Editing Howard Stern (section)

===1981–1985: WWDC and WNBC===
Douglas found Stern's next job, hosting mornings at album-oriented rock station [[WWDC (FM)|WWDC]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] Stern was cautious about the offer at first as the general manager "was not really aware of what I did," but he accepted the offer and started on March 2, 1981.{{sfn|Colford|1997|pp=62, 67}} During his time relocating from Detroit, Stern spent several weeks planning out a new show, determined to become more successful as the station presented a good chance for him to work in New York City, his career goal. He was determined to "kill my competition. I was going to say whatever the fuck I was going to say&nbsp;... The first step was to put my team together". He sought a co-host with a sense of humor to riff with on news and current events.{{sfn|Stern|Sloman|1993|p=135}} The station then paired Stern with [[Robin Quivers]], a former nurse in the [[United States Air Force|air force]] and news reporter at [[WJZ (AM)|WFBR]] in [[Baltimore]].{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=63}} Quivers was sent a tape of Stern interviewing a prostitute on the air, and she accepted the job without meeting him. She assumed she "would come in and do the news&nbsp;... but it wasn't that way".{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=68}} Despite several issues management had over content, which led to the installation of a [[Broadcast delay|seven-second delay]] to censor questionable moments,<ref name=washpost1982>{{Cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1982/03/13/howard-stern-to-leave-dc/7eef442c-94a3-4acf-9040-5ed08f0e729e/ |title= Howard Stern To Leave D.C. |date= March 13, 1982 |first= Joe |last= Brown |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date= August 16, 2016 }}</ref> Stern "kept chipping away at management's archaic approach, and we began to assemble the program I had envisioned", which included the addition of Norris as his writer and producer. In one incident, Stern revealed his wife's miscarriage on the air. In January 1982, Stern had the second highest-rated morning show in the city.{{sfn|Stern|Sloman|1993|pp=138–140}}

Impressed with his rapid rise in the ratings, WWDC management offered Stern an initial one-year extension to his contract, but Stern wished for a more long-term deal.{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=78}} At the same time, he was offered a five-year deal worth $1&nbsp;million to work afternoons at [[WNBC (AM)|WNBC]] in New York City, then an [[adult contemporary music|adult contemporary]] station, after radio manager [[Jerry Nachman]] became a fan of Stern and suggested his name to the station.<ref name=washpost1982/> Stern signed with WNBC in March 1982, four months before his contract with WWDC was to expire.{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=81}} His relationship with station management declined from then on, and he repeatedly criticized them and other deejays on the air, including an incident when he revealed the manager's salary.{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=87}} The situation culminated on June 25, 1982, when Stern was terminated from the station. Towards the end of his stay, Stern had more than tripled his ratings since he began, and ''[[Washingtonian (magazine)|The Washingtonian]]'' named him the city's best disc jockey.{{sfn|Colford|1997|pp=87–89}} It was often believed that Stern was suspended over a controversial bit regarding the 1982 crash of [[Air Florida Flight 90]] that made people believe he had called the airline and asked for prices to the [[14th Street Bridges|14th Street bridge]], the site of the crash, and if it would be a "regular stop". But Stern said it was false, claiming "no one ever complained about it".{{sfn|Stern|Sloman|1993|p=187}} In his last few months, Stern secured a $35,000 advance deal with Wren Records to produce a comedy album of song parodies with Norris, titled ''[[Howard Stern videography and discography|50 Ways to Rank Your Mother]]''. It was reissued in 1994 as ''Unclean Beaver''.{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=82}}

