Howard Stern?!

Please let this be a crock. Please let this be a crock…

The “New York Post”s notorious “Page Six” reported today that FOX’s number one choice to replace Simon Cowell next season is…

Howard Stern?!

The item quotes an “insider” as saying, “They know he would be great TV and would clash with the other judges such as Ellen DeGeneres and the contestants. ‘Idol’ will do what it takes to sign him.”

Another source tells the paper that the “Idol” talk is a negotiating ploy by Stern to get what he wants from Sirius XM Radio.

FOX declined to comment to the “Post.”FOX reality guru Mike Darnell has done a lot of crazy things, but this would be the craziest and no doubt the final nail in the “Idol” coffin. I mean, Howard Stern on the biggest family show on the planet?

Let’s hope it’s not true…