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.
Now maybe he'll stop whining about the government and just be funny again.
I too will welcome that.
If you don't like him, all radios are equipped with this thing called a tuning dial.
You can change the station. You can even turn it off. Many radios are often packaged with a CD player or tape player, so one can pop in a tape or CD with music or an audio book...
So why the heck is it that you feel the need to say "take it off the air"? Did you forget how to change the station, put in a CD/tape, or turn the thing OFF?
More likely, Bozell and others will just go after satellite radio.
Most electronics stores are equiped with a Sirius Radio sales kiosk. I suggest you find one.
That crap he spews shouldn't be on radios where kids can hear it.
The public airwaves are an extension of the commons.
You cannot speak in Howard Stern's fashion in the commons; you cannot do so over the public airwaves.
The problem is that Stern's material is extremely inappropriate for minors, but is broadcast in a fashion readily accessible to minors.
You are welcome to your opinion.
I think it's possible that the Supreme Court might disagree, and uphold the first amendment.
On the other hand, they had no problem with CFR...................
LOL "Family Ties" and "Growing Pains" had the 'late baby' thing too, though on Family Ties, the kid aged five years between seasons.
Out in space is a good place for this pervert.
I never heard him on the radio, but I ran into his show on
E-TV, before I dumped my satellite service.
I have never seen such a display of sick human debris.
Stupid women, stupid boys, and sick people laughing at them.
How enlightening...Some fat jerk in his jocks, spinning
around on a wheel of perverted sex acts.
The stupid girl spins the wheel where one of the rewards is to have this fowl looking idiot dangle his testicles in her face.
Well, what does it say about anyone over 14 that thinks this is humorous?
Sterno fans have to be the sickest of humanity.
Stern fans should be thrilled about Sirius: Stern is free to drop the F-bomb all he wants...and they get to pay him for the privilege of hearing it.
I probably will do just that late next year - because unlike some folks, I haven't forgotten how to change a channel if I don't like what is on the TV/radio.
Believe me, there are certainly folks on the other side of the ideological spectrum who are just loving this. If someone like David Brock is in charge of the FCC, they're going ot use the very precedents used on Howard Stern to go after Hannity and Limbaugh.
Or have you not seen what MediaMatters.org has tried to do in the past?
Dude, when you become a parent, you're going to discover a whole different side of this issue.
She's on Sirius as well.
From the same kind of mind that agrees with this:
The show is under siege. Stem cell research is stifled. Free speech is endangered. The environment is being ruined. Court appointments, the freedom to have an abortion and everything that makes our country great are about to be compromised for the next four years.
You have the power to change all of these things by voting on Election Day, but you cannot do that unless you are registered to vote. Please take the time to register right now, so all Howard Stern fans can unite and tell the President we don't want him in office anymore. Kick his frigging ass out of office and send him back to the ranch where he spends most of his time anyway.
We can not sit by while our country, its borders, airports and ports are no safer than before 9-11. Iraq is a mess and Osaka Bin Laden still walks the earth. We have never taken a back seat in any election. I've always spoken openly about my support for Bill Clinton, the great Governor George Pataki, Christy Todd Whitman, Senator D'Amato and Mayor Guilliani.
Anti-obscenity precedents (if they exist) are useless against Hannity and Limbaugh.
Ultimately, you need to remember that Stern's move is VOLUNTARY.
This pretty much reinforces my evaluation of his antics earlier this year, saying how Bush & co were out to get him, etc.
He knew there was nothing to it. It was just his way of laying the foundation for his move to Sat Radio.
His millions of fans will now become Sat Radio customers, and he gets a huge payday.
No do you really think they wouldn't try to hit stations that broadcast Limbaugh and Hannity with fines whenever he could?
Take a look at the site and you tell me if a Kerry Administration FCC (or worse yet, a Hillary Administration FCC) wouldn't be able to make an obscenity precedent stick if enough complaints from a trumped-up campaign by Media Matters?
http://mediamatters.org/archives/search.html?topic=The%20Rush%20Limbaugh%20Show
Anyone can file an FCC complaint. Remember how Oprah was targeted by Howard Stern for HER show's sex talk that *didn't* get fined? And oh, yeah, isn't legislation in the works to INCREASE the maximum fine the FCC can impose?
"The public airwaves are an extension of the commons"
You are right...
If you don't like it, change the station? BS.
If we took that attitude, then ANYTHING in public would be OK.
If you drive down the highway and saw a billboard of
nude hookers, do you say " Gee, just don't look" ?
If two people are having sex in the park, just don't look?
I am all for private subscription to whatever turns one on, but not on the public airwaves, anymore then on a public road or park.
The fines would be appealed and reversed, because they do not pass the 'reasonable man' standard; any attempt to continue to impose them would result in the accusers and corrupt regulators being labeled "vexatious."
I pity anyone who can't tell the difference between the content on Oprah's show and the content on any typical Stern show.
Would they try to hit Limbaugh and Hannity with fines? Probably. But I'll ask you: How would they make it stick? Make the argument, I want to see it.
I think many Stern fans are going to be very angry about being forced to pay. Stern will learn something very important about the elasticity of demand. LOL
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