Howard Stern

American shock jock Howard Stern is probably the best known proponent of the genre.

Stern says the unsayable about the racial and sexual issues of the day. His filthy and outrageous material includes “butt bongo” which he plays on women’s naked behinds.

In 1985, his “Bestiality Dial-a-Date” skit got him the sack from WNBC. He was quickly swept up by a rival radio station where he stayed until switching to satellite station Sirius in 2006.

His first show for Sirius included an assault on Star Trek actor George Takei’s sexual habits and the suggestion that the ape in King Kong represented “the big black man”.

Clip: An old show in which Stern and his sidekicks discuss OJ Simpson
Clip: More recently, calling Sarah Palin “a f**king moron”
Clip: A phone prankster from his show infiltrates a news item on fires in San Diego

Chris Evans

UK disc jockeys rarely get near the insane rants delivered by their American counterparts. Evans however, brought his own personality to the tradition. From his early days at BBC London station GLR to his time on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast TV show and his Radio 1 Breakfast Show, loudmouth Evans sought to offend.

His repertoire included a joke about holocaust survivor Anne Frank, on-air criticisms of his own bosses and insults directed towards his “thick” listeners.

Evans was sacked from the Breakfast Show in 2001 for poor timekeeping in the days following his wedding to pop singer Billy Piper.

James Whale

Another Brit who sought to adapt the genre, James Whale first earned a mass audience with his late night 1980s TV show Whale On, broadcast simultaneously on the radio. By the standards of the time it was shockingly rude. Special guests, random callers – no one was beyond his ridicule.

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