King of All Retirement?
Fans of The Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM satellite radio may have noticed a familiar tone in the King of All Media’s voice lately. For those who remember the ugly, combative days of terrestrial radio, it’s all too familiar.
Howard Stern’s five year contract with Sirius XM satellite radio is scheduled to expire in January 2011—now just a year and a half away. The King of All Media has made no secret of his reluctance to re-up with the satellite radio service. Howard Stern regularly describes himself as “exhausted” and states that he would like to have some time to enjoy his life with his family. Howard Stern’s co-hosts have asserted that the King is a workaholic and will go crazy in self-imposed retirement.
Although Howard Stern has made no explicit statement about his plans once his Sirius contract is up, regular listeners may have noticed the Howard Stern’s reluctance to tow the party line for Sirius XM the way that he has in the past. When Stern first joined the satellite radio service, he regularly spoke about how refreshing it was to work at a radio station where he was free to exercise his creativity without the restrictions and bureaucracy that he was faced with on terrestrial radio. Lately, though, Howard Stern has been more critical of the company that most would agree he is single-handedly keeping afloat.
Sirius XM recently released their long-awaited iPhone application without access to Howard Stern’s channels. Howard Stern responded by stating that contractual conflicts with Apple kept him off of the new iPhone. Howard Stern expressed further frustration with Sirius XM when they leisurely announced that talk show superstar Rosie O’Donnell would be hosting a show on satellite in Fall 2009. Stern recently brought O’Donnell into the studio to air out their long-running feud. Sirius XM executives apparently pounced on O’Donnell shortly after the interview and began brokering a deal, leaving Howard Stern out in the cold.
“Don’t treat me special, I’m just an employee,” sighed Howard Stern, after the announcement that Rosie O’Donnell was joining Sirius XM. “Listen, I tend to get overly exuberant and think of myself as part of something and then I realize I’m just an employee.” Fred Norris then cued up and played the Kansas classic “Dust in the Wind.”
Although we can’t start calling the executives at Sirius XM “Pig Vomit” just yet, there’s definitely been a change in tone regarding Howard Stern’s love for his satellite radio home. Perhaps its wedded bliss that’s making Howard Stern long to sleep in past 4:00AM? Or maybe there are still bigger broadcast mountains to climb on Stern’s horizon? Fans from around the world will wait with bated breath to hear about the King of All Media’s next step.
Does thinking about the good ole days make you want to hear Howard Stern go off on the FCC? Relive the good times here:
Comments
You basically have it pegged when you say this is all geared to the new contract. Howard Stern is a great self-promotor. Pay him enough, though, and he'll be happy. He's afraid he won't be getting a big enough raise when it comes time to re-up. He's whispering the hint to them now.
who cares? I didn't even know he was still around
I hope you're right Steve, or else I won't have much left to "examine"!!!
What does it matter? He is hardly there now. Plus with Sirius raping every subscriber it just isn't worth it to keep paying for him 1/2 the time. He works for days a week, takes a weeks vacation every month, thats 12 days a month. My radio went out so I bought a new $169.00 radio. When I called Sirius to change radios they told me that there's a $10.00 charge for the switch. I told them they were nuts they told me they would bill me. When I didn't pay they turned my radio off even though I had 8 months left on the years subscription. I called and emailed Howards show and they ignored the emails and hung the phone up on me. Pretty nice way to treat someone thats been a Sirius subsciber from the start. Good ridance to him, I hope he chokes on the money they stole from me.
I'm as big a Stern fan as they come, and even I am sick of the four day weeks, the constant complaining of how much Howard works (wow a whole four and a half hour show), and the excessive amount of vacations he takes. Also Howard has turned into a snob on the show, constantly making fun of anybody outside of New York and if they are all lower than he and his staff, and if I have to hear about his beloved Beth or there stupid dog another day, I just might have to turn off the subscription all together.
Also forgot to mention the HORRIBLE programming Howard puts on his channels when he isn't on air. I'm very surprised by this, he has always seemed to take great pride in his work. To replay what they just had on six months ago during a two week long vacation is just pure lazy. Come on Stern, give us our moneys worth or go do what you always threaten to do, retire and go stare at a wall.
I agree that it is a drag when the Stern Show is on vacation, but Sirius has a lot to offer. Their music is better than terrestrial, as is their news & talk.
As for whether Stern will stay or not, I'm leaning towards him not staying. Stern has shown that he was worth the money and he has nothing left to prove. He should enjoy retirement. Even though Sirius is a quality product I cannot forsee them lasting much longer in this recession.
Wow!!! I didn't know there was so much ire among the fans! This may inspire an investigative piece!!! :)
Hi Liz, gosh, I take exception to "Lately, though, Howard Stern has been more critical of the company that most would agree he is single-handedly keeping afloat."
