The King of All Media in Winter

It is no coincidence that Howard Stern uses the carnival barker motif for his pay channel "Howard TV."  Stern is, in his way, a descendent of P.T. Barnum, drawing people into his world with a motley assortment of misfits, porn stars and celebrities who casually bare their id and humanity on his show.  Stern and Barnum also share the trait of offering more than is necessarily delivered.  This was no more true than when Stern moved to Sirius Satellite Radio in 2006.  While endlessly drumming up support among his fans in the waning days of his terrestrial radio show, Stern glided past, or mentioned only in passing, that his show would change once it began airing on satellite radio.  Since starting with Sirius, the Howard Stern Show, and its associated channels, "Howard 100" and "Howard 101," have steadily offered fans less and less live programming while shrinking creatively from its promising beginning.  

The satellite show Howard started in January 2006 began with great fanfare and anticipation.  Not only was Howard doing a clever, bawdy and downright hilarious show 5 days a week, a "Howard 100 News" team acted as a show force multiplier for all information about the show and its cast of characters.  Two other original programs, Bubba the Love Sponge and Scott Ferrall, were added and random hour long specials popped up to expand the show's universe.  Sirius received great coverage and a large spike in subscribers in the months leading up to Howard's arrival.  Soon thereafter though, once the carnival barker had the customers (and their $12 dollars a month) in the tent, things changed.  The news team was trimmed in half, the 5 day a week show quickly shifted to 4 days (Stern never fully accounted for this, usually claiming that he told listeners his hours would "change" on satellite and that even so, with fewer commercials, the show was actually longer than his terrestrial show.  Even the commercial break claim started to slip as musical and/or show bit bumpers added to the show breaks), Bubba's exclusivity ended when Sirius would not renew his contract after 2 years and additional programming was scaled back or disappeared completely.

Even with these changes, longtime listeners could see that Stern was enjoying a creative renaissance on satellite radio.  While the language of the show became more colorful, more importantly, being freed from the confines of blocked commercials allowed Stern to delve far more deeply into interviews and show bits when needed. Moreover, the show received a substantial contribution from so-called sidekick Artie Lange.  While Lange's comedy was often stunted within the more regulated airwaves of terrestrial radio, on satellite, Artie's genius truly shined.  Lange's natural abilities as a storyteller and a comedic foil for Stern, particularly during the news segment that closes the show, were evident and added greatly to the overall quality of the show. Lange's personal life also became a deep vein of show material and, at times, crossed a line of "reality" and reality, as when Lange stormed off the show in a rage after arguing with his assistant, engaged in a nearly hour-long on-air argument with Stern about whether the two men were actually friends and feuded with cast members Sal Governale and Richard Christy.  That Lange was also spiraling downward in heroin addiction, nodding off during the show, randomly missing work days and behaving in an erratic way was either lost on Stern or not taken seriously on air. (Stern's comments about Lange since his departure from the show have been limited and essentially excused Stern's ignorance of Lange's condition).

While fans generally accepted the shorter schedule and additional days off, callers who complained about these changes were told variously that there was other programming on Sirius and/or if they did not like it, to cancel their subscriptions. This was a far different message than Stern was conveying when he was attempting to promote Sirius prior to and immediately after his arrival.  The "revolution" he promised was, like Barnum's bearded ladies and siamese twins, less than met the eye. Moreover, Stern's impact on Sirius's subscription base is open to interpretation.  When Stern sued SiriusXM for failing to pay him performance bonuses he claimed he was entitled to, subscription information for the period of time both before and after Stern moved to Sirius showed that while there was a clear bump of more than 2 million subscribers in the window of time between when Howard announced his move, started his show on Sirius and the year after, that spike did not last.  In other words, the subscribers Howard moved over to Sirius came on board either in the months prior to, or after, his arrival.

Sirius's 2007 merger with lone competitor XM Radio was heralded by Stern as a validation of his own impact on the business and there was likely some truth in that statement; however, even then, the level of interest in the Stern Show specifically was likely overstated.  After the merger, XM subscribers who were interested in a "best of" Sirius package that included Stern had to pay an additional $4 a month for that programming.  Papers filed in the case Stern brought against SiriusXM show that roughly 1 million subscribers, or about 9 percent of the total subscribers XM had when the acquisition took place, purchased the best of package.  While being directly responsible for at least 3 million subscribers is an impressive feat, the idea that Stern's audience is still what it was in his terrestrial days is highly unlikely.  The entire case file in Stern's lawsuit is worth reading and can be found, for free, through the New York Supreme Court's website at: http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/SQLData.jsp?IndexNo=650762-2011.

