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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.332 Frequently asked questions about Howard Stern: 1. Who is Howard Stern? (Frequently heard from NONUS folks.) 1a. Howard Stern is a radio personality. He came to national attention in the USA while working in New York, and currently resides there. He also has a syndicated TV show. He is frequently labeled a 'shock jock'. Your immediate thought might be, "Oh, like xxxxxx (insert name of local shock jock in wherever you are)." No, xxxxxx is like Howard Stern. He has been around for years, he is well known, and chances are that this week xxxxxx is doing whatever Howard was doing last week. If xxxxxx has the balls. And more and more people, throughout the country, are finding this out. 2. What station does Howard Stern's TV show play on in my area? Or, I heard that Howard's show was cancelled. Is it true? 2a. Howard's original TV show is in reruns, or off of the air. Depending on who you listen to, it was cancelled, or Howard quit. I personally believe (and heard this version, once, on-the-air) that WWOR Channel 9 wanted Howard to do it for the same money he got the prior year, and Howard wanted a bigger budget and more money. Channel 9 folks decided that they couldn't give Howard more money *and* make any money on the show, they wanted to cut the budget. So Channel 9 executives wanted to put themselves in a good light by claiming that they fired Howard and made such an announcement. If you get the E Network on cable or satellite, you should now be able to get Howard's new talk show. Unfortunately, I don't. 3. No, I can't take it. I have to have Howard on my TV. Is there any way? 3a. Well, you can order Butt Bongo Fiesta, complete with 3-D glasses (what a great copy protection scheme!) and so forth for $34.95 + $5 shipping and handling, by calling 1-800-52-STERN. 18 and over and all that. 4. Where can Howard be received on the Radio? 4a. Currently, he broadcasts, daily, from WXRK, K-Rock, 92.3 FM from New York City. This signal is good enough to cover most of New York City and the surrounding areas. This signal is simulcast in Philadelphia (WYSP-FM, 94.1), Baltimore (on WJFK-AM 1300), and Washington, DC (WJFK-FM, 106.7 FM), and is simulcast in LA and then rebroadcast on tape delay when morning drive starts. The LA times and frequency are: 97.1 FM KLSX from 3 to 6am live, and then tape delayed from 6 to 11am. The LA rebroadcast is extra long because they insert (yech) traffic reports and local stuff. Since I last updated this FAQ, Howard's show has spread. He is in Las Vegas, Cleveland (WNCX 98.5), Dallas (KEGL, 97.1), and Chicago. There is also 103.9 FM (Q104) in Albany. In Chicago, he is on AM 1000. Now, AM 1000 (WLUP) out of Chicago is a regional or National clear channel station, which means that they run 50,000 watts of power, 24 hours a day. This means that with an average car radio, you can pick up WLUP in, for example, Peekskill, NY where I live, at least at night. I've listened to WLUP while driving through central New York with a better car radio, and I've listened to it in my bedroom at night on a digital tuning clock radio while trying hear Doctor Demento. Expecially in the winter months, before dawn, you should be able to hear the first part of Howard's show over a good portion of North America, perhaps up to a thousand miles from Chicago, on skip. There probably will be some fading. No, you probably can't hear these signals if you are in Boston. Bay area is out of luck as well. Howard is not on shortwave unless someone is pirating his stuff. AM is Medium Wave (MW) for you nonus folks. (Folks, please email me frequencies and call signs, and I'll fill them in.) 5. I'm not in any of those places. Is there a satellite feed for WXRK? 5a. Yes, WXRK is broadcast by SCPC on Hughes Galaxy 2 channel 03, at about 57.5, according to Mark Geyman. Again, you will need to be able to decode this feed, and you should ask your dish dealer, or in rec.video.satellite, how to decode it. 6. How can one be expected to figure out who is who among the regulars on the show? 6a. Listen for a while. Want to take a shortcut? Here is an effort to explain: Howard Stern - The head of the asylum. The ruler of the roost, the King on NY Radio, and All Media, and other points. Robin Quivers - Howard's sidekick. Officially his news reporter, she is also the confidant and instigator in many cases, and also (occasionally) feeds him lines from the privacy of her news studio. Her news reports normally consist of reading the paper, and a few things that are put together by her interns. None the less, the news reports are frequently the most entertaining part of the show, as Howard comments on everything. Fred Norris, King of Mars - Fred handles sound effects (paints) and also keeps the show on schedule. When Howard started broadcasting in NY, frequently he would just push off the commercials for an hour. Now that they are syndicated, he has to take breaks at regular intervals. Fred cracks the whip. He is on the writing team. Fred also does voices for the occasional (these days) radio 'movie' and as the Nazi in the 'Guess who's the Jew' bits. Fred also does song parodies, and is a reasonably talented musician. Jackie (The Jokeman, Penthouse Jokepage) Martling - Jackie is a comic who never quite made it big, notably because his standup isn't very good IMHO. He writes full time for the Howard Stern show, and makes a fair bit of money doing local