by howard stern on traditional “terrestrial” radio, and it’s hard to imagine the medium being the same without him.

for over 20 years Stern has taken the torch from other innovative “shock”-jocks like Steve Dahl and raised the entire talk-biz to a new level.

stern says it and it’s true: before him there were no Rush Limbaughs, or O’Reilly’s, no “Love Lines” or Mancows. there were fake djs like Rick Dees or Casey Kasem counting backwards and presenting lame tame PG-rated bits as filler inbetween the top 40 music.

very few djs, especially on FM, were dedicated to talk… let alone personal talk or sexy conversations. and even fewer were stating their political beliefs and Average Joe opinoins.

and dare i say that nobody was telling the world how small their penis was or asking their mother about sex on the radio.

when i first heard Stern i didnt get it. i thought he was just another Dahl ripoff like Johnny B or Kevin Whateverhisnamewas – but a new york version.

thankfully it turned out that Howard was very much like Dahl in that he was comfortable with talking about his own life as opposed to spinning records, and he wanted to have fun with his own sexuality, he wanted to ask his listeners provacative quesitons, and he wanted to squeeze every bit of honesty out of his coworkers.

somehow this formulae helped Stern become one of the better interviewers of all time. perhaps it was that freedom where any question was allowed, therefore better and more truthful answers were revealed.

one day someone will put together all of Sterns best interviews from JFK jr, to Paul McCartney, to Julia Roberts, to Jim Carey, to even one that he did this year with Stevie Wonder where Stern asked every single embarrassing but genuinely curious question that you and i would ask if we had the courage and listened for these stars to answer.

sometimes they’d reveal, sometimes they wouldnt, but after a while you realized that you werent being shocked by Howard any more, you were being shocked by how far these stars would allow the conversations to go.

A few months ago Weezer’s painfully shy Rivers Cuomo admitted to Howard that in two and a half years he’s neither engaged in sex or masturbated. Weezer is hugely popular, their record is doing absolutely fine, but Rivers came out with this revelation because he admires Stern and has been a long-time fan. Watch or listen to many Weezer interviews over the years, rivers barely talks, instead letting the rest of the band answer the questions, but with Howard he was an open book.

why? probably because Howard appears to be an open book. he will talk about his fears, his troubles, his paranoias, his past his present and his future. he talks about his model girlfriend who’s 20 years his junior. he talks about how he still masturbates to help him get to sleep, he talks about going to a shrink four times a week. howard has no limits so hes not being hypocritical when he invites his interviewees to drop their facade.

katie couric however is a fraud and a hypocrite since she asks personal questions but doesnt reveal any about herself. that is why you will never see a great interview come from couric.

but Stern has also made mountains out of molehills in turning retards into rockstars. one could argue that any good interviewer can get something good from a celebrity but how do you make average people seem interesting – or better yet how do you make non-celebrities famous.

from crackhead bob to stuttering john and hank the dwarf to now beetlejuice – stern has been a king midas of finding people who are without question freaky and making them extremely popular by not just making fun of them, but having fun with them.

so yes you might be able to find an interesting on-air personality to fill the time for four hours in the morning – david lee roth and adam corrolla will be decent enough, but will they be able to get the stars to really talk, and how well will they do with the outrageous non-celebs – and will they even try?

tomorrow is Stern’s last day on the FM dial and to celebrate they plan on closing down several blocks around the station to hold a huge party. rock group Staind will be the house band and celebs, rockstars, and former guests of the show are scheduled to attend.

however because of a looming transit strike, Fox News is reporting that the show might not go on outside because if people have to rely on automobiles to get into NYC tomorrow the city might not allow for the streets to be blocked off for even the king of all media.

either way if i have some readers out there who plan on attending the Stern farewell , please email your digital pics to howardstern.pics@buzznet.com and i will make sure to put them on this page on Buzznet and of course on the busblog.

mega dildoes and bababooey to you all.

Update: via koganuts

– The big gathering will take place on 56th Street between 5th and 6th (Enter from 5th Ave) near Howard’s studio which is located at 40 West 57th Street.

– The fans can not start gathering until 6:00am on December 16th.

– Howard will not be allowed to go outside to address the crowd until 8:00am.

– A possible transit strike will put a stop to the whole gathering. The strike may
start as of midnight on Thursday, December 15th.

– The band Staind is scheduled to perform for the crowd.

– Yahoo.com will be covering Howard’s big final show on the web.

– Howard 100 News (on SIRIUS Satellite Radio ) will have live, non-stop coverage and news about Howard’s final show on Friday morning.

– Some fans (a select few picked by Howard) will be invited to the after party which will be held at the Hard Rock Cafe where Sheryl Crowe has agreed to perform.

mmm + zonaboy + this picture of the saugeen stripper of the university of western ontario is now the most popular at buzznet of all time