Its kind of cool, how many times you can search for my name Francois Collins is posted. Infact I found transcripts of an interview I did about Howard Stern. Here is the article.
Houston listeners will get a chance to hear for themselves Monday, when Stern's show debuts on KIKK-AM (650) during morning drive time. It will mark the first time Stern's show has aired in Houston. Sure, the veteran shock jock was yanked off six Clear Channel stations in February because of charges that his sexually explicit radio show was indecent.
He feels so besieged by the Federal Communications Commission's crackdown that he says he is thinking of moving his show to satellite radio, which is not regulated by the government. His Web site keeps a running tally of the months, days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining in his contract with Infinity Broadcasting (it's about 18 months and counting).
But the brouhaha may be the best thing that's happened to the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" in a long time. His ratings in most major cities are way up -- he is No. 1 among adults in Los Angeles for the first time in nearly 10 years, and No. 1 in New York, his home base, with his highest ratings in four years. He seems reinvigorated by his "free speech" crusade against the Bush administration, which he blames for instigating the FCC crackdown.
"The latest chapter in his career, in which he has become a political talk-show host, is one of its best chapters," said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers magazine, the radio industry's leading journal.
"It's colorful, and it's interesting."
Houston listeners will get a chance to hear for themselves Monday, when Stern's show debuts on KIKK-AM (650) during morning drive time. It will mark the first time Stern's show has aired in Houston.
The station has dumped business news for a "hot talk" format with Stern as its centerpiece. He will appear from 6 to 11 a.m. weekdays on the station, which has dubbed itself "KIKK-A** Talk."
"It's exciting to give Houston another programming alternative," said Bill Van Rysdam, director of programming for KIKK and KILT-AM (610), both owned by Infinity Broadcasting.
"We understand that it's not everybody's tastes, but that's OK."
What can Houston listeners expect?
Edgy, abrasive humor, said Francois Collins, a 23-year-old Houston fan who got addicted to Stern's show when he lived near New Orleans.
"I like the fact that with all the political correctness in the world, he is the anti-PC," said Collins, who plans to tune in on Monday. "He's a teenager who has never grown up."
Collins said Stern is sometimes a turnoff, particularly when he makes fun of disabled or mentally challenged people. "I believe that's offensive, but I defend his right to freedom of expression," Collins said. "Everyone should be entitled to that."
Tyler Hiroms, a 25-year old receptionist who watches Stern on the E! Entertainment channel with her boyfriend, also is taken with the disc jockey's irreverent attitude.
"Sometimes I'm offended, but the majority of the time he's just funny," she said. "The fact that he doesn't really give a damn is pretty cool."
Houston is one of nine new markets for Stern's show, raising the total to 45. The nine include Orlando, Fla.; San Diego; Pittsburgh; and Rochester, N.Y., where Clear Channel recently gave him the boot.
In early June, Clear Channel agreed to a record $1.75 million settlement with the FCC to resolve indecency complaints against Stern and other personalities. Stern has fought back, joining Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates his show, in a lawsuit against Clear Channel for lost licensing fees. He's launched an on-air crusade — he calls it a "jihad" — to defeat President Bush in the November presidential election.
Stern says the crackdown on his show is part of a broad attack on civil liberties by the administration, and he is rallying his listeners to vote for Democrat John Kerry.
During a news conference to announce the cities where his show will start airing, Stern noted that many of his estimated 8.5 million listeners live in "swing states," such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida, where they can influence the outcome of the election. "I see the Rush Limbaughs of the world, and I see the Sean Hannitys: They preach to the converted. I believe our audience is open-minded," Stern said.
Stern ranks third behind Limbaugh, with 14.5 million weekly listeners, and Hannity, with 12 million, according to Talkers. Unlike Limbaugh and Hannity listeners, who are predominantly conservative and Republican, Stern's are not wedded to a particular political party. A survey for the New Democratic Network found that 4 percent of the nation's swing voters -- those who haven't made up their minds and are open to persuasion -- listen to his show. "We call Howard the ‘king of the swing,' " said Simon Rosenberg, founder and president of the Washington-based advocacy group.
"According to our poll, one out of every six likely voters in America listens to him. In an election that last time was decided by 537 votes, that's a lot of people."
