Howard Stern

Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster, comedian, and media personality. He is best known as the host of The Howard Stern Show, which gained national prominence through radio syndication from 1986 to 2005 and has aired on SiriusXM since 2006. Referring to himself as the "King of All Media" since 1992, Stern's career spans radio, television, film, home video, and publishing.

Stern was born in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, New York City, to Ben and Ray Stern. His family moved to Roosevelt, New York, in 1955, and later to Rockville Centre in 1969, where he graduated from South Side High School in 1972. Interested in radio from age five, Stern recorded mock shows using equipment provided by his father, a radio engineer and recording studio co-owner. Stern attended Boston University, hosting programs at campus station WTBU and earning a communications degree in 1976. He also obtained a first-class radio-telephone operator license from the Federal Communications Commission in 1975.

After brief work at WNTN in Massachusetts, Stern joined WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, New York, becoming program director by 1977. In 1979, he moved to WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut, where he developed a comedic style and met writer and producer Fred Norris. Stern accepted a morning position at WWWW in Detroit in 1980, earning a Billboard Award for Album-Oriented Rock Personality of the Year, but left in 1981 following the station's format change to country music.

In March 1981, Stern joined WWDC in Washington, D.C., where he was paired with co-host Robin Quivers. Alongside Norris, they built the city's second highest-rated morning show before Stern was fired in June 1982. He then signed with WNBC in New York City to host afternoon shifts starting in August 1982. Despite management clashes and content restrictions, Stern's popularity grew, boosted by his first appearance on Late Night with David Letterman in 1984, before he was terminated in 1985.

Following WNBC, Stern began a 20-year tenure at WXRK. His morning show entered syndication in 1986, eventually reaching 60 markets and peaking at 20 million listeners. He became the first host to hold the number one morning show in both New York City and Los Angeles. Stern also authored the books Private Parts (1993), Miss America (1995), and Howard Stern Comes Again (2019). Private Parts was adapted into a 1997 biographical film starring Stern, which grossed $41.2 million domestically and featured a soundtrack that topped the Billboard 200.

In 2004, Stern signed a $500 million contract with Sirius, moving his show to satellite radio in 2006. He has continued broadcasting on SiriusXM, renewing his contract for three years in December 2025, and gaining recognition for long-form interviews with figures including Bruce Springsteen, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris. Outside radio, Stern served as a judge on America's Got Talent from 2012 to 2015. His accolades include winning Billboard's Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year for eight consecutive years, though station owners were also fined $2.5 million by the FCC over his content.