I have never been so excited about radio as I am now.

[Cringer]

I went to sleep at midnight and got up at 4:50 AM this morning. Just so I can listen to Howard Stern live. THis is the first time I have ever been able to hear him live at my house. And now I will be able to listen live every day. Since I have my Sirius in my workout room when at home, I went ahead and ran/incline walked for an hour and am now sitting here on the treadmill listening.

Great show too. They even did a press conference with tons of media there. He also said he is NOT married. There is NOT a ton of cussing, since Howard said it actually kind of bugs him and it gets old.

Bubba The Love Sponge is on this afternoon, a guy banished from normal radio for the last two years.

I am officially done with normal radio. I haven't listened much the last year anyways but now there is not much reason. (I guess I am a Sirius fanboy )

Also, Sirius announced the other day that they have added over 300,000 new subscriptions since Dec. 27th (that was the day they announced they had gone over 3 million). And today Howard said he was told that they had more subscriptions turned on yesterday then the 180,000 they had on Christmas day. I guess Howard is having a big impact, even though some thought he wouldn't.

Ok, i am done being over-excited.

[rkmsuf]

I have one but haven't hooked it up yet.

[jeff061]

I'm getting sick of all these "Free Radio" commercials. Those alone may drive me to satellite. Some things should remain free? Why? You get what you pay for.

[albionmoonlight]

I just hope that the government does not get into the business of censoring this voluntary product for which you need to affirmatively register and pay to access.

"I need to protect my children from satellite radio. If there were only some way to keep it from coming into my home/car. Some easy action that I could take or not take to keep from hearing it. Awww, screw it. I'll just ask the government to help me."

[Toddzilla]

How was the show?

[wade moore]

Meh, never been a big Stern fan...

Anyway... even if he does get like 500,000 people to subscribe... is that really making up for the money they spent on him? I'm very curious as to what the magic number of subscribers is.....

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

How was the show?

It was great. It was different from what it usually is but that is because it was the first show and they had a ton to get in. In the end it went 5 hours and 20 minutes, and was commercial free!! They had a few spots where they played a song or two, like when they brought in the press for the press conference. And they played a song after about 15 minutes because they had technical problems. Other then that it was non-stop.

Also, they have George Takaei as an announcer all week. Yes, Sulu from Star Trek. He was great.

Now they have an after show...show. With Gary and John Heihn (sp?) hosting. Talking behind the scenes stuff for an hour or so.

The show is going to be great uncensored.

And on to the government trying to censor satellite....there are people trying to get it done. Especially this religious group who has always been after Howard Stern. It is stupid. Not only do you NOT have to buy Sirius, if you do you can block channels. Any channel you want to keep you kid from hearing you can.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Meh, never been a big Stern fan...

Anyway... even if he does get like 500,000 people to subscribe... is that really making up for the money they spent on him? I'm very curious as to what the magic number of subscribers is.....

Almost 3,000,000 people have gotten Sirius since the announcement over 1 year ago. They had 600,000 subscriber then. The magic number to pay for the show was around 2,000,000 if I remember correctly. Anyways, that was one of the things Howard said this morning, that they have already paid for themselves without doing a show. And trust me, a lot more then 500,000 of those 3 million signed up for Howard. You can see a bit of evidence of this on Sirius boards, and Howard Stern boards.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Working in radio for the past 15 years I can't immagine what it is like to do a show without commercials for several hours. What's going to happen when Stern has too much coffee and says "OK, you guys... I gotta take a piss."

By the way... My take on Stern is that the attraction to him is much the same as the attraction to a car wreck. Wheen he was married and the show was kind of a put on it seemed like a fun little lark. Now it has devolved into a head-on collision with meat scattered everywhere. I couldn't even listen anymore when he was on K-Rock, and I'm not going to pay for it now.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Almost 3,000,000 people have gotten Sirius since the announcement over 1 year ago. They had 600,000 subscriber then. The magic number to pay for the show was around 2,000,000 if I remember correctly. Anyways, that was one of the things Howard said this morning, that they have already paid for themselves without doing a show. And trust me, a lot more then 500,000 of those 3 million signed up for Howard. You can see a bit of evidence of this on Sirius boards, and Howard Stern boards.

