Howard Stern Gets Sirius

[k4kyv]

Will the volatile star's move to satellite radio bury the traditional radio format, or is it just more sound and fury?

http://www.alternet.org/story/27502/

[WA1GFZ]

good place for him....away
my daughter's pet hermit crab has a lot more talent

[WB2CAU]

This is the "golden age" of satellite radio.  I've subscribed to XM for almost 4 years and it is awesome!  The content choices are overwhelming and there's a favorite channel for every musical (and talk format) taste. 

Howard Stern will bring hordes of newbies to XM's rival, Sirius, in January.  The popularity of satellite radio will increase exponentially in the next 10 years, as it already has since it's birth in 2001.

Satellite radio will make AM and FM broadcast radio as obsolete as cell phones made phone booths. 

[Ed/KB1HYS]

Satellite radio will make AM and FM broadcast radio as obsolete as cell phones made phone booths

Oh man I hope not. 

It'll really stink when I what to listen to the radio, but I've got to run my credit card through a slot in the top first...

[W3SLK]

What is better is that David Lee Roth is taking over in his slot on radio. So he can give you the traffic situation downtown and if you are in the studio with him and have a heart attack, he can perform CPR on you since he is a certified EMT!

[W2VW]

Any of you guys ever hear Radio Free Walsh?

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Similar things were said when TV came out. Didn't happen. Stern's measly 6 million listeners are but a tiny drop in the total radio listenership. The amount of difference his presence will make is debatable.

When starting from zero, it's easy to get exponential growth. Call back when sat radio turns a profit. It may well happen, but such extrapolations and predictions were made by the dot-commers. Most of those are long gone.

This is the "golden age" of satellite radio.  I've subscribed to XM for almost 4 years and it is awesome!  The content choices are overwhelming and there's a favorite channel for every musical (and talk format) taste. 

Howard Stern will bring hordes of newbies to XM's rival, Sirius, in January.  The popularity of satellite radio will increase exponentially in the next 10 years, as it already has since it's birth in 2001.

Satellite radio will make AM and FM broadcast radio as obsolete as cell phones made phone booths. 

[WA1GFZ]

when I have to pay to listen to commericals on the radio I will do something else.
Same with cable i'm at minimum service and thinking of putting up an antenna and cut the cable off the house.
I found a good N.Y. station a couple weeks ago wbab somewhere in N.Y.
Play classic rock good working music.

[2ZE]

Stern's measly 6 million listeners are but a tiny drop in the total radio listenership.

With 6 million listeners, how many will spend to get a rx and subscription. Many think it will be about 50-60%. Great numbers, but when its all said and done, thats about 6 million subscribers TOTAL to Sirius. Radio still enjoys a listenership of over 260 million. Sirius will have a just under .5% of total radio listenership.

What will make radio obsolete is when they start giving it away.

2ZE

[WA1GFZ]

Mike did anybody ever tell you that you look like a guy I know from Ct.

[2ZE]

Paying homage to the zen master Vu

[Bill, KD0HG]

Similar things were said when TV came out. Didn't happen. Stern's measly 6 million listeners are but a tiny drop in the total radio listenership. The amount of difference his presence will make is debatable.

To put that number in perspective, Paul Harvey claims almost 20 million listeners as does Rush Limbaugh and NPR.

OTOH, this all means at least 250 million Americans don't listen to any of them.

The quoted numbers are simply the number of people who tuned in at one point or another during a week. That means that they added up the numbers from every show for a week and the total is where they got the 6 or 20 million. So in reality, everyone who listened to Stern, Harvey, et al every day were counted 5 times in the weekly total. It does not mean by any definition that 6 million or 20 million separate people listened during a week. It simply means that the *same* people who listen repeatedlyr were counted 5 times.

An AQH rating is the number of people listening during any quarter-hour ("Average Quarter Hour")
It's a much more meaningful measurement of listenership and the actual number is proprietary, only available to Arbitron subscribers.

That's the true audience and it's not 6 million in Stern's case. Not even close. Not double the population of Chicago, for crying out loud! The real number might be 1/5 or 1/10 of that and that's prolly pushing it. Same for any of the other nationally-syndicated radio shows.

Nevertheless, there isn't a radio programmer in the country that wouldn't give his left nut for a half-million casual  listeners.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

UR right Bill. Those are weekly numbers. That's why I had to laugh when some idiots in the news media though Stern might have an effect on last year's Presiddential election.

Anyway you look at it, as Mike said, his listenership is minute in the grand scheme of things.

[KL7OF]

XM radio is popular in SW Alaska...Not many terrestrial stations available in the daytime in the bush... Funny thing is.. They won't sell or ship the xm receivers to an Alaska address...They will sell a subscription to an alaska address however.    The reason is that they say they can't guarantee reception that far north..I don't know how far north you can go and still receive xm.but the satellites are still above the horizon in Anchorage.....I could care less about Howard.....

