My husband who is a rabid Stern listener has repeated all the shock-jock claims as he makes them while I keep pointing out that VoteForTheWorst.com was sucessful WITHOUT the ramblings of Howard the hasbeen Stern...cases in point, Scott Savol who outlasted favorite Constantine in season 4, and then last year, Kelly Pickler who was VFTW favorite until Hicks epileptic seizures made him a VFTW favorite, and HE eventually WON season 5. As for influencing the outcome of AI, all I will ask is Howard who? Votefortheworse.com was doing fine before Stern realized they existed and was a way to have his name in the media spotlight and VFTW will be around long after Stern's dementia has made him forget who they are.

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You argue like a petulant child, thus your viewpoint carries the same weight.

At least you had the balls to link to your wildly inaccurate prediction about Stern's imminent return to terrestrial radio in April of last year. Got any stock tips?

FWIW, you seem to be totally up to date on all of the Stern goings on, apparently due to his "powerful PR company". Got a name for this company?

You wouldn't know proper research if it donkey punched you and left you cab fare on the nightstand.

Your hatred/obsession with Stern is just sad. Why do you hate him so much? Do you work for free (i.e., crap) radio?

YAY!! - TB is back again bashing Stern for no apparent reason!! My favorite posts. Why are you so reluctant to give Stern any credit? You feel "abandoned" by a radio personality? Yikes! Dr. Freud, we have daddy issues in room 3...

The fact is, Stern is without questioning influencing the vote, and he gives credit to VFTW.com consistently. I know that tabloids aren't exactly known for their penchant for accurancy, but, geez! Your agenda is so apparent and just sad at this point. We get it: you're too cheapt to pay for Sirius. I just love how you ignore all the other (legitimate) media reports giving Stern credit.

MAC-HINE!

Hey Tabloid Baby, if you are a Stern fan, why don't you get a real job so that you can afford to pay the 13 bucks a month to hear him. That's not a lot of money. Let go of your bitterness over someone else's success. You are missing out, as the show is better than it has ever been.

PS
You probably were saying that you would never pay for TV 25 years ago. Are you still using rabbit ears?

*cue TB's "we were vaguely linked to Stern back in the '90s so we can say whatever we want" argument.*

(And please refrain from plugging your book and/or website.)

Face facts, TB: your story has been refuted. Comments? Questions?

I guess we all stand corrected, TB. Consider yourself "lucky" that a half-literate hack like yourself can somehow weasel your way onto TvGasm.

Also, I love how you ignored the Today show clip wherein B-Side, a true God of TvGasm, completely contradicts your story. Talk about "LAZY!"

hahahah you suck...Stern is better than ever... the pay radio stations are simply amazing... no f@cking comercials.. at $0.30 or so a day...pay radio is the way to go...SIRIUS radio has added more people to the service and those people share the radio with those whome travel with them in the car(car pool).( i have the comercial free stations playing in my business).. so the number of people listening is far more than you think...

you have miss quoted things from different days and satirical comments are made in different conjuncture..... you are a f@ck up and a loo$er!!!!!!!!..... LONG LIVE THE STERN EFFECT!!!!!!!!THE REVOLUTION IS HERE!!!!! F@CK THE FCC......hahahahahahahaahahahahhahahhahahahahaha

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So you're bitter against Howard because you're too cheap to pay for Sirius? I have Sirius and it's worth every cent... Not only for Howard, but for the number of commercial-free channels, and the diversity of the content. He is offering a superior product on a superior vehicle. It's called progress. Hmmm, reminds me of a little thing called cable television... maybe you're too cheap to pay for that too.

TB: Did you pay Wayne and Garth so much for their website that you can no longer swing $13 a month for a Sirius subscription? Surely, you’re being facetious, or speaking as a proxy for the little man. I submit to you that Americans are more than willing to pay for the entertainment they want. Just drive your 7-series through any middle or lower-middle class neighborhood, and look at all the DSS dishes or cable TV vans around. Millions of people gladly use their discretionary income to buy DVR units or podcast subscriptions, so that they don’t have to endure countless commercials.

I don’t think satellite radio is drawing listeners, as much as terrestrial radio is repelling them. Have you tried to listen to an hour of terrestrial radio lately? There’s no content anymore! Between commercials, news, sports, traffic, weather, cross-promotion and more commercials, it’s not uncommon to hear 20 minute stretches of excruciatingly boring filler.

You make it sound as if Howard hastily abandoned his loyal listeners, in lieu of a large payday. I think he made the only move he could, given the looming FCC legislation under consideration at the time. Despite his high ratings and ability to generate massive advertising revenue, he was becoming radioactive. The new indecency fines being proposed were about to increase tenfold…and levied per station (or broadcaster), not per holding company, as they had been in the past. No sane company or individual would want to take on such liability. Especially given the FCC’s vague obscenity guidelines and arbitrary enforcement policies. Howard was faced with the prospect of either walking away, or turning his show into a bland pabulum, that even his most loyal fans would have eventually rejected.

Even after his divorce, Howard undoubtedly had plenty of FU money set aside to retire comfortably on. It was serendipitous that Mel K was able to offer Howard a lucrative contract at Sirius. Make no mistake though; this career decision was not without peril. As in any financial endeavor, the reward is usually proportional to the risk involved. Had Sirius failed and fell into bankruptcy, a good percentage of Howard’s 500 mil compensation package would have ended up becoming what accountants call “unrealized” salary. He would have then been publicly humiliated, and blamed by people like you for Sirius’s demise.

