SubscribeI guess nobody at the Chicago Tribune listens to Sirius XM on the iPhone
The Chicago Tribune has an article concerning Howard Stern and his chances of resigning with Sirius XM radio. His five year, $500 million, four-days-a-week contract is set to expire at the end of the next year. That means now is the time for Howard Stern and Sirius XM to begin negotiating a new contract.
About the only thing that is clear at this point is that there is no way he will get another $500 million contract.
Back when he scored the original $500 million contract, Sirius and XM were locked into a satellite radio war. Sirius needed Stern because they needed a big name to add to their lineup. Now Sirius and XM are the same company. At least they are supposed to be. They are still run as though they are two separate entities.
The point is, Sirius and XM aren’t about to get into a bidding war for the services of Howard Stern. So what does this mean for Howard Stern? According to the Chicago Tribune, maybe he will become a podcaster:
Stern could leave to start a new venture, perhaps a subscription service that sends his show to PCs and mobile devices. Sirius already streams Stern’s shows online and through the iPhone. Or he could explore more options in cable TV, where his first pay-per-view special, “Howard Stern’s Negligee and Underpants Party,” was offered in 1988.
Contrary to the Chicago Tribune, Howard Stern is not available on the iPhone. His show is about the only things you cannot listen to via the Sirius XM iPhone app. What’s funny about this is that he was pushing for a Sirius XM iPhone app for some time. Evidently his $500 million contract did not allow Sirius XM to stream his show over the iPhone. You can listen to his show on the computer, just not the iPhone.
Sirius XM compares Howard Stern to two dead guys and a retired basketball player
Sirius XM started running a strange commercial yesterday that seems to imply that Howard Stern is just like Elvis, Richard Prior, and Michael Jordan. Elvis and Richard Prior are dead and Michael Jordan hasn’t played basketball in years. Is this really what Sirius XM wants to do, compare the guy they pay $100 million a year to two dead guys and retired basketball player?
I guess I understand that since they pay Howard Stern so much money, Sirius XM feels an obligation to put him front and center in any national ad campaign. The problem is that his he only works four days a week and has 10 weeks of vacation a year. Getting people to subscribe to Sirius XM because of Howard Stern may backfire when these people realize that Howard has every Friday off and spends a lot of time on vacation.
There is a lot more on Sirius XM than Howard Stern.
Sirius XM raising their rates
Remember when the FCC and Congress stepped in and changed the laws that allowed XM Radio and Sirius Radio to merge? Part of the deal included the agreement that the merged company could not raise it’s rates for a predefined amount of time. I don’t remember how long the price freeze was going to be in place, and I’m too lazy to go look it up right now, but I know that it was going to be a while before my rates went up.
That’s about to change. I got an email today from XM Radio telling me that my monthly fee is going up an additional $1.98 a month. From the email:
Music royalty rights were established by the U.S. Congress as part of the Copyright Act. This Act requires payment of copyright music royalties to recording artists, musicians and recording companies who hold copyrights in sound recordings.
These royalties have recently increased dramatically, principally as a result of a decision made by the Copyright Royalty Board, which is designated by the Library of Congress to set royalty rates for sound recordings. Beginning on July 29, 2009, a “U.S. Music Royalty Fee” of $1.98/month* for primary subscriptions and $.97/month* for multi-receiver subscriptions will be effective upon your next renewal. This fee will be used directly to offset increased payments from XM to the recording industry.
The real kicker is that I don’t even listen to music on XM Radio. They canceled the only music channel I ever listened to, the Punk Channel. When I want to listen to recorded music, I listen to my iPod.
I only listen to XM Radio for the live talk. I listen to Opie and Anthony, Ron and Fez, the Dan Patrick Show, the Steve Czaban Show, CNN, and Howard Stern. I used to listen to World Soccer Daily until they started asking listening for “donations”.
Why should a person like me who only listens to talk radio have to pay royalties to the music industry?
The answer is that I shouldn’t, but I have no way of stopping it. If I want to continue listening to live talk and news on satellite radio, I will have to pay it.
