WEBVTT - The Fifth Hour: The King is Dead 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:01.440 Cutbooms. 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.360 If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.200 a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.480 of the old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.480 treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.600 rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow to clearinghouse of 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.479 hot takes, break free for something special. The Fifth Hour 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:29.320 with Ben Mahller starts right now. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:34.560 In the air eywhere the Fifth Hour with Me, Ben 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:39.159 Mahler and Danny g Radio A Happy Saturday to you. 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:43.400 The night day of August. It is National Book Lover's 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:48.120 Day today. Yeah, there you go. Think of this like 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.720 an audio book. So in many ways you're honoring National 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:56.240 Book Lover's Day because today is the day to celebrate 0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:04.080 the book. Oh that's right, and we can thank Joannis Guttenberg. 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:05.440 I believe that's how you say the name. I know 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:09.720 the last name Guttenberg, but the inventor of the printing 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:13.000 press that goes all the way back to fourteen forty. 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:18.080 An ex Goldsmith invented the printing press in fourteen forty 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:23.080 and watch out. So there you go National Book Lovers 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.559 Day today. And of course the most famous book club, 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.800 Oprah Oprah's book Club, which started what thirty years ago, 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:34.480 almost in the nineteen nineties. Oh my god, it's almost 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:38.800 been thirty years since that started. Is also today the 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:44.040 day to celebrate the garage sale. It's garage sale Day today, 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.640 and the original garage sale goes back to the sixteenth century. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.440 Here's a fun fact for alf the Alien, Opiner and 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.520 Ferg Dog and anyone else who might be interested, including you. 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:01.440 The original garage sale a rummage shale, rummage sales of 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:08.280 unclaimed and you know, basically garbage cargo ships, stuff from 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:14.320 cargo ships, defective cargo ships. They started having rummage sales. 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.160 That was in the sixteenth century, back in the day. 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:21.200 So it is National garage Sale Day, and I guess 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.200 it actually goes back to the nineteen seventies. Before that, 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.560 they didn't really do that in modern society. Western society, 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.800 residential sales known as rummage sales started taking place in 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:38.600 the nineteen seventies. And of course today watch Out Watch 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.320 Out on this podcast though, as we are just getting 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.440 warmed up on a Saturday, we have the we'll get 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:46.840 to the new Meatthead. We'll get to that, and the 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:52.760 King is dead. The King is dead? Or is the 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:56.079 king dead? We'll start with that. That's a good jumping 0:02:56.080 --> 0:03:00.480 off point on this Saturday. And so this is how 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:06.320 it ends, not with a bang, but a headline in 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:11.400 a tabloid or is it true? Tales of the Naked 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:16.080 Audio City. The rumors flying earlier this week while I 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:20.320 was away, while I was away from my post the 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:28.480 Watchtower in the overnight, that Howard Stern, the legend, Howard 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:36.240 Stern reportedly dne done, done, Don Dunski at Sirius XM 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:42.880 satellite radio canceled, retired, faded out into the Hampton's mist 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:47.520 like a barefoot Gatsby. Who knows The details will still murky. 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.200 It is just a tabloid report, and as someone that 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:56.120 had followed many tabloid reports, oftentimes they're very entertaining to 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.920 read the tabloids, and many times they are complete non So, 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:05.360 who knows, But the feeling is that Howard Stern is done, 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.920 although it's not official official. He is a semi retired 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:12.160 He's been semi retired for years. He takes a lot 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.960 of time off from his radio post. He's got a 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.320 good archive of content and he chooses not to work 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:23.440 that hard at his age. I don't blame him. He's 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.279 old and he's made a lot of money and he 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.280 can get away with it, so why not. But let 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:32.159 me say this straight straight away, all right, as we 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.080 look at this tabloid report, now I will assume the 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.320 position that the tabloid got it right, knowing that Stern 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:45.440 will be heard somewhere, but just for this particular moment, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:51.360 on this particular podcast, I