After the Stern Era - Page 3

Since we are used to Howard being on 5 days a week we complain when he went to 4 days a week. If he goes to a once a week show we will complain about that too. He want's to retire or at least have a less grueling schedule. Looking at shows on TV most of them are once a week and we are content with that. I would not like less shows but I would still listen to live Howard if he was on once a week. I had Sirius before Howard and will after Howard if they still exist, It's just better when he is on.

Great classic Sitcoms like Friends, All In The Family and MASH eventually ran out of steam. And they had multi-million $ budgets and a dozen writers and producers that tried to keep the shows fresh. But they failed, eventually any show, especially a comedy will run out of material.

If Stern's show is running out of steam, it is to be expected.

Today we got more prank calls to a radio show, in a town of about 8 people. This has become the base for all entertainment in Howards world.

WOW. Comedy Gold , anybody gonna miss it really

Count me as another who couldn't have any less interest in the old shows/history of Stern. I don't listen at all during those replays. In fact the only thing I have less interest in is Brooke Hogan. There's not a chance in hell I'm going to sit around and listen to that.

Unfortunately after changing positions from a field job to a desk job I don't have nearly the opportunity to listen anymore. Sirius is tailor made for folks on the road.

I still greatly enjoy Howard for the most part. If he goes I'll keep the service for the music and see how that goes. I refused to pay for the internet service (which I used) so I may give a go at threatening to cancel as others have done and see if they'll give it to me for free.

My guess is you will..........

Dat's a gud vun!

This is great. Used to be the O&A fans had to come on here and bash Howie, now we can just sit back and watch the Howie fans bash Howie

He's not a Howie fan, he just listens to him so he can bash him and look cool to all the other silly ppppests. He used to call into the show and attempt to bash Howard. He was such a mush mouth, Howard used to let him through just to hear him mumble "Hey Imus!"

Yea he really got the fan's with the "Satellite Revolution" sales pitch. I don't blame him for taking advantage of his ability to make a sweet contract as much as the snow job he did to the fans to get them to subscribe.

I'm an O&A fan as well(I drive truck so I listen to a lot of radio)and they came back from vacation this week. Not sure if it was a bit but they talked about wanting a deal like Howards as I think anyone would, It's a sweet deal.

I still think Howard is interesting when he is live...

I have never listened to Stern. Never will. As long as I get the music I will keep the service.

Howard who? Sirius is for sports fans.

I agree with the posters that say they only listen to the live shows Howard does. Replays are old news. The best part of Howard, to me, is the banter between everyone on newsworthy topics. I find myself listening less and less when a "celebrity" is in the studio, because it is the SAME interview and Howard comes off fake sometimes. He should end up doing a show a few times a week, with no guests. That will keep me happy.

I bought Sirius b/c of Stern 4 years ago, became a supporter of the product due to the commercial-less music. I am debating on keeping it after Stern, but it is hard to drive 2 hours, minimum, round trip to work with regular radio. Too many F'n commercials. I am willing to pay to be entertained, without being advertised to. Love my DVR and Satellite Radio, currently.

I'd cancel Sirius after Howard leaves, but I bought that dang lifetime subscription. So I guess I get to jam out to Lithium for as long as my radio lasts.

Out with the old, in with the New!! I have Sirius but I don't even like Howard Stern anymore. I listen to Jason Ellis on Faction 3-7PM EST Mon-Fri. His style is a bit different then Stern (Which is good!) and as he says, he's "The Future". He's a skate-boarder/MMA/crazy dude but he has some hilarious material. Because of him is why I stay with Sirius.

If you listened this past week, it sounds like more and more Stern is looking for a "way out", so as not too look bad(greedy) to his fanbase(anyone with any sort of thought process realizes he doing/saying what he is saying so he does not look like the jerk if he does not come back in 2011. it will be managements fault, not his). He starting to get upset with the people he works for, and this may be the beginning of the end. Or it could just be posturing on his part.

I would not be surprised if he is gone for good in Dec. 2010. I have said it before in other posts, but here are my reasons again.

1. He will NEVER get the money on this next deal that he got on his first. Seems like too me that he may still be fighting to get some of the money he was promised from the first deal. Howard mentioned litigation this week with regards to certain people/aspects within the company. When he does/says that, it is about money. And Sirius/XM in no way shape, or form, have the money to get him for 5 more years. Maybe not even 3 more years.

