Toronto – The Howard Stern Show, known for its scatological humour and obsession with lesbians and porn stars, is being dropped from a Toronto radio station after a steady drop in local ratings, says the Toronto Star.
Since his high-profile debut on Q107 rock station in 1997, Stern’s Toronto audience has fallen by 50 per cent.
In 1998, Stern’s show was dropped by CHOM-FM in Montreal, making Toronto the only Canadian market to air the program. It still airs in more than 40 American markets.
Executives at Q107 and the station’s corporate parent, Corus Radio, declined to comment, but sources said an official announcement was expected Friday. Q107 decided to buy out Stern, even though he was under contract until 2025.
Veteran radio personality John Derringer, who has afternoon shows on both Q107 and MOJO, will replace Stern, sources told the Star.
Industry sources said the Stern show increasingly presented programming problems for Q107, a classic rock station. Listeners had to deal with extended commercial breaks, an editing delay, and were never sure when the Stern program would end and the music would begin.
While Stern, who reportedly earns more than $25 million a year, remains North America’s most recognizable radio personality, his
show has had several setbacks in recent months.
This month, The Howard Stern Radio Show, a weekly, late-night TV program based on highlights from the daily radio show, was cancelled by its syndication company. Like Stern’s radio program, ratings for the TV show had dropped over its three years.
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