appearances as well, pushed by plugs from the show. One wonders when he sleeps. Maybe during the show. +1 516 922 WINE gets you a schedule of his upcoming appearances, and it is a normal toll call (no 900 style surcharge) but has a few ads, and a few jokes. There is more than 30 minutes of material on the new all-digital line. He is also on the writing team, as the head writer. Jackie gets two plugs a day, by contract. Gary (Baba Booey) Dell'Abate (sp?) - The show's producer. He arranges guests, insures that the office part of the show gets done, and so forth. For those of you who've read Gulliver, he is also Howard's chief flapper - he is generally the one who makes the judgment as to whether or not someone speaks to Howard when they call up with a beef. He is called Baba Booey after his mispronunciation of Baba Looey, Quick Draw McGraw's sidekick on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show. He was buying animation cels, and didn't know how to pronounce the name of the character, despite professing fandom. Gary does occasional personal appearances, for which he gets plugs. Gary has recently married. Despite predictions, some of them mine, he is still Baba Booey. He was making noise about registering Bababooey as a trademark recently. John (Stuttering John) Melandez - Hero of the stupid. He was a paid performer on Channel 9, officially on WXRK he is just an intern. He is paid in notoriety (he gets to plug his band appearances and occasional personal appearances, and has gotten a record contract because of his connections. John has been signed by Atlantic Records). and is typically sent out to interview celebrities. The questions are all prepared, but sometimes he gets to adlib. Scott the Engineer - mixes tapes, inserts the bleeps so that you can still hear the cursing in the background, and is hapless when it comes to fixing the console. He is employed by WXRK as Chief Engineer, and he is in the Union. He is making additional money because he gets a daily plug, which he has used to build up a DJ business. He has a number of DJ's who work for him and provide canned music for parties, weddings (Gary will soon be married and will use Scott's service, Rocket Entertainment) and so forth. This is good, because Scott smokes like a chimney and I wouldn't want him at one of my parties. Gorilla is an intern who wants to be a radio personality someday, but who first needs to learn how to talk in English. We almost never hear about Robin's news interns. 7. How can you listen to someone who is as racist/homophobic/anti woman/etc. as Howard Stern? 7a. You just don't get it, do you? Howard is none of those things, in spades: He is an equal opportunity denigrator. Sooner or later he will kick one of your sacred cows in the balls, to mix metaphors in an udderly improbable manner. But he is still very funny. Someone on this newsgroup once said that a lot of Howard's humor comes from the sort of attitude that says, "Look at all of this crap in the world around us! Isn't it wierd? Isn't it funny? Sit in our circle and we'll let you in on the joke." Well, some of us think that we get the joke. 8. Is Howard Stern half Jewish? 8a. Definitely. The question is, what is the other half? According to Howard, it is not Jewish, perhaps WASP. However, several alert readers of alt.fan.howard-stern believe that (with some reasonable proof), in fact, the other half is Jewish, and that the half-Jewish identity is something that Howard puts on so that he can insult both Christians and Jews with impunity. However, he is equally free with insults of Muslims, Hindus, etc., and does not claim to be partially Muslim, so I, personally, don't know who to believe. Some folks on the net believe that the other half is Italian, based on something that Howard said a while back. Others point out that you can be a Jewish Italian, so this may have been another joke. The Jewish half and the Italian half may well be the same half. 9. I want to write to Howard and tell him (what a dickhead | how wonderful) he is. What is the address? 9a. His address is: The Howard Stern Show 600 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Particularly vehement and stupid hate letters are likely to get read on the air. Clueless ones well may earn a phone call. If you really can't wait, fax him at (212) 759-KFAX. 10. How do I get a copy of "Crucified by the FCC"? I called 1-800-52-STERN, and they didn't have a clue. 10a.They never had a clue, but at one time they could take orders for the album. The album hasn't been for sale for quite a while, and is now a "collector's item". This just goes to prove that you should always buy every Howard Stern premium offered, immediately. The 1-800-52-STERN is now in use for Butt Bongo Fiesta. 