Howard Stern ended months of speculation and guessing games as he announced first thing Thursday morning that he had agreed to a 5-year contract extension with Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Stern’s contract was originally scheduled to end during the week of December 13th, with only a handful of shows remaining. As always, he would not discuss the financial details of the contract, but stated he was very happy with the deal.
Some changes come with the new deal, some announced, others hinted on. A definite change in content delivery is the availability of the show through other platforms, such as the Sirius XM apps for smart phones and other devices. SiriusXM is currently available via app, but the Stern Show was not available through it.
Other changes Howard hinted at were schedule and workload. Obviously, this was going to change if you’ve listened to Howard over the past few years. We may see less hours in the broadcast, fewer days broadcasting through the week, or a change in time. Howard said these details were still being hammered out and did not elaborate any further on them.
In a ball-busting bit for the show, Howard had some fun with staffer Sal “the Stockbroker” Governale, who came in late and missed Stern’s entire contract announcement. Howard marched his staff into the studio and they all pretended to be hearing the announcement for the first time. Of course, Howard said he would be “riding off into the sunset” and retiring… which projected Sal, who had no future plans or financial options if the show stopped broadcasting, into a sobbing fit. No, he didn’t cry tears of sadness, Sal bawled loudly complete with loud sniffles and cries of “I don’t know what I’m going to do”.
Howard eventually let him off the hook by telling him the truth and that he was an asshole for being late and he got what he deserved.
We’ll report on Howard’s contract details as they are announced. I’m sure this saga is far from being complete.
Congratulations Howard, and congratulations for staying in business Sirius!
