Howard Stern recently signed a deal with HBO to stream his soon to be once a week show on the streaming service HBOMax. Why did HBO sign Stern? Content. HBOMax needs to have content. HBOMax has so much competition; Netflix, Peacock, Hulu, Disney, Amazon, Apple, Tubi, Paramount Plus and so on. Programming is no longer just for a 24-hour cycle, it’s now on demand which has no time limit. So these streaming services has to put something on its platform.
We are curious why HBO would put Sern on its platform. This is 2026, not 1995 when Stern was the self-proclaimed “King of all media,” Sten is currently on vacation until after Labor Day and will only produce one show a week! I guess he heard about our schedule. Stern has lost a huge chunk of his audience.
The reasons why he lost those people are large. First; he went from workingman Howard who’s stuck in traffic coming to work to Hollywood Howard. He pals around Jimmy Kimmel and hangs out in the Hamptons. Second: his politics shifted from moderate to liberal. He told Trump supporters don’t listen to him. The Trump supporters already stopped listening. Third: he doesn’t work. His listeners work at least five days a week. He doesn’t. Fourth: he refused to go toe to toe with Opie and Anthony. Back in the late 90’s Opie and Anthony were in PM drive time in New York number one in the ratings. Stern put a gag order on O and A. Stern didn’t want competition. Fifth: he treated his staff like garbage. Everyone who worked for Stern said he did absolutely nothing for them. Nobody had anything nice to say about him. People sacrificed the most productive years of their lives for him and he gave them nothing. And when John Melendez did get the gig with Jay Leno, Stern made him persona non grata! And finally, the show sucks. No more off color, edgy humor. No more Homeless Jeopardy, Dial a date or naked women. It’s kissing the ass of Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris! It will be interesting to see the ratings on HBOMax.
