Private Parts

Private Parts is the first book by American radio personality Howard Stern. It was released on October 7, 1993 by Simon & Schuster and edited by Larry "Ratso" Sloman and Judith Regan. By mid-1992, Stern's radio show The Howard Stern Show had become the number one morning program in New York City and had hosted the Saturday night television show The Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV, since 1990. After development on a feature film for New Line Cinema fell through, Stern secured a deal with Simon & Schuster in early 1993 to write a book. Private Parts was an instant commercial success upon release. It debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained there for five weeks. After five days, it became the fastest selling title in Simon & Schuster's history. A paperback edition with extra material was released in 1994. The autobiographical chapters of the book were adapted into the 1997 feature film Private Parts, which starred Stern and his radio show staff playing themselves. This release was supported with a second paperback print of the book. Background By 1993, Stern had been the host of his morning radio show, The Howard Stern Show, at WXRK in New York City for over six years. In January of that year, the show was syndicated to ten markets and had become the first to be number one in New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia simultaneously. Stern had also landed success in television as the host of The Howard Stern Show on WWOR-TV and The Howard Stern "Interview" on E!. However, development for a feature film with New Line Cinema based on his Fartman character was delayed and ultimately fell through in 1993. In February 1993, the press reported that Stern had entered talks with publisher Simon & Schuster to write a book. Stern was approached by the publisher and found the project an attractive one as it would help strengthen his self-proclaimed title of "King of All Media". He believed that they wanted him following the success of The Way Things Ought to Be, the first book by popular conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, which generated strong sales and became a success on The New York Times Best Seller list. Stern accepted, partly for the "great advance" that was offered, which was estimated to be worth over $1 million, and that Simon & Schuster was a prestigious company. On March 23, 1993, Stern held a live press conference on his radio show to announce the deal and aimed for a release in October of that year.