http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/arts/television/20ster.html
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Howard Stern Prepares for Life Without Limits
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: October 20, 2005
When Howard Stern crosses over in January to satellite radio and his own pay-per-view cable channel, he will do so from a new Midtown Manhattan studio loaded with the kinds of accessories that one would expect to find if the Playboy Mansion were given an extreme makeover.
At the touch of a button, a rack will drop from the studio's two-story ceiling to reveal a selection of bikinis, for those guests who can be cajoled out of their street clothes.
A corner of the studio - which is located not at a gentleman's club but on the 36th floor of the McGraw-Hill Building at Rockefeller Center - has been outfitted with water-resistant walls and floors, for any gags that might involve whipped cream.
And just outside Mr. Stern's reach - as well as that of the Federal Communications Commission, which monitored him on commercial radio but no longer will - will be a stripper pole.
While Mr. Stern will also be taking plenty of gadgets with him from his syndicated terrestrial radio talk show - including the Tickle Chair, which is not to be confused with the Tickle Post - he will be leaving one noticeable piece of baggage behind: the increasingly tough restrictions imposed on him in recent years by his bosses (at Infinity Broadcasting) and the F.C.C.
Indeed, executives at Sirius Satellite Radio - which is paying Mr. Stern $100 million a year over five years to produce his own morning show and to program two radio channels - and In Demand Networks, which will package excerpts for pay-per-view, said they had placed no limits on what he could do.
Like a teenage boy suddenly set loose in a school patrolled by neither a principal nor teachers, Mr. Stern said in an interview on Tuesday that he had yet to rule anything out - including the use of his microphones and cameras to record a sex act in his brand-new 4,100-square-foot studio.
"I don't know where we're going to go with this thing," he said. "It's going to be kind of fun to figure that out with the audience. I'll ask them, 'Do we want to go there or not? Are we going to cross this line or that line?' "
Still, the possibility that Mr. Stern, 51, might go from R-rated fare - his current show features interviews with topless guests - to soft-core pornography could just be a tease. He has long been a master barker who can lure listeners under his tent for the sheer thrill of wondering how far he might go.
To that end, Mr. Stern simultaneously dampened such expectations, saying that while none of his new bosses had drawn any boundaries for his new show, he expected to do so.
"I have my own personal lines where I won't go," he said. "It's funny, the people hear 'satellite,' they hear 'on demand,' they think, 'Oh good, there's going to be a beheading every week.' That's not it at all.
"This wasn't about getting on the air and having the freedom to have sex with a woman, necessarily," he said of his move to satellite. Instead, he suggested, "To talk about human sexuality in a way that's adult, or maybe even really super childish, is my prerogative as a comedian."
Scott Greenstein, president of entertainment and sports for Sirius, said, "Howard has a history of knowing where the lines are, and we're confident he'll continue to retain that perspective at Sirius."
Mr. Greenstein added, however, "We want to make sure he gets to do the show he wants."
Which actually could pose a creative challenge for Mr. Stern. To many listeners, he was best when railing against Michael Powell - the former chairman of the F.C.C., which over the years has levied decency fines of more than $2 million on Infinity and the stations that carry his program - and his own squeamish bosses. Just this week, Mr. Stern was reprimanded on the air by Tom Chiusano, general manager of WXRK-FM, his home station, for going too far with a bit that involved the weighing of bodily waste.
Mr. Stern, who signs off WXRK in mid-December, promised an uncensored version on Sirius, which is not subject to FCC regulation.
Asked if he was worried that he might lose his edge without having a foil in a position of authority, Mr. Stern said he was not.
"If you know me, there's nothing that will make me completely happy," he said. "I will find the thorn on the rose every time."
"Come on," he continued. "I'm having this whole love affair with Sirius. Then the other day I started screaming on the air about some of the guys who work there, just because I was blowing off steam."
For Mr. Stern's fans - a national radio audience estimated at about 12 million - the transition toward opening their wallets to listen and watch him (as well as his sidekick, Robin Quivers) will be a gradual one.
