Howard Allan Stern, born on January 12, 1954, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, to Austro-Hungarian immigrant parents, is a provocative radio host known for shock-jock content. He developed an early interest in radio and entertainment, attending Boston University in the fall of 1972 to study communications. Stern began his professional career as a disc jockey, starting with a paying gig at a small 3,000-watt station in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where he pioneered mixing phone conversations with music, realizing he could not succeed as a conventional DJ. His radio show, The Howard Stern Show, gained national syndication on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005, known for its boundary-pushing content that led to frequent FCC controversies. In 2006, he transitioned to SiriusXM satellite radio, free from terrestrial regulations. He expanded into other media as an author, signing a $1 million deal with Simon & Schuster in 1993 for his book Private Parts, co-written with Larry 'Ratso' Sloman; actor; television presenter; photographer; and comedian, earning the self-applied title 'King of All Media.'