{{quote box
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| quote = I was finally getting my shot at working in New York. I was going to work for the world-famous, first-class National Broadcasting Company. This was my dream come true, I thought. Little did I realize it was more like "Welcome to My Worst Nightmare".
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| source = — Stern on his move to WNBC in 1982{{sfn|Stern|Sloman|1993|p=152}}
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In April 1982, four months before he started at WNBC, ''[[NBC Magazine]]'' aired a critical news report on [[shock jock|shock radio]] by [[Douglas Kiker]] that centered around Stern and the controversial nature of his show.{{sfn|Colford|1997|pp=91–93}} The piece caused NBC executives to discuss the potential withdrawal of Stern's contract, but rather than spend money on buying Stern out of the deal, management agreed to control Stern. To make matters worse, the station did not allow Stern to bring his show partners at first,<ref name=washpost1982/> which caused some friction between Stern and Quivers for several months.{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=86}} Stern began his afternoon show at WNBC on August 30, 1982,<ref>{{Cite magazine |title= WNBC's Stern Is Rendered Speechless |date= September 11, 1982 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |issn= 0006-2510 |volume= 94 |issue= 36 |page= 16 |access-date= February 25, 2010 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OiQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT15 }}</ref> and was closely monitored, instructed to avoid discussions of a sexual or religious nature.<ref name=nymag92>{{Cite magazine |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3-QCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38 |title= Bad Mouth – Howard Stern vs The FCC |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date= November 23, 1992 |access-date= August 19, 2010 |first= Jeanie |last= Kasindorf |pages= 38–45 |issn= 0028-7369 |volume= 25 |issue= 46 }}</ref> In his first month, he was suspended for "Virgin Mary Kong", a sketch about a video game where a group of men pursued the [[Virgin Mary]] around a singles bar in [[Jerusalem]].{{sfn|Colford|1997|pp=91–93}} The station then hired an attorney to operate a seven-second delay if Stern said something potentially offensive. This soon became the task of program director [[Kevin Metheny]], who Stern infamously feuded with and nicknamed "Pig Virus".{{sfn|Colford|1997|pp=91–93}}<ref>{{cite web |last= Hinckley |first= David |url= http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/kevin-metheny-radio-director-ridiculed-howard-stern-dead-heart-attack-article-1.1963082 |title= Kevin Metheny, radio director ridiculed by Howard Stern, dead at 60 |work=[[The New York Daily News]] |date= October 4, 2010 |access-date= March 30, 2018 }}</ref> While at WNBC, Stern also began his longtime feud with its morning host [[Don Imus]].

In 1984, Stern acquired Don Buchwald as his agent, who supervised Stern's new three-year contract with WNBC in early 1985.{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=142}} His popularity with the audience grew despite management's continual restrictions. On May 21, 1984, he made his debut appearance on ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]'' and was featured in ''[[People magazine|People]]'' magazine, increasing his national exposure.<ref name="act1guide"/> Around this time Stern appeared in the low budget comedy film ''Ryder, P.I.'' (1986) as Ben Wah, an out of control newscaster, for which he was paid $1,000.{{sfn|Menell|1993|pp=156-157}} In May 1985, Stern claimed the highest ratings at WNBC in four years with a 5.7% market share of the afternoon audience.{{sfn|Colford|1997|p=128}} In a sudden turn of events, Stern and Quivers were fired shortly before they were to go on air on September 30, 1985, for what WNBC management termed "conceptual differences" regarding the show.<ref name=act2guide>{{cite web |url= http://www.sirius.com/wo/i/howard/history_II/part_a/hoh-120908_a.swf |title= The History of Howard Stern Act II Interactive Guide |work=[[Sirius Satellite Radio]] |date= December 2008 |access-date= November 16, 2010 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Program director [[John Hayes (radio)|John Hayes]] explained: "Over the course of time we made a very conscious effort to make Stern aware that certain elements of the program should be changed&nbsp;... I don't think it's appropriate to say what those specifics were".{{sfn|Luerssen|2009|p=12}} Stern was not told whose decision it was. In 1992, he believed Thornton Bradshaw, chairman of WNBC owner [[RCA]], heard his "Bestiality Dial-a-Date" segment that aired ten days before his suspension and ordered the show's cancellation.<ref name=nymag92/>