Howard Stern will join Sirius Satellite Radio when his current contract expires in January 2006. He has already signed a 5 year deal and will be responsible for programming on three channels.

Stern Gets Sirius!

No more interference from the Christian Coalition or the FCC. Unless somehow they figure out how to wrest control of satellite radio! Can't wait to hear the show the way it was suppossed to be heard.

Sirius Satellite Radio stock is already up 30% this morning.

[ October 06, 2004, 07:19 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

I'm a huge Howard Stern fan. Listen to him everyday, watch the tv show (can't wait for "The World's Biggest Hemroid Contest" tonight on E!) and I bought and read both his great books.

I'm happy for him! I'm sure Beth (his hot girlfriend) will be "wah-wha-wah-wah-wah"-ing tonight. Hell maybe even Stern's mom?

Anyway I don't have satellite radio and don't think I will anytime soon, but who knows... I might in 15 months. Well I hope.

[ October 06, 2004, 09:16 AM: Message edited by: sterlingman ]

A Washington Post writer did a chat session about the Stern deal and about satellite radio. I found it very interesting reading, particularly when someone talked about the stereotypical Stern listener and other people who don't fit that demographic replied that they listen all the time. Link to transcript

Sirius has a much smaller number of subscribers than XM, and since I subscribe to Sirius (in big part because they have the OutQ gay station) I certainly don't want them to go out of business. So I hope Stern's arrival will boost the Sirius bottom line.

[ October 06, 2004, 06:15 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

Yeah he's core audience is 18-49y.o. white males (mostly blue-collar), but then there are those like me as well as others who enoy his type of humor.

I think people would not call Howard a racist, sexist and/or homophobe if they knew that women, gays, blacks, Latinos (I'm Latino) and others listen to and are fans of Stern.

I'm addicted to Sirius. I've been signing up for the free online three-day passes. Since you can't reuse email addresses, I have been setting up bogus Yahoo! accounts to sign back up.

I finally decided to sign up, and went to Good Guys to get the receiver. Huh? $49 for this thing called a docking station. $125 for the low-end basic receiver. I asked if my simple but great sounding external laptop speakers could be plugged in to it. Nope, different kind of connection. Speakers would be at least $60. So, over $200 just for hardware.

I would be happy paying the monthly fee. But don't know if I'm prepared to plunk down $200 for a radio. Hopefully, when Stern goes on-air (one of my primary reasons for wanting to join) they'll have some deals going.

I didn't have to buy extra speakers. I have a "plug and play" receiver (which can be used in docking stations in both a home and a car). The receiver connects to the docking station, which connects to my stereo (using the auxiliary jacks).

I got a year's free sirius radio with a new car I just purchased and have to admit I'm addicted even pre-Stern, etc... I love the theme channels, especially the 80's channel with the old MTV V.J.'s Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn (starts Saturday). It's cool to hear them again and I enjoy the tidbits they give here and there on the old tunes.

Wow! Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, et al. Takes me right back to 1982, Stockton, California, living with my older brother, going to Delta Junior College, driving a pea-green Fiat that always overheated, wearing 501's, and being too shy and closeted to approach the handsome older guy who worked at the 7-11, and thinking about all the Slurpees I bought that were less about quenching my thirst and more about googley-eying the guy.

First T.O., now this: Howard Stern has been suspended for a day by his current employer, Infinity Broadcasting, apparently for talking too much about his impending move to Sirius satellite radio in January.

Howard Stern's Sirius debut took place yesterday, and it seems he's got a new member of the cast...

:confused:

That is so cool!! I think that is awesome that Takei is now a part of the Stern show.

Okay ... that gives me serious consideration to get Sirius radio.

BTW ... I think Stern is pretty damn funny.

[ January 10, 2006, 07:15 AM: Message edited by: Allen ]

Yeah, I was reading about this. I think it's cool. Takei is funny

I LOVE that prank call where a guy pretended to be Ricardo Montalban calling him LOL

I'm a fan of Stern, way back from his old tv show (not the E! one), but I don't think I'm willing to pay just to listen to him. Though I miss the show.

Sterling,
I was wondering if we would ever disagree on something and now we do.I can't stand Howard Stern but I love you more than ever!

eddie, first off, I thought I was the one for you...but now you want covert (is that a word???) with sterligman....Sigh....Don't worry about me, I'll be alright...