11. I don't get enough bababooey in the morning. I want my computer to say 'bababooie' instead of beeping at me. I have a Mac/Amiga/Soundblaster/NeXT box that can talk, and I want it to talk. 11a.This (alt.fan.howard-stern) is not in the binaries hierarchy. Of course, you can post anything you want. If various sysops notice that this group has become a binaries group, they will treat it like one, and those connected by phone line or concerned about disk space may not carry it. As a hint: If your sysop does not carry the alt.binaries tree, they are unlikely to carry this group if it begins carrying binaries. Jeremy A. Moskowitz <jeremym@ravel.udel.edu> has been doing some digitizing, not only of soundbytes, but of whole songs. These are digitized into Amiga .iff format at 11047 samples/sec. If you are on one of these other systems, you will need to figure out how to convert the sounds to, say, .wav format if you want to play it with the Microsoft Windows multi-media program. If you are interested in same, I'd like to refer you to the alt.binaries.sounds.misc FAQ, (may also be available in news.answers) which seems to cover this stuff fairly well. Briefly, they recommend sox, which you can get on wuarchive.wustl.edu. Or use your nearby archie server. Jeremy puts the sounds onto the wuarchive.wustl.edu system in directory /systems/amiga/incoming/audio/howardstern, which seems like a heck of a good place. If you do want to post digitized soundbytes, please post them to alt.binaries.sounds.misc, or alt.sex.sounds, as appropriate, and post here saying that you've done so, and other things about the sounds, like maybe what the message ids are or when you posted them, or how many parts. Anything seems to go there. I've seen whole songs posted there in 41 parts. 12. I can't believe it. Do people really strip naked in Howard's studio, or is it a put on? Is it theatre of the mind, or is it really happening? 12a.According to Mark Levy, yes they do. And I have it on good authority that Howard drinks Poland Spring water (Take that, Georgia!). I believe that some percentage of the folks who call in are bogus, but they are putting Howard on at the same time they are putting us on. -- Nick Simicich - uunet!bywater!scifi!njs - njs@watson.ibm.com SSI #AOWI 3958, HSA 318, NAUI #14065 Join the movement --- turn 'to bush' into a verb. Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu vmsnet.misc:1446 comp.os.vms:62894 news.answers:4365 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!usc!wupost!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!thehulk!munroe Newsgroups: vmsnet.misc,comp.os.vms,news.answers Subject: Info-VAX: Introduction to Info-VAX Message-ID: <info-vax-1.19921201.040052@dmc.com> From: munroe@dmc.com Date: 1 Dec 92 04:03:37 EST Followup-To: vmsnet.misc Expires: 12 Jan 93 00:00:00 GMT Organization: Doyle, Munroe Consultants, Inc., Hudson, Ma. 01749, USA Approved: munroe@dmc.com Supersedes: <info-vax-1.19921101.040105@dmc.com> Lines: 324 Archive-name: info-vax/part01 Last-modified: 1992/08/02 [Changes since last posting: None.] Please send all changes, corrections, comments, or additions to munroe@dmc.com. The Info-VAX Monthly Posting ---------------------------- PART 1 -- Introduction to Info-VAX. (Coordinated by Dick Munroe, written by many others) (Part 2 is Beginner "Common Questions". Part 3 is Advanced Common Questions. Part 4 is about how to find software.) Save this message for future reference! There are four parts to this monthly posting. This first part is concerned with network etiquette and is redundant to people that read Usenet's monthly postings for new users. If you are on Usenet, you might want to skip it. The other two parts are beginning and advanced questions respectively. Welcome to the Internet VAX Discussion group. This group is known by different names on different networks (Info-VAX, comp.os.vms, etc). We'll call it Info-VAX, for convenience's sake. About 13,000 users read it on Usenet, the global estimate is at about 50,000 users. The purpose of Info-VAX is to discuss issues surrounding VAX computer systems. Most of Info-VAX is oriented towards VAX/VMS. Info-VAX does have a lot of knowledgeable VAX/VMS users; Info-VAX is *not* a forum for discussion of absolutely everything involving VAX systems. Internet discussion groups also exist for particular software products (for example, PMDF and Kermit), for some general topic areas (such as security or education), and for special purpose hardware. This message has two purposes: first, to give you an idea of what Info-VAX is all about, how to use it effectively, and how to make it work best for you. Second, to answer some of the most frequently asked questions on Info-VAX. What this message won't do is tell you how to send messages to Info-VAX, or how to use your own mailing system. There are dozens of mailing systems available for VAX computers, and even more ways of connecting VAX systems to the Internet. You should ask your system administrator exactly how to send or post messages to Info-VAX. Some general advice is given but no specific commands. The best way to learn how to use Info-VAX is to watch others use it. If you have just subscribed to Info-VAX, consider lurking for a few days to see what people are doing and why. Here is a brief guide to Info-VAX, phrased as a set of commonly asked questions and our rational answers. 1. What is Info-VAX? Info-VAX is a number of things. If you read it on Usenet, you see it as a Newsgroup called comp.os.vms and you subscribe and unsubscribe just like any newsgroup (ask your system administrator, it's different on different machines). Post messages just like any other newsgroup. If you read it on Bitnet it is called Info-VAX but it is mailed to you (like normal email) and you subscribe to it by sending a mail message containing just the text "SUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX" to LISTSERV@(nearest listserv computer). You unsubscribe by sending a mail message containing just the text "SIGNOFF INFO-VAX" to the *SAME* listserv address. Ask your system administrator for more help. Post messages to "info-vax@sri.com". Do not send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to that address. If you are reading