That’s what Lange claimed on his podcast Artie Lange’s Halfway House. He interviewed former CBS Radio and Howard Stern Show executive Tim Sabean in episode 19. A lot of behind-the-scenes details were revealed on the episode.

Lange said when Stern announced he was leaving radio, CBS tried to screw him over by getting both him and Stern’s long-time produced Gary Dell’Abate to leave Stern and stay with the company. Sabean had to make the call to Lange with the offer because he still worked for the company at the time. And, Lange says the offer was a guaranteed $5 million per year for four years with Dell’Abate as the show’s producer. Lange declined the offer as did Dell’Abate. They all went to work with Howard at Sirius, including Sabean.

On the podcast, Sabean said he was working on getting Preston & Steve to replace Sern in New York but the company shot it down. Many will recall that Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth was hired to replace Stern. That turned out to be a huge bungle as Roth only lasted a few months. Sabean also didn’t hold back on his criticism for former CBS executives.

Sabean also said his relationship with Stern, which was very strong for years, did not end well. Sabean says he was going through a divorce, his dad was close to death, and when he went in to see Stern to ask for a leave of absence, Stern said, “Maybe we should just part company.” And that was the end of it.