Howard Stern's Shock Stunt: Can He Climb Back From the Ratings Abyss?

Howard Stern's Shocking Comeback: The King of All Media Faces Downfall and Desperation

Get ready for a dramatic turn of events as the 71-year-old shock jock, Howard Stern, prepares to address the public's biggest questions about his show's future on September 2. But is it just a publicity stunt or a desperate attempt to regain relevance? Insiders claim that the rumors of his show being canceled were just a hoax to try and boost his flagging ratings.

The news sent shockwaves through the industry, with fans and celebrities alike left wondering if this was the end for Stern's 20-year run on SiriusXM. But now, as the countdown begins to his highly anticipated return, it seems that the real question is: will anyone even care?

A Former Staffer Weighs In

One person who knows the inner workings of Stern's show is former staffer Steve Grillo, author of "The Gorilla Parts: Top Shelf Stories From the Most Famous Stern Intern Ever". Grillo spent seven years interning at The Howard Stern Show in the '90s and has some scathing opinions about his old boss.

"Come September 2, I think it's just going to be everybody's tuning in, and then I think they're going to get disappointed and tune right back out," Grillo claimed. "Unless he decides to put on a leather jacket and a pair of black jeans and then come back and was like, 'I'm back baby,' which I highly doubt he's going to do because it's too far and in between... all of a sudden he's going to come back and be that awesome rockstar that everybody listened to every day?"

Grillo's loss of interest in the show is mirrored by many others, with statistics showing a drastic decline from 20 million listeners per day at its peak to just 125,000 today. But what went wrong?

The Woke Problem

According to Grillo, Stern's transformation into a woke, socially conscious talk show host has been a major turn-off for fans. "I used to be a huge fan of Howard," he said. "But then he started talking about politics and it just got so annoying. He thinks he's some kind of intellectual now."

Stern himself attempted to deflect criticism by saying that being woke is the opposite of being asleep, but Grillo isn't buying it. "I think that if Old Howard Stern could go and jump in the time machine, he would punch him right in the face," he said.

Kanye West Weighs In

The criticism doesn't stop there. Kanye West has publicly described Stern as an "irrelevant old man", and Grillo agrees. "He's just not relevant anymore," he said. "And it's not just because of his politics, it's because he's lost touch with what made him great in the first place."

The Financial Reality

But is there more to the story than just a fading star trying to cling to relevance? Insiders claim that Stern's $500 million five-year contract with SiriusXM has left the station scrambling to meet his financial demands. With his contract set to expire at the end of the year, it seems that Stern may have no choice but to renew.

"It was something they came up with on a viral scale to get people to tune in again," an insider revealed to thescholarlynote.com. "The numbers are so pathetic that they don't know what to do."

A Desperate Attempt at Relevance?

So, is Stern's return just a desperate attempt to regain relevance or is it something more? According to Grillo, it's both. "He's trying to develop an audience again through this whole entire awful hoax campaign of, 'Did he get fired? Did he not get fired?' He's going to come on and announce that there's five more years of more creative b**t that he's going to be able to do, but that's already been in place."

Thescholarlynote.com has reached out to Howard Stern's rep and SiriusXM for comment.