it on the Internet it also arrives as mail. To subscribe or unsubscribe send mail to "info-vax-request@sri.com" politely asking to be added or removed. Send posts to "info-vax@sri.com". Do not send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to "info-vax@sri.com" If you are on the Internet in the UK, people should send a message to info-vax-request@Uk.ac.ulcc.ncdlab containing the word: SUBSCRIBE They will be added to the UK fanout. DELETE or UNSUBSCRIBE removes them. 2. What is a "signature"? In order to let people not at your site know who you really are, you may want to create a "signature" file which you append to network mail messages. Your news or mail software may do this automatically (usually using the file ".signature") or you may create a function key binding in EDT or TPU to do this. If someone writes up a quick way to do this, I'll include it in this posting. A signature file typically has your real full name, plus a short list of addresses. Under no circumstances should your signature be longer than 4 lines. Signatures should have your name and affiliation, plus your preferred electronic mail address. If you can squeeze your mailing address and phone number onto a single line, put that in too. This leaves you a whole line for personal creativity. More than that is an expensive waste of network resources---it might not cost YOU anything to send the message out, but thousands of people are paying phone bills to send it across the US and around the world. Do not include cute graphics, boxes, or extended non-crucial information in your signature. 3. What return addresses should I put in my signature? Some readers will be able to get your return mail address from the header of something you post. Very often, however, the address will be damaged in transit, so you can make it much easier on them by including your preferred mail address. Normally, a maximum of two addresses are appropriate---putting your CompuServe/Telemail/MCI/GEnie address in, or the address of a system you don't check every day is unlikely to be useful to anyone. If you are on a BITNET-only node, simply include your node name in the BITNET domain, like this: jms@arizmis.bitnet. If you're directly connected to the Internet, put in your Internet address, like this: jms@mis.arizona.edu. If you're not directly connected, try to express your address in terms of a nearby gateway, like this: jms%evax2@rvax.ccit.arizona.edu. While most mailers are smart enough to deal with domain name system hosts which aren't directly connected (sometimes called MX-record systems), it turns out that VMS mailers typically can't, and people won't be able to figure out what's going on. Your system administrator will be able to tell you if you're directly connected or not; one of the nice things about the domain name addresses is that you can't tell just by looking at the address. If you're a part of usenet, your return address should include some relatively well-known site, like this: arizona!small!smaller!smallest!user. Finally, don't try to second-guess mailers. If you're on BITNET, don't advise Internet users on how to send you mail---you'll be wrong about half the time. Your parents' postal address, an Email address of only local significance, or your longitude and latitude are only useful to (a) your parents' friends, (b) people at your site, or (c) operators of thermonuclear devices. None of (a), (b), or (c) read Info-VAX. Note that there's nothing wrong with having multiple signature files (each used for different "kinds" of postings). 4. How can I make sure that my message gets through ungarbled? There are a couple of good rules. Keeping the lines of your message under 80 characters, and under 72 if possible, will make sure that everyone can read what you have written. Leaving out all special control characters is another idea. In particular, tabs probably will get screwed up somewhere along the way. Finally, if you intend to put in characters which are somewhat off the beaten path, you may want to include a translation table at the end, giving the character and the name, so if a tilde comes out as an ampersand, the reader knows how to map properly. This is a particular problem for BITNET users. You might opt to use VMS_SHARE which encodes text files (they are semi-readable until you decode them.) 5. Why do I see replies before the question? Info-VAX is asynchronous---messages flow in what should be considered a completely random way. What you think is the previous message probably isn't; your reply may well get to sites before the message you're replying to. If you reply to a message, excerpt the message you're replying to so that readers have a little context. Including the ENTIRE message, however, is in very bad taste. Cut it down to the minimum needed to remind the reader what's going on. 6. I'm going to write a letter to the President of Digital because some Digital employee said ... Don't forget that we're all people out here. The nature of Info-VAX makes it easy to forget this. If someone writes something which you think is totally outrageous, a public computer conference is NOT the place to take the issue up; this is one of the reasons that mail was invented. All messages on any conference should be considered (a) in the public domain, for you never know who will excerpt and reprint your words and (b) the opinion of the author only, not their company. 