Today was the last broadcast of the Howard Stern show on terrestrial radio and I've got to admit - I'm a little sad about it. I've been listening to Howard since he came to BCN when I was in high school. Listening in my bedroom in the dark (they aired it at night for the first 6 months or so), I was hooked within the first few minutes. I immediately felt like I was part of the gang. Busting on each other, making outrageous, juvenile jokes (in case you didn't notice, my sense of humor can lean toward the blue), pulling back the curtain on the absurd things that other people took too seriously like race and sex and celebrity - listening to the Stern show felt like hanging out with my friends.

Several years ago, I worked a soul-crushing data entry job for 8 hours a day. It was just me and a room full of middle-aged women with whom I had nothing in common. For survival, I put my headphones on and quietly listened to the Stern show. The first few hours of the day flew by. One time, I laughed out loud (at a particularly well timed Jackie-related sound effect, for you Stern devotees) and looked around the room. All the ladies in the room were laughing, too. One of them turns to me and says, "I hate Jackie." Even though these women weren't in Stern's typical demographic (they were mostly conservative middle aged Catholic white women), his show helped them get through the day just like it helped me. I was always a little sad when the show ended around 10:30 and I had to face the rest of the day without him.

Sadly, I will not be getting a sattelite radio because I'm broke. Even though my commute lately has allowed me to only listen to the show for about 5 minutes a day, I will miss Howard. He influenced my sense of humor a great deal and made me feel like I wasn't so alone in the world.