Howard Stern Trolls Viewers With Gag That Andy Cohen Had Taken Over His SiriusXM Slot

Source: Variety

Howard Stern gave fans a head fake early Monday morning with a gag that Andy Cohen had taken over his channel slot on SiriusXM.Last month, amid a spate of rumors and speculation that Stern’s SiriusXM deal was not being renewed, Stern gleefully turned the chatter into a tune-in promo. His show told listeners he would address the topic on the Sept. 2 episode of “The Howard Stern Show”; however, last week, he postponed the reveal until Sept. 8 — indicating that a deal was not yet done.

Stern told listeners Monday that during the summer, he “totally shut down” to take time off. Stern said he had planned to make the announcement about the future of “The Howard Stern Show” on SiriusXM last week but became very sick. Back around the end of July, Stern said, he got a call from “my people,” who told him that there was a report that co-host Robin Quivers had died — obviously untrue. That was followed by another report that Stern had been “fired” by SiriusXM because he was “took woke.” Stern said he’d been thinking of retiring but said he could not now walk away from SiriusXM given 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.

Before Stern came on the air Monday, in a staged bit, a flustered-sounding Andy Cohen introduced himself and said that the channel going forward will now be known as “Andy 100.” “I know you’re expecting a big announcement from Howard, and this is not how things were meant to go,” Cohen said. “This was supposed to be a cleaner hand off — I’m kind of winging it,” he continued, saying that it has been a “surreal morning here.” Added Cohen, “I can’t possibly fill his void” and said he was confident Stern would land on another platform soon. Stern, when he came on the air, thanked Cohen for agreeing to do the bit.

Last week, SiriusXM execs acknowledged that talks with Stern were ongoing but that they hoped to ink a new deal. “I think he’s been core to our platform for over 20 years, so I’m confident we’ll get to the right place,” SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said Sept. 3 at an investment conference.

Read more: https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/howard-stern-show-renewed-siriusxm-andy-cohen-1236503919/