Howard Stern Lashes Out at Some Fans

[Van]

Im a stern fan or rather used to be, Ive listened to him since he has moved to sirius and frankly dont anymore because Im tired of the same old gay schtik that he and his guys do every single day. I've also stopped listening to Bubba though its mostly due to the fact that Im working to much to take my sirius with me and still cant find a home kit for my starmate replay.

Any stern fan that isnt blinded by howards stature will know that he is serious about being angry that all of his fans did not jump on to the sirius bandwagon, I saw this coming a long time ago because people are reluctant to spend money on something that they get free, only use for short periods twice a day 4 - 6 days a week. The only reason I have sirius is that mine was an xmas gift, otherwise I would not have followed him because he does not bring to the table the quality of entertainment that I as a mid 30's guy am interested in. I get some good local talk and in the morning slot can listen to Bob and Tom out of Toledoe or out of Lansing, Ive also found that the lack of commecials for the local market is actually a negative and recently if I had not had the local news on I would not have known about the tornadoe watch in my area and not known that a tornadoe had touched down 30 seconds from where Im at, but this is all another story.

I personaly think he has started the final leg of his career, in 5 years he will retire and in 7 will fade away into obscurity and year 8 he will be nothing more than a brief article in a history book, in 10 years he will be on VH1's where are they now show. Soon as he realises that the vast majority of his fans are low income people who cant aford a luxury such as a sat radio and that may just maybe his fans have also practiced what he has preached so often about turning the dial to listen to something diferent then maybe he will have an understanding as to what is going on.

 

[jmd102354]

hince, the shortage of sirius radios when stern went live.

What shortage ?

 

[Van]

There was a considerable shortage of sirius radio units in many area's of the country at the end of last year and the beginning of this year due to them not ramping up the production lines for the holiday season and for the rush of a small percentage of sterns fans to get the service to follow him.

 

[dragon002]

There was a considerable shortage of sirius radio units in many area's of the country at the end of last year and the beginning of this year due to them not ramping up the production lines for the holiday season and for the rush of

a small percentage of sterns fans to get the service to follow him.[/

QUOTE]

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

The units were EVERYWHERE here. Lok at the stock price. the deal with Dodge is the only thing keeping it going. you forget that most new dodge veicles come with 1 free year of the service. Maybe some of the new users are there?

He singlehandlely KILLED the stock price and future of the company. You stern fans are not upset that he sold off all his stock the first day he got it? he knew this was going to happen and dumped the stock before people caught on.

Smart move on his part but it makes you look bad to defend him for it. If he was a republican you would be all over him for insider trading!!

 

[Diamond Jim]

I have listened to Bob and Tom daily for 15 years+. No one brings what they have to the table. They actually have guests and let them speak. They are NOt shock jocks. They have a very respected show and all the top comedians vist OFTEN. Especially if you live in Indy and get the final hour where things get real fun,(not avalible on any station but Q95) And then the dicks picks show. Plus they give TONS of money to charity and do shows from exotic places and pay to take fans there to watch in person. Who else does this?

I never said they weren't nice guys, and I do admire the charity work they do. I do remember when they raised a ton of money to help pay the doctor bills for the great Jan Opperman after he had his career and eventually life ending accident in 1981. I think my problem is that I have just outgrown that type of humor, so I practice what I preach, "if you don't want to listen to it, change the channel."

 

[Van]

Im not defending him, heck I'll easily admit he made a huge mistake and should have just retired and went his way. But this has been a desperation move on his part and now we are seeing where it has gone. As for the units being everywhere that I can say is not true, I had looked around for part of november and most of december and didnt see any in best buy, circuit city, radioshack, ect ect ect until the end of december and only then there was 3 units in the store.

 

[charper1]

Im not defending him, heck I'll easily admit he made a huge mistake and should have just retired and went his way. But this has been a desperation move on his part and now we are seeing where it has gone. As for the units being everywhere that I can say is not true, I had looked around for part of november and most of december and didnt see any in best buy, circuit city, radioshack, ect ect ect until the end of december and only then there was 3 units in the store.

Thanks to the record sales there were none left on the shelves or the stock room.

