The Howie Carr Show

In September 1996, the show experimented with local syndication, sending the show out via ISDN connections to a group of stations around New England. The local experiment was such a success that, in January 1998, ABC Radio Today started syndicating the show nationally. The show did not sustain a large nationwide following and syndication was handed over to SupeRadio. In 2005, Entercom Communications, the owner of WRKO, took over syndication and the show was only offered to New England stations.

Newsmax TV began broadcasting live, daily simulcasts of the show nationally in September 2016.[2]

On July 9, 2007, Carr announced he would leave WRKO when his contract expired that September and would begin hosting a weekday morning drive-time program on FM station WTKK.[3][4] Greater Media, owner of WTKK, reportedly signed him for a five-year deal, though Entercom denies this happened.[5] On September 19, 2007, the show went on hiatus, as Carr's contract expired and a court barred him from moving to WTKK, whose contract offer WRKO had matched.[6] On November 16, Carr resumed hosting on WRKO, under a contract expiring in 2012. Entercom used its option to extend the contract, announcing that Carr would be a fixture on WRKO for the "foreseeable future."[7]

Carr often disparaged Entercom on the air, sometimes reacting to equipment failures by saying "Entercom happens"[8] (adapting the fatalistic expression "shit happens"). Carr was suspended for the week beginning April 16, 2010 for such remarks,[9] though the penalty was concurrent with a scheduled vacation.[10] Carr also disparaged the sports broadcasts that sometimes preempted the show (e.g. referring to the "very exciting Red Sox pre-game show" followed by a loud yawn sound effect) and WRKO's weak signal to the western suburbs in the evening.

Carr's contract with WRKO expired in September 2014 and he moved to WMEX on November 17, 2014.[11] In March 2015, he returned to WRKO, broadcasting from the Armstrong Advisory Group headquarters on Station Street in Needham, Massachusetts, but with the station being an affiliate instead of his employer.[12] Worcester affiliate WCRN handles the distribution.[11][13] In the latter part of 2016 the show relocated to his current studio in the New Balance Building in Brighton. Carr took ownership of the program[14] Affiliates other than WRKO retained the show and new affiliates in New Hampshire were added.[15] As of his one-year anniversary as owner of the show, it had 24 affiliates in six states.[13]

In 2016 Carr attempted to start a Saturday talk show with Curt Schilling as host; while it did appear on internet streaming, no affiliates could be found and it soon ended. Towards the end of 2017, Carr's tumultuous relationship with Entercom would end because of the CBS Radio/Entercom merger, with WRKO spun off to iHeartMedia as a part of the deal on December 19, 2017, to address market concentration concerns in Boston.[16]

Listeners can call Carr's voice mail service,[20] the "Chump Line". Selected messages are played shortly after the start of the show's third hour.

The feature ends with a message, as might be heard on an answering machine: "Thank you for calling Howie Carr -- you chump!" The voice is that of a former summer intern named Trish; when originally recorded, Carr explained away the fact that she, not being a member of the AFTRA guild, was not permitted to work on-air.

House Of Pain - "On Point" is the song played in the background.

On Mondays, Curley reads a selection of the "hate mail" the show has received in the prior week, with Carr and Cormier offering their ironic and sarcastic comments.

Carr occasionally dedicates segments or entire hours to contests for listeners to win prizes. The prizes are sometimes gift certificates from sponsors, but may be T-shirts or other materials promoting a book Carr has written, or other promotional gifts that WRKO has acquired. Carr sometimes sarcastically overstates the desirability of the prizes.

Each Friday, Curley reads police reports that listeners have submitted via fax or e-mail, and the show awards prizes for the two funniest entries. A favorite topic is crimes or incidents involving naked men or women, accompanied by a clip from Randy Newman's song "Naked Man".

The celebrity death pool was a discontinued contest where Howie asked listeners to guess the next famous person likely to die. Elderly actors, politicians and musicians were the most popular choices, but nobody was off limits. A celebrity death among the listener choices resulted in the declaration of a winner, who would receive various prizes from Howie and/or his sponsors. Whenever someone won the "death pool", Carr would dedicate an entire hour to a new pool, in which callers could again select a person in the public eye who would be the next to die and a new list would be compiled. The contest was discontinued due to technical limitations of the station's phones and computers.

Callers wishing to report unsavory or embarrassing details about themselves or others can request the "voice changer." Carr introduces "the Witness Protection Program of The Howie Carr Show," adding, "Now no one will know your identity." The "voice changer" is actually a 1950s sci-fi sound effect that actually does nothing to obscure the caller's voice.

• WPOP 1410 AM/100.9 FM: Hartford

• WRKO 680 AM–Boston
• WXTK 95.1 FM–West Yarmouth/Hyannis
• WCRN 830 AM–Worcester
• WHYN 560 AM–Springfield
• WBSM 1420 AM–New Bedford
• WPKZ 1280AM/105.3 FM–Fitchburg

• WGAN 560 AM/98.5 FM–Portland
• WVOM-FM 103.9 FM–Bangor
• WVQM 101.3 FM–Augusta
• WXME 780 AM–Monticello

• WTPL 107.7 FM: Hillsborough/Concord
• WNTK-FM 99.7 FM: New London
• WUVR 1490 AM/98.9 FM: Lebanon
• WKBK 1290 AM/107.5 FM: Keene
• WFEA 1370 AM/99.9 FM: Manchester
• WTSN 1270 AM/98.1 FM: Dover
• WASR 1420AM: Wolfeboro

• WVMT 620 AM: Burlington