Is this the end of the Howard Stern Show?

SolitaireRose

Is this the end of the line for Howard Stern? His contract is up at the end of the year, and yes, he always says he is about to retire, but this time there seems to be some pretty major indications that he may actually walk away this time. He’s shut down most of the non-Stern show programs, including completely gutting the second channel, turning the after-show into a half hour call in show, getting rid of the most of the “news team (Lisa G was let go last week) and not putting a lot of effort into the show any more.

It’s become a celebrity interview show, with fewer on-air interactions with the office people, fewer comedy bits and less of the “We’re going to goof off on the air” stuff. I know he gets a lot of praise for his interview style but I find it irritating…he’ll interrupt the guest, ask questions that have been asked hundreds of times, go back to his “how often are you getting laid?” as if he’s expected to. Honestly, Marc Maron is hundreds of times better, it’s just that Stern gets a long time to interview.

And, most telling, he never replaced Artie. If you’re winding down, you don’t hire new people.

He’s 61, has a great relationship with NBC and seems bored with the show. My guess is that he’s done at the end of the contract. What does everyone else think?

bralinator

I've worked with Stern, many years ago, producing a fairly weak DVD movie of Miss Howard Stern. From what I know about him, he is winding down. If they pay him enough, he MAY extend his contract another year, but the writing has seemed to be on the wall for the last 5 years. I've expected it any year. Of course, with Howard, sometimes it's smartest to expect the unexpected.

Matt

I jumped ship in the summer of 2009. I got a new car & couldn't justify the yearly subscription any further. I missed listening to Artie (who departed the show thereafter), but got tired of having to hear Howard talk about how he was getting screwed out of money following the satellite merger. Half a billion in 5 years, apparently, isn't enough. It sounded too pompous for my tastes.

Plus, when I heard old shows they had an edge that the current stuff seemed to lose in favor of being able to curse freely. The sports talk station refer to Stern as Howie Hamptons whenever they mention him. It's because he's become the type of person Stern would mock & complain about in his early days. I have to admit, they're right.

M

bralinator

Matt said:

Plus, when I heard old shows they had an edge that the current stuff seemed to lose in favor of being able to curse freely. The sports talk station refer to Stern as Howie Hamptons whenever they mention him. It's because he's become the type of person Stern would mock & complain about in his early days. I have to admit, they're right

I agree. Once the foul language was no longer an issue, the quality of the material dropped significantly.

SolitaireRose

Matt said:

I jumped ship in the summer of 2009. I got a new car & couldn't justify the yearly subscription any further. I missed listening to Artie (who departed the show thereafter), but got tired of having to hear Howard talk about how he was getting screwed out of money following the satellite merger. Half a billion in 5 years, apparently, isn't enough. It sounded too pompous for my tastes.

Completely understand that feeling, and after Artie left, I think the show quit being as funny or good...they reran some Artie shows this week on the 101 channel and I had forgotten how amazingly funny he was.

As for the half billion: My understanding is that they paid him that for the show: He paid for all of the expenses out of that, everyone's salary, studio space in the building, etc... Another huge chunk of that was stock options, which pretty much became worthless. Don't get me wrong, Howard isn't hurting, but that figure doesn't tell the whole picture.

I fully expect him to go TV only once the contract is up, although there are rumors floating he might be working with an internet company....and after listening to his rants about how podcasting is for losers, I can't see him going to Adam Corolla route.

matchkitJOHN

It hit me the other day that I have not listen to Stern since he left terresterial radio. And that was in 2005! But I had podcasts and that has fit the bill. Part of his edge was his battle with the radio stations and Clear Channel and it sounds like some of that is gone. Does still have any of his old bits like That's So Wrong? Stump the Booey?

SolitaireRose

matchkitJOHN said:

It hit me the other day that I have not listen to Stern since he left terresterial radio. And that was in 2005! But I had podcasts and that has fit the bill. Part of his edge was his battle with the radio stations and Clear Channel and it sounds like some of that is gone. Does still have any of his old bits like That's So Wrong? Stump the Booey?

No, it's a very different show now. He usually has one or two hour long interviews with a celebrity, talking about his life with Robin, maybe some interaction with the staff and Robin's news. Most of the scripted bit and scenarios are few and far between now.

Mr_Cosmic

And when AGT is on that's all he talks about.