interesting article, here -- 8 million missing

reminds me of the end of "The Truman Show" when people just turned off their tv's or changed the channel.

Howard Stern stopped being listenable about 10 years ago. People listened because nothing else existed. Mancow became unlistenable about the time I was in my early 20s, so a little bit over 10 years. And, there really has never been anything else.

People just said: "Stern has sucked for so long, but I had no alternative. But, I certainly am not going to pay or go out of my way to listen to the douchebag".

It just goes to show: radio is tough. It solidifies an incredible legacy for Stern in my eyes. He is a genius. A boring, old, tired genius, but one nonetheless.

I figure those folks just don't want to (or can't) pony up the $ for a satellite radio receiver, or they don't understand the concept enough to bother.

They don't like Stern enough to bother is the answer here.

Given that I have always hated morning disc jockeys (I want to hear music on my way to work in the morning, not some douchebag talking about the reality show he watched last night), I find the idea of people willing to pay to hear some bonehead talk a couple hours a morning completely astounding.

It can be really, really funny. And, people NEED to BELONG. They somehow feel they are a part of something. These clowns cater to these imbeciles with T Shirts, slogans. Make 'em feel part of an "army" kind of BS.

I am proud of you. Keep up the good work.

The Management

Stunning thread.

stunning post

I one of the missing. I am pissed for not jumping on board with sattelite, but the cash flow it tight (I'm thinking of ditching cable). I really want it, but not yet. I have been listening to Stern since '86.

The concept of paying monthly for radio when there are thousands of stations that can be listened to on the interent (I know this isn't always possible) really just seems alien to me. Here if you want Digital Radio away from the Internet (or TV where Freeview screens it.) you stump up $80 for a Radio (or a set top TV Freeview box) and that's all you pay.

Not necessarily your initial post and the article, but more for MCF's participation. Another one of those cats that I just think is a character/sociopath that likes to fuck with people.

When i started driving to work a year ago or so, I found it weird that I never wanted to listen to music. I don't know if it was my mood or what, but regardless of how inane either the news, NPR, or sports radio (intellectual crack) was, I always preferred it in the morning. My theory behind my personal preference is that I like feeling like I'm listening to something current, it breaks up the monotony of the routine and gives the day a feel that it's not just another forgettable day on the way to the job.

Now that I ride the el to work everyday, I don't use an MP3 player in the morning though I have one. I just like reading the WSJ or a novel everyday.

Interesting take -- maybe that's it. I'll go out of my way to have music playing in nearly everything I do, but during the commute I always prefer to talk or news.

Avid Stern listener here...so my bias is evident; and I'm the first to admit that sometimes Stern does suffer from a persecution complex (or perhaps he over emphasiszes it in order to create ratings)...but that article seems more like an editorial, and unfairly takes some jabs at Stern.

As for his numbers: before Stern joined Sirius, it had 600,000 subscribers. Since Stern has announced his contract with Sirius, Sirius subscriptions have surpassed 4 million. While it would be impossible (or highly unlikely) to attribute each and everyone one of the 3.4 million subscribers; It's a fair assumption that the vast majority of the new subscribers are Stern fans (or at least as fair as the unsubstantiated assumptions in the article).

In other words, it's likely that Stern pulled 3 million of his 12 million fans over to Satellite. Not too shabby considering that Satellite is a pay service.

Moreover, the number of subscriptions is only going to grow. Within 4 or 5 years, satellite radio hardware will probably come standard in all new cars, which is the point where you will see real penetration by Satellite radio; and likely will follow a similar growth curve as cable television.

Terestrial radio is never going to go away (people will always need their free sports, local personalities, etc.); but Satellite will greatly eat into its market share.



Kind of the same. I need talk on the commute too work; and music during the commute home. I think it's because music is almost like a celebration, which I don't really want on my way to the office..so talk/humour is more important.

How come these articles never mention what a half-ass system the Arbitron Ratings are? How is a random sampling of such a minute percentage of the radio audience going to tell you that millions of people have dissapeared?

I was never a big Stern listener though during the presidential election, the sensorship debate and Stern's announcement that he was going to sat...I started listening regularly because it was good radio. As a student and fan of the medium it was fascinating listening.

His porno schtick grows old fast for me so I had no desire to follow him to sat. I like to go to work in a happy mood and not at the expensive of making fun of others...a big part of Stern's approach. Before I listened to Stern's last days I didn't listen to the radio except for traffic reports. I listened to CD's. Now in the post Stern era I listen to podcasts. And I am very content.



You are very correct, except that the quaility of sound isn't there...yet. Nor is the portability of the internet.....yet.

There are great stations on the net with great servers making the quality very good. Still, more bandwidth is needed. And, until the internet is totally wi-fi able...meaning being able to cruise in your car and listen to a stream...sat is still attractive. Once that day comes though and I'm sure it will...then might wanna think about selling those Sirius and XM shares...............

I've thought about this, but I've basically come to the conclusion that there are probably too many hurdles to make it a viable competitor with satellite.

First; users will have to pay a monthly fee to a wireless provider for the hardware in their vehicle. So you basically remove any economic advantage over satellite, because users will still be paying a monthly fee (which will potentially be greater than the $12.95 per month fee for Satellite).

Second, if the internet radio stations want to be for-profit (which is practically a necessity if they are to have sufficient bandwith to serve a sizeable listener base); they'll need to run commercials (or request a second monthly subscription from listeners).

Sure it's possible that some "community" not-for-profit radio stations could pop up, but their appeal (as it is now) would probably be limited to die-hards.

Well if European countries can put radios in cars that pick up digital signals and DAB why should people in the US have to pay for it?