I’m a big fan of the show, but not a fanatical acolyte. The Bosco enema bit isn’t my cup of tea…or, hot chocolate, as it were. And I can do without the male homoerotic torture shtick. You may be correct that sanitized portions of his show could eventually end up on terrestrial radio, but only as teasers to promote the subscription service. A daily terrestrial simulcast would be an impossibility. The amount of censorship necessary to pass FCC muster would render the show incomprehensible.

By the way, that was a low blow to suggest that Howard is benignly encouraging Artie’s demise, for entertainment purposes. Howard nags Artie more than anyone to get his life in order. But Artie’s gonna do what Artie wants to do. Your pot (or heroin) shot notwithstanding, Artie is one of the smartest, funniest, and agile comics out there. He’s added a whole new dimension to the show since his arrival, and it’s just a matter of time before his talent is recognized and he gets his own TV series. One can only hope that he doesn’t spin out and hit the wall. That would be a tragedy.

Conrad,
That was a well-thought out, logical statement of the current state of Howard Stern in the media today. However, you forget that logic and reasoning have no place here! TB will simply reply in sputtering sentence fragments, punctuated by nonsensical CAPS for no good reason. In the end, it's clear that TB is out of touch with reality, blinded by his own vindictiveness to acknowledge what every other media outlet has: Stern is influencing Idol. If TB has other sources with other info, I wish he would disclose new information. Otherwise, it seems clear he's just using Stern to generate some comments on his stories, which generally garner little attention.

TB-

Isn't the whole India conspiracy a "factoid?" I haven't seen, and you have yet to produce any "evidence" that Sanjaya's stay is actually attributable to call centers' India-bias.

Yet, at the same time, you wholly discount the "Stern effect" because there is "no evidence." I don't understand why you simply won't admit that your refusal to give Stern credit is motivated by personal feelings over his "abandonment" of you.

There's no question that Howard has had his share of failures. I can't say I ever even watched "Son of the Beach" and his CBS Saturday night show was a flop. That notwithstanding, even if we assume that the Today show et al are merely repeating the "factoid" of the Stern Effect, the mere mention of his name and the slightest suggestion of his influence over American Idol betrays your argument: namely, that Stern has become irrelevant.

As a side note, if Sirius had gone into bankruptcy, Stern would not have gotten the large payout he did because much of his compensation was/is in stock. Do you know what happens to stockholders in bankrupty court? They are unsecured creditors with about zero priority under the Bankruptcy Code, and they're lucky to get anything at all.

Ta-ta-toothy!!!!!!

Howard Stern fanatics aside, does is REALLY take Howard Stern to tell us that India is keeping Sanjaya in?

Hmmm...let's see. The kid is of Indian decent. He is the first kid of Indian decent to make it to AI finals. Granted, I'm no Howard Stern, but you'd have to Stevie Wonder not to see the possibility.

If you want to float conspiracy theories, then consider this:

AI can keep/kick off whoever they want. Sanjaya is the one and ONLY person making people talk about this season's AI. Again, I'm no Howard Stern, but at this stage in the competition, where it matters not one iota who goes in what order, I'd sooner believe that AI is making the decision to keep him around rather than believe that Howard and his 4 listeners are doing it.

Tabloid baby, just a question. What do you listen to now? You said you used to be a fan. I too was a little upset when he decided to go to satellite, but regular radio was so bad for the three months he wasn't on, I had to get it. Granted, I am in outside sales, and I spend a lot of time in the car, but really, what else is there? I tried to listen to Opie and Anthony, and they are just horrible. (Also very angry and bitter towards Stern) PS, I know 10 people who have Sirius, so he has at least that many listeners, not just 4. But really, what do you listen to now? This is a serious question.

TB: My opening comment was meant as a good-natured gibe, not a personal attack. I thought snark was spoken here. Please take no offense, as none was intended. I harbor no personal animus towards you; I just disagree with several of your points.

Of course you should pay to enjoy intellectual property created by others-either by subscribing to a service, or enduring commercials. Your website is free, but only because you have advertising to help pay the bills-and that’s a fine business model. Satellite radio has a different business model that may or may not ultimately work out. If it does succeed, it can only be because they offer content that you can’t get for free elsewhere. If you consider “content” what I call “excruciatingly boring filler”, then why do you do so much channel surfing as you listen to the radio?

You’re stating facts that aren’t in evidence when you say that Howard’s compensation package was guaranteed, irrespective of any future Sirius bankruptcy. The only people who can inveigle packages like that out of a board of directors are CEOs like Mel K (while at Viacom) or Dick Cheney (during his Halliburton days). No insurance company would underwrite such a policy for a start-up company. Talent usually gets pissed on. That’s just the pecking order. If you have evidence to the contrary, please present it, and I’ll stand corrected.

I’ll agree with you that Artie seems out of control, but forced rehab? For what, excessive cupcake consumption? He’s obviously substituted food for heroin (have you ever seen an obese heroin addict?), so mandatory rehab would be a dicey thing, unless it could be proved that he was still using. If they start mandatory drug testing at Sirius, then what happens to Fred? Just kidding. Howard has to wear two hats when dealing with Artie. As his friend he has to say: ”your life is screwed up, get it together”, and as an employer he has to say: “Do what you want in your private life, just don’t let it adversely affect your performance on this show”. It’s not as easily reconcilable as you make it seem.

I’d be very surprised if Howard’s show is simulcast on terrestrial radio anytime soon. Forget the profanity, mere verbal descriptions of some of the topics they discuss are unmentionable on public radio stations. But hey, you’re the Baby, we’ll see how good your sources are.

Well, The show is telecasted one day late in India, by which time the voting has already taken place. Plus you cannot vote from outside the country, let that alone you cannot vote outside your timezone, thats why people in hawaii are still voting two hours after every one, and people in california cannot vote when people in newyork do. The idol controls voting by timezone. So this Indians voting for sanjaya is bullshit