 

[korsjs]

Study: 28% Of Stern Fans Will, Did Shift To Sirius
March 27, 2006
By Tony Sanders

It looks like Stern’s move to Sirius was a success for him and the satcaster, at least according to Billboard Radio Monitor’s read on the results of a Jacobs Media survey of 25,000 respondents from over 75 rock-formatted stations.
http://www.billboardradiomonitor.co...article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002236720

 

[JonUrban]

You guys are a riot. Everyone spins this story towards their point of view.

Just look at the FACTS.

SIRIUS before Stern - 600,000 subscribers - fading fast, losing ground to XM every day

SIRIUS today - 4,000,000 subscribers - now within 2.5 million subscribers of XM.

If anyone thinks SIRIUS is worse off with Stern than without him, think about this: If Stern would have gone to XM, where do you think SIRIUS would be today?

Spin-Spin-Spin.

WHO CARES?

 

[Van]

This is all just initial numbers in the short term so no one really knows what it will be a year from now or even five. Personaly I dont care much, I'm most likely not going to renew my sirius account in december as I seem to be happier with local radio talk. If Bob and tom went over along with D & D from the detroit 97.1 station went as well then I would stay with it but the fact is that unless I am going over the road I just cant justify spending the money to pay for it when I can get most of the same stuff on my local radio stations for free. The only thing I would miss would be the comedy channels but even they are loosing theyr appeal because they repeat just to damned much, plus the blue collar comedy channel is a joke as they put in the same stuff you find on rawdog and on sirius comedy, its nothing more than a mix of the two channels period.

I'd be very interested to see what the churn is right now and in a year.

 

[cablewithaview]

Bubba's on Sirius 101

Stern tried a few years back in Minneapolis. But he came up against a juggernaut. "The KQ Morning Show" (which IMO should be syndicated but Tom Barnard (the main guy) won't let it). Stern thought he'd walk into Minneapolis and kill the KQ morning show...

well Stern lasted less than 6 months and KQ is still going

And I have listened to Bob & Tom (they're on a distant station but I can pick it up pretty good) and other than a couple segments, most of what I've heard is blah. Nothing interesting

I guess I need to check into Sirius, I like Stern and Bubba.

 

[charper1]

You guys are a riot. Everyone spins this story towards their point of view. Just look at the FACTS. SIRIUS before Stern - 600,000 subscribers - fading fast, losing ground to XM every day SIRIUS today - 4,000,000 subscribers - now within 2.5 million subscribers of XM. If anyone thinks SIRIUS is worse off with Stern than without him, think about this: If Stern would have gone to XM, where do you think SIRIUS would be today? Spin-Spin-Spin. WHO CARES?

Last I read was: (accurate?)

XM=6.35M
Sirius=4.22M

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

Look at the stock prices. I have neither. My wife sells Dodge cars and trucks so our new car will have Sirius. I used to listen to him but I am over 23 years old so I have outgrown his type of humor. It reminds me of a X-rated captain kangeroo.

I listen to talk radio and Bob and Tom. NO FM AT ALL!!

 

[HCI]

Study: 28% Of Stern Fans Will, Did Shift To Sirius
March 27, 2006
By Tony Sanders

It looks like Stern’s move to Sirius was a success for him and the satcaster, at least according to Billboard Radio Monitor’s read on the results of a Jacobs Media survey of 25,000 respondents from over 75 rock-formatted stations.
http://www.billboardradiomonitor.co...article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002236720

In fact, Stern’s “break even” or threshold total has been set as low as 1 million subscribers by some Wall Street analysts and other industry observers. Based on the Jacobs Media study, if Stern’s actual, regular listenership was at or above 4 million people, then 28% of those people would be 1.12 million.

So the 2 million mark stated earlier was a dream.

 

[HCI]

XM current subscribers 6.5 million http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=61790
Sirius current subscribers 4.2 million ? going by what charper posted

XM signed O&A August 3, 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opie_and_anthony
Sirius signed Howard October, 6, 2004 http://www.sirius.com/servlet/Conte.../CachedPage&c=PresReleAsset&cid=1097008921509

2004 year end for XM 3,229,124 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM_Satellite_Radio
2004 year end for Sirius 1,143,258 http://www.aiada.org/article.asp?id=30606

XM
6,500,000-
3,229,124 =
3,270,876 added since 2004

Sirius
4,200,000 -
1,143,258=
3,056,742 added since 2004

XM has added more since 2004? by 214134 or am I missing something?

