Howard Stern Embraces the Three Day Work Week – What do we Listen to Now?
It saddens me to say that today marked the beginning of Howard Sterns new three day work week. As a condition of Howard’s latest five year deal, his fans were saddened to learn they will have to find some other live programming to listen to on Thursdays and Fridays.
As a realist, it’s pretty simple to understand why a guy who has put so many years into entertaining the public day in and day out, with as much cash as Howard, would want to wind down and spend more time with his wife, kids, and as he says “staring at a wall.” So, will every week be a three day week? Howard says “it’s complicated.”
Although fans may be disappointed when faced with the choice of no Howard vs. some Howard, some wins hands down, every time.
Having said that, what are his loyal fans to do? Sure, we have years worth of old shows and tapes to rerun on his off days but what about his demographic that is looking for live programming? What happens when he finally does retire?
We have seen Bubba The Love Sponge come and go and now Jason Ellis, who some consider the future, is mysteriously missing. It should be noted that a source close to Jason Ellis has revealed that he has been taking a few personal days, canceling both his Wednesday and Thursday live show this week amidst his current contract negotiations.
I don’t pretend to have the answers but, with time winding down for Howard and potential price increases on the horizon, fans of Sirius XM are rightfully concerned with the future of programming and getting some real bang for their buck… me included.
What will you be listening to now that Howard is no longer live on Thursday and Friday? Sound off in the comments below.
I would like to see Howard give Richard and Sal more time on the air. I could listen to their prank phone calls every day.
Personally I think it sucks. But what Howard wants. Howard gets. Which is fine. Personally I have a car subscription and a online subscription and the only reason is for Howard. Despite the temptations from websites who record the show and offer it for free, I have remained loyal to both Howard and Sirius. almost 18 dollars gets credited from me on a month to month basis. I will be canceling my car subscription the end of July because I am not going to continue to support a man with more money than god and a company that allows him to dictate. CBS had their issues and I think of not for the constant muzzling of Howard he would still be there. But one thing is for sure. CBS laid it on the table what they wanted from him and that was 5 day work weeks. Sirius really dropped the ball in letting Howard dictate his working terms. Howard is older now. His kids are all grown. If he wanted to see them mature he should have done this years ago. And to be honest, sitting at a microphone for 4 hours is not like brick laying in the baking sun for 8 hours. Howard needs to get over himself and play the cards he was dealt. I understand he feels entitled to certain luxuries but he is handling the end of his career the wrong way I say. I hope he takes this time off he so desperately needs and wants to continue therapy because a person really does have head problems if he thinks three days on a pay subscription service is what the fans are wanting and begging for…
He is now stealing our money while complaining about Oprah.
Guys…be rational please…this man has been doing this for 30 years plus…he’s entitled to retire, trim his schedule or work more…the point is he’s getting old…and that’s it. He may not be as old as your dad when your dad retired but wouldn’t your dad have cut his hours at the end of his career if he could have? Bottom line, if you think three days is too little than cancel your script but it’s crazy to be angry with Howard when he’s doing what not only is his right but the same thing everyone else would and does do when theyve done something as long as Howard has. I’ll miss you when your gone howard!
I have already cancelled…. Enough is Enough…
Charge more and get less.. not my idea of good radio.
Others in radio seem to not care about putting time in and work 4 hours a day… he is just full of himself lately and I now will stop paying to listen to reruns..
I say put Black on Black on the off days! They’ve proven more than enough that they make an extremely entertaining show!
I completely understand Howard’s right to get whatever concessions he can get from management at Sirius. That’s the way employment negotiations work. He is getting older and wants to spend more time with Beth and his kids. So he absolutely should take more time off if Sirius let’s him.
He was probably forced to take a pay cut given Sirius’ financial situation, stock price, the economy, etc. So he negotiated for more time off instead. The alternative would have been to retire now, thereby assuring a plummeting Sirius stock price, and likely bankruptcy. I give credit to Howard for coming to this agreement, and assuring employment for his staff for another 5 years.
