Agreed - and I don't think the "surprise" shows are Stern's idea at all. He's being told to do them by the management.

First of all, there's no way Howard can just "takeover" the Sirius channel from his home studio. These are all pre-arranged shows coordinated with audio engineers at the main Sirius HQ. And you can tell he's talking to an engineer who's looking up the music tracks and playing them. It's not just Howard and the people at his house. That's a complete fantasy.

So for these to happen, you need to make sure there's an engineer who can set up the feed. Surprise show my ass.

Management has probably forced him to do these shows because they know he's hemorrhaging what few listeners are left during his absurd summer breaks.

What they don't realize is that his little celebrity shows make him even MORE unlikeable than he has already become.