2. He will be 57(maybe 58?) years old come Jan. 2010, and his youngest daughter will be graduating high school this june 2010, on her way to college. Most people begin to think about retiring at this point, especially when the youngest is on their way to begin their life away at school. Especially people that know that they have enough to live on for the rest of their lives. Howard should be one of those people unless his lifestyle(ala Ed McMahon) forces him to continue to work. I don't see it.

3. He has nothing left to prove to anyone. He has done what he wanted, and now it is time to move on. He always said he did want to become like Imus. Old and decrepid, and just unable to give up the limelight/microphone. I think he can. The only people who are really going to suffer from his lifetime achievements are his kids and his current wife. People(his enemies) will begin to pile on them(they are all adults, except for the youngest daughter) and harrass them whenever they can because Daddy no longer has his microphone and loyal listeners in order to fight back. If anything, THAT will be the thing that keeps him on the air.

But enough of this. In the end, I think he will return to Sirius/XM 3 days a week/for 3 years, in the afternoons starting at 1pm or 2pm for the drive home from work.

He won't get the money(unless he returned to terrestrial radio) he got first tme around, but he will get a good bunch of it, plus better hours(Artie and everyone else would love this), and then just coast into retirement.

Can't see him either going back to terrestrial radio, or doing the whole thing over the internet. But he has surprised me in the past. Guess we will find out what happens by Summer 2010. He will have made his decisions by then, and will let everyone know what they are.

No way can Sirius afford to resign him for similar money. The company will be in a much better place financially once the Stern, Oprah and Martha Stewart deals expire.

Of those overpaid "talents" I think Howard is the only one who brought enough subs to cover his cost. It's a different market now though and Stern has lost some of those subs due to his lack of interest in his own show.(See Stern fan network for all the complainers) He is now looking to do less or stop completely so of course he will get less money. Howard, like every contract before, pretends to want to leave/retire. It is a negotiating ploy.

I pretty much agree with steelersrule's post above except that I wouldn't be surprised if regular radio is in his future. I'm not sure if it's the money as much as he hates it when people say/think he is irrelevant or not heard by anyone on sat. radio.
Not being on the CBS network has made it hard to get the celebs and noteriety in the press,and with his ego this bugs him.

As for protecting his family from abuse,the kinder, gentler Howard has diffused all that. He is friends with Bubba and Rosie for gods sake!

When he first signed with Sirius, and then went on the air on Sirius he was all over the place. You couldn't pick up a paper or turn on the TV with seeing him.

Since then? Nothing, it's like he fell off the face of the Earth. I don't listen to Stern but if he's like most entertainers with a HUGE ego that lack of notoriety has to be killing him.

If Stern leaves and Sirius doesn't come up with a similar talent they will lose between 3 and 6 million subscribers.

If not for Howard Stern there would be no Sirius radio today.

3 to 6 million?!?

According to the Arbitron ratings a little over a 1 million Sirius subs listen to Stern.. Where are you coming up with 6 mil?

I think it's pretty well understood that the Arbitron satellite radio ratings are a farce. Sirius had to do studies in order to supply advertisers with information and their research into their own subscribers found that about 58% of Sirius subs listened to Howard Stern and that there are, on average, about 2 listeners per Sirius subscription (these are pre-merger numbers).

It amazes me that people (not you) will find any possible reason to discount the amazing growth that Sirius had from the day it was announced that Howard Stern had signed. The terrestrial stations that he used to be on have floundered...where did the listeners go...Rush Limbaugh? They sure aren't listening to Stern's replacements.

When Sirius signed Stern they stated they would need 1 million subscribers listeners to break even on the contract. I'd say it was a good deal for both sides.

Sirius has made some huge mistakes though...they should have developed their own talent during this period to ready themselves for Stern's contract to expire. While the merger and government foot-dragging certainly disrupted their operations...someone wasn't doing their job.

Sirius' stock price took a quick jump when he signed in October 2004 but then went on a steep and steady 5 year decline immediately after. His contract pitched their business model into chaos and in part brought the company to near bankruptcy.