We have those too, although they're called HD radio; although my understanding is that they are still broadcast (somehow) over the traditional radio spectrum. Technology aside though, the bigger problems that prevents hd radio from (likely) becoming a viable competitor is two-fold: (1) the fcc still regulates those broadcasts, so they cannot contain any indecent content; and (2) because the stations are free, they need commercials to generate revenue; and American radio stations typically run 15 to 20 minutes of commercials per hour.

Oh and I forgot, all of the terrestrial radion stations (hd or otherwise) are owned by a few large conglomerates, so the content is homogenous throughout the nation (and it sucks).

those are good points to think about....



oh say very correct...on the net,,,I prefer listening to terrestrials that do live stream as well....there are a few great ones left here and some abroad as well. I like the regional feel you get from them as upposed to net only stations that can be coming from anywhere. That's a downside of sat too....that local flavor.

I'm sorry but the FCC run the American media like you're a bunch of children, you should have made your own equivalent of the BBC decades ago at told them to go fuck themselves. I am more than happy to pay the license fee here and the BBC god damn do enough to deserve it.

We have that. It's called "cable".

I seen your "cable". No you don't.

So if Stern has 3 million listners that's more then anyone in Chicago and that would put him in the Top 10 Nationaly, not to shabby. And if you think that everyone was gonna follow Howard, your a retard, it's a gamble, a guaranted 500 million dollar gamble. If you don't like Stern that's fine, but name a more talked about and relevant radio host. And with the internet radio, how can I get that on public transportation and the problem is that I like talk radio, and no internet station can afford to pay a top notch personality.

So for now, I'm stuck with the likes of Mike North and Johnny B.

It never fails.

oh..you ment within the past 2 decades.

i think this will change when sirius and xm can create a simple walkman-like device. right now i have the sirius s50 and, as much as i love it, it's definitely for "hardcore" satellite fans. it's not all that easy to use, there's a shitload of bugs and it was damn costly ($300 for the radio, another $100 for the home docking kit) but, IMO, it was worth every penny. i know a lot people won't pay for it though.

i use it to record howard from 5a-6.15-6.30 or so and then listen to the recorded content on the train. apprently, sirius is coming out with an "s100" (that's what's been thrown around) to give you double the amount of gig space (2 inst. of 1) and - here's the kicker - it will accept live content. xm also has a device like this currently on the market but i guess the reception isn't the best. they're planning a walkman-like devise for the summer as well.



for some reason my korean dry cleaner has an autographed picture of steve dahl in his store. he always has 'ckg on whenever i'm in there, too. weird thing is he's never laughing or even smiling when dahl's on. in fact, he's not even that nice. i just find it weird that he loves steve dahl SO MUCH to have an autographed pic of him on his wall.

As I've said to you in private Mitch...the BBC...Radio 2, 6 Music, Radio 1...all stellar stations...only wish we had as good here...thank god for the net..........

gotta get sirius! channel 11!

Dude, nobody's laughing or smiling when steve dahl's on. He's absolutely the king of dead air.

Dahl hasn't been half as entertaining since he sobered up

He used to rail against every sacred cow. Now all he wants to do is protect his pay check so he can have a comfortable retirement

I'm not going to put down the BBC, but I have to say that right now (in America) it almost feels like we're going through another golden age of television, primarily thanks to Cable television. Hell, aside from a couple network shows (24 and Scrubs), all of my favorites are on cable (Shield, South Park, Deadliest Catch, Sopranos). Of the recent british stuff I've seen, some of it is excellent (office ), and some is just good (coupling and Dr. Who), but I wouldn't say any of it completely outshines the American stuff.

While British comedy and high octane action shows are lagging well behind the US this decade (really Coupling is not even one of the best 20 comedy shows made by the BBC in the last 10 years) it is also responsible for the most respected news coverage in the world (and has the balls to take the government to task), shows like Bleak House, hours of documentaries like Planet Earth, excellent sport coverage dozens, of local and several national radio stations.

But I certainly agree that the US is in a golden period of producing COmedy and Drama in these last 8 or so years, especially on cable.

[quote]I'm not going to put down the BBC, but I have to say that right now (in America) it almost feels like we're going through another golden age of television, primarily thanks to Cable television. Hell, aside from a couple network shows (24 and Scrubs), all of my favorites are on cable (Shield, South Park, Deadliest Catch, Sopranos). Of the recent british stuff I've seen, some of it is excellent (office ), and some is just good (coupling and Dr. Who), but I wouldn't say any of it completely outshines the American stuff.


I'm not talking BBC TV I'm speaking of BBC radio..totally accessable to anyone on the net....

as for TV....a vast wasteland of crap...................use your mind...ok...few exceptions but the reason music is so great is because you can accomplish other things while still enjoying it.....
get off the couch...............

You are correct, sir!

No-one under 40 in Britain likes Benny Hill and holding it up as being one of the definitive examples of British comedy is like me saying McDonalds is the high point of American cuisine.

I never heard Dahl before he was sober, i first heard him in '96, and I agree with everything you say Slackmo. So Slackmo and others who may have heard Dahl in his heyday, 79-91, did he pave the way for Stern like he claims, or did he rip off Howard like Howard claims.

Dahl was in Detroit doing his thing at the same time Stern was there.
After Steve was HUGE in Chicago and Stern was getting noticed out east there were a lot of accusations (going both ways) that one was listening to tapes of the other's shows and stealing bits.
I think they both borrowed a bit from each other.

Steve's addictions prevented him from moving his show beyond the Chicago market.
IMO

There are supposed to be ipod-size satellite radio / mp3 players ready for Christmas this year.

they're supposed to be even earlier than that:

sirius "s100": http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/sirius-w...ad-from-xm.html

xm2go (with photos):
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/pioneer-...ast-review.html