Interesting, i figured the magic number was higher than that..

good for them if so... I have a show or two that if it went satellite (Don and Mike Show or the Sports Junkies) I would probably buy it for them, otherwise i'm holding off...

[jeff061]

Stern just got 200 million in Sirius stock for hitting subscriber targets over the past year. I'd imagine so far things are going according to plan.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

Working in radio for the past 15 years I can't immagine what it is like to do a show without commercials for several hours. What's going to happen when Stern has too much coffee and says "OK, you guys... I gotta take a piss."

By the way... My take on Stern is that the attraction to him is much the same as the attraction to a car wreck. Wheen he was married and the show was kind of a put on it seemed like a fun little lark. Now it has devolved into a head-on collision with meat scattered everywhere. I couldn't even listen anymore when he was on K-Rock, and I'm not going to pay for it now.

Part 1, they will have commercials. Today was special because of the first show. Starting tomorrow they have 6 commercials an hour, which is nothing really especially compared to his old KROCK show. And Howard said he doesn't pee during the show....


As for part 2, I can understand this some. I have heard people say that the show has just gotten boring/bad/dull over the last couple years because of the whole FCC stuff, and moving to Sirius. But I would say this show shows that those days are in the past somewhat. If you get curious I would find the show in a newsgroup and give it a try. If not, like I said, I understand that point of view totally. A lot of my excitement comes from not ever having been able to hear Stern on a daily basis, so I never got tired of certian parts of it.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE!!!

Working in radio for the past 15 years I can't immagine what it is like to do a show without commercials for several hours. What's going to happen when Stern has too much coffee and says "OK, you guys... I gotta take a piss."

That doesn't mean they won't take breaks. On O&A, they just say "I gotta piss, we need to take a break," and they play a old show clip, promos for other XM channels, or some sponsor stuff.

[KWhit]

I've never understood the fascination with him, but that's just me. He's much too pompous for me to enjoy listening to.

Interestingly, he is one of the reasons why I decided to choose XM when I got my satellite radio this XMas. I didn't want to be counted as somebody who followed Howard to satellite.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Cringer

...there are people trying to get it done.

Said it before, will say it again -- you can absolutely 100% count on this being done. Not today, not tomorrow, but (to pick a timeline) say by 2010 at the latest. Bank on it.

Especially this religious group who has always been after Howard Stern.

While those folks are an element (I'm drawing a blank on the name but I believe it's the Donald Wildmon group you're referring to, or else it's the one that's not so much religious as it is anti-Stern, which is mostly one guy in ... Cincinnati IIRC) they aren't the reason this is such a slam dunk to happen. It's assured because the broadcast entities, both radio & tv, aren't going to put up with an unequal playing field much longer. More than anything else, including religion, money motivates ... and those folks are downright motivated.

[CamEdwards]

Originally Posted by KWhit

I've never understood the fascination with him, but that's just me. He's much too pompous for me to enjoy listening to.

Interestingly, he is one of the reasons why I decided to choose XM when I got my satellite radio this XMas. I didn't want to be counted as somebody who followed Howard to satellite.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Howard said this morning, that they have already paid for themselves without doing a show.

Bwahahahahaha.

Checked the financials on the company lately?

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P134732.asp
"despite revenue growth of 250% and net subscriber growth of 97%, Sirius posted a net loss of $180.4 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $169.4 million, or 14 per share, in the same period last year. I guess if your net loss rose by 6.5% year-over-year, you might want to downplay it too."

This is a company that's losing more than $500 million a year, and has been losing hundreds of millions for a number of years now. Unless they're expecting to be bailed out by the government, sooner or later that model must collapse under the weight of its own losses.

They still haven't even sniffed breaking even, not once in their lifetime, nor are there any realistic signs they're likely to ever do so.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by KWhit

I've never understood the fascination with him, but that's just me. He's much too pompous for me to enjoy listening to.

Interestingly, he is one of the reasons why I decided to choose XM when I got my satellite radio this XMas. I didn't want to be counted as somebody who followed Howard to satellite.

Glad to see I'm not the only person who had that reaction.

Oddly enough, I had considered getting Sirius several times, pretty much solely because of the "Hair Nation" channel, which is included in my Dish Network package so I've heard it plenty enough to know how it sounds, what the playlist & library depth is, etc.

