SiriusXM host Howard Stern said on his show this week that his new deal with the Satellite company allows him to take summers off. As a result, those who pay the fee for Stern’s show, will hear reruns until September after this week. Fans are none too happy.
Stern, who’s been broadcasting from home since the pandemic hit, signed a new 5-year deal worth a reported $500 million at the end of 2020.
Fans on a Reddit page voiced their outrage. One wrote: “At this point I think I still listen because of how long I have been listening to this show. It is time to cut the cord. Howard is tired and doesn’t give a shit about his fans anymore. It is time for him to call it a career.”
By Wednesday morning there were well over 500 comments on the page. Another fan wrote, “He doesn’t care about you, he doesn’t care about me. He clearly doesn’t care about the quality of his show. He cares about money, and that’s it.”
Over time the show has steadily gotten shorter. It once began at 6AM but for years has been starting at 7AM. There is also no Friday show. Stern is in his 16th year with SiriusXM.
In addition to his New York City home, the 67-year old Stern and his wife Beth have a home in The Hamptons on Long Island.
I’m a turtle
If I only had the opportunity to play back all the jokes he’s made about Hollywood stars and the bubble they live in. Not to mention all the f-words (gay), n-words and other nastiness over the years. I laughed at all of it. But, he’s now as hypocritical and most politicians and fails to report any wrong doing. Take Cuomo. Early pandemic, Howard did every thing but provide him oral. Then it comes out he’s a pervert, predator who also sent people to die and kill others in nursing homes. Then tried to cover it up. Not a peep from Howard, other than mentioning the story as you’d hear it on NPR station.
This article mentioned he’s off on Fridays. Catch up people, he’s hardcore Mon – Wed. Hamptons Thus – Sun; gotta spend that 50m somewhere.
How about the guests these days? They’ve all been on at least 10 times already. Basically it is his Hollywood network of friends. Come on, Drew Barrymore, David Spade, John Stamos again.
No Robin news? Why? And where are all the funny people going? They leave the show for unknown reasons without a comment from anyone on air. And, they must be under a strict employment agreement because they don’t even say much after the fact. Always hush hush. Come on Shuli, you left to do a podcast in BFE? Nobody believes that.
Does anyone else suspect Beth is a total b-yatch in real life and a dead fish in the sack?
For at least 8 months to a year, Ronnie was the anchor of most of their bits and anything really laughable. At least at times, he truly seems real. I find it most amusing when Ronnie doesn’t take the bate on this, that or the other pot stirring attempt; it brings the show to a halt and you can tell Howard is pissed.
I can only picture Fred sitting through shows, counting his money as closely as he’s counting down the minutes until the final contract is over.
Has anyone listened to the Stuttering John podcast. My God!
Stern is a dirty jew.
“He cares about money, and that’s it.”
Do you know how much money $500 million is? It’s more money than Howard can ever spend, and more money than his kids and grandkids can ever spend. This is beyond wealth. So no, Howard no longer thinks about the money. He’s at a point where he can pay people to care about the money. I think Howard cares about his legacy, and he knows there may have been times when he’s phoned it in. He needs to find new energy, new creativity, and new inspiration. To do that takes time. He can afford it, so he’s taking some time off. I agree with those who say this “outrage” is a made up story that will disappear when he returns. At least he CAN return. Not so with the other radio legend who died a few months ago.
New creativity? How many ways are there for him to talk about his genitals? There is a programming philosophy at work here: You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. But if you REALLY want to catch flies, you know what you have to put out…
This shows me that the days of real creativity and clean entertainment in morning radio (or in Sirius XM’s case, entire channels) are long gone. The days of Klavan & Finch (WNEW), the Gamblings (WOR), Herb Oscar Anderson (WABC), and Joe O’Brien (WMCA) passed decades ago. And we are all the poorer for it.
If you think there is “outrage” about this, you don’t understand conservative media. And since when does .00002% of your cume posting negative stuff count as an “outrage”?
During the last election cycle, Howard started to attack the charade presidency of the Reality Show Con Artist and conservative media has to attack anyone that is a threat to blowing the lid off their scams to keep whites scared and resentful of people of color so they don’t realize they are being shafted.
After their fawning praise of Howard for the last 35 years, the gutter rag tabloid has been publishing negative Howard stories since he started to criticize conservatives, often under the cover of shadowy “insiders”.
They view anyone that speaks out as a threat and they have to attack and try to bring them down. Ask Mueller and Fauci.
All of this “outrage” is generated by conservative misinformation. Unfortunately nearly half this country is too stupid, too lazy and/or too biased to see through it.
Trump Derangemet Syndrome is real. Find a cure.
Oh shut the fuck up
It’s clear SiriusXM still believes Howard is a significant draw for new subscribers and to retain existing ones. Otherwise, there’s no reason to agree to a deal like this. Or to let him work three days a week. Or to have him start at 7 and put on a shorter show. Notice how Robin doesn’t do the news anymore? And to have other long vacations during the rest of the year. Look, I get it. He’s 67. The novelty of the show has long since worn off. It’s not like he needs the money.
The one silver lining of this is it may give more casual listeners a chance to catch up with some of Howard’s interviews, which are by far the most interesting part of the show. He’s a great listener as well as a questioner of celebrities who aren’t afraid to open up to him. And when he has a guest he’s particularly enamored with, the interview will go as long as he wants and without a break. IIRC, the one with James Taylor went over two hours. And it was always interesting.
