Howard Stern is *not* going to be the new Simon Cowell on "American Idol." That's what Richard Rushfield says and he'd be the journalist we'd trust in these matters.

That doesn't mean, though, that Howard Stern's alleged "Idol" involvement wasn't making waves all week, after the story "broke" in the New York Post. Stern added fuel to the fire on his radio show, making both literal and oblique hints about why he'd want to be the next "American Idol" judge.

But even after Rushfield put the kibosh on the non-story, folks kept trying to pretend it was a real story.

You had Nikki Finke quoting anonymous sources that new "Idol" just Ellen DeGeneres was opposed to Stern's addition.

You had advocacy group Parents Television Council demanding that FOX clarify (i.e. "deny") the Stern rumors, something FOX isn't about to do.

And then later in the week, you had reporters asking judge Kara DioGuardi about Stern.

"I don't know that he has a musical background," DioGuardi told reporters. "I think that if you're gonna replace Simon, you have to have that background."

Meanwhile, "American Idol" got a significant audience bump for DeGeneres' first episodes and the start of the ever-popular Hollywood Week, returning to near-Premiere Week-level ratings after several episodes of audition-fatigue declines.