQs

Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#49

Post by Adam_O »

degenerate wrote: post #25
softawre wrote: post #8

Love Stern, listen to him almost every day. I also generally don't care for celebrities, but when he interviews them I do care. It's the most real you'll ever see them.

Any specific interview you recommend? The few I tried listening to were not worth finishing... simply un-interesting. I'd like to hear one or two of the memorable ones that his fans really enjoyed.

It's been a while since I last listened to the show, but thinking back, some of my favorite guests were:

Bill Murray, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Martha Stewart, Alec Baldwin, Conan O'Brien, Quentin Tarantino, Brad Garrett, Jesse Ventura, Howie Mandel, Norm MacDonald, Tom Arnold, Steven Adler and Chip Z'nuff.

Re: What Happened to Howard Stern?

#50

Post by bane »

bombtrack wrote: post #33
wmeredith wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll always listen to an interview by Howard Stern. They're fantastic. That said, I can't listen to his regular show gags, songs, and bits for more than a few minutes before turning it off out of cringe-inducing disgust. His brand of low-brow makes my skin crawl for some reason.

Where do you listen to the interviews? I was recently obsessed with finding the interview he did with Larry David, but could not find it anywhere. Someone posted it on YouTube when it originally aired, but it has since been taken down. I found no official channels to pay for access to his catalogue or anything.

There's a few on the Internet Archive

https://archive.org/search.php?query=howard%20stern%20interv...

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