Howard Stern has postponed his highly anticipated return to SiriusXM to Sept. 8, a post on his official social media website said Tuesday. Stern was expected to return Tuesday morning to announce his decision about the future of his relationship with the satellite radio giant.
Stern has been on vacation all summer, but it has been a restless one. While away, Stern has been maligned via social media and the press saying his program, “The Howard Stern Show,” is rumored to be canceled after his contract with SiriusXM satellite radio is up at the end of the year.
When his program was set to resume live on Tuesday, Stern fans, who were waiting with great anticipation for the shock jock to return, were met with a bumper that stated, “Today was the day to answer all questions and yet the controversy continues. … Howard Stern will now speak Monday!” The broadcast then cut to a string of commercials followed by reruns of old bits.
About 40 minutes later, a post appeared on “The Howard Stern Show” official social media sites crossing out the return date of Sept. 2 and writing in Sept. 8 with the message, “Stay Tuned…”
The Daily Mail published an article noting that Stern, who grew up in Roosevelt and Rockville Centre and now lives in Southampton, sent an email to his employees Labor Day evening saying a source told them, “Howard’s decision was a result of ‘frustrations over the new contract’ he’s been negotiating with the satellite/online radio company.”
The Daily Mail also offered that the postponement could also be surrounding a family issue due to his ailing 97 year-old mother, Ray Schiffman Stern.
The Stern media spiral began when The U.S. Sun published a story on Aug. 5 saying Stern’s show is “set to be canceled after a stunning 20-year run” citing an unnamed insider source, who said, “Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want. It’s no longer worth the investment.” Then there were rumors about the dip in Stern’s listenership from 20 million to 125,000, which were unconfirmed but announced by TV host Greg Gutfeld, who publicly bashed Stern on his Fox News program, “Gutfeld!” The U.S. Sun also reported that Alex Cooper, host of the “Call Her Daddy Podcast” and head of the Unwell Audio Network, was taking over his spot as SiriusXM’s top talent and that Stern had issues with her. But the King of All Media remained silent even when he returned for one day on Aug. 6 to conduct an exclusive interview with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich announcing the band’s new SiriusXM station, Maximum Metallica (channel 42) and their Aug. 28 concert at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett.
Stern is expected to resume his program on Monday at 7 a.m.
David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday’s exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.