But Carolla appears to be getting the last laugh. He launched a podcast that became so successful it will now be co-produced by a major radio network – the same one that fired him nine months ago, CBS Radio Inc.

CBS Radio will pay Carolla, although the amount has not been disclosed, and it will help sell advertising to play on the podcast. CBS Radio will also promote the podcast on its stations and Web sites beginning Monday.

Network executives and the 45-year-old entertainer – who replaced Stern in late 2005 after the shock jock moved his morning show to satellite radio – insist their relationship is solid. Nevertheless, industry observers chuckle at the idea of CBS Radio in a deal with Carolla less than a year after firing him from the national morning talker that aired locally on his home base, the former KLSX-FM (97.1).

“The word is ironic,” said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers Magazine in Springfield, Mass. “Carolla only had to go off and start doing the podcast because CBS laid him off, and now CBS is stepping in and picking him up.”

Carolla told the Business Journal it’s all fine with him.

“A lot of people in this business, they might be like, ‘Screw those guys, they fired me, I’m going to make them pay,’” he said. “Well, I’m making them pay by making them pay me.”

Carolla said his podcast wouldn’t change much, except for the insertion of advertising. But he admitted that operating under CBS Radio’s aegis could cause him to watch his language more closely.

“This is now part of CBS Radio, and you can’t go and just incite riots or drop n-bombs,” he said. “I understand that.”

Carolla’s podcast, which he produces five times a week out of a studio in Glendale, has enjoyed strong success since he launched it in February. Each podcast, which can be downloaded for free through iTunes and Carolla’s Web site, receives an average of 130,000 listeners. It has consistently been ranked as one of the Top 10 downloaded podcasts on iTunes.

But Carolla didn’t sell advertising because his old contract with CBS Radio ran through the end of this year and he didn’t want to be seen as a competitor. He had planned to start selling ads at the beginning of 2010.

Now, the deal with CBS Radio means ads will start appearing soon on the podcast. Company executives declined to discuss specific ad rates. But a source familiar with discussions told the Business Journal that executives have talked about charging about $25 per ad per thousand downloads. Under that scenario, an ad buy on one of Carolla’s podcasts that receives 130,000 downloads could cost $3,250. Carolla would get a cut of that revenue.

Chris Oliviero, CBS Radio’s vice president of programming, said Carolla was exploring other advertising opportunities, such as integrating products into his podcast.