24, season 4 and Howard's last day...

Just getting out some odds and ends that have been kicking around the old skull...

We got the "24" season 4 DVDs in the mail from Netflix the other day and my Wife and I have already watched the 1st disk. I swear to God, that show is like crack. It's such a good show. I can't stop watching it. When we get to the end of an episode, my wife and I look at each other, "You wanna watch another one? I need to see what happens!" We usually wind up watching 2-3 episodes all at once because we are totally sucked in. Awesome show.

Tomorrow is Howard Stern's last day on FM Radio. I've been listening to the show all week and he's had some really cool guests come in to say goodbye. Today he had Jackie on which was cool.

I have not listened to Howard as much since I got my iPod, but I used to be a devoted listener and I still consider myself to be a big fan of his.

Before I got my iPod, I would listen to The Howard Stern Show every day on the way to work. His show got me through a lot of shitty commutes with a smile on my face. I remember when he first came on in Boston, he was on at night. I used to work 3rd shift so I'd listen to him on the way in. At first when I turned on WBCN and it was all talk, I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know who Howard was. I had never even heard of him, so I was like, 'what the fuck is this shit? Where's the music?'

So when Howard first started in Boston, if I put 'BCN on and heard Howard I would switch stations because I didn't want to listen to people talk, but a few times I would put 'BCN on and Howard would be doing some funny bit or he'd have a cool guest on and I started to become a listener. Once I got into the show, I would listen to it every night on the way to my 3rd shift job. Then one night, Howard was gone. I was totally depressed. I thought, "That sucks. Fuck! He must have done something and pissed off somebody and they took his show off."

Little did I know, he was not off the air, he was on in the mornings now, while I was fast asleep after coming home from 3rd shift. Now, you'd think I would have known he was moving to another slot, like they would have made an announcement or a promo or something about it on the station, but if they did, I never got the message. One night, he was just gone and I was totally bummed.

Eventually, I got off the 3rd shift and they moved me to 1st shift. So I was now driving into work, in Boston, for 6AM. The commute was pretty bad a lot of times. I lived way outside the city and had to come in The Mass Pike to Rte 128. It was a horror a lot of days. I remember having to drive in the grass one time. It was crazy.

Anyway, as I would drive in during the morning commute, I would never listen to WBCN because I fucking hated Charles LaQuidera and his Big Mattress show. HATED IIIIIIT! I thought LaQuidera sucked, his show was not funny and all he ever played were songs from Aerosmith, J. Geiles or The Beatles, so I would go out of my way, not to put 'BCN on, because I knew I'd get all irritated and driving in the horrendous traffic was bad enough.

Then one morning, I was switching stations and I hit the scan button or something by accident and the radio tuned to BCN. And there was Howard's voice! I know it probably sounds really silly, but I was soooo happy! I still remember how glad I felt when I heard Howard again. I was so excited about it I even wrote a letter to WBCN telling them how happy I was that Howard was on in the mornings to help me get through Mass Pike/128 hell every day.

As far as I was concerned, Howard was the only thing worth listening to in the morning. He made me laugh out-loud countless times. When he went on one of his 20 minute commercial breaks, I'd listen to a cassette or something till it was over.

My favorite bit to this day was some crazy 'Lost in Space' goof they did where Dr. Smith was gay and he was after Will Robinson. Billy West was the voice of the Captain of the Lost in Space spaceship and he was also Dr. Smith (I think). Howard was The Robot. In the bit, after Dr. Smith got nowhere with Will Robinson, he went after the Robot. I remember Howard yelling into his megaphone in the Lost in Space Robot voice, "Danger! Danger! That's my pencil sharpener you wierdo!" and Billy West going, "Oh Noooo! Oh Nooo!" in his Dr Smith voice.

I also used to like the H-Oh-Double-Yew A Arrr Dee. S - T- E- R- N! song they'd play sometimes.

My favorite part of the show was actually when Robin would do the news at the end of the show. I guess that's because the thing that I liked best about Howard's show was the interaction between all the personalities in the studio. I used to get a kick out of listening to them all just goof on each other.

It's kind of sad, tomorrow is his last day. I'm sure he's going to start a whole new revolution with satellite radio. After all, his radio show kicked ass, his book kicked ass (probably the funniest, most laugh out loud book I have ever read) and his movie kicked ass, so I have no doubt the satellite thing is going to kick ass too. I just wish I could hear it. Maybe I'll get one of those Sirius things for Christmas or something. Till then, I'm gonna miss ya Howard. Thanks for the laughs dude.