REPORT: ‘Howard Stern Show’ Set To Be Cancelled After Massive Financial Losses

After nearly two decades of headlining SirusXM’s radio offerings, controversial radio host Howard Stern’s career might be coming to an end for good. According to a report from The Sun, SiriusXM is not expected to renew Stern’s current five-year contract when it expires this upcoming fall.

According to the report, SiriusXm is expected to make an offer, though there is a widespread belief between the two sides that Stern will not be accepting. “Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want,” one source told The Sun, adding that “it’s no longer worth the investment” to keep paying the reported $100 million-a-year salary Stern is currently receiving.

SiriusXM is expected to negotiate a deal to retain Stern’s sprawling digital library, though the show does indeed appear to be winding down after 49 years on the year, the last 19 of which have been spent at his current home. “There’s no way they can keep paying his salary,” another source told the outlet.

In addition to declining popularity of the medium significant financial losses on the program, SiriusXM executives are reportedly fed up with Stern’s outspoken political views. Stern — who built his career off distasteful and boundary-pushing content — seemingly abandoned that branding in 2020 when he became somewhat of a zealot on COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent vaccine guidelines.

Stern strongly advocated for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and was widely dismissive of civil liberties concerns cited by vaccine opponents. “When are we going to stop putting up with the idiots in this country and just say it’s mandatory to get vaccinated? F**k them. F**k their freedom. I want my freedom to live,” he said in September of 2021.

That same month, Stern generated controversy for mocking  fellow radio hosts who had recently passed away from the virus. “Four of them were like ranting on the air — they will not get vaccinated… they were all dying and then their dying words were, ‘I wish I had been more into the vaccine,'” Stern ranted without evidence.

Stern’s frequent political ramblings had reportedly worn thin on SirusXM executives by the 2024 presidential election, when he sat for an interview with Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris and made a number of controversial comments about Donald Trump and his supporters.

“I don’t hate Donald… I hate you for voting for him, for not having intelligence. For not being able to see what’s going on with the coronavirus, for not being able to see what the Justice Department is doing. I hate you, I don’t want you here,” Stern said of the current president’s 81 million supporters in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election.

Stern, 71, has been one of the most recognizable names in radio since starting out at WNBC and then “K-Rock” WXRK, where “The Howard Stern Show” became a national phenomenon. The show later obtained widespread syndication.

After moving to SiriusXM in 2006, he helped drive the satellite radio service’s subscribers and became the face of the emerging brand.

The cancellation of Stern’s show comes just weeks after CBS announced that it would be cancelling its long-running late night show and axing current host Stephen Colbert. Like Stern’s program, Colbert’s show became synonymous with hyper-partisan politics and has been costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.