Howard Stern has laid off around a dozen staffers from his Sirius XM show and plans to cut The Howard Stern Show to one episode a week after Labor Day. The staffers were told over Zoom on Monday, July 14, then sent home immediately, while the show’s remaining airtime is expected to be filled with archive content.
The move is a sharp turn for a program that currently airs three days a week and has relied on a large production operation for years. Stern has kept a core team of veteran producers on, but the reduction means the show will be built around a smaller staff and recycled material from his archive rather than fresh segments across most of the week.
The timing is what puts the decision under a brighter light today. In December, Stern signed a new contract that extends his obligation to the network for another three years, and on his December 16 show he told listeners, “I’m happy to announce that I have figured out a way to have it all,” adding, “More free time and continuing to be on the radio.” He also said, “I do like my days off. You know me, I’m never bored,” and “I’m busy every minute.”
That promise now sits beside a more severe reality: the extra staff are out, and the show is being pared back because he does not need that much content anymore. Beth has also said on Andy Cohen’s Sirius XM radio show that the new schedule is working out well for him, calling it good for him to continue, saying he is still very good at it, and adding that it keeps him connected.
The cutback also lands while Stern is under pressure from outside the studio. Leslie Kuhn filed an April 2026 lawsuit against Stern and Beth, claiming she endured a hostile work environment, unorganized household management, and problematic business practices tied to Beth’s feline rescue. Attorneys for the Sterns denied the allegations later that month. Against that backdrop, the staffing move suggests a radio operation being narrowed to its essentials: fewer live days, fewer hands, and more reliance on the archive that already exists.
Stern has been on the air for nearly five decades and has interviewed A-listers on Sirius XM since 2006, but the immediate question is no longer whether he can keep going. It is how much of The Howard Stern Show will remain live, and how much of it will be old material after Labor Day.
