December 14, 2005 4:00 AM PST
Is Stern worth his millions?
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Digital radio still hard to hear
November 9, 2005 -
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April 18, 2005 -
Shock jock Stern jumps to satellite radio
October 6, 2004
(continued from previous page)
Analysts predict strong growth for both Sirius and rival XM next year, with estimates for Sirius' 2006 year-end subscriber totals ranging from 5.7 million to more than 7 million people. That represents more than 625,000 new subscribers per quarter, far more than the 360,000 new people it added last quarter.
Some of that growth will come from people interested in other programming, of course. Sirius will also carry scores of music stations, professional football, hockey, basketball and soccer, and a show hosted by Martha Stewart.
And now a word from the sponsor...
However, subscriptions are only half of the revenue equation. Sirius also plans to sell advertising on Stern's two channels and has told analysts that it has already secured contracts from some of the faithful advertisers on his terrestrial radio show.
Collins declined to say who those advertisers were, or how much Sirius was charging, but did say that there will be less advertising on Stern's satellite show than on the Infinity airwaves, where ads could sometimes amount to more than 20 minutes out of an hour.
To date, advertising revenue for Sirius has been minimal--about 26 cents per subscriber per month--since it avoids commercials on the music channels that make up the bulk of its programming. Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin, a master at boosting revenues while serving as the top executive at Infinity Broadcasting and CBS Radio, has predicted that advertising revenue will double after Stern's arrival.
Of course, the Sirius contract banks on the notion that Stern will remain a powerful presence over the full five years of the contract. It won't do the company much good if a million subscribers join, and then leave en masse after deciding the service isn't worth the monthly subscription fees.
But what about the free spirit himself?
At this stage, Stern has been ebullient in interviews, talking in a recent New York Magazine cover story about a personal creative revival. In that article and others, he has been overflowing with ideas that go far beyond anything he was allowed to do during his last few years on the radio. Stern could not be reached for comment for this article.
His hints have certainly stirred interest in seeing just how far beyond the boundaries of conventional good taste he'll go, given the apparent complete lack of censoring standards in his contract. But even his supporters ask how long that curiosity may last.
Ironically, a good part of the appeal of Stern was his chafing at his limits, railing against the Federal Communications Commission, or his bosses, or other authority figures, and wondering when he would again cross one of the lines that prompted more than $2.5 million in federal indecency fines for his behavior during the last 15 years. That tension will now be gone.
"Can he create compelling content when he doesn't have the foil of the FCC?" asked GartnerG2 media analyst Mike McGuire. "That's going to be an interesting challenge for him."
Already, some warning signs have emerged. His ratings at his flagship New York station WXRK slid year over year by 18 percent this summer, analysts have noted.
Several investment banks have downgraded Sirius' stock in recent days, saying that the market has badly overvalued the company in comparison with XM, its chief rival.
But all eyes, or ears, will be on Stern's station when he launches on Jan. 9. Sirius has declined to say exactly what people will hear. Stern himself has given some hints in interviews, ranging from a "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"-like game awarding a date with a porn star as a prize, to explicit "sports" events having more to do with bathrooms than stadiums.
"It's hard to quantify how listeners will react once (he) moves to an FCC-free medium," Banc of America Securities analyst Jonathan Jacoby wrote in a research note on Tuesday. "The actual impact of Stern remains the biggest wild card in the Sirius story."
62 comments
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Limbaugh alone has 20-25 mil and there's also Hannity, Beck, Savage, Reagan, O' Reilly, Ingram ..........where do I stop? If Sirius were serious - they go after the main stream in America, not the fringe kook left.
entertainer, and THE most influencial man on radio. Believe it or
not, he IS the choice of main stream, not just of the "far left".
Of course he is not for everyone, and Sirius knows that, that's why
they have another 110 channels (not including weather/traffic
channels) for subscribers to choose from.
1. If people can get content for free from Hannity, Beck, Savage, et al, why would they pay for Sirius? Unless, of course, Sirius were able to get all of these talk show hosts to defect to them at once.
2. The shows you mentioned (above) are not targeted to or listened to by "mainstream America". They are conservative shows with conservative audiences. Conservatives like yourself believe that you are actually in the center of the American political spectrum, so I can see how you would make this comment, but I assure you it is inaccurate. Let's review: Conservatives are on the right, but think they are in the center. Liberals are on the left, and *know* they're on the left.
