When the “King of All Media” leaves his FM-radio throne in January, College Park will hold a special place for his successors.

The Junkies, the Prince George’s County foursome currently heard from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 106.7 WJFK-FM, have been selected to replace Howard Stern Jan. 3, as Stern is taking his nationally syndicated morning radio show to the uncensored airwaves of Sirius Satellite Radio. Two of the Junkies, John-Paul “JP” Flaim and Eric “EB” Bickel are university alumni who attended the school from 1988 to 1992.

“We don’t really look at it like we’re taking over for Howard – we’re picking up where we left off at HFS,” EB said.

It has been a year of changes for JP, EB, and the other two Junkies, John “Cakes” Auville and Jason “Lurch” Bishop. It began on 99.1 WHFS-FM, where they began hosting a morning drive-time show on weekdays in 2002. Then in mid-January, the station flipped formats and became Latin music station “El Zol.” The change meant the Junkies had to find new airwaves.

“We were lucky. We had a contract, [so] we were never really high and dry,” EB said. The former WHFS and WJFK share the same parent company, Infinity Broadcasting, so the process of finding a new home was simplified.

“They told us HFS was changing formats, and the next sentence was that we want you to go to JFK,” he said.

As it turned out, moving from morning drive to midday was a boon for both the Junkies and the station. Their show jumped from fourth among male listeners 18-35 in the Washington market to first, according to Jessica Benbow, a spokesperson for Arbitron, the company that monitors radio listenership.

“Obviously we didn’t want HFS to flip formats, [but] at the same time it was a blessing to come home to WJFK,” JP said. The Junkies got their start in radio on WJFK in 1996, hosting a show on weekends.

“We knew that if we did well, we’d have an opportunity to potentially take over for Howard,” he added.

Now, with Stern preparing to depart, the Junkies will make their return to morning drive.

“We’re fortunate to have people listen to us for years. We just have to focus on doing our thing, which is trying to do funny, entertaining shows,” JP said.

Even though two guys with College Park roots could soon find themselves atop Washington’s morning radio charts, the university is always on their minds.

“Maryland’s always gonna be a big part of our lives,” JP said.

Contact reporter Alex Baldinger at baldingerdbk@gmail.com.