-Ever-

Stern announced today that he's making a 5-year contract with Sirius radio. While I'm not excited to pay for radio that is free elsewise, I think I'm finally going to make the jump with this. I think him going to satellite might finally seal the deal that it's a very serious market.

So, is it time to look into buying stock in Sirius? I hear he's got hundreds of thousands of devoted listeners.

-T

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Halx

XM is not Sirius. Sirius is not XM. They are competing satellite radio companies.

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Redjake

I didn't realize Sirius was the same thing as XM radio?


Anyway, I've never really thought Stern was that funny

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Redjake

What he said

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-Ever-

Thanks for the heads up.

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Missy

I think this is great news. Satelite radio is great, especially if you spend time in a car for any length of time or travel out of town frequently. While I have XM in my car, a broker BF of mine had me buy Sirius (siri) back when it was 0.65 a share. Whoohooo!

Halx

Any time.

With that said, I'd only pay attention to his show if he also took out a TV contract with HBO. The setup for satellite radio is too much for me. I had XM in my car and I could not find any music that I liked - it's all popular stuff. My dad has Sirius in his car, so he's probably happy about this.

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Mac1

so will he be sirius only?

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10k

Eh, that's good to hear.. had been looking into getting satellite radio, and it's been about 3 years since Howard was taken off the air here, so it'll be nice to hear his show again, heh.

radioguy

it doesn't shock me to see this happen. his show has to be censored when doing it on commercial radio. this will allow him to be more open and free with everything. i'm sure this will cause a large exodus to sirius radio. they need it. last i saw, they had roughly 600,000 subscribers and xm was around 2, 000,000.

onetime2

I think it's kind of funny that he's making the announcement the same week that Opie and Anthony began on XM.

Can't say I'm thrilled to be paying $12 a month (more like $20 when I count my fiance's subscription) to be hearing them but it's a much better forum than regular radio. A lot more freedom (at least for now).

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Psycho Dad

Agreed. Stern is not in my opinion that entertaining to listen to. I did however use to catch his show on E! at night. I'm surprised that they haven't put out a "what we couldn't show you on TV" line of tapes or DVDs of that too by the way.

MSD

My only appreciation for Stern is his dedication to telling everyone who tries to censor him to fuck off. Too many people are trying to tell everyone what they can and can't say.

JumpinJesus

I agree with you here. I am not a fan of his at all; I think he's unfunny, untalented, and uninteresting. However, I'm glad as hell he's made such a huge issue of censorship, even if it is only so he can say "titty" and make fart noises on the radio.

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Ustwo

While I think the censorship issue behind it is minor, this isn’t exactly 1984, its a nice move for all the free advertising it gives satellite radio.

I don't think Stern will be worth whatever giant contract they give him though. Stern might have the #2 audience in the country, but I don't think many of them are willing to pay monthly for him.

Maybe I'm wrong.

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onetime2

I suspect it's less about "censorship" and more about ratings and money personally. The fines from the FCC have only served to increase his audience and give him something to rant about. When ratings slip, it's time to bring out the old FCC bit.

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tropple

Hi Halx,

What setup? All you do is plugin the radio, the speakers and an antenna. Honestly, it is very, very simple.

If you managed to unbox a PC, connect the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers, you can do a satellite radio.

It just sounds complicated. I use XMPCR's that connect directly to my PC. It took under five minutes to start listening, and that includes the time it took for on-line activation. The standalone radios will display a "radio ID number". You give the number to sirius with billing info or do it online, and you'll be listening in minutes.

I'm not a stern fan. I'm there for the music. You'll love it.

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Destrox

Luckily I am not a stern fan other then he has nude girls on his TV show. Thats about as far as it went for worth watching ability. Cannot stand to listen to him.

I use XM radio and love it, channels 41,42,47,48,53, and 150 (best one) are my main channels. I use the Roady2 which uses the wireless FM signal, no wires attached to my vehicle or dash, just the sig lighter for power.

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Redlemon

According to one site, the "giant contract" will be $100 million over 5 years. That's pretty giant.
My first reaction to hearing the news was that this will decide the format war, and Sirius has beaten XM. Then I heard the cost of the programming, as well as the current stats: XM reported earlier this month that it had 2.5 million subscribers, about 2 million short of the level analysts have estimated the company needs to turn a profit. Sirius last month reported 600,000 subscribers, compared with the estimated 3.4 million the company needs in order to move into the black.

I really don't know how this is going to play out.