EDIT: if any of this info is wrong PLEASE let me know

 

[charper1]

I am not sure my numbers are 100% accurate, just what I read last; not from this board or wiki as they are generally non-verifiable edits or post by users like us. (aka non-official) I am trying to find it again.

 

[charper1]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. rose Monday, after the nation's No. 2 satellite radio operator said it recently surpassed the 4 million subscriber mark, closing the gap with rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.

Sirius shares rose 29 cents, or 6 percent, to $5.18 in midday trading on the Nasdaq, though the stock is still down 22 percent from the start of the year.

"Howard Stern apparently provided the expected lift to Sirius," JPMorgan analyst Barton Crockett said in a client note Friday, maintaining his "Underweight" rating.

New York-based Sirius earlier Monday said it has recently surpassed the 4 million subscriber mark. Rival XM Satellite, in February, said it ended 2005 with 5.9 million subscribers.

Citigroup analyst Eileen Furukawa said Sirius' report "is a strong positive" for the company and rates Sirius at "Buy."

Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck said Sirius could easily add 2 million more subscribers in the year to pass the 6 million subscriber milestone.

"Given Sirius' continued performance ... currently depressed valuations could prove to be an attractive entry point for the patient investor," Peck said in a client note.

Elsewhere in the sector, shares of satellite radio provider Worldspace Inc. continued to fall sharply Monday. The Silver Spring, Md., company received a downgrade on its stock on Friday, and its shares plunged 23 percent in one day.

On Monday, Worldspace shares fell another $1.04, or nearly 12 percent, to $7.85, in heavy trading on the Nasdaq. Shares traded as low as $7.50, well below the stock's previous 52-week low of $8.63.

WorldSpace is the only licensed provider of satellite-based digital radio outside of North America, South Korea and Japan. Its broadcast coverage area includes most of Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

 

[charper1]

Investor's Report - by Munarriz
April 3, 2006

Milestones are usually a pretty good thing -- the sign of a company moving in the right direction. However, this morning's announcement from XM Satellite Radio(Nasdaq: XMSR) that the terrestrial-radio threat topped the 6.5-million subscriber mark won't go down as one of the more cheerful moments in the young company's history.

For starters, it almost feels like a knee-jerk reaction to rival Sirius(Nasdaq: SIRI) announcing that it had cleared the four-million mark just two weeks ago. XM has normally reserved its milestone press releases for when the net additions come in nice round million-subscriber chunks. This is the equivalent of asking a little kid how old he is, and having him fire back, "I'm six. . . and a half!"

XM's six (and a half!) million net subscribers are certainly worth celebrating. But until now, XM has hit every million mark earlier than the one before it.

Date----------Milestone----------Weeks Until Next Million
10/27/03 1 million 33
06/14/04 2 million 28
12/27/04 3.1 million 20
05/16/05 4 million 19
09/27/05 5 million 14
01/04/06 6 million N/A

That streak ends here. It took XM 13 weeks to tack on 500,000 more accounts, and it will clearly take more than a few weeks before it straddles seven million. The announcement also concedes that rival Sirius will have signed up more new subscribers for the second quarter in a row. XM wound up signing up nearly 600,000 new listeners for the March quarter, while Sirius had at least 700,000 net additions with nearly two weeks to go.

Then again, this may be also come as a relief for XM. The baton will fall to Sirius only if XM proves unable to regain the new-subscriber lead over the next two quarters. XM also announced that it was able to lower its customer acquisition costs during the quarter, something that had been a sticking point after a costly fourth quarter.

Landing Howard Stern was a major coup for Sirius. Some chose Sirius for Stern before that, though XM still signed up more overall users every single quarter, until this past summer and holiday season turned the tide in its rival's favor.

Given the two services' combined 10.5 million subscribers, the next few months will also determine whether the medium will gobble up 15 million net subscribers by the end of the year.

 

[TheForce]

Look at the stock prices. I have neither. My wife sells Dodge cars and trucks so our new car will have Sirius. I used to listen to him but I am over 23 years old so I have outgrown his type of humor. It reminds me of a X-rated captain kangeroo.

I listen to talk radio and Bob and Tom. NO FM AT ALL!!

You're such an old man. Hell I'm over 58 and I think the world needs a few shock jocks like Stern to counter the myriad of boring political humorists that pollute the airwaves. Sure you're not 86+?