Howard Stern addressed rumors today about Fox's interest in Stern hosting American Idol. He discussed why he would be the only logical pick in order for the show to remain successful after Simon Cowell leaves. Audio inside.
On Conan's last broadcast of The Tonight Show, he thanked NBC for all they have done for his career despite the whole debacle. Everyone applauded his decision to go out in a classy manner. Everyone except Howard Stern. (NSFW Language)
• Diane Sawyer made her debut this evening as anchor of ABC's World News; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the night's big attraction. [AP]
• Avatar pulled in $73 million at the domestic box office (and $232 million worldwide), although it would have made more if it hadn't snowed. [LAT, NYT]
• Yelp walked…
• The list of New York Times staffers accepting buyouts from the paper to leave has grown. And it includes Jenny 8. Lee, surprisingly). [Gawker, NYO]
• Television news: The Early Show has a new boss as of today; profits are up at CNBC; and Joy Behar's new show on HLN is doing pretty well in the ratings.
• Will Vevo,…
• Jon Stewart's smackdown of Jim Cramer last week generated some of the biggest ratings The Daily Show has ever seen, not surprisingly. [MediaPost]
• Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman has once again defied logic (and some of her Condé colleagues) by putting Sarah Palin on the cover of the new issue. [WWD]
• Condé Nast is…
• Viacom reported a 69 percent drop in its fourth-quarter profit today. [NYT]
• Vibe is cutting back to 10 issues a year and merging its print and digital operations. It's also slashing pay and adopting a four-day workweek. [AdAge]
• Sirius XM is looking to sell the company to Liberty Media in order to fend off a…
Do you listen to satellite radio? Do you find Howard Stern's antics amusing? Do you have some spare change buried in your couch? Get to work. Unless Sirius XM finds a buyer in the next few days, the company will probably file for bankruptcy protection "within days." [NYT]
This is turning out to be a very bad week for Candace Bushnell. NBC cancelled Lipstick Jungle earlier this week. Now comes word that money-losing Sirius is discontinuing her weekly satellite-radio talk show, Sex, Success and Sensibility, after she declined to take a 50 percent pay cut. [Portfolio]
After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers. The Division reached this…
Anyone else hearing that FBI showed up to the McGraw-Hill building in Manhattan looking for Judith Regan? The Feds thought the controversial publishing impresario would be at the Sirius office, in the 6th Avenue skyscraper, for her Wednesday appearance on the satellite radio network, according to a tipster. But the…
Mel Karmazin, now CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio, started in the radio business at age 17 and rose to the top by being the glibbest and most persistent ad salesman. But his able patter hasn't served him as well in recent years. After leaving Viacom because he couldn't coexist with equally alpha Sumner Redstone,…
The Times chose to illustrate their story on the potential XM/Sirius merger. with an A.P. photo of Candace Bushnell interviewing Janice Dickinson for her Sirius show. (RELATED: Does every third-rate lit-celeb have a satellite radio show? And then when do they write?) But as a sharp-eyed tipster noted, "The real story…
The scene at Penn Station, where Radar sits alongside Mujer. Many Spanish-speakers are concerned about the heterosexuality of their babies, so this may be a savvy move.
Hearkening back to last July, perhaps you recall that Sassy and Jane founding editor and all-around adorable cult leader Jane Pratt was forced eased out of the latter publication last July after what WWD referred to as "endless antics." In case you were wondering what sort of "antics" could result in the termination…