But the Stern deal killed any interest I might have had in giving them a penny ever.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

How was the show?

http://www.radioandrecords.com/Newsr...owardstern.asp

Howard Stern made his debut on Sirius at 6am ET — using a butt trumpet pumping out the sounds of farting to the tune of "Also Sprach Zarathrustra," better known as the theme from 2001. The first words spoken on the new Howard Stern Show were by the show's new announcer, George "Mr. Sulu" Takei, who introduced "the most testosterone-filled man on the planet!"

Charming as always

[rkmsuf]

cool, had no idea butt trumpets existed.

I for one find him and the whole show amusing.

[wade moore]

Jon - the stuff you posted about financials is more on what my understanding was... maybe (although i still question it) stern has paid for himself, but he has yet to "save" Sirius...

I read a very good article about 6 months ago in Business 2.0 that shows how successful XM has been and some of the ways that they feel their model is more sound.

[Desmond]

The shame of Stern is that he never gets credit for the brilliant social satirist he once was. And the further he moves towards shock jock/zoo type radio the less likely that is to happen. People have this notion that he's always been like this, when the truth is that at one time he was an amazing observational humorist, quite possibly the greatest ever when you consider he was doing it for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week.

He had an ability to make even the lamest C List celebs seem interesting with his interviews and his views on marriage, home life, racial issues, celebrity bullshit etc were just timeless both for their truth and humor.

Once the marriage ended though his focus went from observational humor to toilet humor, in spades. Or maybe 4 hours of listening to what it's like to bang a supermodel isn't just as funny as 4 hours of how fucking depressing it is to be surrounded by amazingly sexy women who want to sleep with but you cant because you love your wife, even though you really, really, really want to.

After the marriage the show really became all about the E show, much more strippers, and various naked women, which really became grating to listen to over radio.

The change in supporting cast was also a real killer. He went from everyday dolts who were interesting because they were, in fact, normal people who just happened to be general dolts (John, Grillo, Gary, Gange, Scott) to people who were trying way too hard to be wacky to get their foot in the door (benji, richard, sal).

Billy West and then Jackie leaving was as much the nail in the coffin as much as anything. Suddenly the fact that Robin was a mental case was pretty much ignored, Fred stopped talking pretty much altogether. They may have been happier, but they weren't in any way as interesting.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Desmond

The shame of Stern is that he never gets credit for the brilliant social satirist he once was. And the further he moves towards shock jock/zoo type radio the less likely that is to happen. People have this notion that he's always been like this, when the truth is that at one time he was an amazing observational humorist ...

A good point IMO, and one that (it probably would surprise some to know) I used to make pretty frequently years ago.

But what he was isn't what he became. The former was funny & capable of being quite entertaining, the latter is pretty pathetic IMO.

[wade moore]

I grew to dislike Stern over the years when I used to like him..

I thought it was me growing out of being a teenager, but Desmond makes some good points that may play a role...

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

This is a company that's losing more than $500 million a year, and has been losing hundreds of millions for a number of years now. Unless they're expecting to be bailed out by the government, sooner or later that model must collapse under the weight of its own losses.

They still haven't even sniffed breaking even, not once in their lifetime, nor are there any realistic signs they're likely to ever do so.

It's like this post time traveled. It was the same thing said about Amazon.com five years ago. That company totalled billions of losses, including a $650 million loss in 1999 alone. It took eight years before Amazon posted it's first profit.

It's not the losses that are a focus. It's the willingness of investors to continue supporting the company and it's whether or not the company is investing in its future or just pouring money down the drain. Until my eyes were opened through further study, I similarly believed Sirius was losing too much money and was in danger of failing. But the losses they have incurred have really been caused by two factors: initial investments in long-term programming and higher costs for recruiting new subscribers. I'm more worried about the second factor -- analsysts seem to think Sirius is paying more to get subscribers than XM is.

I think this is a format here to stay. The fact that terrestrial radio is scared pantless is a good indication of that. I think there will be a change in the business model at some point, maybe more like what cell phone companies do -- provided you the cheapest radio for free to get you in the door, then try to upsell the phone and services.

Will it be as universal as cell phones or cable TV? I'm not convinced of that. But I've seen forecasts that predict that it will only take a base of 8-10 million subscribers to make a satellite radio company profitable. At the rate both XM and Sirius are going, I think it's fair to believe they will make it.