Beginning Nov. 18, viewers in 20 million homes in nearly 300 markets (including New York and Los Angeles) will be able to buy access to a channel called Howard Stern on Demand. The introductory price will be $9.99 a month.
What they will see initially will not be from the Sirius show, but instead will be drawn from the 44,000 hours taped during the 11 years that Mr. Stern's program was repackaged for the E! cable channel. Mr. Stern said he retained the rights to that material, much of it originally shown with strategically placed pixilation, if it was ever shown on television at all.
That material will now be shown uncensored by In Demand, a venture of Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner.
Rob Jacobson, president and chief executive of In Demand, said the company would give Sirius three months to broadcast Mr. Stern's new shows exclusively. But beginning April 1, subscribers to the pay-per-view package will have access to those shows, as well as each new show, which will be available the day after Sirius listeners have heard it.
Beginning in January (the exact date has not been announced), Mr. Stern's two Sirius channels will be available to those willing to pay for a receiver (models start at $50) and a monthly fee of $12.95. The same flat fee provides access to dozens of other channels, including those featuring Martha Stewart and Eminem.
Sirius executives have been circumspect about the content of the two Stern channels. But the host, showing he had not lost his knack for tweaking his bosses, provided the most detailed description yet of his plans.
He said that one channel would showcase various free-form spinoffs of his morning show, featuring not only his regular cast (including Gary Dell'Abate, his longtime producer) but also prominent listeners with nicknames like High-Pitched Eric.
The other channel, he said, would be modeled on the "Good Guys" - the lineup of disc jockeys from WMCA, the legendary New York pop station of the late 1960's and 70's - though rather than being "good," Mr. Stern said, the hosts he would hire (some established, some new) would push the bounds of decency in a manner not unlike his.
There will, for example, be plenty of cursing.
"From the absurd basement humor, whatever you call it, locker-room humor, to just riffing about human experiences," he said. "I can't think of a better utopia for me."
"I thanked God today I made this deal a year ago," he said. "I really did. I would have quit radio for good if it hadn't been for this deal."
---------------
I have never listened to Howard Stern and probably never will.
(REG required if you are not already registered)
Howard Stern Prepares for Life Without Limits
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: October 20, 2005
When Howard Stern crosses over in January to satellite radio and his own pay-per-view cable channel, he will do so from a new Midtown Manhattan studio loaded with the kinds of accessories that one would expect to find if the Playboy Mansion were given an extreme makeover.
At the touch of a button, a rack will drop from the studio's two-story ceiling to reveal a selection of bikinis, for those guests who can be cajoled out of their street clothes.
A corner of the studio - which is located not at a gentleman's club but on the 36th floor of the McGraw-Hill Building at Rockefeller Center - has been outfitted with water-resistant walls and floors, for any gags that might involve whipped cream.
And just outside Mr. Stern's reach - as well as that of the Federal Communications Commission, which monitored him on commercial radio but no longer will - will be a stripper pole.
While Mr. Stern will also be taking plenty of gadgets with him from his syndicated terrestrial radio talk show - including the Tickle Chair, which is not to be confused with the Tickle Post - he will be leaving one noticeable piece of baggage behind: the increasingly tough restrictions imposed on him in recent years by his bosses (at Infinity Broadcasting) and the F.C.C.
Indeed, executives at Sirius Satellite Radio - which is paying Mr. Stern $100 million a year over five years to produce his own morning show and to program two radio channels - and In Demand Networks, which will package excerpts for pay-per-view, said they had placed no limits on what he could do.
Like a teenage boy suddenly set loose in a school patrolled by neither a principal nor teachers, Mr. Stern said in an interview on Tuesday that he had yet to rule anything out - including the use of his microphones and cameras to record a sex act in his brand-new 4,100-square-foot studio.
"I don't know where we're going to go with this thing," he said. "It's going to be kind of fun to figure that out with the audience. I'll ask them, 'Do we want to go there or not? Are we going to cross this line or that line?' "
Still, the possibility that Mr. Stern, 51, might go from R-rated fare - his current show features interviews with topless guests - to soft-core pornography could just be a tease. He has long been a master barker who can lure listeners under his tent for the sheer thrill of wondering how far he might go.
