SiriusXM’s president and CEO are both on board with Howard Stern staying on the air amid rumors of a looming retirement — if the deal is right.
Scott Greenstein gushed at a Bank of America conference Wednesday that the radio legend has been “a lightning rod” for spreading awareness about SiriusXM and boosting publicity, per the Hollywood Reporter.
“He’s the best interviewer out there, period, bar none,” the president added, further praising Stern, 71.
Greenstein — who is also the broadcasting company’s chief content officer — explained negotiations talks are nothing new, especially with someone at Stern’s level.
“We’ve been pretty lucky all these years,” he admitted. “We’d love them to stay. It certainly has to make sense, but we feel pretty good that we’ve done this before, and we’ll see where it goes.”
SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz also recognized during the conference that Stern has been “core” to their platform for “over 20 years,” adding, “so I’m confident we’ll get to the right place.”
Page Six has reached out to reps for the “Howard Stern Show” for comment but has not heard back.
Since August there have been rumblings that the show may end since Stern’s contract is up in the fall.
“Sirius and Stern are never going to meet on the money he is going to want. It’s no longer worth the investment,” an insider told the US Sun at the time.
“But as far as him coming back to doing the show, there’s no way they can keep paying his salary. After you saw what happened with Stephen Colbert, it’s like they just can’t afford to keep him going.”
In October 2004, Stern signed his first five-year deal with Sirius Satellite Radio for $500 million and it went into effect two years later. He later signed another five-year contract for the same amount in 2020.
At the time, there were rumblings that SiriusXM was looking to increase Stern’s payday to $120 million a year, but the shock jock shot down those rumors, saying he and his agent were “baffled” by those figures.
This time around, there are rumors that Stern has tension with fellow SiriusXM star Alex Cooper and is bugged by her mega $125 million deal, as well as others claiming the cancellation talks are all for ratings.
“They’re desperately trying to make this thing go viral to try to boost his numbers for his return [in September],” a source told the Daily Mail last month. “His numbers are down so low that they’re trying … to get people to tune in to see what he’s going to say about getting ‘fired’ from Sirius [XM].”
Stern was set to address all the chatter himself on his show this week but cancelled last-minute due to a family emergency. He is now set to speak on the matter on Sept. 8.