Howard Stern was a victim of a leak in 2019. No, not the type of photo leak that's plagued celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Selena Gomez. This leak was of a taped meeting. An hour-long 2013 presentation, to be exact. On Howard's iconic radio show, he often states that he doesn't want to "pull the curtain back too much" in order to maintain some mystery as to what happens behind the scenes. But this video was precisely "pulling the curtain back"... and Howard had nothing to do with the world seeing it. Someone inside his SiriusXM operation wanted fans to see what really goes on at The Howard Stern Show.

In the meeting (called "The Summit" or "The Getting Things Done Seminar"), Howard straight up told his well-paid staffers to do just about everything to increase the show's ratings, to dress nicer at work, to become more mainstream by appealing to the publicists of A-list celebrities, and even to create fake Twitter profiles to encourage big actors and musicians to come on for interviews. Howard's transition from radical (and often offensive) shock jock to a professional interviewer with a proclivity for the mainstream has made much of his old fanbase have been turn on him. They think he's 'PC', they think he's 'a hypocrite', and they loathe that he's changed. To them, this video from 2013 marks this turning point and encapsulates everything wrong with Howard Stern today. But the truth is, fans really shouldn't be up in arms about this leaked meeting or what they think it represents... here's why...

Does The Leaked Meeting Sum Up What Happened To Howard Stern?

A lot of his old fans think it does. In fact, many of Howard's angriest ex-fans have been using the video to prove their point about what the radio legend has become -- a man influenced by Stern Show C.O.O. Marci Turk. They pine for the old days of strippers, 'f*** yous' to the man, and when Howard absolutely ripped on celebrities. It was a time when he openly offended everyone from the left to the right to the strange fringes of society... And it worked. It made Howard what he's wanted since he was little... beloved.

It also made him miserable, which is one of the reasons why Howard has claimed he's changed in the first place. And this change is welcome to a lot of people... including those running SiriusXM. And that's the point this ex-fanbase is trying to make... He became a corporate stooge. Someone who bends to 'the man' instead of ridiculing them.

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The leaked video does show Howard as a somewhat ruthless, ratings-concerned boss. Someone who cares more about popularity than the style of comedy that made him famous. And perhaps Howard should've been concerned about his place in the entertainment world prior to 2013. After all, it was just after his transition from terrestrial radio to Sattelite in 2006 and after his former co-host, fan-favorite Artie Lange had to leave the show due to his addiction issues and an attempt on his life.

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To Howard's most vocal ex-fans on Youtube and Reddit, this leaked meeting shows that Howard has become what he's made fun of for years. A commenter on the Youtube video even stated that the video was equivalent to Howard telling his fans how to pronounce "WNBC!"

Why Howard Stern's Leaked Meeting Isn't A Big Deal At All

First of all, it worked. What Howard was trying to achieve in that meeting was 100% executed upon. Whether his show was suffering from a lack of listenership prior to 2013 or not, there's no doubt that it's increased over the last few years. SiriusXM stock continues to skyrocket and Howard's in the news every week for the things he gets out of his A-list guests.

Howard had a plan and he made it happen. While some think he was acting like a nasty Amazon manager, Howard was really acting no differently than any other boss at a successful business. He knew that something needed to change in order to keep his show relevant and profitable. Being a shock jock on the highly-censored terrestrial radio is what did that for him initially. That was also run like a business. Howard knew precisely what he was doing. He got people tuning in to listen to him angering others or tuning in to get angry themselves. But that model doesn't work on a paid platform with absolutely no censorship.

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The self-proclaimed King Of All Media had a concrete plan of evolving his business as EVERY other entertainer has at some point in their career. Not even Joe Rogan (who also criticized this video) has been just one thing. They all go through a metamorphosis and just because some don't like the change he's gone through doesn't make him a sell-out.

So, not only is there nothing wrong with having a meeting like this from a creative or business standpoint, it actually makes complete sense. Howard Stern wanted to become a different type of artist. He knew what changes had to be made in order to make that change successful. So, he brought his team together with a number of proven tactics that other businesses use, used clear communication to get everyone on the same page, and then had them all execute on his vision. That's not scandalous... that's impressive!

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