NYC – During Howard Stern’s first week back on the air following his honeymoon, one might expect him to not let anything get him down.
But a front page story in Monday’s Los Angeles Times quickly ruined his mood.
The story ‘Howard Stern Loses Listeners and Influence on Satellite Radio’ painted a picture of a one-time media giant that’s seen his audience dwindle since leaving terrestrial radio for Sirius over two and a half years ago for a deal estimated to be $500 million.
The story, by staff writer Greg Braxton, says Stern has trouble booking A-list guests and has seen his audience shrink from 12 million to 1 to 2 million.
On the opening of Wednesday’s radio show, the self-proclaimed King of All Media let loose. “This article makes me sounds like I’m irrelevant, like I’m a loser,” he said, clearly distracted from the glow of his recent nuptuals to model Beth Ostrosky.
“They paint a picture that I can’t get guests anymore. It appeared on the front page. THE FRONT PAGE. How is that news?”
Stern, who has proclaimed on the radio that he’s never been happier professionally, says “XM and Sirius merged. We now have 20 million subscription list. This is probably the biggest accomplishment of my career.”
“It’s an attempt to make me irrelevant. But they can’t make me irrelevant through what I’m accomplishing. It’s an attempt to make the company (Sirius XM) irrelevant. The owners of the L.A. Times are attempting to buy 50 radio stations someone told me. It’s in their best interests to see (satellite radio) flop.”
“If I’m so obscure, why’s it on the front page? I can make the argument to you that we’re more relevant than we’ve ever been. My indicators are people on talk shows can’t book me enough. What to talk about a sphere of influence? I have more listeners right here than David Letterman has viewers.”
Stern also pointed to his success with having guests, even if they are obscure, shoot up to the top searched terms on Google immediately after they are on the air.
Stern said a reporter for his Howard 100 News staff, Steve Langford, had reached out to the L.A. Times and writer Greg Braxton for a comment, but no one would speak with him.
In a completely unscientific study, we at PopEater have found his Google claim to be true. Some on the staff were left wondering why former Penthouse Pet Cassia Riley was suddenly one with a bullet on Google Trends the first week in October. We later found out, she had appeared on Stern that week, where food delivery men were offered the choice of a large tip or seeking Riley naked. They opted for Riley over cash.