Contract Time

JHDK

Release Robin's Bra
Oct 11, 2008
28,631
13,301
168
40
Hyrule
well its that time again, lets talk about if howard will sign a new contract, retire from radio, or go somewhere else.

i would put my money on him returning to sirius for a few more years. maybe with an even more scaled back schedule. and if he is not going back to sirius i think we would hear about it by june or so, unlike what he normally does and keeps us guessing till the very end. if he were to change venues he would need time to promote and if he retired i would expect the show to go out with a months long bang and not just an announcement with a week or 2 to go.

this came up on bloomberg today:

Is Howard Stern Playing Games With SiriusXM Contract? - Bloomberg Business

nothing new but just the beginning of many articles/videos speculating about what he will do.
 
Last edited:

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,666
1,836
113
If he goes out, I'd love to see something like a repeat of the final months at KROCK when they play all t he classic bits, bring back classic guests, etc. (Even though he probably won't bring people back, I think it'd be cool over the final months to bring back Bubba, Ferrall, Gilbert, Jackie, etc for a show.)

I used to think he's done, but he's worried about his staff and how to keep Beth relevant. He's not going to podcast or anything where he'll have to pay from the ground up. I do think an occasional podcast would be great for him...he could start about 8 or 9 AM, go for a few hours and do that 8-12 times per month, or as needed.

Or what about that WhaleRock thing...or is that just video? What I would have absolutely loved would have been to put sort of a weekly highlight show on a channel like HBO or Cinemax...now with Netflix, that's an option if they'd agree to his content. There *was* the show on MOJO HD during the early Sirius years which typically had two brief (edited) segments in HD, one classic edited segment from the E! era and a promo for some of the other stuff on HowardTV like Wack Pack bowling or whatever else was going on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ehilbert1 and JHDK

Bark

Hey Now!
Oct 15, 2008
2,412
493
83
Frederick, MD
1. He signs another deal with Sirius.
2. Sirius will be the exclusive venue. The show may pop up elsewhere, but it will only be licensed there by Sirius and Stern, like the HowardTV deal a couple of years ago.
3. Content will decrease.
4. Time that he's live and on the air will decrease.
5. "Antics" will decrease.
6. Celebrity interviews will increase.
7. Howard will kiss celebrity ass more, even those who he warred with in the past, if they are A-List. The bigger the celebrity, the more ass kissing is involved.
8. Beth and her animals will increase.

I don't say these things maliciously. It's clear that he wants to retire on one hand, but he's too driven to be able to do so. He'll die behind the microphone. He also wants to shape his legacy. My predictions above are just the logical conclusions.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,666
1,836
113
1. He signs another deal with Sirius.
2. Sirius will be the exclusive venue. The show may pop up elsewhere, but it will only be licensed there by Sirius and Stern, like the HowardTV deal a couple of years ago.
3. Content will decrease.
4. Time that he's live and on the air will decrease.
5. "Antics" will decrease.
6. Celebrity interviews will increase.
7. Howard will kiss celebrity ass more, even those who he warred with in the past, if they are A-List. The bigger the celebrity, the more ass kissing is involved.
8. Beth and her animals will increase.

I don't say these things maliciously. It's clear that he wants to retire on one hand, but he's too driven to be able to do so. He'll die behind the microphone. He also wants to shape his legacy. My predictions above are just the logical conclusions.

Agreed with the last parts. The last show, being a Howard Stern Funeral would somehow be fitting, the way he had "funerals" for rival hosts. And yeah, he wants to do everything and anything to get away from his previous persona he created in the 80s and 90s. Does AGT bring celebrities in on occasion or is it just the judges? If they *do* bring in celebrities, I wouldn't be surprised to hear him do a radio interview with that person on Monday in advance of them being on AGT on Tuesday.
 

geosync

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2008
2,471
500
118
Portland, Or
Something that he's skirted for many years is the ownership of the decade of Sirius shows. Say he retires, if Sirius owns the shows could they keep a howard 100 going with the sirius shows just running in perpetual replay?
 

Bark

Hey Now!
Oct 15, 2008
2,412
493
83
Frederick, MD
Something that he's skirted for many years is the ownership of the decade of Sirius shows. Say he retires, if Sirius owns the shows could they keep a howard 100 going with the sirius shows just running in perpetual replay?