You have to remember that before the merger, XM was doing just fine without Howard Stern. Yes, Howard added subscribers for Sirius, but I assure you that he is not keeping Sirius afloat. I've been a subscriber since 2004 of Sirius. I do listen to Howard often, but if he leaves, I'm still listening to Sat Rad. I don't think he's dragging the Coffee House or Sirius Sinatra channels with him if he goes...
Stern is a user and a far cry from what he used to be (poor struggling DJ that was fresh and funny)... He's willing to attack any employer that falls out of favor after he's used them up or they don't see things his way. He's just an overpaid multi-millonaire who says one thing and does another. His treatment of the wack pack has been disgusting.. Think he could have spent a few bucks and helped Kenneth Keith Calenback? Sirius is a ripoff these days, for hanging with them all these years they should have merged the XM Sirius channels and not tried to charge loyal users extra for the best of stuff... They also needed to go with a volume marketing model because each additional user costs almost nothing ie: millions of subscribers at a few bucks a head rather than the model they've tried to implement. There current subscriber base can't sustain them. I'm sick of both of them and new technologies will give us other options soon...
Workaholic? He takes off every single friday a week and like 15 weeks of vacation a year??? Good go your worthless. Seriously how much RADIO has he done? Look back, think about it.
Is this another NAB sponsored article?
Wow... Yeah, he will leave because he won't get the same deal. He won't get the same money from a company that is bleeding cash and he does not deserve to get 4 day weeks and 3+ months off a year - that is disgusting on Sirius' part; can't blame Howard, if someone offered it to me I would do the same.
GOOD NEWS!! There is a new DVD movie out about the whole Sirius XM story called: Stock Shock. Very good flick and explains stock market manipulation as well. Stock Shock is at amazon.com and stockshockmovie.com
I think Stern fans would do well to find a suitable replacement, just in case it is over next year. I have been listening to Adam Carolla's pod cast during this vacation and it's very good. It's only about 1 1/2 hours long, and it's free to download on iTunes.
I suspect this is a way to broker a better deal. Everybody starts complaining when their contract is close to being up.
-Liz Kelly
I haven't listened to Stern on a regular basis since mid 2004. Used to be a hard core listener, but it just seemed he was starting to lose it in 2002 or so. Saying how he invented everything, and how every other talk guy was ripping him off. Even said he didn't want to be in a business with a "Bubba the love sponge" and then goes and puts bubba on one of his channels. I guess I really lost interest in him and his show when it was clear he was a flat out liar to his fans. Your telling me he couldn't have got Jackie the $$$ he wanted to stay?? Come on. Same thing with billy West. He was GREAT in the 1990's but hasn't been even good in a long, long time. He should hang up his mic before his great career has an awful ending. It's like seeing Emmit Smith as a Cardinal, or OJ as a 49ers, Namath as a Ram , Franco Harris as a Seahawk, or Timmy Brown as a Buc.
With or without Howard Stern - Sirius/Xm is good radio. All kinds of music, very few stations with commercials, sporting events, news, etc. I don't listen to Stern as much anymore - because as other people have pointed out - all we hear is how wonderful he is and how stupid everyone else is. Robin talks like a puppet and never expresses her own opinion. She is like a "Stepford Wife" - always has to agree. Maybe we are all just "Sterned out".
go to Dairy Queen you dufus.....\
I am a huge Stern fan and have been for a long time. I think he has become very lazy over the last couple of years with him taking so much time off and filling the radio with reruns of terrible shows...then tries to tell us how valuable those old episodes are. He once represented the working man and the common man, but has long since forgotten that. He complains about working his 4 hour, 4 day a week show, but takes at least 12-15 weeks off a year...and is getting paid 100 million dollars for that!!! Does he not remember that many people in this recession are starving, and losing all that they have worked for...but keep paying for that 17+ dollar a month subscription, only to get a re-run or show where he puts no effort in?
Its obvious he has lost touch with reality a long time ago. His shows now are for the most part, quite boring, as he fills in time with stories of Beth, animals and his string of "friends" that he rarely sees. A few months ago he went to California for some event, and went to a party that had many stars and celebs at it. It was the base of his next 2 weeks of shows.... He was name dropping and running on about the most basic of conversations...but all in the hopes of showing us how important he still is. I think when he came out of his shell 5 years ago, and was allowed to broadcast whatever he wanted, no restrictions...it was a dawn of a new age...but unless he starts putting effort into his show again, and stop trying to sway us with his constant whining about his contract or how people don't treat him properly... then he could easily fade to black. The sad fact is, that other than Howard, Robin and Fred and possibly Gary, the rest of the staff NEED this job. None of them are making any type of cash relative to what Howard commands...but they do 90% of the work.
Maybe after 5 years of none of him, his tapes might then become funny...but not now.
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