Howard Stern has been phoning it in, in more ways than one, even before the pandemic. A so-called shock jock in his previous iteration, Stern went from someone who mocked red-carpet-walking celebrities to fawning over them.
Increasingly since leaving terrestrial radio in late 2005 for SiriusXM, he has gone off the national radar, and only occasionally making headlines for some interview soundbites. (Even in his heyday, it’s difficult to understand the appeal of his show’s scatological content, but that’s another matter.)
Putting minimal effort into it, Stern has been doing his three-mornings a week show from his Long Island, N.Y., waterfront mansion that is estimated to be now worth $25 million or his cushy Palm Beach, Fla. residence that he bought in 2013 for $52 million.
Despite his immense wealth, Stern reportedly is a miser when it comes to paying his bloated staff and is often unwilling to give past and present employees their due for show contributions.
Among other things, many people think all his call-ins are planted, a lot of the stuff he talks about is made up, and there is even doubt about whether his hair is real.
New York Post columnist Maureen Callahan recently wrote an epic takedown of Stern headlined “Howard’s end: Shock jock Stern has lost his sting — and his mojo,” in which she more or less called him out for laziness and being a COVID hypochondriac :
In March 2020, when New York City officially went into lockdown, Stern fled to his basement in the Hamptons. Over one year later and now vaccinated… Stern still has no intention of ever returning to his Midtown studio, his luxury Upper West Side apartment, or any semblance of pre-pandemic life.
“Things will never get back to normal,” he declared just two weeks ago. “I do not believe the pandemic will ever be over.”
For a once-constant listener like me, this is heretical, especially here in New York City, where every single neighborhood is struggling to survive. Also, Howard: This pandemic will end, even though you, a germophobic recluse, clearly wish it would not.
But such sentiments have defined Stern’s show and attitude this past year: pessimism, anger, and a worldview that shrinks ever inward, limited in size and scope to The Basement — the literal and metaphorical dwelling place of this once-great show.
Stern, 67, renewed his contract with SiriusXM last December, signing for five years at a reported $120 million per. This is incredible, considering he works three days a week, Monday through Wednesday, broadcasting maybe three hours per day, about 112 shows per year with 253 days off…
Note: There is a sense out there that the $120 million contract number is widely inflated and was leaked merely save face face.
Related story: ‘Radio Gunk’ Dishes Howard Stern Dirt
Indeed, Stern sounds like a guy who should have retired years ago, one begging to be fired, an attempt to end his own misery…If it’s Monday, we may get a recap of Howard’s weekend, which typically involves how many Peloton classes he took, updates on his lifelong disordered eating, current blood levels, and rants on why the one-percenters who live near him in the Hamptons, post-vaccine, won’t wear masks all the time…
Stern long ago abandoned his best attribute, going after famous hypocrites…Howard’s in with the cool kids — all he ever really wanted, despite claims to the contrary…Really, why should Stern put any effort into his show when he’s been rewarded for hardly working? The less he puts into the show and the more he treats his paying audience with contempt, the more money he makes. No wonder he won’t leave his bunker…
The self-proclaimed King of All Media has, without seeming to realize it, given a master class in how to lose an entirely captive audience…
Monique and the Radio Gunk crew, purveyors of all things Stern, did a thorough analysis of Callahan’s on-target article, and it’s definitely worth a listen (friendly warning for cackling and over-talking).
Couldn’t have put it better myself!
Radiogunk.com is awesome!