I’m already paying $4.04 more each month to listen to the “Best of Sirius”. Mostly that’s so I can listen to Howard Stern. I’m also paying another $2.99 a month to listen to Sirius XM on the computer and my iPhone. Since he only does a show four days a week, and his show for some reason is not available on the iPhone, I’m going to go ahead and cancel the “Best of Sirius”.
I have joined the iPhone revolution
Sheri and I stopped by our local neighborhood AT&T store and purchased iPhones. Instead of getting the fancy brand new 3G S iPhones, we purchased the regular old 3G iPhones. Even if we wanted the newest model, AT&T were all sold out. I heard them telling someone else that they only initially received 18 of the newest models and they sold out the first day. They didn’t think they would get any more for at least a month.
I didn’t see how the newer 3G S iPhones were that much of an improvement. Essentially the biggest difference was that it was capable of shooting video. I couldn’t care less about that.
I picked up a white 16 gig model and Sheri chose a black 8 gig model.
I’ve got to admit that I’m even more impressed with the iPhone than I thought I was going to be. Having constant access to the World Wide Internet Web is a life changer. While sitting on the sofa yesterday at my mother-in-law’s house, I was able to read my email and delete a spam comment here on my blog.
Speaking of my blog, I installed a special WordPress theme made specifically for iPhones or other smartphones, Carrington Mobile 1.0.2. Visitors reading this from a computer see the regular theme, visitors from an iPhone see a different theme all together that’s much easier to read on a tiny screen.
So far my favorite App is the Sirius XM App. It allows me to listen to Sirius XM directly from my iPhone either over the 3G network or any WiFi network. This is huge. This means that I can listen to Sirius XM anywhere I go. Oddly enough, just about everything that I listen to on Sirius XM is available on the iPhone except Howard Stern. His show is strangely absent from the lineup. What’s weird about this is he’s been speaking about a Sirius XM iPhone app for months. One finally comes out and his show is not on it? That’s weird. I guess he wants more money.
Evidently $500 million isn’t enough.
Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez are on it, so it’s not that big of a deal. The thing that gets me is that I pay extra to for a Best of Sirius package that allows me to listen to Howard Stern (and the NFL). I also pay extra to be able to listen to Sirius XM over the Internet. I can listen to Howard Stern over the Internet on a computer, but not from my iPhone.
That’s really weird.
Is Howard Stern going back to regular radio?
There’s currently a rumor going around the World Wide Internet Web involving Howard Stern. Rumor has it that the King of All Media will be leaving Sirius XM Radio at the end of his current contract (December 18, 2010) and returning to good old fashioned regular terrestrial radio.
I’m not buying it.
I don’t think he wants to do regular radio any more than he wants to do satellite radio. I fully expect him to leave radio entirely, both terrestrial and satellite, when his current contract is over.
When he left CBS Radio for Sirius at the end of 2005, he signed a five year contract for $500 million. With that kind of money, he never has work ever again. If he ever were to do radio again, it would be solely because he wanted to do it. It would be because he loved his craft so much, he just had to do it.
If Howard Stern loves radio so much, why does he take each and every Friday off?
Part of his original contract with Sirius stipulated that not only did he get ten (10) weeks of vacation a year, he only has to work four (4) days a week. He only does a live radio show Monday through Thursday. On Friday, the show is a montage of segments from that week.
Howard Stern doesn’t have to take every Friday off. Sirius XM is not forcing him to take three-days off every week. He doesn’t do a live show on Fridays because he doesn’t have to.
Once his contract his up at the end of 2010, I don’t see him doing any more radio, terrestrial or satellite.
Howard Stern is out of touch
This morning on the Howard Stern show, Howard and the gang were making fun of a new Imus in the Morning commercial that is a spoof of the very popular “Hello, I’m a Mac…” ads.
Howard, the former king of all media, had no clue what was going on with the Imus ad because he said that he wasn’t familiar with the popular Mac commercials.
Fred tried to help him out by describing them as “IBM vs. Apple” commercials.
How does someone who is even slightly familiour with pop culture not know about these commericals?
Anthony Cumia appeared on Howard Stern in 1994
Did you know that Anthony Cumia from the Opie and Anthony Show once appeared on the Howard Stern Show? I had no idea. He appeared on Howard’s show back in December 1994 for some kind of impression contest.