The New Democratic Network poll showed that compared to the general population, Stern listeners are more likely to be male (60 percent, vs. 48 percent of Americans) and younger (40 percent are between 18 and 34 years old, vs. 22 percent). But they parallel average voters in income, education, religion and marital status.
"They tend to look like America and share its values," said pollster William Mann.
Surprisingly, given Stern's often raunchy subject matter, his listeners were slightly more likely to call themselves born-again Christians than the average American. The Rev. Steve O'Donohoe, associate pastor of adult ministry at Grace Community Church, has trouble believing that statistic.
"I'm surprised a Christian would listen to him, knowing of all the profanity and innuendoes about sex," said O'Donohoe, who once worked as a disc jockey.
"According to the Scriptures, we love him. But I wish he would be different." Even with his newfound emphasis on politics, Stern has hardly forgotten the subject that has made his show so popular: a voyeuristic, sophomoric take on sex. He entices female guests to bare their breasts in the studio, obsesses about penis size and his sexual shortcomings, and discusses bedroom encounters with his girlfriend. (He and his wife, Alison, divorced three years ago after 21 years of marriage.)
For all his on-air bluster, Stern is surprisingly quiet once his show ends each day. He rarely does interviews (his agent declined a Chronicle request) and hardly ever appears in public. Photographs of him outside the studio are almost nonexistent.
During an interview with freelancer Prairie Miller in 1998 to promote his movie, Private Parts,Stern defended his radio style.
"I'm always amazed at how many people put me down for doing my kind of broadcasting, because they all scream that they want something different. But as soon as you do something different, people get nuts. They go, 'What are you doing? You can't do that.'
"Why can't you? Why not? If it's not for you, you turn it off, that's all."
Stern got started as a disc jockey at Boston University and worked in several cities before landing in New York in 1986, where his explicit brand of humor soon attracted a huge audience.
"I decided early on that since the media was getting so dull, I would say whatever was on my mind, even if it meant betrayals and charades with the management," he said. "Whether I was right or wrong, I didn't let that enter into it, the consequences be damned. I like that I show that side of my life."
There isn't much he won't talk about on the air, he admitted.
"I have always gone by the rule of thumb that if it's funny, talk about it. I wouldn't talk about something like someone burning up in a fire. But I wouldn't censor myself. I would examine everything and see if there was humor in it for me, and if there was, I would talk about it. If I start censoring those things, I don't have a show."
After almost 20 years in the business, however, Stern's act had grown stale. Before his recent run-ins with the FCC, his ratings had tapered off, and many wondered whether, at age 50, he was too old for such puerile shenanigans. Even his trademark physical features — shoulder-length black hair (with no sign of gray) and round-rimmed sunglasses — seemed dated.
An abbreviated version of the radio show appears nightly on E! It's the cable channel's highest-rated series, but the audience is minuscule compared to network television.
The late-night HowardStern Radio Show went up against Saturday Night Live a few years ago and failed miserably. It's been almost a decade since Stern has had a best-selling book (Miss America).
Private Parts, the movie based on his best-selling autobiography, was a modest success. A TV show he produced, Son of the Beach, flopped on the F/X channel.
Even so, he has retained a loyal audience for his radio show, which continues to attract top-notch celebrities. Tobey Maguire appeared on Stern's broadcast the day Spider-Man 2 premiered in theaters.
Yet success on Houston radio is not guaranteed. KIKK must change its sign-on time every few months because of an obscure federal regulation limiting it to daytime hours. For example, Stern will start at 6 a.m. in July and August and 6:30 a.m. in September.
His competitors are all on FM stations with stronger signals, longer hours and much higher ratings.
Stern's show does well in Dallas but flopped in Austin and New Orleans, where it was regularly beaten by Walton & Johnson. The duo is heard here weekday mornings on KLOL-FM (101.1).
"In spite of his tens of millions of dollars in free PR and his nationwide prime-time cable exposure nightly on E! TV, Stern continues to have a dismal record in the face of real competition," John Walton wrote the Chronicle in an e-mail message.
Stern has had a rocky relationship with Houston. After the murder of Tejano singer Selena in 1995, Stern provoked outrage by playing excerpts from her songs with gunshots added in the background. On the day of her funeral, he said: "Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul ...Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth."
