Howard Stern Lays Off A Dozen Or More Staff Members

Howard Stern laid off approximately a dozen staffers from his SiriusXM show on Monday via a Zoom call, Page Six reported Tuesday, as the 72-year-old host prepares to dramatically scale back production after Labor Day.

Beginning in the fall, The Howard Stern Show will air just one new episode per week, down from its current three, with the rest of the schedule filled by content from Stern's decades-deep archive.

Laid-off employees were sent home immediately with severance packages based on their tenure. Stern is keeping his core team of veteran producers including Gary Dell'Abate.

The reason given to staff was simple: he "just doesn't need that much content anymore."

The reduction comes just seven months after Stern signed a new three-year agreement with SiriusXM in December, a deal he said would give him greater "flexibility."

The new contract kept him on air; the schedule change is apparently what that flexibility looks like in practice.

The show currently broadcasts Monday, Wednesday and Thursday when not on one of his extended breaks.

Stern is 72 years old, wealthy beyond any practical concern and has been hosting radio shows since 1976.

He still has his core crew. He still has his contract. He is still going to be on the air. He just does not want to do it three days a week anymore.

The announcement also comes while Stern is dealing with a separate lawsuit filed in April by a former assistant alleging a hostile work environment at his Southampton home, allegations his attorneys have denied.