The King of All Media still rules the radio world, though he’s now on Sirius Satellite Radio after dominating terrestrial radio for a generation. In many ways the show is even better, as Howard doesn’t have to battle the infantile rules of the FCC, but it’s also a shame that fewer people can listen to his show.
Howard bolted for Sirius after facing the biggest battle of his illustrious career as Congress, the FCC and the holier-than-thou Bush Administration went ape-shit over the Janet Jackson nipple fiasco. Has the whole country gone crazy? Cialus talks about four-hour erections on their commercials during the Super Bowl and nobody complains, yet one bare nipple sends the politicians into a frenzy. Do you think that the drug industry’s millions of dollars of campaign contributions has anything to do with their reaction?
In that crazed atmosphere, the far right and the thought police decided to go after our man Howard Stern again, and to his credit Howard fought back. He savaged Clear Channel, Michael Powell and Bush on the air day after day. In the meantime, his show stayed as funny as ever, even with the annoying bleeps. Now we can enjoy him in all his uncensored glory.
Howard has continued to build his media empire with his expansion online with Howard TV, but it remains to be seen how lobg he will stay at Sirius. Don’t expect him to return to traditional radio, but he might decide to move on to other challenges.