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Some of his listeners but not all. If his ratings truly tanked he would have been kicked out like what WTKK did to Jay Severin. They gave him a long term contract when ratings were good and the economy wasn’t too bad. A couple yrs back WTKK tried to get out of their contract and suspended Jay but couldn’t get out of it. Now they have done so (taken Jay off the air, at least) but will prob still have to pay what’s left of his contract until 2013. In 2007 Howie tried to jump to WTKK but he couldn’t under his WRKO contract. Entercom had the right to match Greater Media’s offer and they did. Which is why Howie makes more than a million per year and gets a lot of vacation time.

In other words, Greater Media was willing to pay him well as they were paying Jay well, and Entercom managed to match it. When Howie’s contract with Entercom expires at the end of Sept 2012, I would expect Greater (despite one denial) to try again for Howie, and perhaps Clear Channel (Talk 1200) as well. He may wind up at either place or back at Entercom. The point is, if Howie were losing many listeners Entercom would have cited something Howie said and gotten rid of him to rid themselves of a burdensome contract.

Howie’s ratings may not be sky high but he does bring them some money (a couple years ago he did win his time slot though). He also has a column that attracts people to the Herald and his second book is about to come out; he also has a novel in the works.

Yes, you may not agree with his stands on Romney, Brown, etc. (he has criticized both at times but maybe not to your liking). You don’t agree with him and feel he has lost his edge and listeners and readers are fleeing.

That doesn’t seem to be happening. He continues on WRKO and an 11 station network, with the Herald, and with his new book which I daresay will do better than Deval’s. You may not like him these days but many still do. If you tune in one day and find out Howie has been kicked out of WRKO; if you find the Herald has gotten rid of him and he’s had to make do with occasional pieces for small time newspapers; when the day comes when publishers don’t offer him big deals for books, then you’ll know that Howie no longer resonates with the public. If neither Greater Media nor Clear Channel decided to offer Howie a contract, and Entercom gives up on him too, you will know that Howie has jumped the shark.

So far, that hasn’t happened.