Stern on Satellite: A Bruised Flower, Blossoming Anew

For Howard Stern on Sirius: At long last, "total freedom to create." (Sirius Satellite Radio)

During last year's presidential campaign, Stern turned into one of George W. Bush's most vocal opponents.

Although he had made a brief and whimsical run for New York governor in 1994, Stern was dead serious this time, urging his roughly 10 million listeners to oppose the president and strike a blow against the FCC's indecency campaign.

This year, he hasn't talked politics much.

"I got clobbered for it," Stern says. "Look what happened. Clear Channel fired me. Don't think for a minute this was about indecency. Clear Channel as a company decided to" -- here he uses a street term for a sex act that may be suitable for satellite radio but not a family newspaper -- "the Bush administration and the Republican Party and the religious right to get favors, to make sure they can expand their media empire. When I came out against the war and came out against Bush and told people to vote for Kerry, they fired me two days later.

"Look, this is not all about the F-word and indecency. This is about thoughts and ideas. The government is now in the process of racketeering against radio stations." If the stations "don't kowtow and bow on these fines, they slow down the approval process on them buying radio stations."

Clear Channel Communications dumped Stern from six of its stations early last year, citing an interview in which Stern asked the man who appeared with Paris Hilton in a porn video whether he engaged in anal sex and referred to the size of his penis. Spokesmen for the company and the FCC declined to comment.

Yet the question lingers: In a sex-drenched entertainment culture, why did Stern become such a target?

"I'm the biggest, probably the number one guy in radio," he says. "Who are they gonna go after? You get Stern, the rest of them fall into line. When Clear Channel fired me, holy mackerel, every radio personality in this country cut back. There's fear like you wouldn't believe. I'm done with that."

For those who have never tuned in, Stern is more than the one-dimensional shock jock suggested by his image. He conducts revealing interviews with actors, musicians and the likes of Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani. He kibitzes and feuds with his team in sitcomlike fashion. And, yes, he tries to bribe women into disrobing in the studio.

Over the decades, most comics who have clashed with government and corporate authorities -- Lenny Bruce, the Smothers Brothers -- have specialized in social and political humor. Stern's battles, by contrast, have largely involved what might be termed comedic porn. But some entertainers say that doesn't begin to explain his evolution as the mainstream media's edgiest funnyman.

"In stand-up, some people believe it's easier to be funny if you work blue," says Darrell Hammond, the "Saturday Night Live" impersonator, who has appeared on Stern's show several times. "In radio, people think it's easier to be a shock jock. Neither is true. Howard is funny because he's funny. One of the funniest features is when his mother would call in and take him down a peg, or he'll take himself down a peg."

Stern's bad-boy persona dates back to the 1980s and Washington's DC-101, which fired him, and New York's WNBC, which also fired him. But the Long Island native bounced back, scoring not only in syndication but with a best-selling book and popular movie, "Private Parts."