Sirius on the verge of cancelling Howard Stern? 'No longer worth the investment'

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Howard Stern’s satellite radio show on Sirius XM could be coming to an end after almost 20 years.

Reports are swirling that the company is on the verge of cancelling the famous shock jock’s Howard Stern Show when his current contract expires at the end of the year.

Stern, 71, has mulled retirement over the last year, but according to the U.S. Sun “there’s no way (Sirius) can keep paying his salary” amidst declining listenership.

“Stern’s contract is up in the fall and while Sirius is planning to make him an offer, they don’t intend for him to take it,” one insider told the outlet. “Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want. It’s no longer worth the investment.”

Another source said that Stern’s criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump and Americans who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine are also likely playing a role in the company’s decision.

“If Sirius isn’t going to give Stern a good offer, I don’t think it would have anything to do with his ratings,” the source claimed. “It’s more likely everything to do with the political climate.”

In the run-up to the 2024 election, Stern, who is on vacation for the summer, promoted interviews with then-U.S. President Joe Biden and the eventual Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

But one person in the know claims that Stern and the network are deep in negotiations and there is still a chance he’ll return.

“He may do a 1-2 year contract if they can meet him where he wants financially. He doesn’t want to pull the plug on his employees like this,” the insider told the Daily Mail.

Both publications hint that if Stern’s show is not renewed, he’ll likely cut a deal to sell the company his catalogue to air his past broadcasts and celebrity interviews on channels Howard 100 and Howard 101.

After being known as the “bad boy” of radio in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, Stern had softened his image in recent years and said he was happy to be known as “woke,” calling it a “compliment.”

“I hear that a lot that I’m not good anymore because I’m woke,” Stern said in 2023. But Stern said he was unmoved by such insults. “I’ll tell you how I feel about it. To me the opposite of woke is being asleep,” he said.

“If woke means I can’t get behind Trump, which is what I think it means, or that I support people who want to be transgender or I’m for the vaccine, dude call me woke as you f***ing want,” he said.

Stern also tackled claims by Trump and his supporters that Biden won the 2020 U.S. election thanks to fraudulent votes.

“Here’s how woke I am: I believe the election was not rigged,” he swiped.

Last year, Stern, as he plugged campaigns being run by Biden and Harris, he alienated some of his listeners when he blasted Americans who cast their vote for Trump.

“I don’t agree with Trump politically, I don’t think he should be anywhere near the White House. I don’t hate the guy. I hate the people who vote for him. I think they’re stupid. I do. I’ll be honest with you, I have no respect for you,” Stern said.

Trump – who appeared many times as a guest on Stern’s radio show – didn’t take the denunciations lightly, calling him a “broken weirdo” in 2023. 

“The real Howard Stern is a weak, pathetic, and disloyal guy, who lost his friends and MUCH of his audience,” Trump vented on his Truth Social platform.

“I did his show many times in the good old days, and then he went Woke, and nobody cares about him any longer,” Trump continued.

Last year during an earnings call, SiriusXM president Scott Greenstein said he hoped Stern’s show “continues forever.”

After Trump’s re-election, Stern vowed to stop talking about politics. But with a rumoured salary that is north of $100 million a year, Stern may have found his past attacks against the president had already led many subscribers to tune out.

“Go woke, go home!” LindellTV host Vanessa Broussard cheered on X as Stern’s name became a trending topic. Assistant news director of Florida Voice News, Eric Daugherty, also weighed in, writing, “Unfunny, anti-Trump hosts are losing their shows EN MASSE. The culture has shifted.”

Last month, CBS announced it was ending The Late Show With Stephen Colbert calling it a “financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” (the program was reportedly losing $40 million to $50 million a year).

Colbert was one of Trump’s most persistent late-night critics and during a recent segment of the program, he criticized the deal between the president and Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that was deceptively edited. Colbert called the $16 million settlement a “big fat bribe.”

Trump mocked the 61-year-old comedian after he announced the news.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

But Colbert said he plans to continue slagging Trump as he remains on the air until next May.

“Now for the next 10 months, the gloves are off. I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump. I don’t care for him. Doesn’t have the skillset to be President,” Colbert said. 

mdaniell@postmedia.com