Howard Stern Archive 2009 ^hot^ Jun 2026

John "Stuttering John" Melendez left the show for The Tonight Show in early 2009. To replace his position (low-level grunt work), Howard held a contest involving six finalists living in a house.

No analysis of the 2009 archive is complete without addressing the figure of Artie Lange. Lange, Stern’s on-air foil, was in a state of profound self-destruction in 2009. His absences, his slurred speech, and the intervention episode (December 2009) are preserved in pristine digital clarity. The archive here confronts its ethical limit. Howard Stern Archive 2009

While 2009 was largely a year of celebration (the wedding, the TV deal), the archive holds a darker, more somber tone regarding . John "Stuttering John" Melendez left the show for

It was the fourth full year on Sirius Satellite Radio—a period where Howard had finally shed the shackles of FCC censorship but had not yet lost the chaotic energy that made terrestrial radio legendary. For archivists and historians, 2009 represents a high-water mark of unfiltered access, technical experimentation, and some of the most bizarre staff dynamics in the show’s history. Lange, Stern’s on-air foil, was in a state