do have some mixed emotions, 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:57.160 all deeply mixed, like a cocktail of audio nostalgia and 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:02.919 disillusionment served over a bit cold rock of reality. Now, 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.640 if you grew up on radio, and even if you 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.640 just lived in a world where radio mattered, where radio 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:13.400 met something, and I'm assuming the position that by listening 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:16.440 to this podcast and listening to the overnight show that 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.320 we do, that you have a place in your heart 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.320 for audio content. You are someone that appreciates the theater 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:28.839 of the mind, and as someone that dabbles in that industry, 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:33.280 I am grateful to you. I also obviously love audio content. 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.320 So if you're someone in that domain, which I'm gonna 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.640 assume you are, then you know that Howard Stern was 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.479 not just a broadcast. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:49.640 He was in a category unto himself, the gold standard, 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:54.520 the gold standard, the shock jocks, shock jock, the guy 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:58.919 who built the house and then tore the house down, 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:04.560 rebuilt it out of flaming garbage, and then sold tickets 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:09.320 to the wreckage and sold out the joint. And yet, 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:16.720 and yet, somewhere along the way, Howard lost me. He did, 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:21.280 And now it's possible I lost him. I grew up 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:26.080 listening to Howard Stern's syndicated morning show. It's possible he 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:31.840 lost each other. It happens in every long term relationship. 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.560 Of course, Howard doesn't really know who I am. But 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:38.600 one day I was sneaking a radio under the covers 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:42.520 so my parents would not hear me listen to Howard 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:48.479 Stern ranting about lesbians and making jokes about Richard Simmons. 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.640 Next thing, you know, Howard Stern. You wake up. You're 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:57.480 an adult. Howard Stern's sipping Chardonnay in the Hampton's and 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:02.160 grilling Jennifer Aniston about her skincare routine. And you're thinking, well, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.440 wait a minute, that's not the Howard Stern I grew 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:10.040 up with. And so I stopped listening about twelve years ago, 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:12.280 give or take. I'm going to say twelve years. Maybe 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.000 it's been ten, maybe it's been fifteen. And I'm not 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:19.800 sitting here flexing by any means. I generally, as a rule, 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:21.840 if you've heard me over the years, you know I 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:26.760 try not to listen to too much talk radio. I 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.160 don't want to be stealing other people's stuff through osmosis 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.480 by listening to it and you're like, hey, I'm gonna 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:34.360 do the same thing, even though you don't realize you're 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:36.760 doing the same thing. So I try not to be 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.679 that guy. I want to do my own original content. 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.040 I don't want to take from other people. Now. Obviously, 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.360 what I am today is a product of who I 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.000 listened to when I got into the business, and they 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.680 rubbed off on me. However, at this point I just 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.400 tried to avoid that as much as I can. So again, 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:57.080 the fact that I stopped listening to him, whether it's ten, twelve, 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.720 fifteen years ago, Howard Stern, it's not ag I'm not 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.640 being braggadocious. That is merely a time stamp. As we 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:08.280 are having a conversation. The moment the Howard Stern Show 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:15.080 stopped feeling dangerous and started feeling like it was processed 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:20.680 by Access Hollywood with better drops. Is the moment I 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:25.080 checked out, But that doesn't erase what came before it. 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.840 And clearly Stern still has a much bigger audience than 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.200 I could ever imagine that I would ever get. But 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:35.440 for me, I was the guy that listened to Stern 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.600 because he was the shock jock and he he would 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.520 go places no one else would go. And there was 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.640 a time, maybe it was the late eighties, the nineties, 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.640 the early two thousands, when Howard Stern was thrown one 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.280 hundred miles an hour and he had all those pitches. 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.840 It was gas. It was he had a killer curveball, 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.600 he had a breaking ball, he had a just everything 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.800 right everything. It was must listen appointment radio in an 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.319 era when people still made appointments to listen. Right now, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.640 the audio world that we have so much of it, 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.720 so much of it, is as well listen when I want. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.760 It's on demand, like this podcast. You can listen to 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.800 this podcast we recorded early in the day. You can 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.480 listen early in the day, you can listen later in 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:26.160 the day, you can listen the next day or two 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.720 days later. It's just like it's at your convenience, but radio. 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.320 One of the great things about radio is you generally 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:33.440 have to listen to it live to get the full 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:35.800 essence of it's a live broad because one of the 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.680 cool things about doing the overnight show is it's live 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.640 while you're working, while you're trying to sleep, while you're 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:48.240 having insomnia, all of that. So Howard Stern built this 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:53.280 amazing whack pack and it was just so entertaining, like 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.840 all these rejects and goofballs. And you had somebody on 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.680 his staff, Stuttering John, who would go out and do 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.559 these terrible interviews with celebrities and ask him the most 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:06.719 vile questions. And it was the funniest thing in the 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:10.800 world because there's nothing celebrities would hate more on the 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.360 red carpet than Stuttering John asking some weird questions. And 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.120 Howard Stern battled the FCC. I don't want to say 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.199 he beat the FCC because he did run to satellite radio, 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.640 but he was in the crosshairs with the Federal Communications 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:28.480 Commission in America and he was going mono a motto. 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:35.880 He destroyed multiple Morning Zoo guys and lapped the drive 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:40.640 time DJs one by one by one. It was like 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.160 whack the mole, they'll pop up. Stern'll knock him down. 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:46.880 And it was the thing we talked about off and 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.160 you could love him or you hated him, but you 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.560 had to deal with him. He wasn't just in the 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.960 conversation Howard Stern back in those days, he was He 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:04.280 was the conversation. And there's a term that we still use. 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:10.040 Minus originated with Howard Stern back in the nineteen eighties 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.560 and before I got in you know, I was a 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.360 kid in those days. But there's a term that Howard 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:22.839 Stern had program directors had used about Howard Stern and 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.800 his ranting and all that. They call it the Stern effect, 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:31.160 and it's still to this day something that is in 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:35.360 all media. It's a little different now because of podcasting, 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:39.560 but in live audio or video, there's a thing called 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:41.840 the Stern effect. You probably have heard of it if 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.960 you've listened to the show. I brought it up multiple 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.120 times in monologues, and if you're a fan of Stern, 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.120 you know what I'm talking about. But people who really 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:56.480 really hate Howard Stern would listen longer, would listen longer 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:01.400 than those who loved Howard Stern. The reason people would 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:02.840 listen for as long as because they wanted to make 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:06.800 sure they didn't miss an opportunity to be outraged. And 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:13.600 that seam mindset today to this very day, is why 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.840 a lot of people will watch on the Republican side, 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.160 not to get political, but we're about to get political. 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:26.160 But Republican voters will watch CNN to get pissed off, 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:32.080 and Democratic voters will watch Fox News and get pissed off, 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:36.880 and they actually watch longer because they get so offended 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.400 by all this stuff. And much of social media. One 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.120 of the great hacks of social media is to send 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.760 out things that are on the spectrum that upset people, 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.920 like the culture wars of society. Right, People get offended 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.439 by certain things, and you send those things out and 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.080 you get caught up in what we call the matrix. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.320 And so Howard Stern back in those days again he 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:07.520 was the conversation. Now in twenty twenty five, in the 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.640 summer of twenty twenty five, well, now the whispers say 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:17.360 it's over serious. One hundred million dollars a year marriage 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.560 that they had with Howard Stern. May finally and I 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.400 say may, that's a weasel word, may finally be heading 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:27.320 to divorce. Court, and yeah, I get it. One hundred 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.760 million dollars a year buys you a lot of goodbyes. 