HOWARD Stern Show’s HBO Max deal has exploded into a disaster, as staff is not prepared to make the first episode.
Multiple sources have told The U.S. Sun that staff on Stern‘s SiriusXM radio show were informed of the King of all Media’s new TV deal just days before it was officially announced to the world.
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The remaining staff on Stern‘s show – those who survived two rounds of layoffs – were allegedly left scrambling, trying to figure out what needs would have to be met for HBO Max to fully use the SiriusXM show’s content for the repackaged TV episode airing days later.
As The U.S. Sun previously revealed, the TV streamer will be using an edited portion of the three-hour SiriusXM live Stern show, which will now air on Mondays.
According to the press release from SiriusXM announcing the deal, the made-for-TV version will be edited down, taking Stern “to the pinnacle of prestige television,” giving his fans “a long-desired ‘seat in the studio’ to see what they just heard.”
However, a majority of the staff learned about the deal just a few days before the press release was sent out on August 31.
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Multiple insiders claimed licensing for photos and music used in the radio show had not yet been secured for the HBO version.
One insider described the lead-up to Stern’s first live show on Monday, which will be used for the HBO Max edit on Thursday, as “chaos,” while another insider called it a “total disaster.”
“No one knows anything. Things are being removed from the studio that shouldn’t have been.
“They were taking things off the wall that they shouldn’t have been taken off the wall.
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“People were touching Howard’s board and microphone, and thats a no-no,” they said of Stern’s particularities around his staff’s interactions with him and his spaces.
“It’s all been pretty top secret, and the morale has been horrible.
“It’s all been general chaos and I don’t think anyone is happy there,” the source added.
Meanwhile, several insiders said that Stern’s staff, whose morale was already low in the wake of the layoffs in February and July, were further frustrated by the lack of transparency about the HBO Max deal.
Remaining staff felt pressure to quickly pivot their roles with the announcement just weeks ahead of the first live SiriusXM show airing on September 14, with the HBO Max episode dropping at 12 am on the 17th.
The U.S. Sun reached out to reps for Stern’s SiriusXM show for comment.
Many of the staff who were axed at the start of this year were tied in large part to the Stern’s archival channel, Howard 101.
The U.S. Sun originally broke the news that Howard 101 was scheduled to go dark on September 1.
Anyone turning on Howard 101 now will find Andy Cohen instead, as Radio Andy has taken over that spot on the dial.
In a second wave of layoffs in July, remaining staff were told that Stern’s SiriusXM show would be reduced to just one new live show a week over a video conference call.
That move signaled a major shift in how the show would operate moving forward.
“Soon, since there is so little new content, production will be forced to fill Howard 100 with archival clips,” a source cautioned at the time, anticipating that Howard 101 was nearing its end.
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The cutbacks first kicked off in mid-February, right after Stern inked a fresh three-year deal with SiriusXM.
As first reported by The U.S. Sun, roughly 40 employees were let go in that initial round, with another 16 team members getting handed pink slips later in the summer.