He was contestant #7.
I found this video by pure accident. I was looking for something else when I stumbled upon this.
Howard Stern, consummate company man
I listened to Howard Stern yesterday talk about the format change at his old terrestrial radio station K-Rock. He was taking great pleasure in the fact that Opie and Anthony were let go as a result of the change and how they are “failures”.
Not only was he wrong, it was an extremely inappropriate thing to say. Doesn’t Howard “King of All Media” Stern realize that Opie and Anthony work for the same company that he does? Doesn’t he realize that Sirius XM is trying to get Sirius-only subscribers to sign up for the Best of XM package where one of the main features of the package is the Opie and Anthony Show?
That’s just dumb.
Opie and Anthony are not alone. Howard was dumping on Opera Winfrey on Monday. He said that she should give back some of the money XM paid her when they signed her to an exclusive deal. Is he really in any position to criticize how much anyone else is getting paid by the same company he works for? He makes $100 million a year for a company that is hemorrhaging money. A company that has lost millions of dollars for it’s share holders. On January 9, 2006, the day Howard Stern broadcast his first show on Sirius radio, shares of Sirius stock closed at $6.54.
Today it closed at 16 cents a share.
Maybe Howard Stern shouldn’t be calling anyone else a failure. Maybe instead of trashing the people that work for the same satellite radio company he does, he should be trying to promote them. Contrary to popular belief, just because you enjoy listening to Howard Stern doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy listening to Opie and Anthony and vise versa.
I enjoy listening to both shows. I am far from unique.
Opie and Anthony lose their terrestrial radio gig
Morning radio shock-jocks Opie and Anthony have been let go by CBS radio. The company is doing a complete overhaul to New York City’s K-Rock which as of today, became a Top-40 station.
The two still have their job at Sirius XM. They were doing their K-Rock show from 6am to 9am and they would then trudge over to the XM studios and do a satellite only show till around 11am. Sirius XM was also simulcasting the K-Rock show on satellite.
Though this sucks for Opie and Anthony on a personal financial level, it will make for a better radio show on Sirius XM. Not only will they not have to worry about the FCC, they wont have to adhere to a strict schedule for commercial breaks. That got to be very annoying.
Opie and Anthony were getting good ratings on K-Rock. They weren’t getting Howard Stern ratings, but I doubt Howard Stern would be getting the numbers he got only five years ago on terrestrial radio. It’s a different world today. People buy iPods and they download music online. They buy satellite radios. The people left listening to terrestrial radio are the ones that are too cheap to buy either an iPod or a satellite radio.
I can’t imagine that this demographic is real desirable with advertisers.
Talkers magazine top 100 list
Talkers magazine has published their 2009 top 100 list of talk radio hosts. These lists usually generate a lot of controversy with the various radio personalities featured on the list. The selection processes appears to be totally arbitrary.
There’s no formula or criteria involved in the selection process.
No surprise, the list heavily features conservative political talkers. Mostly that’s because out of all the talk radio hosts, the conservatives are simply better than the liberals. That doesn’t mean conservatism is better than liberalism (it’s not), it only means that the hosts that do conservative radio are just much more skilled at what they do than their liberal counterparts.
Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey appears as #7 on the list. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he pays for a 125X125 advertisement on the Talkers website. Yeah, sure. Maybe if Howard Stern buys an ad on Talkers, he’ll do better next year than the #32 that he finds himself at now. The man makes $100 million a year doing radio, but I’m supposed to believe that there are 31 more important people in radio.
Sirius XM might not last till 2010? UPDATED
Rick Newman at U.S. News and World Report wrote an article listing 15 companies that might not last past 2009. Not surprisingly, Sirius XM made the list.
From the article:
Sirius Satellite Radio. (SIRI – parent company; about 1,000 employees; stock down 96%). The music rocks, but satellite radio has yet to be profitable, and huge contracts for performers like Howard Stern are looking unsustainable. Sirius is one of two satellite-radio services owned by parent company Sirius XM, which was formed when Sirius and XM merged last year. So far, the merger hasn’t generated the savings needed to make the company profitable, and Moody’s thinks there’s a “high likelihood” that Sirius will fail to repay or refinance its debt in 2009. One outcome could be a takeover, at distressed prices, by other firms active in the satellite business.
