The Howard Stern Show (1990 TV program)


The Howard Stern Show is an American late-night television variety show hosted by radio personality Howard Stern. It aired from July 14, 1990 to August 8, 1992.

History

Stern was approached by Bob Woodruff, vice president of program development at WWOR-TV, in early 1990. He agreed to host a weekly late night television show at a production and salary budget of $100,000. Episodes were filmed at WWOR's studio, 9 Broadcast Plaza, in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Howard Stern Show launched on July 14, 1990, with four Saturday night pilots. The program entered national syndication in January 1991 by All American Television.
Unlike the pilots he had shot for Fox three years earlier, Stern enjoyed greater creative freedom. The WWOR show featured outrageous segments including "Guess Who's the Jew" and "Lesbian Dating Game". A critic of the Los Angeles Times described the show as "at once incredibly funny and incredibly vile". In the New York market, The Howard Stern Show often doubled the ratings share of Saturday Night Live on NBC during the half-hour the two programmes overlapped. In Los Angeles on KCOP, the show managed to attract a 34.4% market share at 12:30 am in the male 18-49 demographic.
In July 1992, The Howard Stern Show came to an end. "We made this business decision, even though the show had high ratings, because the cost exceeded the revenue," a WWOR spokesperson explained. A total of 69 episodes were broadcast to 65 markets across the country; the last airing on August 8, 1992.
Because the show's flagship station, WWOR, broadcasts on channel 9 in the New York market, Stern and his staff generally refer to it as "The Channel 9 Show."