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:35.319 That is more money than Patrick Mahomes will make to 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:41.240 play quarterback for Cansas City or show Hey Otani to 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.520 hit home runs and pitch once a week for the Dodgers. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.640 So that's more money than anyone, to my knowledge, has 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:53.600 ever made to talk into a microphone outside maybe Rush 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:58.079 Limbaugh or God. And some would say that those are 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.280 one and the same in terms of audio content, but 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:04.439 it still, it still stinks. It does this tabloid report 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:08.800 because Howard meant something. I'm gonna tell you a little 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.280 story story time on the Fifth Hour podcast. Read for 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:19.800 a story you ready, So way back in January of nine. 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:23.640 January of nine, they were swearing in a president named 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.480 Barack Obama. And while that was going on, I was 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:32.680 given a piece of paper that was pink, a pink slip. 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:36.640 I got whacked or excommunicated from Fox Sports Radar. I 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.520 was gone, replaced by a can of soup. I vanished 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.320 from the airwaves of Fox Sports Radar. I was off 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:46.120 the air for six months and twenty six days. I 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.480 was unemployed. I didn't have a gig it was also 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.480 the most money I'd ever made in radio, because they 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.440 had to pay me a lot of money to have 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:57.440 me go away. So these weird emotions where I was 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:00.360 very upset, I didn't have a microphone, I didn't have 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.720 a gig, and then at the same time I made 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:04.880 more money than I had ever made and still to 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.360 this day, I have made more money in twenty oh 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.720 nine than I have ever made in radio while being 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.400 in Radio purgatory, because I had been with the company 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:17.640 at that point for a long time and they had 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.760 this sweetheart buyout package where they just threw tons of 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.400 money at me, but yet I didn't have a gig anyway. 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:32.320 Story continues, So one day around January twenty a few 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.840 days after that, a gentleman by the name of Pete 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:40.960 in Pittsburgh a legend dairy Looney tune and a crossover, 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:46.160 a crossover from the caller Underworld who happened to be 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.720 part of Howard Stern's whack pack and a member of 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:54.680 the mal Or Militia simultaneously simultaneously. So one day Pete 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:59.080 and Pittsburgh calls in to Howard Stern's show and they 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.280 talked on the air for a few minutes about all 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.960 these people in radio who lost their job. But Pete 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:10.640 and Pittsburgh, being a fan of the Overnight show, mentioned 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:17.080 me by name, some overnight sports radio slub floating out 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:23.360 in the ether. And now Howard Stern, Howard effing Stern 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:28.560 is saying my name on his show and talking about 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.560 me on his show. Now I didn't hear it. I 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:35.920 wasn't listening to Howard during that day. I was not 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:40.080 tuned in the reason I knew that happened. Immediately, my 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:45.520 phone blew up people I had not heard from in months, 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:52.359 years old friends from high school, people i'd lost contact 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:59.800 with family, Folks who couldn't care less about sports and 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.280 knew that I kind of worked in radio, and they thought, well, 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.480 I think you mentioned a radio guy that had your name. 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.280 Could that have been you? They were calling me, like, 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.080 I just want to Grammy. It's like, Wow, I must 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:16.399 have done something really special that shows you the reach. 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:19.840 And that was what are we looking at sixteen years ago, 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.879 twenty oh nine. Wow, I can't believe it's been sixteen years. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:27.000 But that's the reach, that's the power, that's the hammer 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:32.360 that Howard Stern was wielding, and that's what made him, Howard, 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:38.240 that's the magic. And yeah, somewhere along the way, he 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:45.080 traded his trench coat for a tuxedo. The rebel Howard 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:50.720 Sern joined the gala, the met Gala rage against the machine, 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:55.439 became ordures with the machine. The very people that he 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.080 loved to goof on and make fun of. Now he 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.800 was hanging out with the Hamptons. But you know what, 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:06.960 that's life. Maybe the real shock, Jock, is that it 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:11.240 took this long. That's the real shock that the jock 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.359 took that long to become that guy. Give me that guy. 