\n<\/p>\n
Howard Stern was once one of the most powerful figures in American media: a controversial \u201cshock jock\u201d who thrived on controversy proclaimed himself the \u201cKing of All Media\u201d and once commanded a contract worth half a billion dollars.<\/p>\n
But now Stern\u2019s career could be winding down from its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s when he revolutionized American listening habits and wielded huge cultural power.<\/p>\n
Stern\u2019s run on US airwaves is facing a declining audience after decades on top. While some of Stern\u2019s critics attribute the trend to him becoming softer and more liberal, he also faces increased competition and changes in people\u2019s listening habits, according to industry observers.<\/p>\n
Stern\u2019s reported $500m contract with Sirius XM satellite radio expires at the end of the year, and some have claimed that the two parties will not sign a new deal. The show had announced that Stern would address his future with the company on 2 September but then pushed it back until 8 September.<\/p>\n
The radio host, who became famous for his controversial content, played a pivotal role in Sirius\u2019s growth after switching from commercial to satellite radio in 2006. But that was before the modern explosion of podcasts, which have taken listeners away from both Stern\u2019s former medium and satellite radio.<\/p>\n
As such, Stern\u2019s show is not as singular as it was decades ago, when 20 million people tuned in to hear him say outrageous things, make sex jokes and interview topless guests. Critics slammed him as a sexist and sometimes racist talkshow host who courted extreme controversy for the sake of it. But there was little doubt his huge audience loved him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt used to be that satellite radio gave you a very unique platform because the alternative was over-the-air radio, where there were limits,\u201d said Matthew Dolgin, a senior equity analyst covering media companies at Morningstar, a financial services company. \u201cThat is no longer the case for audio entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n
With podcasts, \u201cyou have freedom to do what you want\u201d, Dolgin added.<\/p>\n
Stern gained a large following in the 1980s and 90s because of segments that often crossed the line of what had been acceptable on radio. In 1982, after a plane crashed into a bridge, he called the airline and asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s the price of a one-way ticket from National to the Fourteenth Street bridge? Is that going to be a regular stop?\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1992, he did another prank in which one of his staff members, known as Stuttering John, attended a press conference with Gennifer Flowers, who had an affair with Bill Clinton, and asked if he wore a condom and if she would be sleeping with any other presidential candidates. Flowers and others in the room laughed.<\/p>\n
Stern eventually got a TV show and joined Sirius for $100m a year for five years.<\/p>\n
Stern said he was moving because traditional radio \u201cdoesn\u2019t allow me to be myself\u201d, and he was \u201ctired of the censorship\u201d from the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n
When Stern signed the deal, Sirius had 600,000 subscribers; by the end of 2006, it had 6 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.<\/p>\n
Stern and Sirius renewed the agreement in 2010, 2015 and 2020, when Sirius had 35 million subscribers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHoward Stern has arguably been the most influential figure in Sirius XM\u2019s growth during its formative years,\u201d said Kutgun Maral, an equity research analyst covering media, cable, satellite and telecommunication services at the investment bank Evercore. \u201cBeyond helping to drive subscriber growth, Stern\u2019s presence validated the platform for other talent and creators.\u201d<\/p>\n
But recently, Sirius has lost customers. In 2023, it lost 445,000 subscribers, and last year it lost 296,000, according to financial disclosures.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how many people listen to Stern on satellite radio, as Sirius does not publish audience numbers for specific shows. But the number of unique viewers to Stern\u2019s YouTube page decreased from 4.5 million in June 2024 to 3.1 million this June, according to data from Tubular Labs.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported in May that the podcast industry generated $7.3bn in sales last year, more than double previous estimates. Many podcasters now stream video too.<\/p>\n
Stern also now faces competition from popular podcast hosts like Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper who wield the sort of cultural \u2013 and sometimes political \u2013 influence that Stern used to.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n
Our US morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n
Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cHe has had so many imitators,\u201d said John Cassillo, lead analyst at the Measure, a business analytics company. Rogan \u201cis probably a spiritual successor in some ways\u201d because he \u201cjust kind of throws questions out there and sees what happens\u201d.<\/p>\n Stern has also adjusted his approach, becoming known for sometimes in-depth, thoughtful interviews with celebrities.<\/p>\n \u201cI had interviewed every porn star about every orifice,\u201d Stern told the New York Times in 2019. \u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I was fascinated, but I couldn\u2019t be that guy anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim McBride, founder of MrSkin.com, which features Hollywood nude scenes, started appearing on Stern\u2019s show in 2000. The appearance generated so much traffic to his website that it crashed, McBride said.<\/p>\n He estimates that he appeared on the show more than 15 times.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been incredible for my business,\u201d McBride said. \u201cI\u2019m forever grateful for that show.\u201d<\/p>\n But he has not appeared on the program since 2018, though Stern still talks about the website on air, McBride said.<\/p>\n He also thinks that potential decline in listenership has more to do with the crowded media landscape than Stern\u2019s new approach.<\/p>\n \u201cI love his two-hour-long interviews with A-list celebrities that open up and say things that you normally wouldn\u2019t hear in these short little TV interviews,\u201d McBride said. \u201cThere are so many places to get entertainment now; it\u2019s only natural that his show would not have the same amount of listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n Stern has also bashed Donald Trump, who used to appear on his show.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t agree with Trump politically,\u201d Stern said on his show before the 2024 election, according to the Daily Beast. \u201cI don\u2019t think he should be anywhere near the White House. I don\u2019t hate the guy. I hate the people who vote for him. I think they\u2019re stupid. I do. I\u2019ll be honest with you, I have no respect for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump responded on Fox News, claiming that Stern\u2019s ratings had \u201cgone down the tubes\u201d because he went \u201cwoke\u201d.<\/p>\n Cassillo, of the Measure, doesn\u2019t buy that argument. Instead, he sees Stern\u2019s potential lost market share to the \u201chundreds, if not thousands of successful copycat-type programs across podcasts and YouTube\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Howard Stern was once one of the most powerful figures in American media: a controversial \u201cshock jock\u201d who thrived on controversy proclaimed himself the \u201cKing of All Media\u201d and once commanded a contract worth half a billion dollars. But now Stern\u2019s career could be winding down from its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s when<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1520,9230,4747,2284,6407,621,3740,5593,12078,12077,1779],"class_list":{"0":"post-19684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-audience","9":"tag-copycat","10":"tag-doubt","11":"tag-future","12":"tag-howard","13":"tag-poach","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-radio","16":"tag-sirius","17":"tag-sterns","18":"tag-television"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}