That being said, I do not appreciate paying full price for 1/2 of a product (when you include his vacation time), no matter how good the content. I can easily afford the $15 a month, but consumers are entitled to get what they pay for, and with this new abbreviated schedule, I feel like I’m getting ripped off.
I will be cancelling my Sirius subscription tomorrow. I will miss Howard and I thank him for all the great years of listening pleasure. If he starts doing more live shows consistently, I’ll happily sign up again at that point.
I say give extra time to Richard and Sal. I think a show featuring these two would be much more enjoyable than the Chuck Zito show, the Jackie Martling, and Black on Black. Whether they are doing phony phone calls or crazy stunts these guys are hilarious. Howard has done a good job developing these two talented entertainers, now he needs to let them have a show. They could actually get listeners and generate revenue.
Satellite radio was supposed to be commercial free. Now every non music channel is packed with commercials especially H100 and 101. So we are suckers for paying for commercials, whatever. Now HS’s schedule allows him to take a week off every 3 weeks which subjects us to more reruns than the live show at the same price. Yes Howard has been around and certainly has every right to do what he wants but for a listener like me it is very disappointing jumping in the car at 6am for the hour commute only to hear reruns most of the time. Boo I say….booooooooo!
Come on now. You have to understand the economics of how Sirius works. There is no way for the company to make money based on subscriptions alone unless they charged an astronomical rate. The way to keep the costs down for the listeners while at the same time paying for the talent is to have advertisements. I don’t mind the ads, the content of the show is better and there is considerably more time on the air per show compared to regular radio.
Seriously, you honestly think you are getting value for your money? The length of the ads rival those back in his terrestrial days. The show is watered down.
I would have had far more respect for him if he left at the end of the last contract. He has sold out completely, and uses it as a forum to promote his next venture, because he wants yet more money than the 500 mm he has from Sirius.
I am a long-time Stern fan-atic like most. I don’t blame him for securing a better contract that meets his current and future needs better. And I am extremely grateful for the many years of entertainment I have enjoyed from the show. But at the end of my existing 1-year subscription (I subscribed to Sirius days after Howard went live and pay for a full year at a time) I won’t renew based on the reduced Stern content. I was able to deal with the lack of Fridays but the 3-day weeks just aren’t working for me. The extra day makes a huge difference on Fridays when you may get lucky and catch something you missed during the first 4 days. But with a 3 day week Thursdays and Fridays are just lame. I think what got me most though is coming off of their long late summer vacation it went right to 3 days and has been that way since. Again, Howard’s contract is between him and Sirius but ultimately it came at a price to me and the rest of his listeners. When someone tries to bring this point up to him on air he is just too dismissive – too quick to say “hey if you don’t see the value in it any more then don’t subscribe”. I have 2 car and 2 internet scrips and they won’t be renewed. With Pandora, FM, internet radio, DVR, there are just too many better ways to spend my time and money now. I will miss him and the gang for sure but it is what it is.
I cancelled a few weeks ago after the frustration of all the vacation but then i was suckerd into 5 more months for 25$ but this is it 3 days a week is wack in that case i might as well dowload the show for free and just listen to him one day behind
there’s other entertainers, like Adam Corrola, he has a great podcast and is free his comedy is kind of what howard used to be when he first start it before he became all sensitive
Here’s how I see it:
I was one of those that, although I would initially miss Howard, I would rather he NOT renew at all. This would have sent Sirius subscriptions into a downward spiral, like HBO did after the end of the Sopranos. I thought his renewal meant that, occassionally, we would not have him on Thurdsays, but not EVERY Thursday. But, like the days of terresterial radio, we all want to know what he’s going to say NEXT. When it was free, that was a good position. But, now that we pay for it, and Sirius does NOTHING to fill that empty slot (and don’t believe Howard doesn’t have a say in what goes in that slot), I think we are being taken advantage of.