Houston radio personality Bo Corona called Stern to complain, and Stern instantly put him on the air. Their argument generated hundreds of calls to the station. Stern issued an apology in Spanish.
"He's got his own vibe, but to me his style is old," said Corona, now promotions director and weekend disc jockey at KHPT-FM (106.9).
"But if people like him, (they should) go for it. That's why we live in America. Everyone has a right to express themselves."
Talkers' Harrison is convinced Stern will continue to rule the radio roost.
"Stern is no fool. It's not like he's a wild man spouting indecencies," Harrison said. "He proved that Oprah, word for word, is as indecent as he is, if indecency exists at all." (Stern's Web site includes an analysis of an episode of an Oprah Winfrey show that contained graphic descriptions of various sex acts without a single bleep. Stern was fined by the FCC for using some of the same words.)
"I'm not political," Harrison said. "I just think Stern's show is great radio."
from RadioDailyNews.comJuly 16, 2004
"Houston Hawk" reports exclusively for RDN from the Bayou City
Howard Stern is coming to Houston. It's about time. If you are ready to watch one of the most classic uphill battles in radio history, I think it will unfold in Houston soon.
KIKK-AM 650 will debut a format they are describing as "Hot Talk" on Monday. Howard at the helm.
The AM dial here is pretty crowded. KPRC is talk, and right wing, they have Rush. KTRH is the closest thing to an all news format and is the flagship station for the Houston Astros. KILT-AM is sports, with Houston Texans football, as well as Rockets and Comets basketball. Then there is local conservative talker KSEV picking up the bits and pieces. Standards station KBME will get an honorable mention here, but the rest of the signals for the most part are religious, ethnic of the Asian or Middle Eastern variety or time brokered.
Enter KIKK-AM 650, a 250 watt daytime frequency licensed to Pasadena, south of Houston. The past few years they have enjoyed moderate success as a business radio station. According to industry types, it made money. Not much by Infinity standards, but for a quarter-kilowatter that broadcast from sunup to sundown, a reported million bucks a year is not bad at all.
It is a bold move to attempt this type of a format with those kind of odds. Will it work? Bet your bottom advertising dollar. I give Infinity credit for having the balls to do it, even though it was probably Howard himself that forced the company to clear him in markets like Houston where he has never had an outlet. Or, clearing him in other markets where his employer (Infinity) had stations where he may have occupied another frequency not owned by them. Namely, the Clear Channel markets that pulled the plug on him.
Howard is an acquired taste. Howard will shake things up. Howard will bring folks to the AM band, and Howard will make radio better for a lot of people. How? Are you a Houston GM or PD who receives a lot of complaints about racy comments, edgy material, offensive remarks or suggestive lyrics? You probably won't be getting those calls and e-mails anymore. Even those listeners will be tuning in (and complaining about) Howard.
I think that Howard will bring out the best in personalities in the Houston market. They will listen to him, see his success and determine that aspects of their own personal lives should also be a part of their shows. Howard is the master of this. Their listeners will become more intrigued and engaged by what they hear, and the station will benefit from increased audience and ratings-if their bosses have the guts to let them explore those uncharted waters. We'll have to wait and see on that one.
I am not hoping for a dial crammed with lesbian dating games and Bush bashing, but there are many things about Howard that Houston radio has been missing for a while.
The personality and sparkle that made this market such a desirable place to work or listen to just isn't here anymore. True, the demographics and ethnic makeup of the market have changed. There was deregulation. But it seems to me that the only real personality left on the radio, and the only battles really being waged are what we now hear on the ethnic or ethnic leaning stations. KRBE,KBXX,KMJQ,KLTN,KPTY to be specific. There are a lot more signals here than that.
No longer is the dial filled with vibrant personalities who made you dial in, even if the music they played was not to your taste, or the fact that they jammed in twice as many commercials as the competition. We wonder why audience erosion is at an all time high, it is because we aren't giving them much worth listening to. Howard will change that.
Howard will demonstrate in time that a heavy spot load, on a low power station (on the AM band) can get listeners. More in time than some of the successful FM's in the market. It will make money, it will get attention, it will get press, and it will generate a buzz around town. And whether you like his politics, his people, his patter or not, it is PERSONALITY that will make Howard, KIKK-AM 650, it's advertisers, Infinity, the broadcasting community, and most importantly Houston radio listeners, winners.