Cynthetiq

actually if you go to the Howard stern website you can download uncensored clips.

i don't listen to the radio except the once in a while when I'm in my car which is little, 30k miles on a 3 year old car. I'm not a fan of having to pay extra for "swear words".

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goddfather40

I give Stern a lot of credit for bowing out, if, as he contends, his revenues and popularity are at an all time high. He's taking a big risk in making this move. As other have alluded to, I don't know if as many people as he thinks will make the jump. Sirius has to add more than just the 3 channels that Howard Stern is going to produce in order to make satellite radio attractive to Joe Average Radio Listener.

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Reese

I highly suggest Sirius Satellite radio! It's not just about being uncensored. There are no commercials, and they play more than just the singles unlike every radio station around here.

oh yeah. They have a 24/7 elvis channel. Personally, I can't handle elvis more than 3 minutes at a time but I'm sure someone can.

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Psycho Dad

I did drive through New Mexico once with only an AM/FM with no CD or tape player. I think something like Sirius would have been useful then.

LIMilf

I love howards show, and can't wait to finally hear in uncensored. I checked out one of his uncensored shows on his site and they were very nice. I have always been looking for a good excuse for getting some sort of satellite radio, this will give me a good chance too. I also think when all of howards fans get sirius, I think Sirius will get lots better content

tangledweb

This sounds more like a last-ditch effort by Sirius to gain market share against Sony's XM radio. The last I heard, Sirius was in 'sirius' financial trouble and was forcast to have about 6 months to gain market share or potentially get the AX.

It's a brilliant idea for press related coverage but the deal I saw showed that Stern still had 16 months left on his current radio contract so nothing can happen with Sirius until then. By that time, they will have made the decision on whether or not it is a viable product. I don't think that Sirius has a chance of making it that long unless about 1,000,000 Stern-people go get Sirius subscriptions this holiday season.

ryan9746

I think its about time. Does anyone else think the amount of censorship we are subject to in this country is a little rediculous?

crossova

i wouldnt get XM or SIRIUS now and definitely not for Stern. I've listened to him in the past and as a radio show its pretty corny but its better as a tv show.

Delirious

I have XM right now and I've been listening to Opie and Anthony.. 15 months from now I will have to cancel XM and go with Sirius though..

NewBonk

It probably cost a little more for the hardware, but I'm all about my iPod and TuneCaster - I'm guaranteed each song that gets played is a song I like.

Dwayne

Can you get XM or Sirius radio that is not for the car?

xwesleyx

Yea, I believe XM makes a radio that goes from the car to a radio for your house/office.

The best part about all of this is no more dropping out of the show. So much of it is dumped which makes it unlistenable. Even if they maintained the same language policy, I'd be happy with that.

gr8-4pla

time to buy Sirius

rab1234

Radio in Atlanta is horrible. We had the Regular Guys and they did a stupid stunt to get kicked off the air. Next we had MJ Morning Show and they converted the station to Salsa Music. Finally we can get Sterno in Atlanta!

Gofclowns

Even though Howard Stern went to sirius, guys will still pay to hear his smut.

pan6467

I think Satellite and no censorship will kill Stern. people listen to him to see what he'll get away with and because they know he has a line he cannot cross, once he crosses it there's nothing more to do or expect. He can only push an envelope so far, he's creative for free radio BECAUSE of the censorship, without it, he'll last a year at most. And his free market won't accept him back because he turned his back on them. Stern is smart he probably already knows this.

Having said that I see Sirius gaining some serious subscriptions at first (pardon the pun... it was intended), however, I see them losing a vast majority they gain once Howard gets stale (unless they get better more diverse programming, which they might).

I truly love Howard and this would increase my chances of hearing him, but I think it's career suicide.

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santafe5000

I have XM and I am glad he is going to Sirius. That way he won't be polluting my air waves. Never understood the draw he had. Can't remember ever hearing him say anything that was worth listening to.

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mrsandman

So, I take it that you don't find "The world's largest hemorrhoid contest",
"The amputee beauty contest" and constant uninformed slamming of President Bush, worth listening to?

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Destrox

I too find Stern quite.. well not funny. But I dont mind Bush bashing.

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fryan5

Just a personal opinion, but I would avoid investments in both providers for a while. The risks of going under are still too great, as the market hasn't begun to mature yet. By 2006 or so, we'll be able to see better which carrier will survive (I doubt that both will).

Carno

Bleh, I don't like Stern at all. I'm glad he's leaving regular radio.

I'll never understand why people like him...