Listening to Stern couldn't be further away from watching Springer. As soon as someone makes that comparison I
know they've never actually listened to Stern for an extended period of time. Comparing the two is ridiculous, imo.
It's risky making assumptions about the "average Howard Stern listener". Way, WAY more then most people assume are educated and older. If you could find demographics (and I'm trying, only I'm not going to spend the money for a Scarborough Report to prove my point) it would show they are
more educated then the average radio talk show listener.
Stern article
You can add both of my parents, both of who have Masters degrees from BU to the list of Howard Stern listeners. Mom's the head physical therapist of her agency and Dad works in the cancer research department at RI Hospital. They're far from 18-34 years old and uneducated...
Lifted from Bill O'Reilly's Stern interview:
STERN: I have always envisioned the guy I'm doing the show for is driving to work. He's a buddy of mine. We're in the locker room, and man, we're talking reality. We're not talking politely. We're being honest, we're being real.
The secret to my show isn't dirty words. The secret to my show isn't potty humor. The secret to my show is honesty, reality — that I will say the truth.
I was interviewed by "60 Minutes." They asked me, "How did you wish death on a guy?"
I said, "Do you mean to tell me that you never wished that somebody was dead? When you saw those planes go into the Twin Towers, did you wish that Usama bin Laden was caught and killed?"
Well, I feel the same way sometimes when my back is up against the wall. I want Usama bin Laden dead. Our whole country does. And I've wished death on people on my show. People go, "That's outrageous!"
I go, "No, I'm just willing to admit it."
O'REILLY: All right. So your audience is blue-collar guys, working guys, regular guys?
STERN: No. It's not just blue-collar guys. People like to think it's like a bunch of beer-guzzling guys. There's a thing called "The Scarborough Report" and maybe you're aware of it, because you're doing radio now. They analyze not who's listening by age...
O'REILLY: Yes, demographics and everything.
STERN: They find out income, college education, and I have probably the most educated audience and highest grossing income audience. Dare I say more than you, Rush Limbaugh, anybody else. It is a phenomenal audience, a brilliant audience.