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:19.280 Everything he used to goof on, he became. And so 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.000 now we say bye bye. Maybe, but I don't even know. 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.760 He might end up working for the company I work for. 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.120 Ihearten his rumors. He's gonna take his show somewhere else. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:31.600 I have no idea. I know I'm not involved in 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:35.000 those conversations. That's above my pay grade. Right, He'll be 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.879 somewhere only he's completely done. It just seems like Satellite 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.800 Radio is not gonna pay him one hundred million, and 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:46.080 I doubt Howard's gonna take a penny less. So the 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.359 other thing about this, he hit ninety five people. I 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:51.920 read in one of the stories, ninety five people work 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.760 on that show. I can barely get one person to 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:57.560 work on my show. I get people showing up the 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.400 last minute or after the show starts, completely high, not 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.760 paying any attention. I mean, I can't imagine I mak 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.479 ninety five people working for you to try to make 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.639 you sound good. That's amazing that. Oh my god, I 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:12.879 would die for that. I mean, I wouldn't know how 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:15.639 to handle having people trying to support you and make 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.199 you sound good. Holy crap, that would be amazing. But 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.840 any of listen, it's not about that. So Howard Stern 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:28.919 maybe not officially yet gone, but in spirit even if 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.439 he still goes somewhere, this is not the version of 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.840 Howard Stern. I want to remember the Fastball's been gone 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:38.440 for a while, the memory of the heater still lingers. 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:42.199 You remember the smoke, right, You remember the buzz, the 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.240 You remember being a teenager and hearing something you weren't 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.320 probably supposed to hear, and knowing, just knowing that this 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:53.320 was radio that mattered. That's one of the reasons I 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:55.320 wanted to get into radio. I was like, that mattered. 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.760 That got a reaction out of people. So Howard Stern. 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.760 He would there's never everyone's cup of teas. Certainly now 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:04.840 he is in everyone's cup of tea's. It's odd, though 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:10.440 the base he's attacked the very core of his fandom, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:18.320 which seems counterproductive. It seems counterproductive, but hey, that's his choice. 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.760 And if this is it, if the curtain really is 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:26.120 coming down on the King of all Media, then we'll 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.160 give the man his due. There was a time when 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:37.440 Howard Stern ruled the audio world, absolutely ruled the audio world, 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.720 and for a long stretch, nobody did it better. The 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:50.239 man made multiple books, movie big movie, private parts. And 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.560 we have a feeling that Howard will still be around 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.800 the radio dials Somewhere's old shows will live on. They 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.440 have a long shelf life, some of those class bits 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:04.199 back when Stern did radio as a loud mouth and 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:07.159 would all the historyonics and all the dramatics and all 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:09.440 the overstatement and all that stuff that made him great. 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.600 Not the hanging out at cocktail parties with people who 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:16.120 are Hollywood elites. Not that Howard Stern, the Stern from 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.840 back in the day. That's the one that people want 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.840 to hear. That's the one that's got legs, all right, 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:24.720 now meanwhile, it's being a broadcasting we'll have a theme 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:29.600 on this Saturday podcast. So some other news which is 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.960 now official. The news came out yesterday on Friday that 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:40.280 Rob Gronkowski, Yes, that Rob Gronkowski, he of the frat 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:45.399 boy charm and protein shake for brain's charisma, has gotten 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:50.359 one of the biggest jobs in sports television. He is 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:59.280 replacing Jimmy Johnson on the NFL on Fox Sunday pregame set. 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.639 He's got the chair. Just when you thought sports television 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:08.600 couldn't dig deeper for quote personality, close quote, they strike 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:14.560 oil in a field of synthetic testosterone and bro jokes. 