KINGS DECLARE WAR AGAINST ONE ANOTHER

War has broken out between two kings — the King of All Media, as Howard Stern bills himself, and Larry King, the departing CNN talk-show host. In an interview with Steppin’ Out magazine, Larry King said that he would not want Stern to replace him when he leaves the cable news network this fall. “He’s not tasteful at all.” King said. “You go to the least common denominator and that’s Howard Stern. … I regard Howard Stern as worthless.” In an interview with the New York Daily News, Stern fired back, “He’s a frog … an imp and he’s the luckiest man in show business. … Larry King did overnight radio. He got no ratings. He moved to CNN … where he had no competition. As soon as MSNBC and Fox News gave him a little bit of competition, the cards folded.” Stern insisted that he had no interest in replacing King (or, for that matter, replacing Simon Cowell on American Idol), but if he did “I would do everything that Larry doesn’t do because Larry’s a loser and he lost his entire audience.”