To that end, Mr. Stern simultaneously dampened such expectations, saying that while none of his new bosses had drawn any boundaries for his new show, he expected to do so.
"I have my own personal lines where I won't go," he said. "It's funny, the people hear 'satellite,' they hear 'on demand,' they think, 'Oh good, there's going to be a beheading every week.' That's not it at all.
"This wasn't about getting on the air and having the freedom to have sex with a woman, necessarily," he said of his move to satellite. Instead, he suggested, "To talk about human sexuality in a way that's adult, or maybe even really super childish, is my prerogative as a comedian."
Scott Greenstein, president of entertainment and sports for Sirius, said, "Howard has a history of knowing where the lines are, and we're confident he'll continue to retain that perspective at Sirius."
Mr. Greenstein added, however, "We want to make sure he gets to do the show he wants."
Which actually could pose a creative challenge for Mr. Stern. To many listeners, he was best when railing against Michael Powell - the former chairman of the F.C.C., which over the years has levied decency fines of more than $2 million on Infinity and the stations that carry his program - and his own squeamish bosses. Just this week, Mr. Stern was reprimanded on the air by Tom Chiusano, general manager of WXRK-FM, his home station, for going too far with a bit that involved the weighing of bodily waste.
Mr. Stern, who signs off WXRK in mid-December, promised an uncensored version on Sirius, which is not subject to FCC regulation.
Asked if he was worried that he might lose his edge without having a foil in a position of authority, Mr. Stern said he was not.
"If you know me, there's nothing that will make me completely happy," he said. "I will find the thorn on the rose every time."
"Come on," he continued. "I'm having this whole love affair with Sirius. Then the other day I started screaming on the air about some of the guys who work there, just because I was blowing off steam."
For Mr. Stern's fans - a national radio audience estimated at about 12 million - the transition toward opening their wallets to listen and watch him (as well as his sidekick, Robin Quivers) will be a gradual one.
Beginning Nov. 18, viewers in 20 million homes in nearly 300 markets (including New York and Los Angeles) will be able to buy access to a channel called Howard Stern on Demand. The introductory price will be $9.99 a month.
What they will see initially will not be from the Sirius show, but instead will be drawn from the 44,000 hours taped during the 11 years that Mr. Stern's program was repackaged for the E! cable channel. Mr. Stern said he retained the rights to that material, much of it originally shown with strategically placed pixilation, if it was ever shown on television at all.
That material will now be shown uncensored by In Demand, a venture of Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner.
Rob Jacobson, president and chief executive of In Demand, said the company would give Sirius three months to broadcast Mr. Stern's new shows exclusively. But beginning April 1, subscribers to the pay-per-view package will have access to those shows, as well as each new show, which will be available the day after Sirius listeners have heard it.
Beginning in January (the exact date has not been announced), Mr. Stern's two Sirius channels will be available to those willing to pay for a receiver (models start at $50) and a monthly fee of $12.95. The same flat fee provides access to dozens of other channels, including those featuring Martha Stewart and Eminem.
Sirius executives have been circumspect about the content of the two Stern channels. But the host, showing he had not lost his knack for tweaking his bosses, provided the most detailed description yet of his plans.
He said that one channel would showcase various free-form spinoffs of his morning show, featuring not only his regular cast (including Gary Dell'Abate, his longtime producer) but also prominent listeners with nicknames like High-Pitched Eric.
The other channel, he said, would be modeled on the "Good Guys" - the lineup of disc jockeys from WMCA, the legendary New York pop station of the late 1960's and 70's - though rather than being "good," Mr. Stern said, the hosts he would hire (some established, some new) would push the bounds of decency in a manner not unlike his.
There will, for example, be plenty of cursing.
"From the absurd basement humor, whatever you call it, locker-room humor, to just riffing about human experiences," he said. "I can't think of a better utopia for me."
"I thanked God today I made this deal a year ago," he said. "I really did. I would have quit radio for good if it hadn't been for this deal."
---------------
I have never listened to Howard Stern and probably never will.