[spleen1015]

I don't know what's so funny about a guy saying the same things and asking the same questions to 100s of different attractive women.

"Man, you have nice breasts."
"Thanks, Howard."
"I'd like to sleep with you."
"Thanks, Howard."
"Man, look at that butt."
"Thanks, Howard."
"You're gorgeous!"
"Thanks, Howard. Want to use the Spankanator on me?"
"Of course I do. I wish you'd let me sleep with you."
"Thanks, Howard."

Yikes.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I don't know what's so funny about a guy saying the same things and asking the same questions to 100s of different attractive women.

"Man, you have nice breasts."
"Thanks, Howard."
"I'd like to sleep with you."
"Thanks, Howard."
"Man, look at that butt."
"Thanks, Howard."
"You're gorgeous!"
"Thanks, Howard. Want to use the Spankanator on me?"
"Of course I do. I wish you'd let me sleep with you."
"Thanks, Howard."

Yikes.

You should check out David Lee Roth then. He's providing some tremendous commentary.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

You should check out David Lee Roth then. He's providing some tremendous commentary.

I don't find any of this stuff entertaining. I used to like Stern. When I finally moved into a market that had him in 1999, I listened to him every day. Then the show became the same thing over and over. Whoever said they were catering to the E! show is probably right.

I saw Stern on Larry King the other night. He was interesting to watch. I think the guy is talented if he stayed away from all of the stupid crap that goes on with the women and all of the other stuff.

The fact that he started his opening show on Sirius with the theme from 2001 in farts tells me his show is not for me.

I'll stick with Mike & Mike.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

The fact that he started his opening show on Sirius with the theme from 2001 in farts tells me his show is not for me.

Ding, ding, ding!

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Bwahahahahaha.

Checked the financials on the company lately?

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P134732.asp
"despite revenue growth of 250% and net subscriber growth of 97%, Sirius posted a net loss of $180.4 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $169.4 million, or 14 per share, in the same period last year. I guess if your net loss rose by 6.5% year-over-year, you might want to downplay it too."

This is a company that's losing more than $500 million a year, and has been losing hundreds of millions for a number of years now. Unless they're expecting to be bailed out by the government, sooner or later that model must collapse under the weight of its own losses.

They still haven't even sniffed breaking even, not once in their lifetime, nor are there any realistic signs they're likely to ever do so.

Yeah, they lose money. What this guy doesn't point out is that XM loses almost as much money as Sirius. Neither company makes a profit. From what I have read recently both are expected to start breaking even over the next 1-2 years. Both companies are growing, it doesn't happen overnight. Sirius is behind XM because of a piss poor start and not getting on the air as fast.

The XM/Sirius race

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Cringer

What this guy doesn't point out is that XM loses almost as much money as Sirius. Neither company makes a profit.

Oh you're absolutely right about that, I really didn't give XM any thought in the discussion but I'd bitchslap them with the exact same sort of numbers.

Neither makes a profit.
And no realistic expectations I've seen yet give any good reason to believe they ever will, at least not in the amount of time they should reasonably be allowed to continue hemmorhaging cash.

[st.cronin]

I may be thinking of somebody else, but didn't Amazon almost go under a few years back?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

While those folks are an element (I'm drawing a blank on the name but I believe it's the Donald Wildmon group you're referring to, or else it's the one that's not so much religious as it is anti-Stern, which is mostly one guy in ... Cincinnati IIRC) they aren't the reason this is such a slam dunk to happen. It's assured because the broadcast entities, both radio & tv, aren't going to put up with an unequal playing field much longer. More than anything else, including religion, money motivates ... and those folks are downright motivated.

But broadcast radio and television's power is already very weak. It is in the best interest of the companies that own most broadcast networks to keep the government out of cable since they own heavy cable interest as well. I would say there is almost zero chance that the FCC will regulate cable, but certain right-wing congressmen will try to use that "cause" to get votes for years to come.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

But broadcast radio and television's power is already very weak. It is in the best interest of the companies that own most broadcast networks to keep the government out of cable since they own heavy cable interest as well. I would say there is almost zero chance that the FCC will regulate cable, but certain right-wing congressmen will try to use that "cause" to get votes for years to come.

