Howard Stern asks Kamala Harris about Liz Cheney in her cabinet
Kamala Harris talked about having Republicans in her Cabinet, with one potential prospect being Liz Cheney, on Howard Stern’s radio show.
The King of All Media has extended his reign – for now.
Howard Stern eventually informed listeners of his SiriusXM satellite radio show Monday morning that “The Howard Stern Show” and its parent channels Howard 100 and Howard 101 aren’t going anywhere.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
While no new contract has been signed, Stern joked about the “annoying” rumors that started during the show’s summer break that his show was being canceled.
“Now I can’t leave. (Screw) you and these rumors,” he continued, adding that Sirius brass has approached him “as they normally do and they’re fantastic. They’ve been nothing but lovely. We’ve been talking.”
The Sept. 8 update comes almost a week later than planned, a delay caused by “a cold from hell” Stern, 71, said. “I went out the last week of my vacation and actually interacted with people and I got so sick … I had no voice whatsoever.”
Howard Stern, Andy Cohen joke with listeners about SiriusXM show
Stern’s return came after a 15-minute bit at the start of the show with friend and SiriusXM colleague Andy Cohen, who claimed that he was now the host of a rebranded “Andy 100.” The classic Stern misdirect briefly confused listeners and leaned into the unfounded rumors that SiriusXM wasn’t planning to renew Stern’s current five-year contract, which expires in December.
For several weeks in August, tabloid reports cited Stern’s hefty salary – reportedly $500 million when he re-inked in 2020 – as well as a changing media landscape as reasons the pioneering show would end.
There was “zero truth” to any the rumors, Stern said, before chuckling as he played a montage of news clips suggesting his hatred of podcasts, his age and politics as reasons for his supposed professional demise.
“None of this is real; they were trying to create a story,” Stern said of the numerous news stories. “I don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Howard Stern says competition ‘only improves my situation’
Stern signed with Sirius in 2004 when it was competing with XM radio and promptly, according to Sirius, boosted subscribers from 600,000 to 6 million.
It was seismic event when Stern, a frequent target of the FCC because of his often-crass radio bits, departed “terrestrial” radio, where he was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005.
His first show on Sirius aired in January 2006.
For years, Stern occupied rarified air, an unrestricted satellite radio show where high-profile celebrities could chat, unfiltered, for hours.
But SiriusXM has added several starry podcasts to its stable, notably Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy,” which landed on the platform in 2024 for a three-year contract reportedly worth $125 million.
“I want her to be super successful because it only improves my situation because there are more people subscribing,” Stern said Monday in response to speculation that he was unhappy with Cooper sharing the SiriusXM marquee.
While Stern has escalating competition in the in-depth-chat-with-famous-people arena, his show is just as beloved by devotees for its iconic side players.
Who else is on ‘The Howard Stern Show’?
The trio of cohost Robin Quivers, producer/writer/sound effects wizard Fred Norris and oft-mocked executive producer Gary Dell’Abate are vital components of “The Howard Stern Show” and have been with Stern since the earliest days of a career that began its march to superstardom in the late-’70s and early ’80s.
After several years on the satellite provider, Stern, who married second wife Beth in 2008, notably softened his image. It was a result, he frequently told his on-air audience, of intense therapy and maturation.