But seriously folks....eddie, I used to think like that about Howard...I thought he was rude, I thought he was mean, tasteless....insert any negative adjective LOL, but now I think he is funny. Of course there are some things that he goes a bit far for....And truly, IMO, I feel he should get some kind of fine or something when someone calls CNN in the middle of some huge tragedy claiming to be an eyewitness and then they say "And then Ba Ba Booeys teeth came out of nowhere!" I do believe he encourages these calls.

But honestly, I do like his show...I might even get the On Demand Service

I believe the word is cavort, but anyway,you didn't seem to return my admiration so I moved on.I can't resist Sterling and his latino charm,he sets my soul on fire! The only thing I can say about Howard Stern is that I'm really glad that he isn't gay!!

Yo te amo mas que nunca tambien


Say, maybe we can share Eddie wink

Don't know if Stern should be fined for those called, only because it's not him telling his fans to make 'em, but at the sametime, I can't say that I found them to be funny.

I might check out the On Demand service.

Chill Trick doesn't want me Sterling! He didn't want me when he was Merloni and he doesn't want me now.No one can compare to my Sterling,anyway.
Maybe Trick should try to hook up with Stern. eek!

Lots of people who got Sirius subscriptions for Howard are now calling in to my fave call-in show on Sirius 112 (Martha Stewart Living channel). The show: "Whatever" with Alexis Stewart (Martha's daughter) and Jennifer Hutt. There have been tons of calls the last couple of weeks from people who bought Sirius to listen to Howard who are now hooked on "Whatever."

Anyone who saw Alexis on Martha's Apprentice show will be stunned at what she's really like. The show made her out to be the most boring person alive, but she's far from it. She's smart and hilarious... and the radio show is much more daring, innovative and raunchy than you'd ever expect to hear on the Martha channel. They don't talk about crafts or homemaking or hardly anything Martha-ish. They talk about life, current events, a lot of gay issues and other topics. It's definitely worth checking out on Sirius 112 beginning at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) Monday thru Friday.

ewwwwww

I hav ebeen trying to get the Sirius portable unit for several weeks now. All the stores I have checked have been out of stock. My roommate gave me gift certificates for Sirius service but I can't get the equipment. So I am missing Howard big time!

I bought mine online from Crutchfield.com -- but that was well before the Stern rush. There are a number of online sites that sell their equipment; even Sirius' website has a store now, I think.

This may help your Stern fix in the short run.If you go to the website you can sign up for a free 3 day trial.That's how I started listening to E Street Radio (channel 10).I even renewed it a couple of times using a different email addy-it's not like they check or anything.

I got my equip at Radio shack,with the $50 rebate on the receiver.Stern is not as popular here as on the East coast-didn't even have a station in the Indy market that carried his show,so I don't think there has been as big a rush around here to buy the equip as elsewhere.I did get several promotional emails regarding the online store,so that should definitely be an option for you to check out.

I went with XM last year instead of Sirius because they had a better deal on the equipment. But I'm curious, as a former Stern free-radio listener, he said the four main personalities would divulge some major, personal, earth-shattering secret about themselves on the first day. What were they?

Is it the next big thing,or just a passing fad that's about run it's course? I'm curious because 6 mos. ago the ads for satellite radio were all over the commercial airwaves, and now I rarely hear them.I was also a little confused about whether satellite stations are meant to replace commercial radio- if so it seems like running satellite ads would be akin to commiting suicide.Are any of you guys subscribers to a satellite service, and if so what do you like/dislike about having satellite radio.Is it possible to switch back and forth? I couldn't imagine not being able to enjoy my daily dose of Bob and Tom.

[quote]Originally posted by Tim:
Is it the next big thing,or just a passing fad ... Are any of you guys subscribers to a satellite service, ... Is it possible to switch back and forth?

---

I am not a subscriber, but if I were always on the road, I'd sign up in a heartbeat. Once you get out of the big cities, all the variety on FM disappears. In fact, even in the big cities Clear Channel has done everything it can to wipe out the diversity.

