Posted on 10/06/2004 6:39:04 AM PDT by Silver Bird Worker
Controversial radio host Howard Stern will move his show to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. in 2006, in an expensive gamble for the fledgling satellite broadcasting service.
Terms of the five-year deal weren't disclosed, but Sirius said it would spend $100 million a year to produce the show, including Mr. Stern's salary. Mr. Stern's contract with Viacom Inc. expires at the end of 2005.
Mr. Stern's show corners the radio market among males 18-49 years of age and ranks No. 1 in many of the 46 major markets where his show is broadcast.
"It has been my dream to have the top-rated show in radio since I was five years old," Mr. Stern said in a prepared statement. "Sirius -- the future of radio -- will take this dream to a whole new level as I bring my fans my show my way. It will be the best radio they will ever hear."
Sirius is betting big on Mr. Stern. The company revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that its deal with Mr. Stern includes both cash and stock, and said it must make "substantial" stock payments if subscriber targets are exceeded. Sirius will also share a portion of advertising revenue with Mr. Stern once subscriber milestones are reached. Currently, Sirius provides commercial-free music and sports programming.
The company warned that it would need to generate an additional one million subscribers to cover the cost of bringing Mr. Stern on board. If it doesn't, the deal could have a "material negative impact" on the company's financial condition, Sirius said. As of June 30, 2004, Sirius had 480,341 subscribers, up 37% from first-quarter levels.
Sirius shares soared in early trading, jumping 65 cents, or 20%, to $4 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
In a press released headlined "The Most Important Deal in Radio History," Sirius said it negotiated the five-year, "multi-million dollar" agreement with Don Buchwald, who represents Stern.
The agreement comes as the ever-controversial Mr. Stern was dropped earlier this year from some radio stations over his raunchy humor. Mr. Stern's future at Viacom has been up in the air for some time. Mel Karmazin, a fierce defender of Mr. Stern in the face of the government pressure, left as Viacom's president earlier this year.
As programming on regular terrestrial radio runs afoul of the Federal Communications Commission in its crackdown on indecent broadcasting, many hosts in hot water have cited satellite radio as a possible haven.
Over the summer, Sirius's archrival, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., signed Bob Edwards, the original anchor of National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," to host a show. XM also hired Greg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia, a pair of radio "shock jocks" fired by Infinity Broadcasting Inc., the first instance of satellite radio providing a safe harbor for broadcasters deemed too raunchy for the public airwaves.
All this reminds me of the SCTV sketch about a "Dennis The Menace"-type show called "Oh That Rusty!". The show was so popular it stayed on for 29 years [1200 episodes], and little Rusty was still being played by the same actor, (now) 43 year old Rusty Van Reddick. As Rusty grew and aged, the sets were rebuilt in different scales and taller actors replaced the mom & dad roles to maintain the illusion that Rusty was still a precocious pre-teen. As it ended it's third decade in production, the supporting cast had to be replaced by basketball players....
I like Stern too, other than the Bush crap. I could listen to the "Sulu Dance" everyday. I'll probably subscribe, but for other reasons than just Howard. The no commercial thing is huge.
Fa Fa Fu hee
Get a sense of humor man. This "Loser" tunes in daily.
When Billy West was on, the show was at it's peak.
Muh-muh-Monkey
It is Sirius (and don't call me Shirley)
He can take it anywhere he wants. Sirius, Pluto, Mars....
Anywhere but here.
*Osaka* Bin Laden? Is that the Japanese terrorist?
Yes, the receiver plugs into the computer's USB port. It comes with software used to control the channels. It's inexpensive, effortless and sounds great. And since the whole thing runs through the sound card, recording at CD quality is a snap. I love it. Check it out at www.xmradio.com.
He's become Hmus, the Hman...quack quack.
Porn dog on Dog star. Fitting.
Still not far enough away for me.
I just checked the XM website and they're still offering the computer kit - $49.95.
"No do you really think they wouldn't try to hit stations that broadcast Limbaugh and Hannity with fines whenever he could?"
They'd do that now. Anti-obscenity fines against Howard Stern don't really set any precedent that will make it easier.
Hey I agree...however I heard on O'Reilly that it was 500 million.
I heard that same amount from Phil Hendrie. Phil made a good case to support this move in radio because it allows broadcasters like him to have an alternative to the restrictions of public broadcast radio. Michael Savage even acknowledged that this was a good move, because as long as satellite radio becomes a viable alternative for radio talent like him, he has more options when he's faced with the problems he has had in the past with public broadcast radio.
After reading through these threads, it appears that Howard Stern will not be on the air 24/7, but he will develop new talent (or hire existing talent) on his station. Also, his radio station (or satellite band) will be available to all subscribers of Sirius, so Stern's fans just have to pay the basic subscription price to hear his station. On XM, Opie and Anthony charge an additional monthly fee to hear their station. I gather that will keep Stern from making the station foul mouthed 24/7.
Furthermore, I believe that Stern only needs to attract 1,000,000 subscribers to make this profitable for Sirius. As much as I have come to dislike him due to his Bush bashing trash, I believe he can attract that many listeners and more.
In the end, he'll have little political influence though. His listeners won't be focused in swing states or what not because his listeners will be scattered throughout the country, and I suspect his audience will even be smaller than it is now.
You are exactly right. I'm the mother of 4 daughters and 1 son and it seems like everywhere I turn, somebody is trying to teach them something that is inappropriate for their ages. I can't even go into a book store without some kind of sex book right on the shelf at their eye level. Alot of people want their kids to grow up really fast and let them watch inappropriate movies, tv shows and the like but I'm not one of them. My husband and I were at a restaurant recently with our children and there was a movie on the big tv that they had on. It got very raunchy, my 9 year old daughter notices it and says, "hey mom, what are they doing on the tv?" I had to hide her eyes and ask the waiter to turn the channel. This was a family, home cooking type restaurant. What happened to my rights as a mother, not to have my children subjected to smut at a family restaurant?
If you want to remind them, you can email them here.....
I gather they are expecting dissenters, but I doubt these dissenters will change their mind about adding to Stern to Sirius. Stern brings upon dissension for what he broadcasts. But it's possible that they may change their mind about adding his radio broadcast as a basic service, or they could provide a parental block on content like Stern's that could be deemed "mature". I just don't think outrage at Sirius is going to make a change in their decision to add Stern to their line up.
I do think satellite radio is where Stern belongs, and he probably should have made this move sooner before he became such a biased Bush basher. I certainly have no plans to subscribe to Sirius based on this move, but I do think they can attract a million subscribers from Stern's fan best.
And who knows, maybe Stern's show will really be for the worse if given no rein on what he says. Plus, the "real" people (the mentally challenged, the drunks, the stutterers, etc.) he has exploited have been people who listened to Stern over the public ally aired broadcasts. It's very likely he won't have that same pool of people if they have to pay for it every month.
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