THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510060057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
CHILL, HAMPTON ROADS. It's OK for your kids to listen to Howard Stern. He may be many things, but he is not - repeat, not - the antichrist.
He said so himself.
``I'm a man of God. I'm the most moral broadcaster on the air,'' Stern said. ``Look at Clinton and his affairs. Look at Dole and Gingrich, with their first wives. I've been married 20 years. I go home to my family every night. I encourage people to live law-abiding lives. I'm the second coming.
``I'll tell you what I am. I'm anti-Buddha. I'm against that fat slob.''
The occasion was a live, on-the-air press conference with the King of All Media. WKOC-FM and Richmond's WVOG-FM, the Benchmark stations that started carrying Stern last week, invited press types to the swanky Hospitality House in Williamsburg Thursday morning to talk with him from his New York studio.
His self-appraisal, though, may be small consolation to most of the readers who called Infoline after The Coast (93.7) put Stern's syndicated show in its morning-drive slot.
All told, Infoline received 1,440 calls; 1,136 described him as: a) vulgar, b) repulsive, c) disgusting, d) the scum of the earth, e) all the above.
The answer is e).
``He makes me want to heave my guts.''
``I think garbage belongs on the dump.''
``Please, for decency's sake, keep him off the airwaves.''
Stern, who is carried in 25 markets around the country, has gotten used to that kind of reaction.
``It's a misconception,'' he said. ``People think I'm just some jackass sitting up here saying the F-word. I'm an honest interviewer. I ask the questions that people want to hear.''
And what about those worried parents? One reader said Stern was ``not the type of person we need influencing our children.''
``Then supervise them,'' Stern said. ``Even latch-key parents are home from 6 to 10 (a.m.)''
Not that Stern didn't have his defenders.
``He is the funniest, most pioneering radio personality in the last 50 years,'' one caller said. ``If Hampton Roads is going to be progressive, then we have to have Howard Stern.''
``It's about time,'' said another. ``C'mon, he's just too funny not to have on the airwaves. This guy is just hilarious.''
They'll be glad to know that Stern will have an announcement on the movie adaptation of his autobiography, ``Private Parts,'' in a few weeks, and that his second book will be published Nov. 14. He's keeping the title a secret.
``It's a hundred times better than my first book,'' he said. ``I tell things in it that I've never even told my wife or my mother. The artwork is stunning. It's the best work I've done in my entire life.''
Some Infoline callers didn't mind Stern being on the air, but they were sorry WKOC had to disband its morning team of Eric Worden and Jimmy Ray Dunn. Others swore they would never tune in again, saying the station built its rep on alternative music and that's what should be played.
One simply said fair is fair.
``If there's a place for Rush Limbaugh and his outrageous talk on right-wing radio, why not Howard Stern?''
Mark Bradley, program director at The Coast, said the station received more than 400 phone calls. He wasn't surprised that 70 percent were negative.
``I knew what we were getting right away,'' he said. ``What I'm hearing mostly is they dislike Howard, but they haven't given him a chance yet.''
And Stern isn't worried.
``The first thing they say is the show is going to fail,'' he said. ``When I come to town, it's very nerve-wracking. Here's the guy who started all this wild, free-wheeling radio. I grow on people like a fungus.
``I'm looking forward to all the positive articles. A little positivity is not a bad thing with Howard Stern.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW RADIO by CNB