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The 'king of all media' bids farewell, for now

Fans don't fail as shock jock Howard Stern gives his final broadcast on FM radio.

NEW YORK - The free ride for Howard Stern fans ended Friday.

Stern, a New York radio fixture for 20 years and host of a syndicated show for 12-million daily listeners, bid farewell to his fans with a final show on terrestrial radio. On Jan. 9, Stern makes his move to satellite radio - where his once-free speech will cost listeners $12.95 a month.

"Good morning, and welcome to the last show on terrestrial radio," Stern said to start his grand finale. The sound of taps played in the background.

The show opened with a Stern-centric remake of the classic What a Wonderful World, and John Lennon's Imagine.

As the show went on, several thousand people stood in a steady drizzle along 56th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues; many waved signs praising Stern and attacking the Federal Communications Commission. Among those onstage there were Stern regulars "Jeff the Drunk" and "Beetlejuice," who led a sing-along.

"I'm a dedicated listener. I wanted to see this happen," said Chris Casavant, who drove up at 4:30 a.m. from Farmington, N.J.

Asked why she was there, Donna Casavant made a face and pointed at her husband.

After the show wrapped up at 10 a.m., Stern took a "victory lap" through midtown Manhattan, standing on the top level of a double-decker bus as fans screamed and waved.

"What a day, it's crazy," Stern said as the bus rambled through Times Square while an image of the self-described "King of All Media" appeared on a giant television screen above. "You don't get to do something like this too often."

Addressing his fans from a stage before the bus ride, Stern bellowed "Long live the Howard Stern Show audience," before departing like a rock star.

Fans screamed for an encore, but they were left to wait until his reincarnation next month. The crowd on 56th Street was a circus, with a Stern look-alike standing near the stage. Stern's parents appeared to huge cheers, while the station manager at WXRK-FM - the shock jock's terrestrial home - was booed loudly.

Stern's move from Infinity Broadcasting to Sirius Satellite Radio, though somewhat risky, comes with a huge financial reward: Stern signed a five-year, $500-million contract to jump. He's creating two new channels for Sirius, with the salaries, overhead and other programming costs coming out of his windfall. (Former Tampa shock jock Bubba The Love Sponge Clem landed a slot as afternoon drive-time jock on one of Stern's satellite radio channels, Howard 101, also starting Jan. 9.)

Across his career, Stern evolved into the center of attention in First Amendment issues and censorship. Infinity paid $1.7-million in 1995 to settle FCC complaints against Stern. In April 2004, Clear Channel dumped Stern from six stations over his show's content.

Sirius is depending on Stern, 51, to reverse the company's money-losing ways. Since the shock jock announced his move last year, the number of Sirius subscribers jumped from 600,000 to more than 2.2-million - and that figure was expected to hit 3-million by the end of this year.

In contrast, competitor XM Radio said it now has more than 5-million subscribers and is aiming to exceed 6-million by the end of the year, the New York Times reports. This week, they announced that Bob Dylan would join their lineup.

Radio fans in the Tampa Bay area hoping to hear one of the new shows developed by CBS Radio to replace Stern will have to look somewhere other than Stern's Tampa Bay area home, WBZZ-AM 1010. Station officials decided to feature a simulcast of affiliated station WQYK-FM 99.5 starting Jan. 1, the official day Stern's contract expires with the company.

WBZZ's call letters will change to WQYK-AM, reflecting the 50,000-watt station's move to mirror the FM country station's broadcast. CBS Radio Tampa Bay area market manager Charlie Ochs said it didn't make financial sense to pick up any of the shows that his company developed to replace Stern in other markets, including programs hosted by magician Penn Jillette, former Man Show co-host Adam Carolla and former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. The station will air "Best of Stern" compilation shows until Jan. 1.

- Times media critic Eric Deggans contributed to this report. For more on Stern's move, see Deggans' blog at www.sptimes.com/blogs/media/

[Last modified December 17, 2005, 01:00:13]