NEW YORK -- Controversial and immensely popular radio personality Howard Stern will launch a one-hour Saturday latenight show on CBS' owned and operated stations in August.
The as-yet-untitled show, which will go head-to-head with NBC's "Saturday Night Live," will air on 12 of the 14 CBS-owned stations at 11:30 p.m. The CBS station in Green Bay, Wisc., WFRV-TV, has syndication commitments in that timeslot and plans to carry the show at a different time. The Eye network's Salt Lake City station will not air the program.
Stern made the announcement, which had been expected, at the Sheraton New York Hotel and it was carried live on his morning radio show emanating from WXRK-FM and syndicated in 47 markets.
Assuming the show proves popular, it will be syndicated nationally at an undisclosed date, said CBS TV stations' programming chief Ben Zurier. Industry sources expect the show to premiere in January nationally and to be sold by CBS' Eyemark Entertainment.
CBS has committed to more than 40 episodes of the Stern show, said Mel Karmazin, chairman and CEO of the CBS Stations Group.
CBS and industry observers expect Stern's show to earn high ratings off the bat, especially in the seven markets where his radio show is syndicated. One CBS station exec projected a 7 rating for the show, which he predicted will significantly boost CBS stations' 11 p.m. news on Saturday.
The last time Stern did a broadcast series -- the 1992 "Howard Stern," which aired on WWOR New York and was syndicated in large markets -- it had trouble attracting advertising because of the show's racy content.
Though Stern's radio show has been fined by the Federal Communications Commission for obscene language on many occasions, Stern seemed to indicate that his new TV show will be more advertiser-friendly this time around.
"You have to fall within certain standards, but 11:30 (p.m.) is a pretty loose time," said Stern.
However, Stern also said, "We'll have a lot of nudity and lesbians. We plan to have a lot of drunken dwarfs on the show. I don't know why it gets ratings, but it does."
Karmazin, who hired Stern at WXRK, said his stations will have no problems selling the Stern show.
"Howard's constituency is local advertisers," said Karmazin. "Most national advertisers tend to avoid controversial programming. We know how to sell advertising with Howard Stern."
"There'll be some resistance," said Dick Kurlander, VP, director of programming for station rep Petry. "But as long as it's more like the E! show than the WWOR show, it shouldn't be an insurmountable problem."
Stern currently has a show on cable's E! Entertainment Television that runs daily from 11 p.m.-midnight and Monday through Friday from 2 a.m.-3 a.m.. E! said it has a "long-term" deal with Stern that will not be affected by the new CBS show. E! will cease running the program on Saturday nights, however.
The way Stern described his CBS show, it will be similar to the E! program, which runs extended clips of Stern in the WXRK studio doing his radio show. Stern said the show will differ through the creation of original pieces and animated bits. The show will not be live.
Karmazin said that CBS and Stern never considered running the show on the CBS network because it would be difficult for the network to sell, and the show would be more profitable for Stern in syndication.
"The reason Howard wanted to do a syndicated show is he would make far more money in syndication," said Karmazin. "He wants to make more money than Oprah."
CBS and Stern declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal.
Karmazin added that Stern's show will help CBS' stations by drawing a young male audience, which CBS badly needs.
"CBS is the Tiffany Network, but when I thought about it, Tiffany is a stripper's name, so we'll have a lot of strippers." said Stern.
At his press conference, Stern was introduced by Norm Macdonald, who was recently fired as the "Weekend Update" anchor on "Saturday Night Live." Stern said that he'd love to have Macdonald do his "Weekend Update" shtick on his debut show.
Stern also declared war on "SNL."
"They're lazy, they're tired, they're old," said Stern. "This show will be good for them: It'll give them a swift kick in the ass."
David Phillips, VP and general manager of KUTV Salt Lake City, said that his station has committed to several syndicated shows, leaving no room for the Stern show. Phillips said the controversial nature of Stern's show was not a factor in his decision not to take the program.
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