As Stern's contract with Sirius drew to a close, there was a legitimate question as to whether Howard would re-sign with the company.  Now in his mid-50s and re-married, Stern appeared to achieve a certain balance and stability in his life that made walking away from radio more compelling and his career had not only been highly successful but incredibly lucrative.  Lange's departure in late 2009 and the show's notoriously insular world suggested bringing in new talent was unlikely and Stern's antagonism toward SiriusXM's management due to his view that bonuses he believed he was entitled to were not being paid only added to the uncertainty.

Like any good showman, Stern stretched out the drama until the very end, announcing his re-signing during his final week of live broadcasts in 2010.  Terms, as with all of Stern's contracts, were not disclosed by him except for a cryptic reference to working a "limited schedule."  Die-hard fans knew that the term "limited schedule" almost certainly meant more vacation time and the possibility of fewer shows, perhaps just over the summer, but instead of coming clean with his audience (as the terms of the contract had to define the number of shows and/or frequency required), Stern opted to remain noncommittal about the situation.

The truncated schedule Stern agreed to would soon be revealed to his audience.  The 4 day a week schedule quickly morphed into a "hybrid" schedule where the show was live 4 days one week, 3 the next, along with additional vacation time.  By the end of the summer of the first year of this new 5 year contract, the show was down to 3 days a week all the time, which appears to be the new norm, even though Stern himself has not mentioned it. The show itself is schizophrenic.  On the one hand, Stern relies more and more on recycled show bits and stories that even casual fans have long grown tired of to fill large blocks of time.  Regular callers to the program do little more than blow kisses at Stern, whose separation from the common man is in sharpest relief when he re-tells stories of parties with the likes of Conrad Black and his long weekends in the Hamptons.  Those short commercial breaks Stern promised are now larded with up to 5 additional minutes of song bumpers and bits that reduce the live show even further.  Most staff arguments feel canned and staged and Stern himself often seems uninterested in pushing the show creatively and, all too often, seems to be going through the motions to get to the end of that day's telecast.

On the other hand, the one area of the show where Stern has arguably never been better is in his interview segments.  In the past few months alone, Stern has produced amazing radio with A-list celebrities like Lady Gaga, Simon Cowell, and Billy Joel, drawn out controversial statements from Tony Bennett about 9/11, and shown his true skill in talking to lesser celebrities like Dave Navarro, Tom Sizemore and Tatum O'Neal and making them come to life through open, honest and sometimes painful conversations about drugs addiction, divorce, family alienation and other deeply personal and painful subjects rarely covered in traditional interview segments.

A prime example of Stern's genius was his interview with Lady Gaga, who, over the course of a more than one hour interview opened herself up about everything from her sexuality and sex life to her fears and insecurities about the music business, her tireless devotion to her craft (and fans) and love of performing.  The showstopper though was Gaga's story of the impetus behind her song "Edge of Glory," which, she told Stern, was written shortly after the death of her grandfather and with the assistance of her father.  The stripped down version of the song she performed on piano in studio was one of the finest moments in Stern Show history and testament to Howard's continued powers as a broadcaster.

That power, or more specifically, Stern's unwillingness to wield it except in limited circumstances, is what makes the current state of the show and the artist that much more perplexing.  For every morning where it sounds like Howard could not care less about being at work, there will be an interview segment that shows a performer at the height of his power.  It is unclear how much Stern's lawsuit against SiriusXM is affecting his work, but his ambivalence about re-signing seems to have bled into his work.  Interviews aside, the show lacks much vigor.  Lange was never replaced and his absence is felt not only creatively but in the lack of a strong foil for Stern's observations and antics.  Long-time true sidekick Robin Quivers serves as both validator of Stern's opinions and equally removed now-celebrity who treats the show as Stern appears to, as a part-time gig between vacations in places that are out of reach of the average listener and with a modest amount of interest in the actual product being put on air.

Sadly, the show's quality is unlikely to improve.  Stern has shown no inclination to fill Lange's empty chair and even if he were, it is unclear whether a quality replacement could be found in light of the uncertainty that surrounds Stern's future after this contract and the question of whether SiriusXM is interested in investing additional money in a performer who is now suing them for what we can only assume is a substantial amount of money (the parties stipulated as part of the litigation that financial details would be redacted from all court filings).  Moreover, as his contract nears its end, Stern is likely to lose staffers who actually contribute on air material as they move on to new opportunities.  On some level, the fitting end may be the coda to a clever short movie done as part of the Howard Stern Film Festival back in 2006 (another ambitious undertaking that seems light years ago).  In "Radio Play," childhood versions of Howard, Robin and Fred find each other through radio and create a show.  In real life, it is entirely possible that the near retirement-age versions will do the same and ride off into the radio sunset.   

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