Eric Fred Norris (born Fred Leo Nukis, July 9, 1955) is an American

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

and the longest-tenured staff member of ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

'', aside from

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

himself. He first met Howard Stern while working at WCCC-FM, a radio station in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

Early life

Fred Norris is the son of Valija Kronberg and Henry Nukis who were Latvian

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

."Fred Norris Is Not A Martian!"
''

The Smoking Gun The Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources. Most ...

''. June 27, 1997. Fred was raised in

Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713 ...

. By the time Fred, the second of two sons, was born, his parents' marriage was already troubled. His biological father left home when Fred was five, but those first few years were turbulent. "There was always tension and rage," Norris remembers. "My father had an alcohol problem. When Dad came home, you hid in the closet because there was always something going on you'd rather not be a part of." Fred spent most of his early childhood alone. When his older brother, Robert, wasn't using Fred as a human punching bag, the brother wanted nothing to do with him. So Fred would escape by reading books, taking long bicycle rides, or watching many afternoon TV reruns (whence came his encyclopedic knowledge of classic fifties TV). "I'd like to state for the record that every person on this show of Howard's, even Robin, at least had a father figure to guide them," he says. "Me, I was on my own." Despite the lack of guidance, Norris managed to navigate his adolescence without major incident. When Norris was 13, his mother married his stepfather, Lewis Norris, a cabinet maker, whom Norris credits with finally making his mother happy and, unlike his own father, his stepfather generally treated Norris with respect. Around this time, he began playing guitar.

Career

A college student at the time, Norris first met Howard Stern while working the overnight shifts at WCCC, an AM and FM radio station in

in the spring of 1979. He continued at WCCC after Stern's departure; though left the station in early 1981 to take a job at WAQY-FM in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

. When Stern became a ratings hit at WWDC in Washington, D.C. that year, he was able to use his success as leverage to persuade the station to hire Norris, who started as the producer on Stern's show in October 1981. He later moved with Stern to New York to work at

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey� ...

in September 1982, and has been with the show ever since.

Acting

Norris has also appeared in several small television and movie roles. He played a younger version of himself in '' Private Parts'' in 1997. He played a

parking enforcement officer A parking enforcement officer (PEO),United State ...

in '' Cruel Intentions'' in 1999 and a head shop owner named Leon on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' in 2013.

Personal life

In 1994, Norris married Allison Furman, a woman he originally met on the "Dial-A-Date" segment of Stern's radio show broadcast on April 10, 1987. The couple have one daughter together, Tess, born in November 2002. In 1993, Norris legally changed his name from Fred Leo Nukis to Eric Fred Norris. On the May 23, 1996 episode of ''The Howard Stern Show'', Stern and the cast had an extended discussion with Norris about this. Norris did not reveal the motivation for the change. Although he did not like the name Fred, he kept it because "Fred Norris" was the name the public knew him by. On the November 13, 2006 broadcast, Stern wondered if anyone ever called Norris by his legally changed name, Eric. Norris responded by stating that no one referred to him as Eric. He went into detail that that was not the reason he changed his name in the first place. Stern revealed he was bewildered why Norris went to the lengths to legally change his name if nobody called him Eric. Norris said that the decision was based on the fact that he had a hostile relationship with his father.

References

External links