In my opinion, the whole merger has been a complete disaster. The two services, XM and Sirius, are still run like two separate entities. If you are a Sirius or XM subscriber, the only thing that has really changed is that you can now pay extra to receive a few channels from the “other” company. They refer to this as the “Best Of” package. The fact that you have to pay extra to receive channels from the “other” company seemingly cancels out the notion that Sirius XM is now one single company.
Pretending that the two are still two separate companies is asinine. The FCC allowed the two companies to merge into one. They need to actually do it. They need to ditch the words Sirius and XM from the company’s name and just call this new merged company Satellite Radio.
If you subscribe to Satellite Radio, you should receive all of the content. If you are a Sirius subscriber, you shouldn’t have to pay more to listen to Major League Baseball, The Opie and Anthony Show, or The Ron and Fez Show. If you are an XM subscriber, you shouldn’t have to pay more to listen to The Howard Stern Show or the National Football League.
Update: The New York Times is reporting that Sirius XM is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection.
Howard Stern’s terrestrial radio commercial for Sirius XM
I heard that some CBS radio stations are running spots for Sirius XM featuring Howard Stern. Since it’s now up on YouTube, I guess it’s true. And 35 million people listen to Sirius XM? Who’s he kidding? If they have 69 commercial-free music channels, why can’t they have just one punk rock music channel?
Like they used to.
Howard Stern and his four day work week
Howard Stern has been complaining the last couple of days about an article written about him in the Los Angeles Times. The article states that his audience has shrunk since moving over to Sirius satellite radio and because of that, he has lost the clout and influence he enjoyed when he was on terrestrial radio. Because his audience is smaller, he no longer attracts the same level of top-tier guests.
His audience is certainly smaller. When he was on terrestrial radio, he averaged 12 million listeners a day. On Sirius satellite radio, his audience is somewhere between 1 and 2 million listeners. The merger between Sirius and XM has not resulted in a huge audience gain. XM subscribers that want to listen to Howard Stern have to pay an extra $4 a month. Not only do they get to listen to Howard Stern, they get the NFL, NASCAR, and the Martha Stewart channel.
As a Sirius satellite radio subscriber, I can attest to the fact that his guest list has taken a downgrade since his days on regular radio. He doesn’t get the same level of guests that he once did. I’m sure part of the reason for this is because he has less of an audience, but I don’t think that’s the only reason. I think part of the reason is because he doesn’t do a show on Fridays. His show runs Monday through Thursday. Friday’s show is a best-of montage from the rest of the week.
Not having a live show on Friday means Hollywood celebrities wishing to promote their movies opening that weekend go and do it elsewhere.
He would probably get better guests if he went back to working on Fridays.
What has Troy Polamalu being doing this off-season?
I don’t know what Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu has been doing during the off-season, but he needs to stop doing it. Though I commend him for finally getting a haircut, he has really let himself go.
Sirius and XM allowed to merge
I’m not sure what took so long, but the FCC has finally agreed to allow Sirius and XM to merge into one satellite company.
I used to have XM, but I got rid of both my radios and switched to Sirius a few months ago. I decided that I would rather listen to Howard Stern in the mornings then Opie & Anthony. I felt like their show had gone down the tubes since they made the jump back to regular radio. When they weren’t going to commercial, they were complaining about other radio shows getting better ratings then them. It got boring.
Howard Stern on the other hand has been Howard Stern. He’s as great as he has ever been. In fact, he’s actually better then ever.
The music channels on Sirius are better then the music channels on XM. I find myself listening to a lot of channel 22 First Wave. They play a lot of classic alternative and new wave. I also enjoy channel 29 Punk Rock. They play nothing but new and vintage puck rock.
One of the things I don’t understand about this merger is one of the stipulations forced on Sirius and XM by the FCC. The two companies had to agree that after they merge, they will not raise prices for three years. If the government can do that with satellite radio, why can’t they do that with gas?
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