I note the comments here that are sympathetic to Stern due to his shift. I worked mornings for a network that was based in Colorado and had to be in at 2:45 am. It was horrible, but I loved radio and forced my body to do it. No way I could have done that for many years though. So, I do get it.
That said, Howard isn’t on terrestrial radio. In the case of Sirius XM, his listeners are PAYING to hear him. And he gets summers off? And 3 days a week? That’s not what they paid for. So it’s a bait and switch. While I think Stern is just mailing it in at this point (based on the quality of his content now), ultimately it’s Sirius XM who’s ripping people off. If you’re mad, I’d suggest dropping the Stern channels and calling it a day. That will send more of a message than a nastygram on a comment board.
Hey Sirius XM: Want a good, cheap Stern substitute? Just go to a local gym and hang a couple of microphones in the men’s locker room. Problem solved! Then you can take that $500M and put it into your music programming.
Howard and I both started in radio in 1976. I just retired after 45 years, the last 36 in morning radio. I can tell you without the millions how he’s feeling about morning radio.
A) He’s tired. Nobody wants to get up at 4am 5 days a week. For the last 2 years, every Monday I had to try to motivate myself to do another week of radio.
B) I love radio. It’s the only thing I’ve ever done and I was afraid if I stopped doing it, I’d miss it a lot.
C) When you matter to listeners, they make you feel special and you’re afraid you won’t be important any longer.
I’ve been retired for a month. I haven’t missed it yet and especially the way radio has evolved to more work for fewer people. I sleep until whenever I want to these days and I really like it. You can still do the fun things in radio in your spare time. Podcasting, appearances and I still do sports because I enjoy it. You’ll still be Howard Stern, not just THAT Howard Stern.
I know they’ll let you do whatever you want, but it’s not fair to the listeners. Let them find the next Howard Stern because the longer you hang on, the longer they’ll put it off.
Take your money and go home, do what you want and enjoy life every day. You’ll never have more energy to do it. The longer you wait, the less time you have to do all the things you’ve wanted to do.
Typos… fat fingers, sorry. Translation:
I Think it’s great! Though I feel for the fans and their lack of Stern in the summer, I’ll bet they would sing a different tune if he had decided to stop all together.
What people don’t realize or think about is that these hosts wake up at 3 am daily five days a week, and don’t take lots of time off. Howard, and most other hosts, devote their lives to their audiences.
Howard may have weighed retirement vs summers off, so the fans get him a few more years before retirement. It’s a good alternative for the fans and a good compromise for Howard.
And kudos for pulling off a great deal like that. It’s great to be in such a position. Congratulations. Now he can take time off and go painting ( with me?) .
And what a terrific painter you are, Mr. Plein Air! If you get Howard to go painting with you, I’d like to go too!
I think it’s great! Though I feel for the fans and their lack of Stern in the summer, I’ll bet they would ding a different tune if he had decided to stop all together.
What people don’t realize or think about is that these hosts WXKR up at 3 am dilly, five days a week, and don’t tske lots of time off. Howard, and most other hosts, devote their lives to their audiences.
Howard may have weighed retirement vs summers off, so the fans get him a few more years before retirement. It’s a good alternative for the fans and a good compromise for Howard.
And kudos for pulling off a great deal like that. It’s great to be in such a position. Congratulations. Noe he can take time off and go painting ( with me?) .
This is not a Howard Stern problem. This is a problem for the conventional (or “terrestrial”) radio station industry.
Station owners in market after market have simply failed to come up with content/personalities that are more compelling — not more vulgar, but more compelling- to listen to, than Howard Stern. If they had, Stern would be a non-story ladies and gentlemen.
That is the reality of the situation. …Debate this reality, as you will.
And sadly, the big bohemiths like iHeart, Audacious , Beasley and others refuse to invest significant money in new personalities, and bring them along. As long-term morning personalities retire now, they are replaced with low cost “personalities.”
As for the other dayparts, from which morning personalities often came from, you cannot “promote” to the morning show, voice tracking. “Succession plans” no longer exist.
In fact, there is “no plan” at the bohemiths now, except continued debt servicing and executive compensation. And the periodic continued layoffs.
AMEN. This is so true. Everyone says they want different compelling and something that stands out but when they get it they freak out and go back to the same old news where they are and jacking between songs. They’re doing it in the top five markets in the morning. I love this business I love what I do but I’m certain I see a trend that scares the crap out of me…
As for Stern he is Tom Brady he is Michael Jordan he is the GOAT. Love him or hate him there’s a reason he’s the only person in this business that makes $120 million a year and works three days a week. Is he tired yes should he be yes does he deserve a break absolutely the man is a billionaire or close to it at this point from RADIO literally do you need to keep going. There was a comment from somebody who did mornings for 45 years. He said he could barely get up for the week on Monday I understand that but he retired and walked away Howard needs to do the same that doesn’t mean he is still the greatest of all time. I have a feeling that SiriusXM is afraid to lose him so they’re giving him whatever he wants. Do you know how many quality on our town you could get for $120 million a year? It’s time to hang it up Howard you’re the greatest of all time we love you retire with your beautiful family and enjoy the Hamptons stop collecting checks and putting on 90 shows a year!
Damn AUTO CORRECT: it should say do you know how many on air radio talent you could get of high-quality for $120 million a year. TYPO lol!
This just in….there’s no Thursday show, either. The show airs live Mon.-Wed. Ready, fire, aim Radio Ink.
If Howard had revealed this when he re-upped it would have gone down a lot easier. What’next? Two days a week live? BW