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HOWARD STERN: One of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2006 (oh, Stephen Colbert, too...)
Howard Stern? As important and influential as Bono, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton?
The same Howard Stern that has long been targeted by conservatives, the FCC and, in general, the humorless (some would say all three are one in the same)?
This week's Time Magazine announced its picks for 100 Most Influential People who shape our world...and Howard Stern -- the new king of satellite radio -- is on the list among artists and entertainment. We'd have to completely agree.
Even though his audience has shrunk considerably since leaving CBS Radio after 20 years this past year (from approximately 20 million listeners nationally to perhaps a million or so weekly) to go to Sirius satellite radio, Stern certainly hasn't disappeared. He's been one of the Internet's most searched celebrities for the past two years and one of the most talked-about personalities on web forums.
In addition to his new uncensored radio show, he launched the uncensored Howard TV On Demand pay-per-view cable and satellite TV channel, offering his fans 40 new shows every month as well as additional TV programming he deems suitable for broadcast.
On Sirius, he actually programs three separate channels -- one for his daily show, one for all-things-Howard news and the last for performers and personalities approved by Howard (such as Bubba the Love Sponge).
This past week also marked the first annual Howard Film Fest in New York City -- Howard's take on the movies he thinks his audience wants to see.
Stern is still multi-media and forging new ground -- like he has done his entire career. He remains innovative and a force. Video never killed the radio star; it only invented Howard Stern.
Oh, by the way...our Truthiness hero Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report also made the list of 100 Most Influential...amazing considering the show has only been on since October. And on basic cable. Must have been his Terror Alerts on bears.
posted by Unknown @ Sunday, April 30, 2006,
1 Comments:
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At 6:32 AM,
tiago said...
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Bill Gates is very influential but not unique because of Apple. Oprah and Bono didn't influence much on their fields, Oprah copied Phil Donahue and basically reads the script to the show and the sponsors offer prizes to the audience, and Bono has a great band with good songs but it's far from being the best band ever or more influential. Howard changed the whole radio experience and influence people in tv, radio and movies, all radio hosts today have more freedom of speech thanks to him. On his 1st attempt on TV, his show reached the SNL (top show at same hours) ratings in a heart beat. His 1st movie was a tremendous success on the 1st weeks and threw months. He went to a unknown and almost dead medium (satellite radio), and the critics said he would "die" quick. Few weeks after start 3 million already joined, today 20 million pay to hear him today and another 20-30 hear threw those and downloads from internet, worldwide. There is 2 moments in radio, the guy that invented and Howard Stern. Neither Oprah or Bono could hang on top for more then 30 years and with more then 20 million people paying 12-14 dollars every month to hear a word out of them. U2 could get close to the constant success of Howard, Oprah can't even reach any close to that, and following a kind of show that was already made doesn't help much.
If someone says Howard is the top comedian of all time too, it's not far from true too, no other could improvise like him around 16 hours p/ week and get people crying out of laughter every week.
