By Brandon Matthews

Soon after Howard Stern joined Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI), the mainstream media began to write that Stern had lost his relevance. For the last five years, they have also constantly reminded everyone of the costs associated with Stern’s contract. They have used broad strokes to criticize the $500 million deal, while withholding the fact that the deal includes far more than Stern’s salary alone.

Stern’s lifelong radio partner, Robin Quivers for example, is consistently ignored by the media. The deal made by Stern included the salaries of not only Quivers, but the production costs of the show and “rat pack” personality salaries such as Artie Lange. Stern has handled the responsibility that came with the deal, better than Wall Street executives handle their own businesses. President Obama and Congress could learn a thing or two on fiscal responsibility from the shock jock.

The deal was a good deal for both Sirius and The Stern Show, not just Stern alone. In fact, the Stern deal was probably the best deal that Sirius had made as a stand alone company, with subscriber revenues far exceeding the cost of the contract. Sirius and the NFL for example also had a $500 million deal, which brings in far less than Stern in revenue.

The Stern show is original content, and the current delivery vehicle is Satellite Radio, just as this article is written content, and the delivery vehicle is Satwaves.com. With Stern’s contract up for renewal later this year, the terrestrial radio lobby attempted to confuse listeners into believing that Stern might bring the show back to terrestrial radio airwaves. Stern finally abolished the notion live on the air in a recent show, when he announced that he has no desire to be censored on ad based radio.

Now the hedge fund supported media has found a new avenue for their fear mongering, by suggesting that Stern might replace Simon Cowell on American Idol. This is more than a reach in its merit. For starters, Stern hates the idea of American Idol and has blamed the show in part for the denigration of the music industry, as it ignores talent that has paid its dues for years. Stern has encouraged his listeners to corrupt the voting on American Idol by asking that they vote for the WORST contestants.

Beyond that, do I really need to state the obvious? Could you imagine Stern asking a nervous Idol contestant how big her breasts are, whether or not they are real, or having her turn around so we can have a look at her derriere? Or asking whether or not they are still virgins or to ask about sexual preferences and experiences? I mean, who are we kidding here? The family oriented show would be boycotted by families and Christian groups on a simple announcement.

I’m not suggesting that Stern could not do it, because Stern is certainly smart enough and talented enough to pull it off, if he decided to change careers at this point of his life. This would mean however, that Stern’s political importance would come to an end. It would mean selling out his lifelong business partner, Robin Quivers, who has supported Stern through thick and thin, trial and tribulation, for decades. It would mean the abandonment of those closest to him.

Never letting the facts get in the way of a good story, once reputable industry publications such as TheStreet.com and Barrons are suddenly consumed with Howard Stern and the show’s future, after years of criticizing the king of all media. You can find dozens of articles between the two publications that speculate of Stern’s potential departure from Sirius XM’s airwaves, but not a single one on Stern’s on-air rejection of terrestrial radio offers. In the end, it boils down to motives, and the intentional omission of fact is as good as a lie. Once these lies are brought to light, the credibility of these publications suffer.

The idea that Stern would walk away from his life’s work and the most popular radio show ever created, which he and Quivers spent more than twenty years building, one listener at a time, is lunacy. That said, it would be quite interesting to see Stern in a guest role on Idol, if only to fluster the contestants with those patented “Stern type” of questions and to mock the FCC one more time.

Position: Long SIRI

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