Baba Booey! Baba Booey! Howard Stern Renews Contract with Sirius/XM For Five More Years

By PopEater Staff Posted Dec 9th 2010 07:53AM

Howard Stern fans will be rejoicing to the news that the "King of All Media" will be staying right where he's been for the past five years -- on Sirius/XM satellite radio -- for the next five years.

The news broke this morning during Stern's daily radio show. "If we're going to stay in radio, we should stay here," Stern said on the air. "We're in an incredible position and suddenly there's real growth. It's a real business."

Stern wasn't talking numbers, but had ranted against Sirius CFO David Frear earlier this week who had hinted that Stern would have to take a pay cut. Possibly knowing a deal was imminent, Stern had apologized to Frear on and CEO Mel Karmazin, a long-time Stern colleage, on the air Wednesday.

Contract negotiations had been down to the wire, with Stern and his team having under 10 new shows left before the Christmas break and facing an uncertain future.

Howard had not shied away from discussing his situation on the air and there had been rumors that he was even looking to do a deal with an Internet service including a rumored $600 million deal with Apple, which had appeared unlikely because Steve Jobs' careful monitoring of the types of content that appear in iTunes seemed to clash with Stern's tendency to blurt out the f-word whenever possible.

Howard Makes His Big Announcement: Explicit Language

CNN Money reports that Sirius stock surged as much as 14% in pre-market trading with the news.

"Howard is a great talent and we are thrilled that he will continue to provoke, engage and entertain on Sirius XM," Karmazin told The Hollywood Reporter. "Our agreement is good news on all fronts - it is good for Sirius XM subscribers and good for Sirius XM stockholders. Howard forever changed radio and was instrumental in putting Sirius on the map when he first launched on satellite radio. He is one of the few 'one-name' entertainers in the country and our 20 million subscribers are lucky to have him.

The cast and crew of the show had said they were in the dark during the contract negotiations. Stern's longtime producer Gary Dell'Abate had told PopEater weeks ago that he didn't know where Stern was headed. "I think that he wants to continue to work," Dell'Abate aka Baba Booey, told us. "He's made that very evident on the radio and where that is, is I think the question."

The question has now been answered and his staff is certainly breathing a sigh of relief knowing that they are returning to work after the holidays.

During his rants on the air, Stern discussed the grind of getting up four days a week for a five-hour radio show. He hinted that he would want to cut back his days on air -- Stern and his crew already get close to 10 weeks off a year and work four-day weeks -- and he also wondered whether he would be happy shifting towards an afternoon drive. The deal with iTunes fed into that idea that his show might thrive on-demand, similar to the way his Howard TV offering does now.

Financial details are still to follow but Sirius/XM wasted no time proclaiming the news that puts them in a secure position, facing a possible defection of millions of subscribers if Stern was to leave. This was what was posted on Howard and Sirius's site this AM:

Tags: howard stern

Comments

(117)

Thursday 09 December

By D Wayne

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

Schmega dildos, and baba booey to ya'll!

By BTDT

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Remarkable that this guy holds an audience.
This one trick pony was played ten years ago.

By Baba Benny

Vote down Vote up Report this

Well BTDT - he still has you, after all nobody forced you to click an article about him...

By waagtod

Love it! I don't have sirius, so another 5 years i don't have this moron stealing a station off my dial!! For some reason the idiot mouthbreathers love this guy so they put him on a station I have on my dial! If he would only retire, and for your info jay did not steal jaywalking from stern, sternand jay stole it from the 50 other guys that have done it since the 1930's. Nothing is new its always been done before

By samchicom

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

F-Jacky!!!!!

By djtonydee

Sirius/XM GOT SCREWED...STEARN SUCKS

By Anthony

Stern should be ashamed disrespecting his loyal fans by side-stepping the flexible schedule topic this morning. In other words, he is going to be working less than he does already and replay all that BS "Best Of" material.

Well guess what, when he goes to less days and takes more vacation, I will cancel my 3 subscriptions and his cable show.

Once again, Howard does what is best for Howard and pretends to care about his fans.

By Joey o

Thank god i'm not the only one who see this..The vacations drive me nuts i've been hearing him since d.c. days..Why do i want to keep hearing the same old stuff and that when he was at his best ..i'm getting out paying for them to talk about people i don't even know You to rich for me and robin and her fake laughing good bye

By sirmoz

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I thought he was pretty straight forward about it. He said it will start out at 4 days a week and there will be some adjustments down the road. The man has been doing this for a long time and is looking to cut down some on his work schedule. He has every right to want to do that. If you opt to cancel, cancel, you aren't a true fan anyway.

By larry

disrespecting is NOT and I repeat NOT a word in the English language anyway.

By Dreamlover50s

I've already cancelled my subscription months ago due to the repeat shows and a Stern vacation just about every other week.

By WILL

Larry look in a dictionary , "disrespecting " is a word

By php228

howard does this all the time when his contract is up for signing i'm glad i stopped listening to him many years ago before sirius!!!!!!

By andybuildz

Howards kept me laughing five+ hours a day for over 25 years. The man deserves all he can get. Right on Howard. You Da man!!

By bob parks

Only in America -- a radio show with a 50-something year old man acting like a vulgar 14 year old child. No overestimating the stupidity of the American public.

By rhonda frayne

you are so right!!!!!you can't fix stupid....

By Drew

Bob when is the last time you listened to the show? Better yet have you ever listened to the show?

By Hugh Jassol

I'll bet it's tough being an angry old man with no sense of humor, isn't it, Bob?

By Sarge27

You have no idea. Howard is one of the greatest interviewers of all time and if you ever took time to listen to the whole content of his show you would see this. His vulgar skits are maybe 15% of his show.

By leo4120

Ditto

Page 1 of 6