We predicted it last month. Now Howard Stern has confirmed it.Stern told his listeners on Sirius satellite radio that he's been offered a "major deal" to come back to regular radio-- just like his longtime enemies Opie & Anthony.
"The joke could be on them if I get good and worked up [because] I got offered a major deal to go back to terrestrial and stay on satellite at the same time," Stern said. “Can you imagine if I go across town against them in all those markets and just kick some ass? That would really be cool."
Stern now plays to about a tenth of his former audience. As we wrote in April: "...Stern has become instantly irrelevant... as far as American culture and the everyday agenda is concerned, he’s dead. Gone... As his girlfriend’s fame begins to eclipse his own hard-fought glory... Howard has become Rupert Pupkin, doing a show in his basement."
The New York Post reports that if an offer was actually made to Stern, it most likely came from Citadel Broadcasting, which is in the process of acquiring Disney/ABC's radio division.
As we complained yesterday, morning radio in America, and especially Los Angeles, has been dreary since Stern took the money and ran. Stern’s replacement Adam Carolla is flopping wildly, taking the “ego” from the Stern book, but not the insight, wit, humour or honesty. Most bizarre are longtime morning hosts Mark & Brian (see Tabloid Baby, Chapter 16), who actually spend hours playing a pop quiz game like two lonely men in a waiting room. It’s astounding to realize just how entertaining, compelling and so far beyond the competition The Howard Stern Show managed to be. Stern was delivering something better than radio.
Even more astounding? Tabloid Baby’s ability to stay on top of the trends and predict the future! We’ll keep you posted.
7 comments:
Stern said he had been asked to return to terrestrial radio, but he insisted he would NEVER GO BACK.
Of course, the NY Post didn't report that. In fact, they attributed Stern's comments to a recording that Opie & Anthony played.
Don't believe me? Here's what Stern said on 05/05/06. 6:10am, according to Stern Show News:
http://www.marksfriggin.com/news06/5-1.htm
"Howard said he was offered the chance to go back to terrestrial radio just like Opie and Anthony are doing but he won't do it because he doesn't want to go back there. He said he could go back and beat all of those guy's asses but it would be really tough to go back to regular radio after being on satellite."
The above 'anonymous' commenter is correct. Howard explicitly denied he would EVER go back to terrestrial radio. I have listened to every minute of every show for the past 3 years or so, and since moving to satellite he has never wavered on this pont.
Yes, he confirmed that an offer was made to him. He (jokingly) said the only temptation is that he would enjoy beating CBS stations in ratings. But he mercilessly mocked the O&A move.
This site is interesting, but the speculation about a move back to terrestrial radio is way off the mark, as any regular Stern listener would know. NY Post is also way, way off.
Stern won't have to leave satellite to syndicate his show for a few hours on terrestrial radio.
He needs to do it! He hasn't gotten a tenth of the subscribers he'd expected.
He's virtually anonymous now. Suddenly, he doesn't matter! Beth is more famous than he is!
His ego alone will lead him to simulcast a censored version while continuing the pay antics on satellite. besides, it will be a way to attract more subscribers to the uncensored product.
Why do you think O&A did it?
Just watch. And listen. Howard's lied to listeners before. About his marriage and about his stock deal with Sirius. He'll give a version of the show to free radio...
You are so wrong, TB.
"Why do you think O&A did it?" Well, unlike O&A, Howard actually has attracted millions of folks to satellite. I don't know why you say that Howard hasn't attracted "a tenth of the subscribers he'd expected." What's your basis for that?
He never lied about his stock deal with Sirius. Every detail of his deal, including the incentives, was filed publicly, not to mention covered in the media in early '05.
From today's show round-up:
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Howard said that he wanted to address something. There's a story running about how he wants to go to terrestrial radio that's just not true. He said it is true that three companies have offered him the chance to go back to terrestrial radio but that doesn't mean he wants it. That would be a big sell-out in his opinion and he has no desire to go back there. He said he's not in the same position as Opie and Anthony and they'd be the first to tell you that they had 35,000 listener when they were charging an extra dollar to hear their show on XM.
Howard said that he loves the freedom on satellite and he can't imagine for a minute saying to his audience that he's going to offer the show for free after millions followed him to satellite. Robin also said that they'd have to shackle themselves if they went back there. Howard has heard that radio has been getting lamer and lamer and taking a step backwards.
Howard doesn't care about Opie and Anthony, Rover, Mancow... any of them. He doesn't want to think about having someone like Tom Chiusano walking in every day to tell him what he can't say on the air. When Howard mentioned the deals he was offered, he was just telling the fans about what he was offered. He's not going back there.
