Howard Stern is officially handing over one of his SiriusXM channels to Andy Cohen starting Sept. 1.
The transition comes about one year after Stern and Cohen pranked listeners by having Cohen take over the airwaves and imply that Stern was fired and that Howard 100, Stern’s main channel, was now his own. The prank came amid rumors about Stern’s impending retirement and the cancellation of his show.
This time, Stern is actually giving Cohen Channel 101, his second channel which hosted archival clips of his show, as he returns and transitions to only doing one show a week, rather than the typical two. Stern has also struck a deal with HBO Max to adapt his live SiriusXM show into streaming episodes for HBO Max.
“Last year we pranked the world. We made everybody think that I was taking over Howard 100. It was the best morning. Now the carrot is being dangled that Radio Andy will be taking over 101. Is this a prank? Am I being pranked?” Cohen asks Stern in a new video released by SiriusXM.
“No, you are not being pranked. And Andy has been gracious enough to take over 101. And I have one request: please continue the tradition of doing a lot of gay antics,” Stern says.
On Sept. 14, Howard will also unveil a new lineup for his Howard 100 channel, which will include Wrap Up Wednesday, an expanded version of Howard’s Wrap Up Show hosted by Gary Dell’Abate and Jon Hein that previously ran on Howard 101.
In the past, Cohen, who helms a SiriusXM radio empire, including hosting Andy Cohen Live, has been rumored to be the eventual successor for Stern. SiriusXM did not comment on that theory, but Cohen and Stern seemed to downplay the idea.
“Any chance I could get 100, and you take 101?” Cohen asks in the video.
“No, I’m not giving up 100,” Stern says.
As part of the channel shakeup, Sebastian Maniscalco’s Comedy Radio will take over Cohen’s previous channel, 102, while Netflix is a Joke Radio will move to channel 105, which has been home to temporary or pop-up programming. SiriusXM did not comment on reported layoffs as part of Stern’s move to one show a week.
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