ENTERTAINMENTHoward Stern Lays Off a Dozen Staffers as Radio Show Faces Shock Shake-Up After Cancelation Rumors
'The Howard Stern Show' cut staffers as they prepare to produce just one episode a week starting this fall.
July 15 2026, Updated 12:33 p.m. ET
Shock jock Howard Stern laid off roughly a dozen staffers from his SiriusXM program as part of a major structural shift, a new report claimed.
The cuts coincide with a drastic reduction in new programming, as the iconic radio personality prepares to transition his long-running show down to just one newly produced episode per week starting after Labor Day.
Affected employees were reportedly blindsided and notified of their termination during a Zoom meeting.
Sources close to the production noted that the downsized weekly schedule means the broadcast "just doesn't need that much content anymore.”
Howard Stern allegedly laid off around a dozen people who work on 'The Howard Stern Show.'
Axed staffers are receiving severance packages determined by their overall tenure at the network, Page Six stated.
While a dozen employees were let go, Stern is reportedly keeping a smaller core group of his longtime producers, including his inner circle, such as Gary “Baba Booey” Dell'Abate.
The remainder of the weekly SiriusXM time slot will rely on archived material and reruns to fill the gaps.
Rumors swirled last year that his show could be canceled since he often targets Donald Trump.
The reduction in output follows a three-year contract extension that Stern signed in December, which he publicly stated would offer him greater personal flexibility and more free time.
Before that extension, rumors swirled that Stern’s unabashedly anti-President Donald Trump views would lead to cancelation, with one source telling The Sun at the time, “If Sirius isn’t going to give Stern a good offer, I don’t think it would have anything to do with his ratings. It’s more likely everything to do with the political climate.”
“I still do love being on the radio. I think the show is better than ever; I really do believe that in my heart,” Stern said on his show in December.
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Howard Stern Targeted in Lawsuit
Howard and Beth Stern called the hostile work environment lawsuit against him a 'shakedown.'
The staffing shakeup also caps off a turbulent few months for the radio veteran. In April, Stern and his wife, Beth Stern, were hit with a highly publicized lawsuit by their former executive assistant.
The suit alleged a "hostile work environment" and questionable household management practices.
The Sterns have since blasted the lawsuit as a "thinly veiled shakedown" and are actively seeking to have the case thrown out.
Inside Howard Stern's Rise to Fame
Howard Stern will start to produce only one new show per week.
The 72-year-old shock jock, the highest-paid radio host in the world, whose last contract was rumored to be a whopping $500,000,000, is widely considered the most influential and economically powerful radio personality in media history.
The self-proclaimed "King of All Media" completely revolutionized the broadcasting landscape by pioneering the unfiltered "shock jock" genre on terrestrial radio, single-handedly legitimizing satellite radio, and mastering long-form celebrity interviewing long before the modern podcast boom.
Stern's rise to prominence started on March 2, 1981, when he launched his morning show at WWDC in Washington, D.C., and was first paired with co-host Robin Quivers.
In 1985, he began broadcasting on WXRK (K-Rock) in New York City, where he stayed for 20 years before launching The Howard Stern Show in national syndication in 1986. In 2006, he transitioned to satellite radio, broadcasting exclusively on SiriusXM.
