Stern Show Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Jon Hein’s First Visit to the Studio
Stern Show Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Jon Hein’s First Visit to the Studio
“I liked his delivery, and I said this is a guy who should be on the radio,” Howard recalls of the TV fanatic turned staffer’s first appearance
On Monday morning, the Stern Show celebrated the 20th anniversary of TV connoisseur turned staffer Jon Hein’s very first visit to studio. Considering so many years had passed, Howard and co-host Robin Quivers struggled to remember how the guy who famously coined the term “jump the shark” first got booked on their show.
“You guys had heard about my Jump the Shark website and you wanted me to come in and talk about different shows. You asked me about ‘The Munsters’ and ‘The Addams Family,’ and then we went through a whole bunch,” Jon said, adding, “I guess you enjoyed the appearance … I became sort of a recurring guest.”
“He was a really opinionated guy and I liked it. I liked his delivery, and I said this is a guy who should be on the radio,” Howard agreed.
Jon’s website did more for his career than just earn him a spot on the Stern Show, too. He also shot multiple Jump the Shark-themed TV pilots. “One was a game show, one was a talk show. Neither [saw] the light of day,” he told Howard, explaining past guests Kathy Griffin and Greg Fitzsimmons were even involved with the game-show venture. “It was a major pilot and that year it was between that show and ‘Dr. Phil’ as to which one would get on the air,” Hein added.
Jon eventually sold his website to TV Guide for an undisclosed sum of money, though he told Howard he probably could’ve made more money in the long run by continuing to run it himself.
“Do you think it was a mistake selling the website?” Howard asked him.
“Absolutely not. It was the right time. It was a good deal. I had just joined [the Stern Show] and I wanted to dedicate myself to here. I couldn’t do both,” Jon responded. “The timing was right but, yeah, I left a lot of money on the table.”