XM and Sirius, though both satellite-based, do work in differnet ways. In some locales, you might find that XM works more reliably than Sirius, or perhaps the opposite. Rob Pegararo, writing in the _Washingon Post_, found that XM worked better for him. I guess you have to ask on the appropriate discussion boards. I suppose there are some on Yahoo! or Usenet.

My guess is that you can switch back and forth. The way the system works is that satellites broadcast the signal to satellite dishes on earth. Then the signal is rebroadcast; it is the rebroadcast signal that you pick up in your car. A moving car could never lock on to a satellite transmission. The XM or Sirius receiver in your car picks up the signal and then sends it to your XM- or Sirius-ready radio. If you don't want to listen to the satellite stations, you turn off that function and listen to FM, AM, tape, or CD.

If you want to hear things you cannot hear otherwise, I think it's a great idea.

I do not own stock or have any other financial interest in XM or Sirius.

http://www.xmradio.com/

http://www.sirius.com/

XM Cuts 80 Jobs To Save Money

[quote]Originally posted by Tim:
Is it the next big thing,or just a passing fad that's about run it's course?

---

I don't think it's a fad, no.

Slowly but surely, my opinion is that all radio will be satellite.

It seems that in emerging commercial fields like this one, the people who are the first to bring the idea to the market are often not the ones that become really successful doing it. Many times, the research and work to get the idea out into the public conscious requires more resources than start-up ventures can afford. then a larger entity comes in, uses the idea, and takes off with bigger marketing dollars and industry pull.

My guess would be that satellite radio is going to be commonplace, but maybe with different company names on the machinery.

More Bad XM News.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2002Nov14.html

>>
XM Says Loss Widened, Seeks to Defer Payments

By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 15, 2002; Page E05

Washington's XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. has always been in a race against time. Could the subscriber-based service add enough customers quickly enough to offset its massive start-up debt and expensive operations? Or, put more bluntly -- would the cash last long enough for the service to have a fighting chance to establish itself?

The company spooked Wall Street during its third-quarter earnings call yesterday by reporting widening losses and saying it is in talks with General Motors Corp. -- XM's largest shareholder -- to defer as much as $200 million in payments to the automaker. Further, XM said, it must raise an additional $200 million, and it hopes to have such a deal in place by early 2003. The stock lost more than a third of its price in response, diving from $3.17 per share to as low as $2. It closed down 73 cents, nearly 24 percent, at $2.32.
....
The service has attracted 201,544 subscribers in a little more than a year. It needs to grow to its predicted 1 million users by the end of next year to create a subscriber base large enough to command attractive advertising rates.

XM and New York-based rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. sell a monthly premium pay-radio service to cars and homes, creating something like HBO for radio. XM is the industry leader, having launched in September 2001, several months ahead of Sirius, and is well ahead of Sirius's approximately 14,000 subscribers. Both offer about 100 channels of news, talk and original music channels, mostly serving niche tastes, such as all-blues and all-heavy-metal channels largely unavailable on AM and FM.

XM's service has been acclaimed by critics and publications, which have called it a technological breakthrough. Sirius has experienced management and strategic setbacks during its ramp-up that XM has largely avoided, and Wall Street analysts have valued XM's stock higher. But Sirius recently completed a refinancing deal that eliminated its $1.2 billion in debt, making it more competitive with cash-strapped XM, which reported $413 million in debt yesterday.

The key to survival for either service is getting its radios installed in new cars. Currently, consumers must buy XM and Sirius radios as aftermarket units at Circuit City or Best Buy stores and have them installed. This limits the new-customer base to early adopters. But if a new car comes with an XM or Sirius radio and the cost of the service is rolled into a monthly payment, both providers predict their subscription bases will climb.

XM must pay for the right to have its radios placed in GM cars and to piggyback on the auto giant's marketing and advertising. The $200 million payment XM is seeking to defer is part of a 12-year compensation package XM signed with GM. Panero said GM will include factory-installed XM radios in 25 models in its 2003 lines, including Buick and Cadillac. Toyota has also agreed to offer optional XM radios in some of its vehicles, and the radio is available in some Honda, Nissan and Infiniti models.
<<

The usual disclaimers, though I find XM intriguing.