Artie said that being on satellite is the one thing in his life that's not a disaster right now. He said he can go to sleep and not worry about what he can and can't say on the air. Robin said that there were some people at her party who are still at K-Rock who were worried because they're working with Opie and Anthony. Robin said that she told them that they just don't care about that anymore.
Howard said he could play about 7,000 news reports about this whole thing. There's nothing going on there though. He said that 3 companies have come to him and offered him a job on terrestrial radio but he's not going to take any of those deals. SIRIUS is the place he wants to be, that's it. His hard core listeners would think that he's the biggest piece of shit if he went back to free radio. He said he'd be the biggest sell-out if he did something like that.
Howard said he thinks that SIRIUS is the best deal out there and he's backing that fully. Artie talked about some of the great stuff he was listening to on SIRIUS on his way down to Robin's house on Saturday. Howard said he was listening to some great stuff as well.
Howard said that he's not going to two different shows where he does a clean one and a dirty one, that's just gay. He has an audience who pays to hear his show and he's not going to water that down. Robin said that when Whoopi Goldberg was hired by Clear Channel, they're still mentioning Howard's name. None of the guys think that her show is going to go anywhere. On the other hand, Howard wished her well.
Howard played some audio clips from shows where people were discussing these deals that he's been offered. There are a lot of people who think he's going back but he never said he was. One guy was saying that Howard saw the Opie and Anthony deal and he's trying to get the same thing. Howard said that deal is lame because they're doing a clean show for 3 hours and then going to XM and doing 2 hours of their regular show.
Howard said ''I will never go to terrestrial radio.'' as he was playing the audio clips. He played another clip of Dorothy Lucy talking about how going to satellite was a bad idea for Howard. Howard said he wants to call into one of these shows to straighten them out. He went off on her for a short time and said that just because he was offered something doesn't mean he wants it. Howard said that ''Dorothy Lucy is retarded'' and said that you can quote him on that.
Howard has been on satellite for less than 6 months now and they're still talking about him everywhere. Dorothy Lucy said that Howard had said that he was planning on taking his show to regular radio but he never said that. Howard said that terrestrial radio is his past, he's moving on and SIRIUS is his focus now. His only ambition right now is to help make SIRIUS successful.
Howard said that he's offering his fans 2 channels of content and that's it. He continued to play the Dorothy Lucy audio clip and she was saying that it's driving him crazy being on SIRIUS. Howard asked why these people just don't ask him about that before reporting on stuff like that.
Howard said he has zero interest in selling his show to terrestrial radio. SIRIUS has zero interest in doing that and he would not sell his audience out by going back there. He said that he promised his fans that he's going to offer a great, uncensored show and that's what he's doing. It is true that he's had offers from 3 major companies to go back to terrestrial but it's not happening.
Howard played a report from a TV station in Tampa where they were reporting that he's coming back to terrestrial. That's just not true.
Howard said that yesterday he played a clip of the head of the NAB who was saying that satellite radio has to be covered by the FCC. Howard said that the NAB used to keep FM radio out of their organization but they eventually let them in. He thinks that the NAB will eventually let satellite radio companies in there as well. He said that they can all suck his dick as far as he's concerned.
Howard continued to play the Tampa clip where one of the reporters said that Howard is always making some kind of deal as if it was a problem. Howard said that's show business, he gets offers all the time. Howard wondered if he should care this much about this stuff or if he should move on. Robin said that he should counter this stuff because it could make some people think that they should hold off on getting satellite radios.
Howard said that the WB 11 station in New York was apparently one of the first stations to go with this story. He wanted to go back to them to get the story out there that he's not going back. Gary suggested that they go to the Associated Press to get the word out that he has no plans to go back to terrestrial. He does want to talk to a reporter but Gary told him they may not be able to get a reporter this early in the morning. Howard told him not to tell him his problems, just make it happen.
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Howard Stern anonymous?
Huh?
He was recently on the cover of Entertainment Weekly!
He's also in the news every few days. How's that "anonymous"?
What's Howard without fighting the censors? Without the shock he's just a jock. The emporor has lost his clothes...but nobody cares if the only place he's working is a members only satelitte nudist colony. Borrrrring!
So tabloid baby you made a prediction you say will come true, when? Or better yet when will you admit you predictions are worthless? They have no basis and no chance. I never believed I would find a website I wanted to reply to only out of anger, but here I am.
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