7. Someone posted a 28 part software package, and I didn't get part 26. What do I do? There are lots of things you can do; the one thing you DON'T do is send a message out to Info-VAX asking if someone can please resend part 26. Instead send a message to the poster of the other 27 parts asking them to send you part 26. In general, the answers to questions 6 and 7 can be boiled down to this: when possible, use electronic mail. Anything which is of primary interest to a single person only should be directed to that person, not to the other 50,000 people who read Info-VAX. This includes, but is not limited to: o A Request for copies of answers they receive to a posted question. o A request to summarize answers and post them to the group. o A message telling someone that their answer is all wrong (let the poster correct the mistake; you're probably not the only one who noticed the error). o A message telling someone that something they said is inappropriate for Info-VAX. Actually, if someone sends out something particularly obnoxious, the last resort is to forward it to their system administrator, usually an account called "postmaster." This should only be done after personal mail to the person has failed to get results. Everyone else on Info-VAX saw the original message; posting a message to the entire network won't help matters any. 8. What does :-) mean? This is the net convention for a "smiley face". It means that something is being said in jest. If it doesn't look like a smiley face to you, flop your head over to the left and look again. There's also ;-) (a knowing wink), :-( (displeasure, bad news), :-| (Straight face or "no I'm not joking"). There are many variations, and the validity of publishing even this many on Info-VAX is pretty questionable :-). 9. What is the address of foo company? Despite the fact that you can certainly get the address of virtually any company by sending out a broadcast to Info-VAX, doing so will earn you the scorn of your peers. Telephone books, trade magazines, buying guides, and directory assistance should all be tried before asking 50,000 people to check their files. This is not to say that all such queries are inappropriate --- obviously some companies are hard to find, and the multi-national character of Info-VAX means that some of this information is not readily accessible. 10. How do I get from BITNET to UUCP, ARPA to BITNET, JANET etc etc? It's tempting to put these kind of queries on Info-VAX, but the answers vary so much from site to site that most answers you get will be meaningless. Ask your system manager. On the other hand, if you are a system manager, and you don't know, your question is best phrased like this: "We are running x Operating System using y Networking Software and attached using z Communications Channel to w Network. Can anyone suggest a way to increase our connectivity?" If you're a new site on a larger campus, other system managers on your campus will probably be able to give you better help faster. 11. What is "anonymous ftp?? "FTP" stands for File Transfer Protocol; on many systems, it's also the name of a user-level program that implements that protocol. This program allows a user to transfer files to and from a remote network site, provided that network site is reachable via the Internet or a similar facility. (Ftp is also usable on many local-area networks.) "Anonymous FTP" indicates that a user may log into the remote system as user "anonymous" with their network address as a password. This is sometimes useful to those sites that track ftp usage. Also note that most sites restrict when transfers can be made, or at least suggest that large transfers be made only during non-peak hours. Bitnet and Usenet users can not do FTP. There are similar facilities available to you; ask your system administrator. 12. What does RTFM mean? It means this: "you have asked a question which I believe would best be answered by consulting the manual, a copy of which should be in your possession. The question you have asked is clearly answered in the manual, and you are wasting time asking all these people to read it to you." More specifically, "Read the F-ing Manual." If someone posts a question which you feel is best answered with "RTFM," the prevailing wisdom on Info-VAX is that it is more polite to mail your "RTFM" than post it. Other common abbreviations: IMHO - In My Humble Opinion FYI - For Your Information BTW - By The Way FAQ - Frequently Asked Question(s) FAQ when used in a context like "the FAQ" generally refers to a posting of answers to Frequently Asked Questions, such as this posting. Such postings are usually posted monthly on many newsgroups or mailing lists, so it is a good idea to try to find one if you join a newsgroup or mailing list. Note that a large list of all known FAQ postings in newsgroups is posted periodically in the usenet newsgroup news.admin (since "is there a FAQ for this group" is itself a FAQ). 13. I couldn't get mail through to somebody on another site. Again, this answer is more a "don't" than a "do." DON'T post it to the entire list with the caveat, "I couldn't get mail through to this guy, so I'm posting instead." There are lots of good ways of getting in contact with people --- directory assistance if you don't know the phone number, or the phone if you do, as well as services offered by the US Postal Service, which can be had for a mere 29 cents. People outside of America have complained about the last sentence and rightfully so. I know that user-directory services are forecoming, but until then I guess everyone must make do.