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:20.120 So Jimmy Johnson, the man that had that job forever 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:24.040 and ever and ever, the Super Bowl winning coach, a 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.679 great college football coach, a master motivator, one of the 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:33.959 last credible football minds on television, quietly fading into retirement. 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:39.240 And in his place you got the Gronk, the guy 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:43.119 whose main qualifications are that he played for the New 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:47.679 England Patriots with Tom Brady. He knows Tom Brady, and 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:49.960 he's got the Hall of Fame resume. He's got a 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:54.040 lot of followers on Instagram, and he has this uncannyability 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:59.040 to turn every piece of analysis into some kind of 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:06.080 punchline about partying or his body or now. The one 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:10.320 advantage he has is he's much younger than everyone else, right, Gronkowski, 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:15.159 Gronk on a set with Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw, 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:17.399 who have been doing that forever and ever as well, 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:22.040 so you can flash a smile of flex a bicep toll, chuckle. 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:28.520 He's a walking meme. He's perfect for the social media era, 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:34.320 where the depth is a liability. The depth is a liability. 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:40.320 Everything's got to be quick, it's got to be TikTok ready, 0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:45.680 no no long form, no long form. So let's also 0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:50.719 not pretend that the decision to have Gronkowski on television 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:55.080 every week is about football. It is not. In my opinion, 0:23:55.240 --> 0:23:59.600 It is about optics. This is about the network executives 0:23:59.600 --> 0:24:03.960 who can to be obsessed with the jockocracy and they 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:08.000 want that. They want the engagement, not the enlightenment. And 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:13.000 in many ways I understand the NFL pregame show is 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:18.240 a dinosaur. It is as relevant today as a payphone 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.680 or a typewriter. Now, there are people that use typewriters, 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:25.840 and there are people that are in areas where cell 0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:29.720 reception goes out and they end up they end up 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:33.680 using a payphone. The NFL pregame show is no longer 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:37.280 a place where you go to learn something about a game. 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:43.160 It is a variety hour. It's chuckles, chuckles, chuckles, and 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:46.320 then you throw some shoulder pads on some ex jock 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:50.040 and you're on your way. You're more likely to get 0:24:50.280 --> 0:24:54.600 a viral dance routine on social media than some kind 0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:58.119 of breakdown on the Tampa two. Now Fox is not 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:02.719 alone across the board. NFL pregame shows have become relics 0:25:03.240 --> 0:25:06.320 from a different ear of hollow monuments to a time 0:25:07.000 --> 0:25:10.920 when that mattered, a time before the interweb, back when 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:15.399 Sunday mornings meant you turned on to hear actual football 0:25:15.600 --> 0:25:20.760 minds from the old country break it down. You had 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:24.720 the iconic IRV Cross back in the day, Jimmy the Greek, 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:29.800 the handicapper, depending how old you are, Tom Brookshire. Now 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:34.200 it's about the vibe, not the value. It's all about 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:39.680 the Shticklach over substance, laughter overlearning. It's been that way 0:25:39.680 --> 0:25:41.960 for many, many years. So they're like the hardcore fan. 0:25:43.240 --> 0:25:46.560 They don't tune into these shows, and I understand the 0:25:46.560 --> 0:25:48.680 networks are like, there's not that many hardcore fans. There's 0:25:48.720 --> 0:25:52.520 not Most people that watch sports are casual fans. They're 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:57.600 just casually invested. You're not into the all twenty two 0:25:57.760 --> 0:26:00.600 film breakdown. If you want that, there are on the 0:26:00.680 --> 0:26:03.040 dark web. You can get it, and you can have 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:07.800 it all consumed by Thursday. The algorithms have replaced the analysis, 0:26:08.240 --> 0:26:13.240 the social media threads, breaking down, blitz packages and all 0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:18.280 that stuff. That is what the social media world is for, 0:26:18.840 --> 0:26:22.560 or parts of that world. And so if you get 0:26:22.600 --> 0:26:26.160 on television, you gotta be loud, and you gotta laugh 0:26:26.240 --> 0:26:29.119 a lot and have some catchphrases and do all the 0:26:29.200 --> 0:26:36.680 shikola and Gronk will fit perfectly in that mold. He chuckles, 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:40.960 the clown in cleets. He'll dance, he'll grunt a little bit, 0:26:41.080 --> 0:26:45.919 He'll say yo a lot, and the producers will beam, 0:26:46.160 --> 0:26:49.680 thinking they have nailed the coveted eighteen to thirty four 0:26:49.760 --> 0:26:54.040 male demographic and that that'll play well in Peoria on 0:26:54.160 --> 0:26:58.199 social media. Here's the truth. Though again this is not 0:26:58.400 --> 0:27:01.399 about Gronk being bad at the job. I'm not saying 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:05.840 that by any means he will do what's asked of him. 0:27:06.200 --> 0:27:10.520 The real issue is what the job has become and 0:27:10.560 --> 0:27:13.480 what it no longer even pretends to be. Jimmy Johnson. 0:27:13.880 --> 0:27:15.800 Whether you like him or not, he's out right, he's gone. 0:27:15.880 --> 0:27:17.720 He retired. He's going to live the rest of his 0:27:17.760 --> 0:27:20.200 life out there in Key West and enjoy the hell 0:27:20.240 --> 0:27:25.119