Howard Stern Back To Broadcast = Satellite Fail

3:59 pm EST January 25th, 2010 | Media | 14 Comments

The story that Clear Channel is trying to woo Howard Stern back to traditional radio is a pretty strong indictment of satellite radio. Stern went to satellite with a lot of buzz and has proceeded to disappear. You couldn’t generate less headlines if you were some dork with a blogspot blog and too much free time.

Traditional radio is clearly screwed up, and guy talk like the genre Stern popularized has mostly migrated to the web, but satellite radio seems to be a niche play at best.

Topic: Radio

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14 Responses to “Howard Stern Back To Broadcast = Satellite Fail”

Robster, FCD says:

January 25, 2010 at 4:56 pm

Not a chance in the nine hells. I don’t think a half billion would be enough to convince Stern to go back to the strictures and mind numbing lack of creative room of terrestrial radio. Even with the bitching and moaning, he is happier on Sirius.
Chris says:

January 25, 2010 at 5:03 pm

How is it an indictment of satellite that broadcast radio wants him back? If anything, that shows that he’s remained relevant since making the switch. Sirius added 250,000 subscribers this Christmas. And if the auto industry ever picks up again, you can expect that to keep growing.
White Whale says:

January 25, 2010 at 5:19 pm

Totally love satelitte radio. If it is a niche market, so be it. Regular radio is a wasteland of fail and I don’t think money has much to do with Stern switching. He may even retire after this year.
Oliver Willis says:

January 25, 2010 at 5:45 pm

Really? When was the last time a celeb interview made waves on Stern — the way it used to on terrestrial radio? Long time.
jr says:

January 25, 2010 at 5:52 pm

Bubba The Love Sponge is on both Sirius and Cox Radio. I don’t understand why Howard can’t be on both
Chris says:

January 25, 2010 at 6:57 pm

Most recently, probably Quentin Tarantino when he was on in August.

Obviously, he’s got a smaller listener base than he did on broadcast. That’s a given. When you ask people to pay for something they’re used to getting for free (and two fees really, considering his show is part of a premium package on a platform that already costs money), you’re going to lose listeners.

But I think the idea that just because he’s not AS relevant as he once was, it’s an indication that satellite has failed. That’s like saying HBO is failing because it’s shows get less attention than shows on network television.
Matthew Hubbard says:

January 25, 2010 at 8:29 pm

Hey! I’m a dork on blogspot with plenty of free time now that I’m underemployed. There’s no way Howard can compete with me for least amount of headlines generated.
Robster, FCD says:

January 25, 2010 at 9:46 pm

Try googling Howard Stern under “news”. Simply because you haven’t seen any news regarding Stern doesn’t mean that there isn’t any.
Misplaced Patriot says:

January 25, 2010 at 10:15 pm

Damn, I took the complete absence of Howard Stern on the cultural scene to be evidence of how great satellite radio is.
JohnEWilliams says:

January 25, 2010 at 10:27 pm

I agree that Howard Stern isn’t as visible since migrating to satellite, and I do think a lot of that is due to his being locked behind a pay media that most people don’t subscribe to. I also think times have changed, and what he used to do to create headlines just isn’t all that shocking anymore.

Mike without Don is just so sad and dull.
pedroia says:

January 26, 2010 at 11:53 am

Oliver,
I’m a big fan of your site, but you don’t know what you’re talking about here. When Sirius hired Stern they had 600,000 subscribers. Two or so years later they had over 8 million. That’s why the merge with XM was possible.

He will never go back to terrestrial radio. If you listened to him at all you would know that this is a silly piece you posted. He has no interest in going back. And he would certainly not go back to Clear Channel, they screwed him out of his last contract. They still owe him money.

And, as Chris states, why would Clear Channel be trying to woo him if he has no relevance?

Bubba is on both because he couldn’t get the deal he wanted with Sirius/XM.

Satellite radio may fail in the long run, but if it weren’t for Stern, they would have been dead already. If he retires next year, Sirius XM will take a huge hit.
Oliver Willis says:

January 26, 2010 at 12:18 pm

why would Clear Channel be trying to woo him if he has no relevance?
Because when he’s on terrestrial radio he does, and stations can make a lot of $.
White Whale says:

January 26, 2010 at 1:07 pm

Radio is a dying business Oliver. Nobody make real money anymore through that medium. Channels are floundering and their answer is things like HD radio? It couldn’t be the amount of censorship and programming? If satelite radio were free, on content alone it would destroy terrestrial radio. I agree with you that it is a niche market, but Howard makes news in the New York markets and still gets on TV from time to time.
Robster, FCD says:

January 26, 2010 at 5:43 pm

Then he is relevant to Satellite radio too, even if it doesn’t show up on your radar. Before you call something irrelevant, research it, or stick to comic books.