Howard Stern has spent decades proving that predictions about his career rarely age well. Now, just as critics have grown comfortable suggesting the radio veteran is winding down, Stern is expanding his long-running show onto HBO Max.
The move comes with fewer live SiriusXM broadcasts but a much bigger potential audience, giving Stern an opportunity to turn his famously unfiltered radio world into a polished television product.
To people close to him, however, the deal carries another message: Stern is not ready to disappear.
The biggest change for Howard Stern is not that his SiriusXM schedule is shrinking, but what he plans to do with the time and platform he gains.
Starting September 14, “The Howard Stern Show” is expected to return to SiriusXM with one new live edition each Monday, down from two shows a week.
Then comes the television component. Beginning September 17, HBO Max will release a filmed version of that week’s radio show every Thursday, with additional extras appearing periodically.
The arrangement gives viewers access to the studio environment that SiriusXM audiences have largely experienced through audio, including Stern’s celebrity interviews, musicians, staff antics and conversations with Robin.
The comedian welcomed the expansion himself, saying, “As the “King of All Media, I am honored to bring my SiriusXM show to HBO Max, and through HBO Max to worldwide distribution.”
He explained that viewers had previously been given only “brief video peeks” and said HBO convinced him to “pull back the curtain.”
For Stern, the opportunity is also about presentation. An insider said he wants the television version to be “just a little different, a little more polished,” drawing on his previous experience with E! while creating something distinct from his radio program.
Stern Sees HBO Max As A Direct Challenge To His Critics
The timing of the HBO Max deal makes the move particularly pointed. Howard Stern spent the past year dealing with speculation about whether his SiriusXM era was approaching its end.
He even staged a fake departure last year, appearing to suggest Andy Cohen could replace him before revealing that the farewell had been a prank.
The 72-year-old subsequently announced a three-year deal and said he had “figured out a way to have it all.” Yet speculation continued as reports of staff cuts and his reduced radio schedule gave critics fresh reason to question whether his career was fading.
People close to Stern now describe the HBO Max agreement very differently. “Howard is in a really good mood with his new HBO deal. He feels that it is a big middle finger to all his critics who either want him done or think that he is done,” a source told the Daily Mail.
The broadcaster also has a specific professional incentive for moving into filmed television. According to the insider, Stern enjoyed working on his HBO Max Bruce Springsteen special and believed the project could have earned him an Emmy.
The new arrangement could give him another opportunity to pursue that recognition, with the source saying the format could attract A-list guests and potentially lead to “an Emmy nomination and win.”
Howard Stern Could Be Building Something Bigger Than A Radio Show
The HBO Max arrangement may ultimately matter less for what Stern is doing this year than for what it allows him to develop later.
An insider suggested the weekly filmed broadcasts could become a testing ground for a substantially different version of Stern’s career.
“If enough people watch the show, it will build into something different down the line,” the source explained.
That possibility fits the media personality’s history of repeatedly turning one medium into another. His E! series ran from 1994 to 2005, bringing the chaos surrounding his radio operation to television through celebrity appearances, stunts and staff drama.
He left terrestrial radio in 2006 for SiriusXM, where his unfiltered show became the new home on the subscription service.
Now, the broadcaster is looking toward another transformation. The source said Stern admires David Letterman’s evolution and would like to move toward a format that is more heavily centered on interviews than the traditional morning-radio structure.
“He would love to do something like Dave is doing and adapt his show into more of an interview show,” the source said, adding that Stern could take his “empire into a completely different phase than the normal morning radio gig.”
More From The Blast
Stern’s SiriusXM Channel Howard 101 Is Pulled From The Lineup
The changes surrounding Howard Stern’s SiriusXM operation are now becoming more visible beyond his reduced live schedule.
As The Blast reported, beginning September 1, SiriusXM removed Howard 101 from its channel lineup, eliminating the dedicated channel that had carried Stern’s archived material and older broadcasts.
Howard 101’s replacement is Cohen’s Radio Andy, which moved from Channel 102 to Channel 101 as part of SiriusXM’s broader lineup changes.
SiriusXM officially listed Howard 101 as leaving the lineup while keeping Howard 100 in place.
The channel had served a different purpose from Stern’s primary station, giving listeners access to older material and programming from the extensive archive he had built over his decades in radio.
Howard Stern’s Former Staffers Reject Severance Offers After SiriusXM Layoffs
Before Howard 101 disappeared from the SiriusXM lineup, the show’s internal restructuring had already affected more than a dozen employees.
Several former staffers reportedly rejected the initial severance packages offered after the layoffs and entered negotiations with SiriusXM over their departures.
The Blast reported that the initial offers amounted to approximately one week of pay for every year an employee had worked on the program and included nondisclosure agreements.
According to the report, some former employees were still negotiating their exit packages, while others eventually became more comfortable with the amounts offered after going back and forth with SiriusXM’s human resources department.
One insider said, “Some people are still negotiating their exit packages.” Another source suggested the cuts had not been entirely unexpected, saying, “The writing was on the wall. Staff knew these layoffs were coming.”
More than a dozen people connected to the show were reportedly let go, including at least five on-air personalities.