Let me make my observation of why Howard is in therapy. Howard, apart from his original career worries, is now at a position where he could become irrelevent. And that, I believe, is his greatest fear. What does the landscape look like with no more Howard Stern influence? He’s not on TV unless you pay for it (and it’s really just his radio show anyway), his movie, and tv deals have gone nowhere, and all that’s left is a possible book in the future. Once Howard is gone from the airwaves, in whatever form that is, he will be become irrelevent. NOT forgotten, just not relevent. And this is the one fear, I believe, that Howard has. Sure, Beth has some influence over what Howard chooses to do, but will she quit her work? I doubt it. And the ass he kisses now is the same ass he used to make fun of when he has less powerful and influencial friends when he was married to a Long Island Housewife. So Beth says, “play nice for both our careers”, and Howard does that.
If he had just left Sirius, we’d all have some more money in our pockets. But, after staring at the walls for 18 hours a day, taking care of all the animals that Beth fills their childless lives with, Howard slips into irrelevence. And that’s what scares him the most. He’s got the money, he’s tasted the fame, but can he survive without people hearing his opinions? I doubt it.
So, the point is, why are we paying Sirius all this money to be Howard’s therapy, if he refuses to get the therapy he needs on Thursdays or Fridays? Improved internet, Wifi and automobile services will make the need for satellite radio obsolete soon, anyway. And we will all find another outlet to listen to that suits our needs.
As much as I love Stern I’ve I wish he would have just retired. The fact that he is fighting with Sirius over his contract is going to define the next 4 years, and I feel like I’m being used as a pawn in it all. The ONLY reason I have Sirius is because of Howard, and I’m sure there are a few million subscribers (including myself) who will bail when Howard finally says goodbye. It’s sad that Sirius did not learn from the mistakes of all the other corporate giants that had hired him in the past, but I guess that’s just the way it is. Well, so much for common sense…
F-Jackie, F-Timmy, F-Y’ALL!
I agree with all of the above points, but as the Howard Stern of late seems to be phoning it in these days, not remembering people he has met in the past, not appearing to have interest in the show and also not the man he was years back. I can’t stand that every comment he now makes is prefaced by “this is what I heard, or this is what I read”, obviously afraid that he will be sued and lose that wad of cash he has stashed. I would rather see him work Tuesday through Thursday but then he would not have the long weekend while still receiving his paychack. Lastly, I wish he would allow his crew to put on some original programming (Sal, Richard, Bubba whatever) when he is gone instead of running three days of past shows for four days or having to listening to his canned crap from years ago. He is as bad as Disney selling those special DVD’s from the vault. He (Howard) should listen to that and see what he has become, a man phoning it in. Get out while you are on top or risk becoming an IMUS……
I just got a new car and I’m not going to pay for Stern anymore for 3 days a week.
It just isn’t worth any more.
Well i am just glad we still have him. I am fine with 3 days. He put in many many years. Keep up the good work the stern show
I got my new car when Howard signed his new contract. The last time I had a choice between Sirius and XM but since my last lease Lexus made an exclusive deal with XM. 95% of the channels are the same but I don’t get Howard unless I pay an extra $5 a month. i waited for the summer to be over because he takes off half the summer and I was thinking of subscribing. But the show just isn’t what it was and when I saw in the newspaper that Howard is campaigning for the talent show judge again I knew I didn’t want to pay to hear him get paid to beg for another multimillion dollar job. He did that with American Idol and it was nothing but boring to hear everyone kiss his ass and tell him how great he’d be.
Howard has gotten lazy and talks about nothing but himself and the rest of the cast. There’s no more funny bits. Sal & Richard suck and featuring them have ruined the show. I can’t believe some people above want more of them. People that think that this version of the show is good couldn’t have listened in the old days. They never should have let Billy West go. Those were the best shows ever. And as much as it was his own fault the show really started going downhill when Jackie left.
Now that Howard is in the talks to be a judge of America’s Got Talent, all you gonna hear is him talking about that show all freakin day. I had Sirius on my old car for 12.99 a month. Now my new car features SiriusXM, they would not port over my old plan over to my new vehicle due a diffrent radio. Now for me to get Howard, I would have to shell out $17.99. F$%^ that. Plus, he is on a three day work week now. Im sick of hearing reruns from years ago. When they did that SNL Howard special, I was like this is terrible and boring.
