Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster, comedian, and media personality. He is best known for The Howard Stern Show, which rose to prominence through national syndication on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005; he has broadcast on SiriusXM since 2006.
Stern began his radio career while at Boston University. From 1976 to 1982, he developed his on-air style at WRNW (Briarcliff Manor, NY), WCCC (Hartford, CT), WWWW (Detroit, MI), and WWDC (Washington, D.C.). He later worked afternoons at WNBC in New York City from 1982 until his firing in 1985, before starting a 20-year run at WXRK. His morning show entered syndication in 1986, eventually reaching 60 markets and peaking at 20 million listeners. From 2012 to 2015, he served as a judge on America's Got Talent. In his SiriusXM years, he gained renewed attention for long-form interviews, including The Howard Stern Interview: Bruce Springsteen (2022) and 2024 interviews with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Stern has received numerous awards, including Billboard's Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year for eight consecutive years, and became the first host to hold the number one morning show in both New York City and Los Angeles. He is also the most fined radio host, with the Federal Communications Commission issuing $2.5 million in fines to station owners over indecent content. In 2004, he signed a five-year, $500 million deal with Sirius, making him one of the highest-paid figures in radio; he renewed his SiriusXM contract for three more years in December 2025.
Calling himself the "King of All Media" since 1992, Stern has worked across television, pay-per-view, and home video. His books Private Parts (1993) and Miss America (1995) both debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list and sold over one million copies. Private Parts was adapted into a 1997 biographical comedy film starring Stern and his radio team, topping the U.S. box office in its opening week and grossing $41.2 million domestically. Its soundtrack reached number one on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum. His third book, Howard Stern Comes Again, was released in 2019.
Early life and education
Howard Allan Stern was born on January 12, 1954, in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, New York City, the second child of Ben (1923–2022) and Ray (née Schiffman) Stern (b. 1927). His parents are Jewish, with family roots in Poland and Austria-Hungary. Ray worked as an office clerk in New York City before becoming a homemaker and later an inhalation therapist. Ben served in the U.S. Army on Long Island and in California during the war, and later worked as a radio engineer at WHOM in Manhattan and as co-owner and operator of Aura Recording Inc., a Manhattan studio where cartoons and commercials were produced. Stern described his older sister Ellen as the "complete opposite" of himself and "very quiet."
In 1955, the family moved to Roosevelt, New York, on Long Island, where Stern attended Washington-Rose Elementary School followed by Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School. He also attended Hebrew school, where he was given the name Tzvi. As a child, Stern took five years of piano lessons and developed an interest in marionettes, entertaining friends with explicit shows. He later formed a band with two school friends, Electric Comicbook, performing vocals and keyboards. From age nine through his second year of university, Stern spent his summers at Camp Wel-Met, a youth camp in Narrowsburg, New York, where he worked as a camper, in the kitchen, and as a counselor; he later described it as "the greatest experience."
Stern developed an interest in radio at age five, citing talk personalities Bob Grant and Brad Crandall as early influences. Though not a frequent listener, he used a home setup—microphone, tape machine, and turntable—provided by his father to record mock radio shows with characters, prank calls, and commercials. Visits to his father's recording studio, where he observed performers like Don Adams and Larry Storch, the voices of voice Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, inspired him to pursue being on-air rather than simply playing music.
In the late 1960s, Roosevelt became a predominantly Black area; Stern recalled that only "a handful of white kids" remained at his school and described repeated instances of extreme bullying from Black students. In June 1969, the family moved to nearby Rockville Centre, where Stern, then fifteen, transferred to South Side High School and became "a total introvert" He graduated in 1972; his yearbook lists his only student activity as membership in the Key Club.
In 1972, Stern declined a place at Elmira College to pursue a communications degree at Boston University, but his average high school grades led him to spend his first two years in its College of Basic Studies. In his second year, he began working at the campus radio station WTBU, where he played records, read the news, and hosted interview programs. With three fellow students, he later co-hosted a weekly comedy show, The King Schmaltz Bagel Hour, which was canceled during its first broadcast due to a racial sketch titled "Godzilla Goes to Harlem." During this time, Stern used cannabis, Quaaludes, and LSD, but quit after a difficult experience with LSD.
In 1974, he gained admission to the university's School of Public Communications. He then studied for a diploma at the Radio Engineering Institute of Electronics in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in July 1975, which earned him a first-class radio-telephone operator license, a required certificate for all radio broadcasters at the time, which was issued by the Federal Communications Commission. With the license, Stern landed his first professional radio job at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts from August to December 1975 doing air shifts, newscasting, and production work. For the next five months, he taught students basic electronics in preparation for their own FCC exams.
In May 1976, Stern graduated magna cum laude with a 3.8-grade point average. His major was broadcasting and film, and his minor was English and speech. He funded a scholarship at the university.
Career
1976–1981: WRNW, WCCC, and WWWW
After graduating, Stern began his search for radio work by taking an evening position at WRNW, a progressive rock station in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Despite early doubts about his talent, he briefly left for jobs in advertising—first at Benton & Bowles, then in a creative role he lost after just three hours, before working unsuccessfully as a radio ad salesman in Queens. Realizing he had turned down a radio opportunity, he returned to WRNW, taking temporary holiday shifts in 1976 with encouragement from his mother and girlfriend. Impressed by his reliability, the station's director hired him full-time for a six-day, four-hour midday shift at $96 per week. Within months, Stern became production director, and by November 1977, he was promoted to program director with a salary of $250 per week. During this period, he lived frugally, renting a room in a monastery in Armonk, New York.
In 1979, Stern responded to a Radio & Records advertisement seeking a "wild, fun morning guy" at WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut. He created an aircheck featuring more outrageous material, blending comedy records with added sound effects and one-liners, to showcase his style, and was hired at the same salary but with a far more demanding schedule. After four hours on air, he spent another four producing and voicing commercials, along with additional production work on Saturdays and duties as public affairs director. He also hosted a Sunday morning talk show, which he preferred as it better reflected the kind of radio he wanted to create.
During the 1979 energy crisis, Stern gained media attention by urging listeners to boycott the Shell Oil Company for two days. At WCCC, he met Fred Norris, then an overnight DJ, who became his…