HOWARD STERN

Whether you like his sense of humor or not, I still think this guy deserves a lot more respect than he gets. He’s generated so much money that my head aches just thinking about it. It’s almost inconceivable, the amount of money he’s raised. Then there are the countless imitators he’s spawned. What drives me nuts is that the imitators get more respect than him! We have this show up in the Capitol Region of New York State on the radio station 106.5 called “Wakin’ Up With the Wolf.” Hour after hour, minute after minute, second after second, this show is nothing but a blatant Stern ripoff. It mines the exact same territory as Stern, yet my friends hate Stern and love the Wolf. I say to them all the time, “Why the hell do you like that derivative garbage when you have the real deal only a couple turns down the dial (on 103.9)?” All these imitators should be required by law to kiss hiss ass at the beginning of their shows every single morning. “Thank you, Howard. Without you we wouldn’t be on the radio.” Imitation in any form makes me sick whether it’s Howard clones on radio, all those ‘90s Nirvana clones, or Stephen King imitators. Love him or hate him, Howard is an original.

And on a personal note, I absolutely love the guy because in the mid-‘90s his humor and the music of the Smashing Pumpkins were the only two things that really gave me any sense of joy. I was sailing the seas of misery, and Howard’s humor and Billy Corgan’s lyrics were like a lighthouse guiding me to the shores of solace.