The Jackie days were the best and when he left it was never the same. Artie was good but could never replace Jackie. In one of Stern's books he said "Jackie was much more important to the show than anyone gave him credit for. Also, Jackie thought he was more important to the show than really was." No one saw that Jackie would feed Howard stuff on paper during the show for him to use and that was his main job, make Howard funny. I blame Jackie's stupid wife for fucking up that situation.
Stern, Robin, and Fred ran out of funny after Jackie left. They started to rely upon High Pitch Eric, and Sal The Stock Broker and Benji for content and the show turned to shit. Let's not forget the loss of Billy West. Those 5 together for those few years was the best radio ever.
When i started listening in the late 90's, Billy West had left the show . I wish i could have heard him. At least the ones that are still around are fun to listen to for me. Red Peters with his sings make me laugh. Haven't heard Crazy Alice in a while. The impersonations of Gary and the songs attributed to him are downright funny as heck. I could listen to that all day. One good thing is that the shows are repeated during the day and the latter part of the week.
Thank you too for the reply and the stuff you posted, very much appreciated !