[WB2CAU]

when I have to pay to listen to commericals on the radio I will do something else.
Same with cable i'm at minimum service and thinking of putting up an antenna and cut the cable off the house.
I found a good N.Y. station a couple weeks ago wbab somewhere in N.Y.
Play classic rock good working music.

Frank, WBAB's transmitter is 2 miles east of my QTH in Dix Hills, Long Island.  Unfortunately, like most FM stations of this era, they play only the very most popular classic rock over and over and over.  If you're a constant listener, you can get mighty tired of hearing the same handful of tracks every single day.  XM's version of a classic rock station is "Top Tracks" on channel 46...  It's like WBAB on steroids.  Then there's my favorite, "Deep Tracks" which has all of the tunes that fall outside of Top Tracks.  I hear tracks that I haven't heard in 37 years and had totally forgotten about.  It's like being transported back to the heyday of progressive rock on FM... before it was ruined by corporate conglomerates. 

"Pay Radio" is not for everyone though.  It's only for the folks who want more than free terrestrial radio currently provides.  If you're happy with the content on standard broadcast radio then there's no point in even giving satellite radio a single thought. 

Currently, both XM and Sirius have NO commercials on their music channels.  And the non-music channels have minimal commericials.  Subscriptions to both services are now at $12.50/month with discounts for annual plans.  Personally, I find less than 42 cents a day to be reasonable for the amount of enjoyment I receive.  And, I'm never out of range of my favorite channel. 

[wa2zdy]

After being introduced to Sirius at a friend's home over the summer, I got my own for my birthday last month.  i LOVE it.

I have found on Sirius 14 and 16 mainly the DJs of my youth.  7 and 15 have good music too.  I'm a 70's classic rock guy and there is no comparison on regular radio.  And here in central NJ where I live in a downstairs apartment, the New York and Philadelphia stations all require a better antenna than I feel like trying to hide.

If free radio serves you, then no, obviously paying for satellite is silly.  But in a case like mine, it's worth every penny.

And no, I'll not be listening to Howeird Stern.  I didn't listen to him on K Rock and I won't bother now either.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

WA1GFZ

when I have to pay to listen to commericals on the radio I will do something else.
Same with cable i'm at minimum service and thinking of putting up an antenna and cut the cable off the house.[\quote]

We don't have cable, by choice.  People are so amazed when I tell them that we get all the Basic(local) channel free off the air... they all think we'd only get 3 channels or something.

big truck tore the cable off the pole and side of the house during one winter strom, aside from the noise we didn't notice till the next day.

[kb2mob]

As a broadcaster and having listened to Howard from time to time, I can say good for him and his listeners. He's getting to do what some of us will never be able to do. I'm not a big fan of his, but he's sucsessful, you gotta give him that.

As for Sat radio killing off terestial radio.. Well, I don't think you can give it a toe tag yet. My opinion kinda matches Bill Maher's take on it.

"You're paying for the radio! There's 100 channels, 25 are good, 25 suck and all the rest are in spanish."

[AJ1G]

 Eric said - Unfortunately, like most FM stations of this era, they play only the very most popular classic rock over and over and over.  If you're a constant listener, you can get mighty tired of hearing the same handful of tracks every single day. 



Frank - I wonder if you have heard the new classic riock format on WNLC 98.7 when yuo're down on the shore...I have been putting it on in my office when I'm working late (one of the few stations I can get in the building).  At first I really liked their programmng, but like Erick said, their playlist is maybe 200 or so titles and if you listen over several days, hearing Hotel California  and Bobby McGee over and over gets annoying.  The playlist on their sister statiom at their oldies outlet at 100.9 is similarly limited, as was thier "American Classics" elevator music that formerly was the 98.7 format.   With all the good stuff avialable, why do stations like this have such a limited playlists?  Copyright and airing rights issues?

[W3SLK]

Chris said:

Eric said - Unfortunately, like most FM stations of this era, they play only the very most popular classic rock over and over and over.  If you're a constant listener, you can get mighty tired of hearing the same handful of tracks every single day

Boy aint that the truth! We have a station here that has an extremely short play list comprised primarily of Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and Supertramp. There is one station out of Harrisburg, WRVV, the River, which has a great play list. Their slogan, "No punk, no funk, no elevator junk; no rap NO CRAP!" Unfortunately, I'm just outsider their listening range. Most of the time your only choices are rap/hi-hop, pop-tart top 40, 'scream-at-your-parents' grunge music, or country music that was at one time rock and roll. (Why do I sound like my parents when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan?)