3. (OK, I know I said "two things"...) Howard Stern's audience is not just the left, "kook" or otherwise. He would not have such high ratings if that were the case. You seem to think that Republicans are all about decency and apple pie and only "other people" listen to smut. Please...
-Robert
The Democrates (and political center) are listening to either their own mixed audio CDs or NPR.
I'll do it for $60K a year...;-P
and elevating his location isn't likely to elevate his value or
significance.
But all that is somewhat academic. Now that I have MP3's I can
play at home, in the car, and where ever else I might be, radio is
no longer of any interest to me, free or otherwise. So with a
worthless media, and an even more worthless 'personality' on
that media, maybe even a nickel is a gross overvaluaton.
Where are values going?
Stop thinking you are America, no one person is and the idea of imposing your values on someone else is what is wrong with this country.
The religious right and the hypocrites in the republican and democratic parties should stay out of people lives and worry about running this country like a business and protecting our rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
-Robert
www.luckystiff.org
Please also visit:
google.com: "circumcision"
www.circumcision.org
www.jewishcircumcision.org
www.norm.org (foreskin restoration)
Shame on them. I'll personally never buy a Sirus radio.
Anyway, they are Stern's biggest rivals, and when they first started on XM a year ago, the first few weeks were about swearing as much as they could on the radio and about getting the lesbians in, having people call in while having sex, etc. However, as they themselves admitted, you can only do that so many times before it's boring and the listeners are bored. Many of their shows have no sex involved and become more of a regular talk show, but a regular guys shooting the s**t style show. Lots of joking around, ragging on each other,etc.
For example, today's show spent over an hour playing clips of tv and radio people screwing up, such as the weatherman who said "Martin Luther ****...KING JR!" etc. They played a dirty Christmas song, talked with a rock band singer for awhile, and so on. 4 hours, no sex.
My point to this, is right now Howard Stern thinks his new show is going to be all about lesbians, sex, swearing, porn starts and crude jokes, however don't be surprised if by March, most of that stuff has gone out of the window. Opie and Anthony had more sex stuff on their FM radio show in a week then they have had on their uncensored show in a year, only when they do have it, there are no bleeps!
Finally, one thing I will say to you conservatives , Howard is more like you than you think. He's in his middle 50's, should be getting is AARP card, loves his daughter and his wife (before his divorce) but his job is selling his act to the 18-35 male crowd, the age group that advertisers love. If he could get paid $500 million to host a politics talk show, that's what he would be doing. However, sex sells, so that's what he gives his listeners.
Anyway, they are Stern's biggest rivals, and when they first started on XM a year ago, the first few weeks were about swearing as much as they could on the radio and about getting the lesbians in, having people call in while having sex, etc. However, as they themselves admitted, you can only do that so many times before it's boring and the listeners are bored. Many of their shows have no sex involved and become more of a regular talk show, but a regular guys shooting the s**t style show. Lots of joking around, ragging on each other,etc.
For example, today's show spent over an hour playing clips of tv and radio people screwing up, such as the weatherman who said "Martin Luther ****...KING JR!" etc. They played a dirty Christmas song, talked with a rock band singer for awhile, and so on. 4 hours, no sex.
My point to this, is right now Howard Stern thinks his new show is going to be all about lesbians, sex, swearing, porn starts and crude jokes, however don't be surprised if by March, most of that stuff has gone out of the window. Opie and Anthony had more sex stuff on their FM radio show in a week then they have had on their uncensored show in a year, only when they do have it, there are no bleeps!
Finally, one thing I will say to you conservatives , Howard is more like you than you think. He's in his middle 50's, should be getting is AARP card, loves his daughter and his wife (before his divorce) but his job is selling his act to the 18-35 male crowd, the age group that advertisers love. If he could get paid $500 million to host a politics talk show, that's what he would be doing. However, sex sells, so that's what he gives his listeners.
Do you know why baseball players still make so much money? Because others will pay the asking price.
Whether or not you and I think Howard Stern is worth a plugged nickel, is not the issue.
As long as he produces a product for which enough people will pay, he will keep producing that product. Moreover, if enough people want to pay for it, those people and all that money have a good chance of shielding him from any FCC regulations that might be proposed to "protect the public interests."
