Watching people talk about their lives on Facebook is normal – everyone does it. We talk about our kids, our friends, our loves and hates. People think that Mark Zuckerburg (or the Winklevosses) came up with that idea. I think Howard Stern invented social media.
I remember listening to Howard Stern every morning during my 75 minute commute each morning back in the late 90’s. He would talk about everything going on in his life and the life of his staff. Nothing was taboo or off limits. He would ask questions of his guests that no other media outlet would dare.
He was “sharing” his life on an unprecedented scale. His marriage failing, his kids, his dating life, his co-workers lives, their answering machine messages… all shared.
Howard Stern was the Twitter stream for about 20 million people every morning.
I think what was interesting about Howard and a big part of his draw was that he was willing to speak his mind and share his experiences. He was not worried about his experience conforming to a station’s format or audience preference. It was a breath of fresh air in terms of original programming compared to the morning zoos and robotic morning drive shows of radio. His interviews were more than what the celebrity promoting or schilling, even though he would acknowledge that. Howard knew the audience wanted more than the same soundbite everyone else was repeating.
I agree Brian, he was one of a kind.