The Original ‘American Idol’

Howard said he’s glad that the new season of “American Idol” has started already and that this is his favorite part of the show – the auditions. Howard played a bunch of bad singers who have auditioned on Idol over the past few nights. Howard said that Idol had huge ratings Tuesday night with more than 33 million people watching. He said that the success of “Idol” sometimes really bothers him because he did the same thing at his Detroit radio station back in like 1980. He used to have record executives and critics come and evaluate singers. The bit was so good that he won the coveted Drake-Chenault award for it, which eventually helped him land his job in Washington DC. He also said he officially hates watching Paula Abdul more than ever now. He said that when bad singers are auditioning she’ll shake her head and make faces during their performance but when it comes time to critique them she’s always nice. That drives Howard nuts. Howard said that it’s so clear that Simon Cowell is the entire show and that’s why it’s successful.