Stern Goes from Serious Player to Sirius Backwater

Howard Stern, once the self-glossed “King of All Media,” has lost much of his audience and prestige in his much-ballyhooed move to satellite radio, the Los Angeles Times reports. Analysts estimate that Stern, who once boasted 12 million daily listeners, attracts only about 1-2 million on the subscription service, and A-list bookings have dried up.

Being free of the Federal Communications Commission has also been a curse in disguise for Stern, who no longer enjoys the publicity its huge fines engineered. “He made a Faustian bargain,” said one analyst. “He got everything he wanted in terms of money and not being bothered by the FCC, but he lost the bulk of his audience.”