Howard’s Back… But For How Long?

• After keeping America in suspense for an extra week in making his highly anticipated announcement, Howard Stern proved that he could still command the national media cycle on Monday morning when, instead of hearing his voice, listeners were greeted by a flustered-sounding Andy Cohen announcing that he was replacing Howard. “I know you’re expecting a big announcement from Howard, and this is not how things were meant to go,” said Cohen, host of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, who curates two SiriusXM channels and co-hosts Andy Cohen Live on SXM. “This was supposed to be a cleaner hand off — I’m kind of winging it,” said Cohen, added that Howard 100 would henceforth be known as “Andy 100.”

Cohen’s announcement was apparently so unexpected and convincing that it triggered Variety and the AP to issue Breaking News bulletins regarding Howard’s alleged departure. Both outlets quickly corrected their coverage shortly thereafter, when Stern finally appeared and thanked Cohen for participating in the bit.

Stern said he’d been thinking of retiring but said he felt he could not now walk away from SiriusXM given all of the media reports that The Howard Stern Show was canceled. “One of the positive things” about all the “fake news,” according to Stern, was that he heard from other companies that were interested in picking up his show. “I’m very happy at Sirius,” Stern said, while praising SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz.

“Here’s the truth,” he said. “SiriusXM and my team have been talking about how we go forward in the future. They’ve approached me, they’ve sat down with me like they normally do and they’re fantastic.” However, Howard stopped short of announcing that he and SiriusXM had yet reached an agreement on an extension to his current five-year deal that expires at the end of the year. Looks like we will have to stay tuned…