Howard Stern was once one of the most powerful figures in American media: a controversial “shock jock” who thrived on controversy proclaimed himself the “King of All Media” and once commanded a contract worth half a billion dollars.
But now Stern’s career could be winding down from its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s when he revolutionized American listening habits and wielded huge cultural power.
Stern’s run on US airwaves is facing a declining audience after decades on top. While some of Stern’s critics attribute the trend to him becoming softer and more liberal, he also faces increased competition and changes in people’s listening habits, according to industry observers.
Stern’s 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.
The radio host, who became famous for his controversial content, played a pivotal role in Sirius’s 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’s former medium and satellite radio.
As such, Stern’s 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.
“It used to be that satellite radio gave you a very unique platform because the alternative was over-the-air radio, where there were limits,” said Matthew Dolgin, a senior equity analyst covering media companies at Morningstar, a financial services company. “That is no longer the case for audio entertainment.”
With podcasts, “you have freedom to do what you want”, Dolgin added.
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, “What’s the price of a one-way ticket from National to the Fourteenth Street bridge? Is that going to be a regular stop?”
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.
Stern eventually got a TV show and joined Sirius for $100m a year for five years.
Stern said he was moving because traditional radio “doesn’t allow me to be myself”, and he was “tired of the censorship” from the Federal Communications Commission.
When Stern signed the deal, Sirius had 600,000 subscribers; by the end of 2006, it had 6 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Stern and Sirius renewed the agreement in 2010, 2015 and 2020, when Sirius had 35 million subscribers.
“Howard Stern has arguably been the most influential figure in Sirius XM’s growth during its formative years,” said Kutgun Maral, an equity research analyst covering media, cable, satellite and telecommunication services at the investment bank Evercore. “Beyond helping to drive subscriber growth, Stern’s presence validated the platform for other talent and creators.”
But recently, Sirius has lost customers. In 2023, it lost 445,000 subscribers, and last year it lost 296,000, according to financial disclosures.
It’s 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’s YouTube page decreased from 4.5 million in June 2024 to 3.1 million this June, according to data from Tubular Labs.
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.
Stern also now faces competition from popular podcast hosts like Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper who wield the sort of cultural – and sometimes political – influence that Stern used to.
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“He has had so many imitators,” said John Cassillo, lead analyst at the Measure, a business analytics company. Rogan “is probably a spiritual successor in some ways” because he “just kind of throws questions out there and sees what happens”.
Stern has also adjusted his approach, becoming known for sometimes in-depth, thoughtful interviews with celebrities.
“I had interviewed every porn star about every orifice,” Stern told the New York Times in 2019. “Don’t get me wrong, I was fascinated, but I couldn’t be that guy anymore.”
Jim McBride, founder of MrSkin.com, which features Hollywood nude scenes, started appearing on Stern’s show in 2000. The appearance generated so much traffic to his website that it crashed, McBride said.
He estimates that he appeared on the show more than 15 times.
“It’s been incredible for my business,” McBride said. “I’m forever grateful for that show.”
But he has not appeared on the program since 2018, though Stern still talks about the website on air, McBride said.
He also thinks that potential decline in listenership has more to do with the crowded media landscape than Stern’s new approach.
“I love his two-hour-long interviews with A-list celebrities that open up and say things that you normally wouldn’t hear in these short little TV interviews,” McBride said. “There are so many places to get entertainment now; it’s only natural that his show would not have the same amount of listeners.”
Stern has also bashed Donald Trump, who used to appear on his show.
“I don’t agree with Trump politically,” Stern said on his show before the 2024 election, according to the Daily Beast. “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.”
Trump responded on Fox News, claiming that Stern’s ratings had “gone down the tubes” because he went “woke”.
Cassillo, of the Measure, doesn’t buy that argument. Instead, he sees Stern’s potential lost market share to the “hundreds, if not thousands of successful copycat-type programs across podcasts and YouTube”.
