Howard Stern Show Coming to Vegas?

One of the craziest things I have ever seen in Las Vegas are the visits Howard Stern's radio show used to make every year. Stern's crew would land at the Hard Rock, and for a few days this town would go nutty. I can only speculate at the number of comps and perks that the casino offered Stern to get the show to do those remote broadcasts. The publicity value of the visits was priceless. When I headed down there the Hard Rock was always so packed; tourists and locals, VIPs and regular folks all elbow to elbow, pushing for space that I could hardly fit my body inside the lobby.

Since the last time Stern visited, two things have changed. Howard Stern has gone to satellite radio and the Hard Rock has been sold by Peter Morton to a publicly held company. I told Artie Lange before our interview that no publicly held company that is accountable to stockholders is likely to agree to do what the Hard Rock probably did to bring the Howard Stern show to Vegas. Lange agreed that considering the costs and the risks of controversy, the benefits of having the Stern show on the property are the sort of thing that a private owner grasps far more easily.

The Palms is privately owned. And when I introduced Lange to Palms Director of Public Relations Larry Fink, a Stern show visit was clearly on the minds of both men. Lange mentioned that Stern might want to bring his crew back this summer and Fink immediately offered Lange a tour of the new Fantasy Tower suites. Lange accepted, and from what fans of the show tell me, he was raving about the accommodations at the Palms on the show earlier this week. We shall see....

(Photo: Stuart Ramsom / AP)