I don't see this as viable right now. Most people don't take long enough car trips on a regular basis to really appreciate the commercial-free channels. And even if they did, the variety of music doesn't seem to be an attraction in this era where more and more radio stations claim to play a variety but actually play the same songs over and over.

As for home use (since there are some home units available through one or both of these services), if you have a satellite dish or digital cable, in addition to more TV networks you also get music channels which provide similar variety and few or no commercials, so why would you need an XM subscription?

*bump*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2002Dec23.html

>>
XM to Get $450 Million in Financing
Money Is Expected to Last Until 2004

By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 24, 2002; Page E01

XM Satellite Radio Inc. said yesterday that it secured $450 million in financing, keeping the money-losing subscription-radio service afloat until mid-2004, when the company forecasts it will have enough customers to support itself.

[snip some financial stuff]

After the deal GM -- already XM's largest shareholder -- and its affiliates Hughes and DirecTV, will own 19.6 percent of the company, or 51.7 million shares, up from 14.7 percent. American Honda, which include Honda and Acura cars, will own 8.3 percent, or 21.9 million shares, up from 2.3 percent.
....
<<

My parents have it for their home and love it. It is on all the time. They love the oldies and classic radio shows that are far better, in their opinion, than what they get off the air. And, when they travel around the state -- and in Texas that almost always means a long car ride -- they take it in the car and love it. Their friends all enjoy the old radio serials too. Weird situation where an older generation is the earlier adopter of new technology. After visiting them for the holidays, I'm thinking of getting it - just not for the same stations!

[ December 26, 2002: Message edited by: sjtexasex ]

Do they have XM or Sirius? The two operate in a similar but not the same fashion. The difference is that XM has two satellites, Rock and Roll, in geosynchronous orbit. Sirius has more satellites, but they are not in geosynchronous orbit. Well, I think. I can look it up.

Parents have XM. It sounds great.

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washingt...06/daily34.html

>>
16:42 EST Wednesday

XM Satellite subscribers top 300K
Jeff Clabaugh Staff Reporter

District-based XM Satellite Radio, fresh off new funding and with a little breathing room from its biggest creditor, says it added 145,000 new subscribers in its fourth quarter, a 72 percent increase in total subscribers at the end of the third quarter.
....
<<

http://www.backstage.com/backstage/news/ar...tent_id=1790071

>>
Sirius Setting Up Gay Radio Outlet

By Paul Bond

LAS VEGAS -- The nation's first 24-hour gay radio channel is in the works.

Sirius Satellite Radio is set to announce today at the Consumer Electronics Show here that it is developing a channel to launch in about 90 days that will feature news and talk explicitly directed at the nation's gay population.
....
<<

*Bump*

http://www.forbes.com/2003/01/14/cx_ah_011...114tentech.html

>>
Digital Radio Debuts
Arik Hesseldahl, 01.14.03, 10:00 AM ET

....
Of course HD Radio has been terrestrial radio's defense against the onslaught of satellite-based radio services like XM Satellite Radio (nasdaq: XMSR - news - people ) and Sirius Satellite Radio (nasdaq: SIRI - news - people ). Both of these firms have seen their stock prices plummet in the last year, though XM has been relatively successful by landing 360,000 subscribers. As of the end of September, Sirius had some 16,000 subscribers. But Sirius surprised many by announcing a video transmission capability that will allow TV-like transmissions to cars via satellite.

The combination of HD Radio and the various satellite services will make choosing a radio receiver for your car a little more complicated than it has ever been before. Literally dozens of car stereo setups have been developed for all three services. Few, if any will combine both satellite and HD Radio into a single unit, at least initially. It will take a few years for HD Radio to percolate down into the mainstream. But that will happen only if broadcasters decide they like it and can make money off the enhanced signal and extra services.
....
<<

*bump*

25% of the shares - right much, eh?

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/technolo...05CND-SIRI.html

>>
Satellite Radio Company Revamps Its Troubled Finances
By BARNABY J. FEDER

Sirius Satellite Radio said today that investors had approved a plan that would enable it to avoid bankruptcy by converting nearly $1.2 billion in debt and preferred stock into common stock and injecting another $200 million in cash from three investment firms.

....
Affiliates of OppenheimerFunds, which will invest an additional $150 million as part of the refinancing, will be Sirius's largest shareholder with about 25 percent of the company's stock once the deal closes.

