For years, Donald Trump was one of the most frequent guests on Howard Stern’s radio program, calling in regularly between the early 1990s and his first presidential campaign. The appearances were loose, often provocative and largely unfiltered — a format that rewarded candor and shock value in equal measure.

Now, as Mr. Trump seeks to shape the narrative around his past and present controversies, those archived interviews have resurfaced, circulating widely online and drawing renewed scrutiny.

Between 1993 and 2015, Mr. Trump logged dozens of conversations with Mr. Stern, speaking at length about his business ventures, celebrity culture and personal life. By Mr. Stern’s own accounting, Mr. Trump appeared more frequently than almost any other public figure. The dynamic between the two men was rooted in a kind of mutual performance: Mr. Stern posed blunt or intimate questions; Mr. Trump answered with brash confidence.

“He would get on and no matter what I asked him, he would answer,” Mr. Stern recalled in a recent interview reflecting on that period. “Most people, if they’re having that thought, keep that pretty guarded. Not Donald.”

At the time, the segments were consumed as entertainment. Mr. Trump was a real estate developer and television personality, known for “The Apprentice,” and his remarks — about beauty standards, relationships and fame — fit the tone of shock-jock radio. But in the context of a former president and current candidate, the same comments carry different weight.

Several clips that have regained attention involve Mr. Trump discussing women in blunt, sometimes demeaning terms. In one 2002 exchange, he joked about age and attractiveness in a way critics now cite as evidence of a longstanding pattern of objectification. In another, he engaged in explicit banter about his relationship with Melania Knauss, now Melania Trump, including their sex life and public displays of affection.

In a 1999 call promoting a boxing event at his Taj Mahal casino, Mr. Trump put Ms. Knauss on the phone with Mr. Stern, who asked her a series of intimate questions on air. Mr. Trump laughed along. At the time, the exchange was treated as titillation typical of the program’s format. Today, it is being reexamined through a lens shaped by the #MeToo movement and evolving cultural standards.

Other clips feature Mr. Trump boasting about his dating life or speculating about women’s appearances in Hollywood. Defenders argue that the comments were part of a persona cultivated for entertainment — exaggerated, unserious and reflective of a different media era. Critics counter that they reveal attitudes inconsistent with the dignity expected of a national leader.

The renewed focus on the Stern archives comes amid broader controversies surrounding Mr. Trump, including ongoing debates about the handling of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein. Some of Mr. Trump’s political opponents have drawn connections between his past media statements and current allegations, though no new charges have emerged from the re-circulated audio itself.

Mr. Trump has not addressed each specific clip in detail, but he has long maintained that remarks made in entertainment settings should not be conflated with official conduct. During his 2016 campaign, when a separate recording surfaced of him making lewd comments about women, he dismissed the remarks as “locker room talk,” while apologizing to those offended.

The Stern recordings differ in that they span more than a decade and were made voluntarily, often with Mr. Trump calling in unprompted. Media scholars note that they offer an unusually extensive archive of unscripted commentary from a figure who would later ascend to the presidency.

“They’re a time capsule,” said one communications professor who studies political branding. “They show how celebrity culture and politics have merged. The same qualities that made him compelling radio — unpredictability, boundary-pushing — later became central to his political appeal.”

Indeed, Mr. Stern himself has described Mr. Trump as an ideal radio guest precisely because he was willing to say what others would not. In interviews after the 2016 election, Mr. Stern suggested that journalists quoting the show’s more outrageous exchanges sometimes stripped them of their original comedic context. Still, he acknowledged that the recordings were authentic reflections of conversations that took place.

The political ramifications of the resurfaced audio remain uncertain. Mr. Trump’s supporters have historically shown resilience in the face of controversies that might have derailed other candidates. Many view the renewed attention as a coordinated attempt to relitigate old material rather than engage current policy debates.

At the same time, the circulation of the clips underscores how little of modern public life disappears. The digital archive is expansive and permanent; statements made decades ago can be retrieved, shared and reframed in seconds. For a political figure whose career has unfolded in the glare of media spectacle, that record is especially voluminous.

In the end, the question may be less about any single remark than about continuity. The Stern interviews present a portrait of Mr. Trump as he was before the presidency: irreverent, self-promotional and unguarded. For critics, the tapes confirm a pattern of behavior that has persisted. For supporters, they reflect the authenticity that distinguishes him from more scripted politicians.

As the campaign season intensifies, the revival of those radio exchanges serves as a reminder that in the age of archived media, the past is never entirely past — and that the line between entertainment and governance, once blurred, can be difficult to redraw.