Howard Stern Re-Ups With SiriusXM – And The Drama Was The Point

The Moment

Howard Stern is not riding off into the sunset just yet.

On his Tuesday morning show, the 71-year-old radio icon told listeners he has signed a new contract to keep The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM for three more years. After months of stories claiming his future was in jeopardy, Stern casually dropped, “Yes, we are coming back for three years,” and added that he’d “figured out a way to have it all” – more free time and staying on the air.

According to his on-air comments, Stern said he didn’t actually decide whether he was staying or going until the weekend before the announcement. That would explain why, as he put it, there were “no leaks.”

He also leaned right into the age talk, joking, “I’m old as f-k. I’m not supposed to be working,” while admitting he’s torn. He loves his days off, says he’s “never bored,” and insists he needs “me time” after working his whole life with “never really having a personal life.”

At the same time, he told listeners he still loves being on the radio and believes the show is “better than ever.” He said the new deal will give him more “flexibility,” hinting at a schedule that lets him step back a bit without fully stepping away.

All this follows a summer of dramatic headlines about his reported $500 million deal running out, anonymous insiders claiming the company didn’t want to keep paying his salary, and one British tabloid alleging – without proof – that Stern’s own team stirred the pot to keep him “relevant.” Stern even roped in fellow host Andy Cohen a month later to fake out fans into thinking he’d quit.

In other words: the contract negotiation became its own Howard Stern storyline. Of course it did.

The Take

I’m just going to say it: Howard Stern’s real superpower at this point isn’t shock-jock stunts. It’s turning paperwork into a season finale cliffhanger.

A three-year contract renewal is not exactly wild entertainment. But frame it as “Is radio’s bad boy finally retiring?” and suddenly we’re all rubbernecking like it’s the last episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Stern has always understood that the show is him – his neuroses, his feuds, his therapy sessions, his marriage, his politics, and yes, his contract drama. So of course the end of his giant deal becomes a weeks-long “Will he or won’t he?” arc. It’s less like a job negotiation and more like that friend who announces they’re leaving the group chat every few months and then shows up the next day with memes.

The contradiction is very human, though. At 71, he’s talking out loud about being tired, wanting more time to just live a life that isn’t mic’d, and wondering if he should actually, finally, maybe rest. That resonates with anyone who has watched a parent or spouse keep working long after they said they were “done.”

But Stern is also a performer who clearly can’t quite walk away from the spotlight he spent decades chasing. Radio isn’t just a job; it’s his personality. The new deal that promises “flexibility” sounds like compromise: fewer grind-it-out days, but not a clean break. It’s the semi-retirement a lot of people in their 60s and 70s quietly try to negotiate – only his is happening in public, with millions listening.

The noise around whether he was “worth the investment,” and whether his politics have made him too polarizing, is almost beside the point. The very fact that anonymous insiders and tabloids spent an entire summer speculating about his paycheck proves there’s still heat there. People don’t spin this hard over someone nobody cares about.

If anything, this saga underlines how different the media world is from when many of his fans first found him on their commute. Back then, when a host said goodbye, that was it. Now, we live in an age of “final tours” that last five years and retirement announcements that come with a side of “See you next season.”

Howard Stern didn’t just survive that shift; he’s playing it. The contract drama is part of the content, and like it or not, we keep tuning in to see if this is really the last chapter. Spoiler: not yet.

Receipts

Howard Stern has signed a new contract with SiriusXM following months of unfounded rumors that his show had been canceled for being too “woke” → https://t.co/deOsa25dFr pic.twitter.com/FqHEm1Wcdm

— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) December 16, 2025

Confirmed:

• Stern announced on air that he has signed a new three-year deal to continue The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM, saying he has “figured out a way to have it all” – more free time while staying on the radio (from his Tuesday broadcast, as summarized in entertainment reporting).
• He stated he did not decide whether he was staying or going until the weekend before the announcement, which he offered as the reason there were “no leaks.”
• Stern described himself as “old” and talked about craving “me time,” saying he has worked his whole life without much of a personal life, but still feels the show is “better than ever.”
• He said the new contract will provide more “flexibility,” though specific scheduling details have not been publicly disclosed.
• Stern first signed with Sirius (now SiriusXM) in 2004, and his show debuted on satellite radio in 2006, in a landmark move for both him and the company.

Unverified / Previously Reported:

• Over the summer, a U.S. tabloid outlet quoted unnamed “insiders” who claimed the company did not intend for Stern to accept a new offer and that his salary was “no longer worth the investment.” These comments have not been confirmed by SiriusXM on the record.
• The same outlet suggested that any future deal might center on Stern’s show library rather than live hosting, again based on anonymous sources.
• A British tabloid later alleged that Stern’s camp was behind some of the alarmist rumors about his job being in jeopardy, calling it a “desperate hoax” to make him “relevant” again. There is no public proof of this, and Stern has not confirmed orchestrating such a strategy.
• Stern’s reported $500 million contract size and the exact financial terms of his new deal are not officially disclosed; those dollar amounts come from past media estimates, not company filings.

Backstory (For Casual Readers)

For anyone who hasn’t had Stern’s voice in their car or kitchen for decades, a quick reset: Howard Stern built his fame as a so-called “shock jock” in the 1980s and 1990s on terrestrial radio, pushing boundaries with raunchy humor, personal oversharing, and celebrity interviews that felt more like confessions than promos. He famously branded himself the “King of All Media.”

In 2004, he made a seismic jump from traditional radio to subscription satellite service Sirius, launching his show there in 2006. The move helped put satellite radio on the map and reportedly came with one of the richest broadcasting deals in history. Over time, his style has softened and gotten more introspective; he’s also become more openly political, especially during the Trump years, which has changed parts of his audience. Through it all, his show has remained a staple for listeners who grew up with him – many of whom are now thinking about retirement right along with him.

What’s Next

What we know: Stern will stay on SiriusXM for at least three more years, and he’s promising a setup that gives him more breathing room. That likely means a continued presence on the platform, but with more off-days and a schedule built around his personal life in a way it wasn’t in his earlier, grind-heavy years.

What we don’t know yet: the exact terms. No official public breakdown of his new workload, show frequency, or money has been released. Fans should keep an eye on how often he’s live, whether more pre-taped interviews or specials appear, and whether the company starts spotlighting his massive archive more aggressively.

Bigger picture, this buys everyone time. SiriusXM keeps its marquee name. Stern gets to test-drive a softer version of retirement without walking away cold turkey. And his listeners, many of whom have been with him since before satellite radio even existed, get a few more years to adjust to the idea that someday, one of these “Will he quit?” plotlines is going to stick.

Until then, the show goes on – contract drama and all.

Sources

• Howard Stern’s on-air announcement on The Howard Stern Show, SiriusXM, December 16, 2025 (as described in entertainment coverage).
• Reporting from a New York-based celebrity news column on Stern’s new deal and prior contract speculation, December 16, 2025.
• Past tabloid reporting from U.S. and U.K. outlets on alleged insider claims about Stern’s contract and relevance, August-September 2025.
• Publicly available background on Stern’s 2004 move to satellite radio and the 2006 launch of The Howard Stern Show on Sirius.

Question for readers: Are you happy Stern signed on for three more years, or do you think it’s finally time for radio’s longtime king to hand over the mic?