Well, I'm from the camp that both Sirius AND XM spent way too much money in their early days, money they never had. Many of those big money contracts were not thought out, including the huge money they spent on Stern..IMO that reckless spending was a terrible business model, and a sure fire road to ruin.

There is no doubt he brought millions of subs with him, but to say that deal was 'good for both' is IMO very debatable.. Sirius never made a dime in profit, they still haven't. They were forced to merge with XM, and even after the merger they came within HOURS of going bankrupt. How any of that can be considered 'good for Sirius' is beyond me..

I have always thought how listeners were calculated was suspicious. Two listeners per sub? i don't know about that,truckers are the biggest portion of subs and they mostly are solo. And the listener studies? Sirius did allow the picking of Howard as a listening choice but many other shows were lumped in with other categories thereby not allowing actual numbers for all the other shows.They have never really tried to find out just who is listening to what, and they have inflated subs in order to look healthier than they actually are.

Howard did bring in subs,the numbers may never actually be known,but Sirius grew from less than a million subs to 7-8 million before the merger. He has also brought more press than anyone else for sat radio.I don't know how many stay for him but His show has paid for itself and continues to do so,but it may be a loss leader for Sirius nowadays.

Actually, the big SIRI stock price fall didn't occur until a few years after his contract and the delayed merger and huge drop in car sales had a lot more to do with the stock price dropping. His contract pitched their business model into chaos? In what way? Having to deal with a subscriber based that grew from under a million to over 7 million? Stern signed with them mid 2004 and started there in January of 2006.

Here's their stock chart.

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=S...urce=undefined

If he brought millions of subs he more than paid for his contract. The company certainly has other problems...but signing a contract that made them money was not one of them. Sirius said that they would need 1 million incremental customers from Stern to break even...they did far more than that.

You also do understand while termed a merger...Sirius purchased XM? XM's investors wanted out...Sirius was growing at a far faster rate and would have surpassed them.

I said the whole business model of spending money that neither XM or Sirius had was a sure fire way to ruin. I've been saying that since Sirius paid big bucks for the NFL, Stern, NHL, etc..And since XM paid $700+ mil for MLB, and millions for NASCAR, etc.. No one watches Hockey on TV, yet both companies have spent MILLIONS on the NHL contract for the radio... Makes me wonder what the hell the brass was thinking.

Would both services have as many subs as they do now without all these big ticket signings. including Stern? Absolutely not.. But then their expenses would be $100's of million of dollars less too.

As far as Sirius surpassing XM, so what? Both XM and Sirius were losing money on every sub anyway. The pissing match between Sirius and XM and who had more subs always baffled me.

If you and others here want to believe Sirius when they said all they needed was 1 million subs to 'break even' from signing Stern, that's cool.. But remember both XM and Sirius played and continue to play many games when the count their 'subs'. Many subs don't pay the full amount per month, there's all sorts of deals and discounts.. Many get the service for free. Sirius always counted 'unsold cars' as subs.. And on and on..

But again, IMO, since Sirius, XM and SXM haven't made a dime of profit and have been on the verge of bankruptcy for years, and continue to be, the service and their signings are in no way a success.

I say, "fare thee well you dusty ole fart" and hope they spend the money more wisely on new talent. Talent that doesn't build it's whole program by surounding itself with retards and crank calls that border between pathetic and disturbing.

He had his day, he was great and ground breaking. Now....it's just sad and close to being a cautionary tale.

If you adjust the stock chart back a couple of years before Stern was signed you will notice a steady increase in the price. Then the stock jumped from $3.78 per share to just under $8 within 2 months of the announcement. Before the stock tanked in mid-2008, the price had steadily declined to less than $3 per share. His contract never made sense. It just wasn't a good business decision.

There's many reasons why Sirius's stock tanked, but one of the biggest reasons was Sirius diluted the hell out of SIRI..

Before the merger XM had about 400 mil outstanding shares of XMSR.. Sirius had over 3 billion outstanding shares of SIRI. Over the years Sirius kept releasing( diluting) more and more shares of SIRI to pay bills, to pay their big contract talent, to pay back some of their debts. This is a sure fire way to turn a stock into a penny stock..

Honestly if I was a SXM investor I would be quite PO'ed.