The ironic thing about current political criticism of Stern is that he "stopped having the courage to be himself, to speak his mind, to talk back to the establishment."
Yet, their criticism of him is often rooted in politics - because he doesn't conform to the opinions they expected him to have given how he once behaved on the air. And he doesn't support their "establishment" and leader.
For good and bad, Stern has always been Stern. He was doing what he felt he needed to do in the younger FM days and grew to do what he wants to do now. All of it is individualism and given that "liberal" politics aren't popular in the mainstream of the talk format, Stern is still doing something counter-cultural.
And the same people who think he should be on their side now come from the side that in many cases, didn't believe his show ever belonged on FM. He was always a crusader for open speech vs the FCC, and the current FCC has certain forms of speech now they deem offensive. Speech that offends the current administration.
In other words, basing one's critique of Stern on his politics has exposed a lot of hypocrisy and irony given his career. Yet even though he's grown as a person, he's still himself. Few people get to be themselves on the radio, the way Howard has. And that's what inspires many broadcasters who respect him, even if their content is completely different.
Yet, their criticism of him is often rooted in politics - because he doesn't conform to the opinions they expected him to have given how he once behaved on the air. And he doesn't support their "establishment" and leader.
For good and bad, Stern has always been Stern. He was doing what he felt he needed to do in the younger FM days and grew to do what he wants to do now. All of it is individualism and given that "liberal" politics aren't popular in the mainstream of the talk format, Stern is still doing something counter-cultural.
And the same people who think he should be on their side now come from the side that in many cases, didn't believe his show ever belonged on FM. He was always a crusader for open speech vs the FCC, and the current FCC has certain forms of speech now they deem offensive. Speech that offends the current administration.
In other words, basing one's critique of Stern on his politics has exposed a lot of hypocrisy and irony given his career. Yet even though he's grown as a person, he's still himself. Few people get to be themselves on the radio, the way Howard has. And that's what inspires many broadcasters who respect him, even if their content is completely different.