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://londonink.blogspot.com/2005/11/will-ads-on-satellite-radio-be-profane.html" target="_newWindow">http://londonink.blogspot.com/2005/11/will-ads-on-satellite-radio-be-profane.html</a>
John O'Rourke
mark d.
I recently purchased a Sirius radio just so that I could listen to his new show. And several other people I know are doing the same.
Regardless of your personal take on Stern (I'm honestly surprised at all of the holier-than-thou comments so far), he will help Sirius overtake XM in 2006.
If large numbers of people want to hear Howard Stern and pay the subscription rates for a satellite radio service that provides him, then he will likely earn large sums of money. That's a far cry from having money taken/stolen via taxes from one's paycheck, property assessments and transactions which are then spent on all sorts of government projects that politicians and bureaucrats have decided is "in the public interest". Try not paying those taxes and you'll come face to face with the force/gun of government. Scirus is a business and either gets voluntary customers sufficient to make a desired profit or it folds up. With government, only a lack of enforcers will cause it to wither and die - but that's not an impossible dream.
In addition those who do not like Howard Stern can socially preference against those who do - just not associate with them voluntarily. Of course having good defensible reasons for this dislike would be more likely to influence those "fans" of Stern rather than just make them laugh at apparent timidity. The same type of social preferencing against enforcers of government - the real power base - could reduce their numbers significantly leaving the politicians and bureaucrats to enforce their own mounds of paper regulations/laws/edicts or see governments wither and die.
**Kitty Antonik Wakfer
MoreLife for the rational - <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://morelife.org" target="_newWindow">http://morelife.org</a>
Reality based tools for more life in quantity and quality
Self-Sovereign Individual Project - <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://selfsip.org" target="_newWindow">http://selfsip.org</a>
Nice rant though, did you mention the war??
Since Stern followers robustly defend his "program content", I propose Stern take put his show onto his website via audio/video stream. Stern will have his little open medium that he's always wanted. It will also be impossible to accidently be forced to listen/watch any of his smut, since his site could be password protected. Stern followers can then listen/view all the things Stern stands for, smut and porn...even kiddie porn if that's what their into.
Street
Bridge.
I'll tell you what - a lot of this is the far right's thinking that American is going to hell because of him. That's right - a whole country going to hell.
Also, can someone clarify if Stern is receiving $500 mil or the show is receiving that much?
When he was clever, it was a great show, but using F bombs and showing boobies doesn't make it clever anymore. Stern's smart though, he sold himself at the peak. He's become sad and dated, he's the next Andrew Dice Clay
worth stopping for.
For you others who say he is a scumbag, that wouldn't want him around your kids, you can get him in the gutter.... Have you ever listened to him, or have you just heard Rush or one of the other right wing radio hosts talk about him? If you would listen to Howard you would know that there is more to his show than just lesbians and potty humor. He got Christy Whitman elected governor in New Jersey, she even called the show to thank him and named a rest stop in New Jersey after him. He was thrown off of 6 Clear Channel stations for starting to talk about George Bush in a bad way. He talks about everything. It is not just 4 hours of porn everyday. Personally though, I like the lesbians......
For those of you who say "Gutter" "Trash" "Foul mouthed" "Potty mouth" and more.... How is it possible to say this when his show is censored and he is not allowed to use any cuss words or talk about certain sexual "Themes". If Howard is sooooo dirty and obscene, what is Chris Rock? Richard Pryor? Dennis Miller? Eddie Murphy? Chris Rock was the host of the Academy Awards and in his HBO stand up special "Bigger and Blacker" he used the "F" word more times in 1 minute than Howard Stern has in the last 25 years..
But, my favorite reply has to go to the person who wrote
"Why does anyone need 500 million dollars? Instead of giving somebody that much money, it should be used to help the uninsured of the USA get proper healthcare."
HA HA HA How about if we didn't go to war in Iraq? Our savings that we could have used for "Healthcare" in OUR country.... $200 Billion and still counting.
How about since I make $50,000 per year, I believe anyone making over $1 Million per year is too much and should have to put 5 homeless people on their own health insurance plan... That seems right to me......
In closing, I would like to take this time to say Ba Ba Booey to everyone!!!!
Is someone really thinking that this word is taboo?
If it takes anyone more than a microsecond to realize what the asterisks are trying to cover, then this discussion is truly for children.
-Jonathan
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://philoneist.com" target="_newWindow">http://philoneist.com</a>