I appreciate the years of listening Howard has provided but he’s still a human being and has to do what’s right for himself personally. However, I’ve never been convinced he’s always been ready to ride off into the sunset, his new gig with America’s got Talent seems to validate that. I was hoping Howard would take a hiatus for a year or so, he’s never really had a break from working (if you can call what he’s doing working) and come back charged up with a new appreciation for his show. listening to him complain about the struggle just to do his radio show nowadays makes you wonder how doing two gigs is going to affect him. However, I agree with the people that think there is something driving Howard that won’t let him permanently retire from the spotlight, plus he’s always had an underlying need for mainstream recognition and approval, he won’t admit that directly but it’s something he has always hinted at. His new gig is his first real shot at that but it might not last, he could be canned after the first season though maybe it will lead into that late night television talk show he’s always lusted for. If all that doesn’t work out there is still his radio show and personally I hope he comes back to it with renewed vigor. Howard’s unique persona is perfect for radio and any other format just isn’t the same. I still have my Sirius subscription and will stick with it for the length of this next contract. I’m not happy about the 3 day a week schedule but am more upset about shortening the show to a few hours a day, it feels rushed now and he doesn’t have the space to stretch things out. Despite that it’s still more entertaining than anything else on the radio. I suspect Howard mainly doesn’t like the pressure of supporting the lives of so many people on his show, I remember him musing once about having a podcast out of his home that he does when he wants and doesn’t have a big supporting cast to be responsible for.
I would love to see him cut loose of Sirius. I hate that company, they are paranoid that someone might hear their broadcast without PAYING, come on if they are going to have commercials, at least on Howards show, they ought to loosen up and make it easy and free for people to set up multiple radios for listening, the more people that listen the more it promotes their product, there’s value in that as well as subscriptions.
Bottom line is that none of this should be a surprise. Howard has completely sold out and if anyone thinks to the contrary, they are living in a fog. I don’t deny him his wanting to have more time off. But given he only works 3 days a week, if we’re lucky, the bar is raised and each show should be nothing less than great.
Instead, Howard takes shortcuts to burn time and to promote his own agenda. It really is a slap in the face to the people who pay and support him. Each show consists of either A. Howard doing lame imitations of his parents, B. Goofing on Ronnie or JD, C. Talking about his karaoke show., sprinkled with the occasional retread guests.
Ironic that this tripe is called ‘uncensored radio’ when those callers with an opposing opinion are dubbed ‘haters’ and are not patched through. Only the latherers are.
Personally, good for those who tape and get it for free. When you think about that the basic idea of the show is to help you with your commute, you quickly realize how UNFUNNY the show has become and boring at that.
I basically feel the same, have been with Stern, since he started on Sirius. I am dismayed at the three days and all the time off. The shows are going down in quality too. Ready to cancel, I have been listening less every week. Sick of it, sick of the increases in price too. Paying extra online sucks too. Good by.
Stopped listening to Howard in Feb. Too much time off, No new bits, No Artie (Howard tries to use Ronnie to man up the show ,but Ronnie sucks), Howard is a Manhatten Elitist, He talks non- stop about that stupid TV show, He puts no effort into the show, Robin Is so far Left Politically, Howard never has good comics sit in, Reruns suck, And most of all i do not care about his fucking lawsuit with Sirius, heard it all with CBS and not gonna hear now. commericals have increased alot. So i have turned him off and now enjoy Podcast from Adam Carolla and Joe Rogan.
I started listening to Howard a few years before his move to Sirius. I really loved the show with Robin and Artie. I have subscribed to XM and the XM Sirius mainly because of Howard. I think the show needs help since Artie left, but still remain a listener. It seemed the show went to 4 days a week with Friday being reruns and now it is down to 3 days along with numerous vacations a year. I get pissed off when I tune in and it’s a rerun. I realize Howard has been doing this for decades, but will this continue to dwindle down to 2 days a week and then 1 day a week? It is frustrating! If he is going to do only 3 days a week, then he should bring Artie back or add someone and increase the quality of the show