"Your job is to stay under control," said Howard Stern in the heated exchange with Artie Lange.

"And then I can't do my job... I can't guarantee you that won't do that again," replied Lange.

Stern: "Well then you can't be here."

Lange: "Then I won't be here anymore."

Stern: "You can't Art... you can't act that way."

Lange: "Howard I love you, but I can't do it anymore... I'm an out of control person"

Stern: "Alright, then you can't be here... If you can't control throwing things at people..."

Lange: "I resign, I'm sorry, I can't do it anymore."

"Then I accept," replied Stern.

As the spat continued, Lange became enraged and physically lashed out at Teddy, but the physical confrontation was apparently diffused by other members in the studio.

When Lange returned, he said Teddy would be "dead" had he reached him and that he'd be in jail.

Stern said he cannot condone Lange's actions, but Artie (who's been prone to such outbursts) said he can't guarantee he won't act out in the future.

Artie then offered his resignation, and Stern accepted but told Lange to leave and cool off.

Teddy returned to the studio several minutes later and said there was overreacting from everyone. Howard Stern and producer Gary Dell'Abate said they "did not know what to make of it all."

Talker's Magazine has once again released its annual list of the "heavy hundred" - a subjective ranking of the top radio talk show hosts around the country.

This will be the 2nd year in a row that satellite radio "shock jocks" Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony will be sharing the Top 20, though there were definitely some changes in ranking since last year.

Howard Stern dropped from #12 last year to #13 this year, and while his ranking dropped, Talker's Magazine still acknowledged that he is the "father of hot talk radio" and "the most listened-to satellite radio talk host."

Opie & Anthony dropped from #6 last year, to this year's ranking of #17. Sadly, Talker's placed Mancow above O&A this year... and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why. The industry publication was kind enough to label Opie & Anthony as the "leading practitioners of hot talk" and called them "topical and humorous."

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage took the top three spots.

A dubious distinction indeed.

[Talkers Heavy Hundred 2008]

(Due to a high level of spam, comments have been turned off on this post)

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) submitted a letter to the FCC yesterday, voicing their general opposition to the Sirius-XM merger.

And one of the main reasons as to why they don't approve of the transaction is... Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and Bubba the Love Sponge.

"One only has to evaluate the current programming now offered by Sirius and XM to recognize that our concerns and fears are well founded," the NCNW wrote in their letter to the FCC Chairman. "Programming such as Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, and Bubba the Love Sponge - which help to perpetuate racist and sexist stereotypes in our culture - drive the business of both companies." (emphasis added)

The African-American women's organization goes on to say: "A Sirius - XM satellite radio monopoly will focus it (sic) resources on only its most profitable audiences, with more of the same lowest-common-denominator programming of the Howard Stern variety."

That's quite the assumption for a post-merger scenario.

And if that's the case, why wait? Both companies already seek profitability right now. Why would XM hire Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Maya Angelou, and the Reverend Al Sharpton - after hiring Opie & Anthony mind you - if selling out to the "lowest-common-denominator" was such a priority?

Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and Bubba the Love Sponge constitute only 3 channels out of over 300 combined - that's 1% of all programming offered by Sirius and XM together - let's not forget that.

The National Council of Negro Women goes on to voice their support for Georgetown Partners. Georgetown, which also has the support of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, is asking that Sirius and XM be required to hand over 20% of their channel capacity so as to "create competition and diversity" in satellite radio.

Disgusting.

[Read the full letter (PDF)]

Stern made an appearance on David Letterman last night. For those who missed it, watch the video below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Howard Stern effectively doubled the size of his penthouse condominium in Manhattan when he bought the apartment directly below for $15.1 million, according to the New York Post.

His current condo on 54th floor of the Millennium Tower, which is at 101 W. 67th Street, measures in at around 4,200 square feet. He first bought into the building in 1998, and combined two units (3,138 sqft, and 1,011 sqft), for just under $5.8 million.

But with the addition of the apartment below his current condo, Stern is effectively doubling the size of his residence to a respectable 8,400 square feet.

“Before he bought it, he had to get permission from the building's board to combine the floors," one resident told The Post.

According to the Brown Harris Stevens listing, the “triple-mint" eight-room apartment on the 53rd floor includes three bedrooms, 4.5 baths, an office and a library. Not bad, but it's still only half the size of his 16,000 sqft mansion which is still under construction in Southampton.

[New York Post]

Much of the incredible amount of exposure surrounding Howard Stern's move to Sirius hasn't just been the fact that he's on uncensored radio - it's how much they paid him to make the move. And the media obsession hasn't ended even two year later...

Forbes recently released it's Biggest Celebrity Paydays Of 2007, and Howard Stern (who topped last year’s list) comes in at Number 3.

Stern earned the honorable position (ahead of Jay-Z and Oscar De La Hoya) thanks to a stock bonus valued at $82 million. The reason? Helping Sirius boost subscription numbers for a second year in a row.

[Forbes]