I think this was addressed very early on in the Sirius years. In a nutshell and if I remember correctly, Howard owns the shows, but he can only air them on Sirius. Sirius and Howard together can market the shows in other ventures, like SoundCloud. If/When Howard and Sirius go their separate ways, Howard takes the shows with him.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JHDK

beaniemac

Well-Known Member
Dec 12, 2008
3,874
118
63
46
Chi-Town (South Side)
no doubt he's gonna come back. sirius is his only options as terrestrial and podcast aren't gonna happen. also, with 112 shows per year, that only averages out to about 2.1 shows per week anyways. not really sure how much more he could scale back. they've already trimmed the stations to the bare bones minimal, so I'm guessing if he takes another paycut, he'll still be able to pocket just about the same amount due to him axing everything else that cost money on the channels.
 

Ehilbert1

Ooh-Rah!!!!
Oct 13, 2008
4,480
1,220
113
Columbus, OH
He's been doing the negotiations on air forever. Now when he announced he was going to Sirius everyone just about shit their pants.

That was great radio when it happened and after. The negotiations on air now just sucks.

Sent from my Note 4
 

beaniemac

Well-Known Member
Dec 12, 2008
3,874
118
63
46
Chi-Town (South Side)
He's been doing the negotiations on air forever. Now when he announced he was going to Sirius everyone just about shit their pants.

That was great radio when it happened and after. The negotiations on air now just sucks.

Sent from my Note 4

He used to negotiate on air while on terrestrial. He used to talk about retiring around the turn of the millenium. Howard is the boy who cried wolf when it comes to this. He's not gonna fool me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ehilbert1

Neigh

Well-Known Member
Oct 16, 2008
2,798
206
63
New Jersey
Now he is talking about doing two days a week. He is doing his contract time thing again of comparing his four hour show with four network TV productions. Don't think things like an hour of JD, an hour of Big Foot embedded, an hour of who is a wack packer, Robin's summary of newspaper and TV stories done by others, Howard on the wonders of his photography and painting, Howard on how a dog taught him to love etc. are going to make the cut on the network shows.
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
23,405
18,654
168
Vacationland
To be fair, an hourly late night show has only 40 minutes of airtime, and that includes a music guest, plus all the intros and outros. So the host has to do about 30 minutes between the monologue, a bit, and the interviews.

One can discuss how much time it takes these shows to be produced each day; from what I've heard, the crew puts in about a 10 hour day, but they'll sometimes shoot 2 shows in a day. For THSS, I'd say the on-air crew does 6 to 8 hours for each day they air, for whatever that's worth.
 

Bark

Hey Now!
Oct 15, 2008
2,412
493
83
Frederick, MD
Is it possible that it is objectively less work but subjectively more work to Howard because he's getting old and run-down?
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
23,405
18,654
168
Vacationland
Is it possible that it is objectively less work but subjectively more work to Howard because he's getting old and run-down?
Howard's younger than Letterman or Leno (was) or Carson (was), and compared to Imus, he's a kid. But honestly, Letterman's entire on-air performance is either scripted (monologue, bits) or arranged (interviews). Letterman occasionally tells a story off the top of his head, but it'll be 5 minutes long. But Stern does 2 or 3 hours per day that's not scripted, and minimally arranged. That has to be draining on a person.
 

geosync

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2008
2,471
500
118
Portland, Or
It is draining. You guys go into your room with a buddy and talk for 3 1/2 hours into a mic and try to just entertain yourselves with some preselected topics. Take a break every 40 minutes or so, then go back to it.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,666
1,836
113
To be fair, an hourly late night show has only 40 minutes of airtime, and that includes a music guest, plus all the intros and outros. So the host has to do about 30 minutes between the monologue, a bit, and the interviews.

One can discuss how much time it takes these shows to be produced each day; from what I've heard, the crew puts in about a 10 hour day, but they'll sometimes shoot 2 shows in a day. For THSS, I'd say the on-air crew does 6 to 8 hours for each day they air, for whatever that's worth.

Truth. NBC and CBS (not sure about ABC) start their late night shows about 11:35 ET. There's an intro, then a monologue which lasts for about 8-10 minutes. There's a break, then a second comedy bit. After that, there's another break, then the introduction of the first guest. They'll chat for a few minutes, then take another break. Jimmy Fallon will sometimes play a game during the second part of that first guest, then there's another guest, then a break, then the musical guest or comedian at the end.

Jimmy Fallon has played with the format a bit. Sometimes, he'll go straight from the monologue into the comedy bit. Still, it seems like the first guest goes on about midnight.

Conan starts at 11 and basically follows the basic format. Monologue, break, comedy bit, break, Guest A Part 1, break, Guest A Part 2 , break, Guest B (very quick segment), break, musical guest or comedian. If he runs short, they'll repeat part of the show to fill up the unused time. This is maybe 2-3 minutes at most.

Another format swap is to do the comedian or music guest, then come back for a quick interview with them.

Conan doesn't do a show on Fridays. Dave tapes his Friday show on Thursdays. I think the other guys tape one show per day, AFAIK.