Howard Stern gave fans a head fake early Monday morning with a gag that Andy Cohen had taken over his channel slot on SiriusXM.

Last month, amid a spate of rumors and speculation that Stern’s SiriusXM deal was not being renewed, Stern gleefully turned the chatter into a tune-in promo. His show told listeners he would address the topic on the Sept. 2 episode of “The Howard Stern Show”; however, last week, he postponed his show’s return until Sept. 8, suggesting that a deal to renew his SiriusXM contract was not yet done.

Related Stories

On Monday’s show, Stern said he’d been thinking of retiring but said he felt he could not now walk away from SiriusXM given media reports that “The Howard Stern Show” was canceled. “One of the positive things” about all the “fake news,” according to Stern, was that he heard from other companies that were interested in picking up his show.

Popular on Variety

“I’m very happy at Sirius,” Stern said, praising SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz.

”Here’s the truth: SiriusXM and my team have been talking about how we go forward in the future,” Stern said. “They’ve approached me, they’ve sat down with me like they normally do and they’re fantastic. We’ve been talking.”

Stern did not announce that he had reached a new contract with SiriusXM; his current deal expires at the end of 2025. A rep for SiriusXM declined to comment.

Stern told listeners Monday he had planned to speak about the rumors about “The Howard Stern Show” on SiriusXM last week, after returning from his summer break, but became very sick.

Back around the end of July, Stern said, he got a call from “my people,” who told him that there was a report that his co-host Robin Quivers had died — obviously untrue. That was followed by another report that Stern had been “fired” by SiriusXM because he was “too woke.” “I still don’t know what ‘woke’ means,” he said, speculating he’s been called that because he supports rights for gay and transgender people. Stern said that over the summer break, he decided to lean into the false rumors about his show’s cancelation, leading to the tune-in promos promising to clear the air about his alleged “firing.”

Before Stern came on the air Monday, in a staged bit, a flustered-sounding Andy Cohen introduced himself and said that the channel going forward will now be known as “Andy 100.” Cohen, host of Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” curates two SiriusXM channels and co-hosts weekday show “Andy Cohen Live” on the service.

“I know you’re expecting a big announcement from Howard, and this is not how things were meant to go,” Cohen said. “This was supposed to be a cleaner hand off — I’m kind of winging it,” he continued, saying that it has been a “surreal morning here.” Added Cohen, “I can’t possibly fill his void” and said he was confident Stern would land on another platform soon. Stern, when he came on the air, thanked Cohen for agreeing to do the stunt.

Stern, who is 71, first signed with satellite radio broadcaster Sirius in 2004 (prior to its merger with XM), in part to be free of oversight by the FCC, which had levied millions of dollars in fines on terrestrial radio stations that carried his show for alleged indecency. “The Howard Stern Show” debuted on Sirius in January 2006. His most recent five-year renewal with SiriusXM was inked in 2020.

Last week, SiriusXM execs acknowledged that talks with Stern were ongoing but that they hoped to ink a new deal. “I think he’s been core to our platform for over 20 years, so I’m confident we’ll get to the right place,” Witz said Sept. 3 at an investment conference.

Stern’s original deal with Sirius was worth $500 million over five years including stock. His more recent renewals “topped out at roughly $80 million to $100 million,” according to Bloomberg. Regarding a Bloomberg report in 2020 that Stern was nearing a deal with SiriusXM worth $120 million annually, Stern said on his show at the time that he and his agent were “kind of baffled by it.”

Over the years, the notoriously ribald Stern has interviewed hundreds of actors, comedians, music artists, athletes, politicians and more on his show. At his side for most of his career have been Quivers, writer Fred Norris and producer Gary “Baba Booey” Dell’Abate.