Stern vents as satellite radio pact nears end

Sirius XM radio star Howard Stern rebuked a company executive Tuesday for suggesting he take a pay cut as part of a new deal to continue on satellite radio after his current pact expires at the end of this year.

"I am not taking a -- pay cut," Stern said on his radio program. "Who is this guy to say this in public?" he added referring by name to David Frear, chief financial officer of Sirius XM who had spoken at an analysts' conference Monday.

Stern's comments came amid news reports - none confirmed - that he might leave Sirius XM, which he joined five years ago, for Apple or even return to terrestrial radio. His final live show airs Dec. 16 before he leaves for vacation, and his current deal ends Dec. 31.

Exactly what Frear said Monday that ignited a Stern rant Tuesday morning couldn't be determined - Sirius XM declined to comment, and Stern was apparently referring to a Hollywood Reporter piece that said Frear had "suggested" Stern might take a pay cut. Stern's five-year deal is worth a reported $500 million.

Frear was quoted as saying that Stern "could decide that he doesn't want to get up that early in the morning. That he'd like to do a shorter show. That he'd like to do it somewhere else. The Internet, whether it's through iTunes or something else, is always a possibility."

Stern called Frear's salary comment "humiliating" and "like a punch in the face," according to program transcripts, and he repeated that he could still leave Sirius after his last show of the year next week. "I am more important than Oprah [Winfrey], in this company anyway," he said. "Oprah's out getting the Kennedy Center honor and I've got the CFO announcing to Wall Street that I have to take a pay cut."

Anti-management broadsides are, of course, a long and cherished Stern tradition - particularly during contract negotiations. But Stern "has many more options than he used to," said Tom Taylor, news editor of Radio-info.com, a Chicago-based website that covers the radio industry. Taylor, however, said the reported Apple iTunes option was considered a long shot because of content issues. "It's not them - they don't even approve apps that show women in bikinis and he's interested in women that wear a lot less than that."

A return to terrestrial radio would seem unlikely as well because of content issues - Stern was hit with record fines by the Federal Communications Commission in the months leading up to his signing with Sirius in October 2004 - but that might not preclude a combination of radio with other venues, including a subscription Internet service, Taylor and others said.