"The King of All Media is losing ground. Hitwise, which monitors Internet traffic, says the number of visitors to Howard Stern's Web site has declined a staggering 71 percent since March 2005...And look-ups of Stern's name on search engines plummeted by 90 percent in that same period..."—New York Post, September 13, 2006

Over on Sirius, Howard Stern was madder than a wack packer without air time. A Page Six report suggested his influence is dwindling, and it flustered Howard to the point where he took time on two broadcasts to rebut the tiny item.

We checked searches on Stern and found he has nothing to worry about. Still ensconced in our top 500 search terms, his situation is nowhere near as dire as the gossipy tidbit makes it sound. When we looked year over year at seven days worth of comparable data ending September 16, we found his searches had dropped roughly 22%.

Some of his decline is attributable to the move from free terrestrial radio to Sirius—but another factor that's rarely discussed was his move away from E! Network. Many casual fans knew Stern and his motley menagerie from ubiquitous showings on regular cable TV. The E! show spawned loads of nightly lookups and without it, we'd expect to see his searches slide a bit.

How are the other folks in Howard's universe holding up? Well, longtime steady Beth Ostrosky still pulls in plenty of searches from dudes, but she only garners one-twentieth of her man's searches. Artie Lange is tirelessly promoting "Beer League," and daily exposure on Sirius has helped the flick reach our top 10 movie searches.

Other recent guests to experience a bump in Buzz after popping up on Stern include Doug Stanhope, Eddie Van Halen, and Sarah Silverman. Even the mere discussion of a topic on the show still sets off searches—as witnessed by recent surges on Joe Piscopo, Kimberly Piscopo, the Jesus Twins, and "Lindsay Lohan boat photos."

On Thursday's broadcast Howard said he doesn't care where he ranks on the Internet, but we can tell him he outranks all radio performers in Search. His dip in searches is nowhere near as precipitous as cited in the Post, and he still wears the crown when it comes to influencing Buzz.