Several news organizations have reported the ousting of one John Mainelli, a New York Post writer. Mainelli, who has covered Stern's ups and downs in the ratings over the years, wrote a column or two questioning Stern's success on satellite and discussed reported rumors of his possible return to the broadcast airwaves. As the radio industry reporter for the Post, these topics seem appropriate enough. It's just kind of odd that Mainelli also works as a consultant to the radio industry. Once the Post learned of his consulting work, it asked him to give up either that role or his job as an objective reporter. (Mainelli states he never kept his other business a secret; in fact, as president of Mainelli Consulting, he has participated in at least one panel discussion at a radio industry event over the years. That seems conspicuous enough. Also, he states that he declined to write about topics that presented a conflict of interest.)

At his peak, Stern's show reached more than 20 million listeners. As of June 30, 2006, Sirius had 4.6 million subscribers, with more than 700,000 coming on board after Stern went on the air. Do all the subscribers listen to [Howard Stern]? It's impossible to say. Anecdotally, 100 percent of the people I know with Sirius bought their radios because of Howard.