Adam Carolla, above, will take over the morning drive time slot on KXTE-FM, 107.5, formerly held by Howard Stern, below, on Jan. 3.

Howard Stern is leaving the air sooner than expected, at least in Las Vegas.

Local fans of Stern, the popular and outspoken morning drive personality who has been heard in this market since Nov. 18, 1992, will miss 29 broadcasts before he switches to Sirius Satellite Radio in January.

While Stern's official last day with Infinity Broadcasting, the company that syndicates his show across the country, is Dec. 16, his last day on KXTE-FM, 107.5, will be Nov. 7. That's because Stern's contract with the local station ends that day, even though Infinity also owns KXTE.

KXTE program director Chris Ripley said Tuesday the station couldn't extend the contract but wouldn't elaborate.

Stern could not be reached for comment.

The bombshell was dropped amid announcements of Infinity's plans to replace Stern. Adam Carolla, of Comedy Central's "The Man Show" fame, will host a new morning show starting Jan. 3. It will air on KXTE in Stern's time period, 6-10 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Former Las Vegan Jimmy Kimmel, the host of a late-night talk show on ABC, will serve as a creative consultant for the program and make guest appearances.

Infinity also announced Tuesday that it has launched "Free FM," a new format that will be carried on Infinity stations in four of the top five and seven of the top 10 U.S. radio markets. In the announcement, Joel Hollander, chairman and chief executive officer of Infinity, described Free FM as "an entertaining hybrid of provocative, political, pop culture, news, music and lifestyle formats."

Shuli Egar, a local comedian who has been a frequent call-in guest on Stern's show since the late 1990s, said losing the Stern show early is bad for fans and that extending the contract so that listeners could hear the end of Stern's run was "nothing they want to do, not that they can't."

Egar is working as a consultant on Howard News 100, a news channel on Sirius that features daily news broadcasts about Stern and his cast.

"I started calling in as a fan before I was even doing stand-up," Egar said. "I tried to contribute my portion to the show, and he liked it. Howard showed me the door was open. He was my start. He's a very loyal guy."

To fill the gap between Stern and Carolla, various KXTE alternative rock artists and local celebrities will make guest appearances during the morning drive time.

"The end of Howard Stern's era with KXTE is filled with mixed emotions," said Marty Basch, vice president and general manager of the station, in a press release. "For the past 12 years, he has been the first voice our listeners have heard every weekday morning. But we look forward to a new beginning and excitedly welcome Adam Carolla to the station. We are confident his radio show will emerge into a top-rated program for KXTE."

Carolla currently hosts Comedy Central's "Too Late with Adam Carolla" and also stars in TLC's "The Adam Carolla Project."

So far, Stern's replacement is getting mixed reviews on KXTE's Web site. As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, 31.3 percent of voters said they like Carolla and will listen, while 55.2 percent said they've already purchased their Sirius Satellite Radio. Another 13.5 percent said they had no idea what to think.

In related radio news, Penn Jillette, half of the Penn & Teller magic act that performs at the Rio, will host a live one-hour program on KSFN-AM, 1140 starting in January. KXTE and KSFN are owned by Infinity Broadcasting.

Jillette's show also will air in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, San Diego, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. No time slot has been announced.

And Friday, KVGS-FM, 107.9 switched from an urban adult contemporary format to alternative rock.