The biggest voice in New York radio just went quiet for about a dozen of his own people, and the way they found out is the part nobody can get over.
Howard Stern has laid off roughly a dozen staffers from his SiriusXM show, according to a Page Six report, with the news delivered over a Zoom call this week. Per the outlet, employees were told The Howard Stern Show will shrink from three new episodes a week to just one after Labor Day, when the 72-year-old host returns from his summer break. Those let go were reportedly sent home immediately after the call with severance packages based on their tenure.
The reason, according to a source in the report, was blunt: “He just doesn’t need that much content anymore.“
Stern kept his core group of veteran producers, and the remaining airtime is expected to be filled with recycled material from his massive archive, which stretches back through nearly two decades on satellite radio and decades more before that.
The timing is what has the radio world buzzing. Stern signed a fresh three-year deal with SiriusXM in December, following a five-year contract reportedly worth $500 million, and he framed the new agreement as a win for everyone. The host told listeners he had finally “figured out a way to have it all,” crediting the deal with giving him more “flexibility.” Seven months later, that flexibility looks like one show a week and a dozen fewer paychecks.
SiriusXM did not respond to Page Six’s request for comment, and Stern himself has stayed silent, with his show dark for the summer.
The cuts also land during an already messy stretch for the broadcaster. Stern and his wife Beth are fighting a $2.5 million lawsuit filed in April by a former executive assistant who claims she endured a “hostile work environment” while working at their Southampton home. Stern has pushed back hard, with his legal filings calling the case a “shakedown” and a “transparent sham,” and his attorneys arguing the dispute centers on nondisclosure agreements the assistant signed. That case remains ongoing and is separate from the SiriusXM staffing decisions.
The King of All Media Goes Quiet
With SiriusXM silent and Stern dark for the summer, X filled the vacuum, and the roasting was merciless. “There are now fewer people working on the show than listening to it live,” one listener cracked, while another channeled Gotham: “You either die a wack packer or you live long enough to see yourself become one.“
A few loyalists stuck around for the ride. “King of all media .. just grateful to have new content every week,” one fan wrote.
What is certain is the math: a man who built an empire talking for hours every day will soon be doing it once a week. For the staffers who got the Zoom call, the new era has already started.
