Does anyone remember when Howard Stern was funny? He recently admitted to 60 Minutes' Ed Bradley that he has been doing “sub-par radio” for the last 10 years. I would have to concur with his assessment. What I don’t agree with is his reasoning behind it being the government’s strict regulations on his show.

I think Stern has been doing bad radio because he doesn’t want to be doing it anymore. I remember 5 years ago he said he was fed up with the industry and wanted to get into something else. I think his wife walking off with a big piece of his portfolio has kept him coming in every morning.

I first started listening to Stern in 1992, when his show was first syndicated to Cleveland. Howard was the anti-celebrity. He was a well known personality throughout the country, but at the same time he was an everyman. The best thing about Stern’s show was the reality of the topics. Howard complaining about his in laws staying at his house and eating his food was funny because you could relate to it.

Howard was great because he didn’t take himself seriously. Back then, he still acted the dorky looking kid from Roosevelt who still couldn’t believe that he was such a sensation doing some “dopey radio show”.

At first, his “King of all Media” schtick was rather tongue in cheek. Now it seems like he’s believing his own press a bit too much. His recent megalomaniacal attitude (‘I invented everything’), as well as his new “Hollywood Howie” persona have left a lot of longtime fans feeling disenchanted.

He used to spend most of his off time holed up in the basement watching Buffy and Batman cartoons, now he’s off in his new Hamptons getaway with his model girlfriend every other weekend. Hey, I don’t begrudge the guy a thing. He’s as entitled as anyone to get as much enjoyment out of life as possible, but don’t expect fans to relate to sitting next to Spike Lee at Knick games.

I can’t place the exact moment when I realized that Stern’s best shows were behind him. I think two events, his wife leaving him, and Jackie leaving the show were definitely the beginning of the end.

I’ll admit, Jackie wasn’t all that funny, but he was an integral part of the show’s chemistry. Howard always seemed to think he could get any number of comics to step right in and fill Jackie’s shoes, but even today there’s still a big void in the show that I remember growing up with.

And his wife’s departure lead to a radical change in Howard’s personality. I think she probably kept him in check about the whole fame thing because she knew him when he was an ordinary guy back at Boston U. All the girls he’s been with since (including his current squeeze) probably treat him like Howard Stern rather than just plain Howard.

His show grew stale and repetitive. In between all the strippers and the retards, he whined endlessly about how President Bush had it out for him. In spring of ‘02, I started listening to ESPN radio in the morning.

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Despite the fact that I hadn’t really listened to him in about 4 years, I figured that I’d check out his debut on Sirius this morning. What an atrocious piece of audio that was. I listened to the first 3 hours or so, and finally turned it off because it barely made me chuckle twice.

Robin was the same cackling Ed McMahon character she was when I stopped listening in ‘01. Do they really need her to show up anymore? Can’t they just have her cut a dozen different sound bytes of “Yes” and “Oh Howard” and prop up a cardboard cut out in her chair?

Fred said two words the whole show, I didn’t really hear Benji at all (thank god) and Artie was as disposable as ever. The new announcer of the show, George Takei (Sulu from Star Trek) is apparently there all week. They might as well send him back to San Francisco to look for whales, because he brings nothing to the show.

All in all, the show was a total flop. Someone told me I should listen for a few more days to let them get in a groove, but I don’t need to listen to an entire Wham! record to realize that it stinks. I might Limewire another show next week just to prove that I hate it, (you didn’t think I paid to hear this junk) but other than that, Howie and I are done.

I’m glad that I made the decision to buy XM back in 2004. The hardware is a generation ahead of the clunky garbage that Sirius is hawking, and the Opie and Anthony show on XM 202 is a much funnier show.