The company will also receive a total of $50 million from affiliates of the Blackstone Group L.P. and Apollo Management L.P.

Shares of Sirius were down 12 cents, to 59 cents, in Nasdaq trading early this afternoon, in a decline that reflected the expected dilution of the existing shareholders' stake in the company.

The stock is down 99 percent from its all-time closing high of $66.50, reached in February 2000.
<<

Let's kick this to the top.

Sorry, gang, you can't get this in the U.S. yet.

Africa tunes in to satellite radio broadcasts

http://www.worldspace.com/

Baby whales, you know.

Sirius Satellite Radio Hits 200,000 Subscribers Soon After XM Hits 1 Million

I rented a car recently from Hertz, it had Sirus radio. Loved it, and it is a great way to try out the service. If I owned a car and was on the road for more than 30 minutes commuting to work, I'd be a subscriber.

Me too. Service is headed to Canada now.

CBC/Radio-Canada and SIRIUS Announce Venture To Bring Satellite Radio to Canadians

I've become more disenchanted with the radio stations here lately (partially because of the two that went to all Christmas music all the time). Of the two, I would love to get Sirius for my home--they have "plug-and-play" equipment now that you can easily plug into your home stereo. For one thing, they have the OutQ gay radio station, and as Cyd mentioned in the NFL Week 14 review, he makes a weekly appearance on one of the shows. By the way, according to the show's website Cyd appears Tuesdays at 11 am ET. Couldn't Outsports have informed us of that? wink

Also, if you're a subscriber you can access the various feeds over the Internet so when I'm online (in the basement rec room) I can still listen in.

But it seems that in this part of the country you need to have the antenna in a window facing west. My stereo in my living room is nowhere near a west-facing window. Dammit. I hate my house. :mad:

You don't need to be a subscriber to listen to OutQ, by the way. Their feed is available on the Internet to anyone. (With the music stations, the most you can do is listen to a half-hour sample.) So next Tuesday everyone should call up to say hi to Cyd on the air! wink

[ December 11, 2003, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

XM has "plug-and-play" equipment as well.

Delphi XM Skyfi

XM's and Sirius's methods of relaying the signals are similar, but they are not the same. It may be the case that XM works better than Sirius where you are. No doubt there's a Yahoo! group or equivalent where that topic is discussed.

I used to have a job out west, and there were times I spent hours on end on the road. If you don't like top-40 pop, radio preachers, or rightwing talk shows, there's nothing to hear between Portland and Boise, or Billings and Bismarck. Today, I would have either XM or Sirius ina heartbeat.

I have XM and really enjoy it. No problem with the signal at all. I have no idea if it's better than Sirius or not. When I bought XM it was the only one with a portable boom box that makes it cool for carrying around the house or in a park. Sirius is said to be coming out with something similar. Best part is zero commercials on music channels (though some channels I don't listen to have some ads)and BBC World.

Joe, I have posted about my appearance on OutQ. You can go to the Sirius OutQ Web site and connect to the show via the links there. Sure, call up and say hi - lots of NFL talk the last month.

Grundig E1 XM - AM/FM/Shortwave Radio

CES is the big Consumer Electronics Show held every winter in Las Vegas. The yet-to-be-released Grundig 900 will have these features and more.

So...did anyone call Cyd today? Anyone who doesn't work where I work, that is? wink I say that because we are not allowed to access any streaming audio or video because it's supposed to take up too much of our network's resources. Never mind that they've loaded up our computers with all kinds of crap that we don't use... Have I mentioned lately that I hate my job?

Meanwhile, Sirius has hooked up with the NFL...

Joe,

Don't complain about the bandwith thing, it's true, depending on the company size. We have over 600 people here, and our Internet traffic became totally bogged down because of people listening to streaming on the Web. People were not able to do legitimate research.

I have been thinking about getting XM. We get a nice discount on it, and my brotehr has been raving about it. He's even got my 3 1/2 yo neice asking for it.

Trevor

Satellite Radio Extends Its Orbit



[ December 24, 2003, 07:08 AM: Message edited by: twin58 ]

High-Tech Quirkiness Restores Radio's Magic