The King of All Media triumphantly returned to his channels in the New Year after signing another deal with Sirius which keeps him on their airwaves for another 5 years guaranteed. Much to the delight of the majority of Howard Stern fans, and shareholders of SiriusXM.

There is one noticeable change in the format to the show. The show is now one hour less, with Robin Quivers starting the news block at 9 a.m. instead of 10. Despite the loud complaining of some fans on Stern Fan Network, this new formatting will actually work well for the show and here is why.

On the shows best days, you will have a great guest on where the interview is rolling along really well. Or, you could have no guest and the show could be on a roll by talking about some major event in the news world and having all of these great humours twists added in to it. On the busy days you have a ton of stuff crammed into a short period of time. What these scenarios do is take listeners up to levels where they are responding well to the humour, taking in the stories and listening to the interviewing. Then because of time constraints the listeners are left wanting more of what was going on.

Many will argue with me that this really is not different than the older formats of the show even dating back to the days on Terrestrial Radio. I suppose there is some truth to this. Think though for a minute if you can. What if the show is having an off day? So far 2011 has started out great for the Stern Show but there will be an off day. Even Howard will admit when he has an off day with the show. You could be listening to the show and the humour is not hitting out of the park like it usually does. Or you are listening to a really drab interview with some idiot who should not be on the show. In these instances listeners have the relief that they now there is a further time constraint now in place. So at some point a seemingly bad part of the show will have to wrap up sooner in order to meet that time deadline.

To the fans who complain, I am just happy to have Howard back and on the air. It is better right now than no Stern show at all.

Earlier in the week I started to offer some perspective into what the King of All Media might do with respect to his future. Howard Stern’s contract with Sirius is up this coming December and there is absolutely little idea where things are going in terms of direction and possibility. Before Howard and his crew left for their recent two week break, it was revealed that the crew apparently knew more than they were letting on, and Howard was doing a magnificent job in keeping things quiet. I suspect that come the fall he may start to reveal any details of potential negotiations, if any have actually started.

Howard Stern is one of the most important pop culture icons ever. He has fought for free speech, and for radio freedom. His move to Sirius was the most perfect fit that ever was created. He knows how to talk to people and connects with his audience on a level that no one else can.

When I think about this great product which I am happy to have at my side, I feel even better knowing that Howard and his crew form a major part of my enjoyment of Sirius. I am entertained, and informed by what he brings to the radio. The world is a better place because of his honesty, whether you agree with what he says or not. The world needs to seriously lighten up finally when it comes to all of the taboo topics that Howard has openly spoken about for over 30 years.

From a business perspective, Sirius has not made some bright moves over the last few months (cancelling lifetime subscriptions was outright insanity), if they allow Howard to leave for terrestrial radio, it will be a tremendous loss for radio freedom.

If Howard retires, I will of course respect his decision and pay fitting tribute to his great career in radio.

Back to music next week folks. Going to talk about top 40 programming and Adult Oriented Rock. Cheers.