They Call Me Baba Booey (38 page)

Howard Stern has been my boss for twenty-seven years, but he’s much more than that to me. Part dad, part big brother, and part good friend, he’s taught me so many valuable things over the years. He’s truly the King of All Media, and his accomplishments as an entertainer have been well chronicled, but it’s his achievements as a person that have had the greatest effect on me.

I was a dumb twenty-three-year-old kid living in my parents’ house when I met Howard. He was the example I learned from. Howard taught me how to treat people with respect, and as his fame grew he never lost sight of how to treat his staff. I’ve never seen him act “too big” for anyone.

Howard jokes that he tips well because he’s “Howard Stern,” but the truth is that he appreciates how hard people work and
he’ll never treat anyone like they are beneath him. He taught me how to be a good dad, a good worker, and a good person. And I wouldn’t be Baba Booey, much less telling my story, if it weren’t for him.

Thanks, Voff!

To my brother Steven, who I miss every day.

To my brother Anthony, who laid the foundation for my insane music knowledge and was invaluable to helping me fill in the blanks. Thanks for listening and helping.

To super-agent Don Buchwald, who believed in me and changed my life. And to Tony Burton, who takes my call ten times a day and pushed to help me get this done.

To Richard Abate, who told me what this book should really be and then talked me into it! And to Julie Grau, for walking me through this process with a smile and keeping us all on track.

To Chad Millman. We clicked right away. This could never have been done in such a short time without your amazing work ethic.

To Fred Norris, who has treated me with respect since the day I met him.

To Robin Quivers, who is like a sister to me.
The Howard Stern Show
is a family, and it wouldn’t be the same without you in it.

To Jon Hein, who counseled me through this endeavor from start to finish. A great friend with great advice, and a pretty good on-air partner, too!

To Ross Zapin, my friend of twenty-plus years and a great sounding board. HOW R YA????

To Jason Kaplan, Will Murray, JD Harmeyer, Steve “No Longer an Intern” Brandano, and Tracey Millman: the best crew I’ve ever worked with.

To Richard Christy, Sal Governale, and Benji Bronk, who make me laugh every day.

To Scott Depace (yes, even Scott), Doug Goodstein, Mike Gange, Brian Phelan, and all the guys at Howard TV I’ve worked with over the years.

To Tim Sabean (the best programmer ever and all around good guy), Artie Lange, Mel Karmazin, Scott Greenstein, Tom Chiusano, Ronnie Mund, Scott Salem, Jim McClure, Jared Fox, Teddy “On the Board” Kneutter, Toni Coburn, Jeff Schick, Rob Fichtel, the Howard 100 News team, the Tapes team, Bubba, Ferrall and their respective crews, and my entire Sirius family.

To Karen Rait, Rob Cappilli, and the gang at Record World; Conan Curley, Andre Gardner, Nancy Z., Laura Lackner, Ralph Cirella, and Megan Pinto; Laura Van der Veer, Maria Braeckel, Meghan Walker, and Dan Zitt at Random House; and Ethan Wilson at the New York Mets.

And to anyone I forgot (and I’m sure that I did), I apologize. I know you’ll give me shit on the air. Instead of being pissed off, buy the book and write your name on the line below:

____________________________________________

(YOUR NAME HERE)

All photographs are courtesy of the author, with the following exceptions:

Insert

i.1
Steve Donnelly

i.1a
Steve Donnelly

i.2
Howard Stern

i.3
Howard Stern

i.4
Christopher Appoldt

i.5
Ralph Cirella

G
ARY
D
ELL
’A
BATE
is the producer of
The Howard Stern Show
and co-hosts
The Wrap-Up Show
on Sirius XM Radio. He and his wife, Mary, have two sons, Jackson and Lucas, and live in Connecticut.

C
HAD
M
ILLMAN
is a senior deputy editor at
ESPN The Magazine
and writes a column for ESPN.com that explores the culture of sports gambling. He is also the author of
The Odds
and
The Detonators
and co-author (with Chuck Liddell) of the
New York Times
bestseller
Iceman
. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and their two sons.