LEAVING WCCC – 35 YEARS LATER

It’s been exactly thirty-five years since Howard ended his first run on WCCC in Hartford, Connecticut (though, of course, he would return as the King of All Media when The Howard Stern Show started spreading across the nation).

Howard has worked at a few different stations – WRNW, WWWW, DC101, WNBC, WXRK – WCCC holds a special place in the History of Howard Stern for two reasons – it was his first morning radio show and it was where he met the man, the myth, the legend: Fred Norris.

Howard had done some controversial and innovative things back at his first professional station – WRNW – but it was a tiny market with hardly any listeners. Now, he was broadcasting to a real audience and people were captivated by Howard.

Howard loved Fred’s talent and voices so much that he’d ask him to stay later after his overnight shift (which ended at 7 AM) to talk with Howard on the air as Richard Nixon or Howard Cossell, or any of the other million impressions that Fred had already mastered.

(a very very very young Fred Norris)

While at WCCC, Howard famously called for a boycott of Shell Oil, called Japan to try to talk to Paul McCartney (who had just been jailed on a marijuana charge) and taught the men in his audience how to pick up women in supermarkets and health food stores.

But things change and Howard knew it was time to move on when he was denied an increase in his $150 per week salary. According to Fred, if the Program Director of WCCC had offered Howard $180 per week, The Howard Stern Show would probably still be in Hartford.