You've got the investment part right but not the "how they're looking at it" part.
The broadcast networks would like nothing better on earth than to see cable disappear off the face of the earth completely. That's why the love the ala carte propositions that are floating around, that's why they want nothing in life more than to see the cable vs broadcast playing field leveled. Never underestimate the amount of "get even" that motivates people.

[Desmond]

How much commercial revenue do the 2 entities create? Am I wrong in that it initialy was supposed to be commercial free but has since started to move away from that?

[Draft Dodger]

4:50 AM just to listen to a guy on the radio?
I wouldn't even do that to hear Cam.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

You've got the investment part right but not the "how they're looking at it" part.
The broadcast networks would like nothing better on earth than to see cable disappear off the face of the earth completely. That's why the love the ala carte propositions that are floating around, that's why they want nothing in life more than to see the cable vs broadcast playing field leveled. Never underestimate the amount of "get even" that motivates people.

And telegraph companies would have loved to cut telephones out of the market and even the playing field. Never underestimate how much money trumps the will to get even.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Desmond

How much commercial revenue do the 2 entities create? Am I wrong in that it initialy was supposed to be commercial free but has since started to move away from that?

Both have commercial free MUSIC channels. There are commercials on the talk shows and stuff, especially ones that are from TV/normal radio snce they have commercials already.

As far as how much they make, I have no idea. The Sirius commercials are not all that high end right now, but they are starting to get more name brand companies show up.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

4:50 AM just to listen to a guy on the radio?
I wouldn't even do that to hear Cam.

lol. Well, it had extra benefits. First it gave me a good amount of time to work out, so I went long on the treadmill this morning. Also it should make it easier for me to get my nap in once I get on the truck this evening, so I can actually be fully awake to drive tonight.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

4:50 AM just to listen to a guy on the radio?
I wouldn't even do that to hear Cam.

I would if he'd do the show naked.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Farrah Whitworth-Rahn

I would if he'd do the show naked.

Can you see pictures on your radio?

If I had that I might actually want Playboy Radio on Sirius, because I can't think of anything else it will have to offer.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Can you see pictures on your radio?

If I had that I might actually want Playboy Radio on Sirius, because I can't think of anything else it will have to offer.

Cam's show is also broadcast via a live net stream.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Farrah Whitworth-Rahn

Cam's show is also broadcast via a live net stream.

Forgot about that.

[Lorena]

Okay, enough of the politics and how much each company is losing. Let's get to the good stuff...

What were the revelations?? I'm dying to know!

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Farrah Whitworth-Rahn

I would if he'd do the show naked.

meh. I'm still sleeping in.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Cringer

lol. Well, it had extra benefits. First it gave me a good amount of time to work out, so I went long on the treadmill this morning. Also it should make it easier for me to get my nap in once I get on the truck this evening, so I can actually be fully awake to drive tonight.

so, if I'm reading this right...you are getting up extra early so that you can sleep while you are driving?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

What were the revelations?? I'm dying to know!

Okay, I'll bite ... I'm lost here. What were what "revelations"?

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Yeah, they lose money. What this guy doesn't point out is that XM loses almost as much money as Sirius.]

While true, XM has nearly twice the number of subscribers as Sirius and pays less-per-subscriber to sign them up ($80 vs. $120? per new sub.) So it looks like XM is much closer to break-even than Sirius. That, and they don't have a half-billion dollar contract over their heads.

[Mota]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I just hope that the government does not get into the business of censoring this voluntary product for which you need to affirmatively register and pay to access.

"I need to protect my children from satellite radio. If there were only some way to keep it from coming into my home/car. Some easy action that I could take or not take to keep from hearing it. Awww, screw it. I'll just ask the government to help me."

You're lucky you're not Canadian. We just got Sirius satellite about a month ago, and it will NOT have Howard Stern because our regulatory board (the CRTC) thinks they should decide what is best for us.

Also we have these stupid Canadian content rules, so instead of a channel dedicated to college football, we get 4 channels of hockey. The reason this is so sad is that we already have tons of sports channels that only talk about hockey, why do I need to pay for more of the same?

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

so, if I'm reading this right...you are getting up extra early so that you can sleep while you are driving?

So I can get a decent nap before I have to drive. Nap in an hour from now, start driving about midnight.