Howard Stern Says Podcasting is for Losers

[Marvin]

The future is internet brodcasting and podcasting. This is why: personal current experience. I buy time a Orlando's most important Spanish Radio that I have been buying time for the last 10 years and what I have been noticing is how low caller interction has become on a mostly talk format BUT if the station audio stream goes down for what ever reason people just call to the lines to prostest that the audio stream is down. So if you don't have your typical regular caller from the car, house or work calling in and the one that lost audio stream calling someone has a problem PLUS the constant change of Radio Broadcasters at radio stations don't help much either. Internet podcasting is the way to go period.

[Spencer Kobren]

Look, he’s Howard Stern…at this stage of his life it doesn’t matter how out of touch he is. He got into broadcasting at a time when radio mattered and talent was getting paid. It’s a totally different world now.

I’ve been an independent broadcaster since 1998…I would always say that I was like the Rodney Dangerfield of radio, “no respect.” However, radio’s naivety in believing that my program would never last, or was too niche to be anything other than weekend programming was, in reality, a desirable “disadvantage” to have as an entrepreneur (which is what we all are). It offered me the opportunity to grow my brand on my own terms. I was given carte blanche to use the studios, transmitters, call letters and the ratings of guys like Howard to sell a product(my show) that I owned, which, at the time, was incomprehensible to anyone in radio, including Howard Stern who called my program an “infomercial”…But I knew as soon as he said that, that I had arrived.

Today, I’m a full time Internet broadcaster, and I know some well known people from traditional broadcasting who still can’t figure out how I do what I do. I’m fine with people like Howard Stern saying the podcasters are losers…Remember, one of the best opportunities you can be given in life is to be underestimated.

[Giohost]

I think we all can agree that Howard is in the business of getting a "rise" out of people, and his remarks in the video show us that he's still one of the best in that department. As a podcaster of 8 years I wince when I hear him use the word "loser" to describe our ranks. But prior to my years as a podcaster I spent more than 35 years as a radio broadcaster. I share with Howard the experience of working the small wattage, fuzzy signal, No-where-ville radio homes that used to be the pre-requisite to moving up to radio jobs that paid you more and made you feel better about looking people in the eye when they asked what you do for a living.


I don't want to pretend to be Howard's brain, but I think he was coming from that old paradigm that said you "pay your dues" before calling yourself a radio broadcaster. He hinted that much when he said there are folks in his own workplace who don't belong on the air. I'm old enough to remember when one had to pass an FCC test before opening a mic. Nobody dared dream of buying a microphone on Friday and declaring himself a broadcaster on Monday. Old-timers get a little touchy because they believed they were standing on the shoulders of those who came before them, and since they don't see that same connection today they feel the system has been compromised.


The podcaster's path is different- no better or worse. I'm as excited right now about podcasting as I was many years ago playing records on my first job in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I salute all of you for the great work you're doing, and will do in the years to come.

I wish us all the best!!