Why Howard Stern should quit now and retain a…
There’s one thing to be said for going out on top.
And that one thing can’t be said for Howard Stern.
The one time “King of all Media” has been limping along like an ageing star athlete desperately clinging to his youth and glory.
This week, staffers on the Howard Stern show had been laid off and told the show was being cut to someday a week. The Howard Stern Show
This week it was reported he laid off about a dozen staffers on Zoom, telling them his Sirius show was being cut down to once a week after Labor Day. The relaxation of the time will likely be crammed with archives.
But other than inflating his ego and filling his already overflowing bank account, what’s the purpose in going on with the show?
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His reign has long been over, so his best thought could be to merely pack it in already.
Stern is now 72. He’s been at it since the late ’70s and for a long time he not only dominated radio and leisure but managed to keep on the cutting edge. Now, in 2026, he’s just another voice in a crowded podcast space.
Howard Stern was once a norm shattering shock jock, but he’s misplaced a lot of his devoted viewers as he turned what he once railed against. Getty Images
Last summer season, rumors about his retirement flew as the $500 million contract he signed in 2020 was nearing its end. However, studies of the pioneering shock jock’s demise had been unfaithful.
In December he said, “I am happy to announce that I have figured out a way to have it all.”
But there’s no manner to have it all. Maybe he has money and the adoration of the snooty Hamptons set, but he no longer takes up a lot oxygen in the leisure space.
He’s misplaced his edge, his contact and, it appears, a lot of his viewers. While other podcasters are on the ascent, distinctive viewers to his YouTube web page fell from 4.5 million in June 2024 to 3.1 million last 12 months.
It’s powerful to keep on the throne for so long, but he precipitated his own fall by turning into what he mocked. He embraced a slavish devotion to therapy, and his own superstar. He locked himself into a self-induced two-year quarantine during COVID while lecturing others who went on with their lives.
The man of the people turned a man in an ivory tower.
During the peak of his powers, Howard Stern made the FCC his foe and his legions of followers adopted his lead. Here, followers line up at Barnes and Noble for a signing, where Stern was selling his e-book, “Private Parts.” Getty Images
His past due date was solidified in 2024 when he fawned over then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden, talking to him like he was a toddler. Then when Kamala Harris turned the candidate, he bitched about “Saturday Night Live” evenly mocking her, saying “I hate it. I don’t want you being made fun of.”
He also gushed, “When I met you out in the corridor, I said, ‘I’m actually nervous because I would like this to go nicely for you.’ “
Stern was once a wonderful drive for good in our tradition. He was raunchy, enjoying bongo on people’s naked bottoms and internet hosting ridiculous live occasions like, “US Open Sores” at the Nassau Coliseum in 1989.
Howard Stern’s 1991 box set, “Crucified by the FCC” was a assortment of bits and discussions chronicling his battle with the company.
He was irreverent and surrounded by a court of certifiably insane people. He saved a lot of of us, particularly well-known people who had been used to being fawned over, on their toes with his unpredictability during interviews.
With the FCC as his foe, he championed the underdog. He constructed his loyal viewers actually.
But we must give him his due. Podcasters of today couldn’t maintain a candle to Stern in his prime.
Stern was spontaneous and offensive in all the best methods. He was ready to sit across from a superstar and coax out personal particulars that no one else even dared. For that boldfacer, surviving Stern was a badge of honor.
Nowadays, every actor is a whore promoting their lifestyle model or making an attempt to get a piece of the eye financial system. They are lined up, prepared to reveal their deepest darkest secret to anybody with a microphone, in the hopes a two-minute clip will go viral and keep their title in the headlines.
Pioneering shock jock Howard Stern, dressed as his alter ego “Fartman”, at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. Getty Images
In sharing some tawdry story, it’ll make them come across as genuine and edgy.
These saucy revelations aren’t natural by any stretch. And mining them doesn’t require any real ability by the interviewer.
Stern was singular in his chutzpah.
Of course, people are allowed to evolve or change.
But the dude has hung around the occasion far too long.
Howard Stern constructed an empire with his sidekick Robin Quivers, but now he’s just another voice in a crowded podcast space. Mike Coppola
There are so many titans of leisure who packed it in or shifted while they had been using high. Jerry Seinfeld famously turned down $100 million to produce another season of “Seinfeld.” And even David Letterman retired at 68, but comes out now and again with particular tasks.
As Neil Young sang, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
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