Sirius taking away retail-level market shares from XM for past 3 months!

The Stern signing seems to be paying off.... will be interesting to see where they are a year from now!

http://channels.netscape.com/news/st...&w=RTR&coview=

I just can't believe that Stern is the cause. I could see NFL football starting and Sirius acquiring more subs because of that but Stern's listenership is dropping like a rock in most markets.

And what markets would those be? Doesn't seem that way in NY... or the other major markets. NFL has been included with Sirius for a while now with no real sales jump because of it...its not just a coincidence that Stern starts in 3 months...and the sales are doing extremely well.

It has been announced that Stern may start his radio show on SIRIUS as early as Nov. 1, as it appears as though he may be replaced, nationwide, now that a contract has been signed for his replacement. Stern has basically announced to the AP that this could happen as quickly as tomorrow.

What impact this has on SIRIUS, etc. is completely anyone's guess.

The guy has been tanking for quite awhile now...and I believe you and I have gone through this before. In alot of big markets, he's not even in the top ten... In D.C., he's apparently losing in key demos to Don & Mike and a local Sports Talk duo.
He lies about EVERYTHING...he lied about Sirius' sub numbers on THE DAY that they released Quarterly earnings, and SEC filings. He was claiming "Over 3 Million", and they filed 1.8 at that point.

If you dig Stern, that's cool, but the simple fact is, the guy isn't what he used to be, and alot of people are moving on. The show is nothing more than a glorified Morning Zoo at this point.

And as the reporter below says...he'll probably spin it as people have Sirius now, but let's walk through it logically...if people went out and bought Sirius because they LOVE Howard, are they then going to stop listening to him (the reason for their purchase)?
It's been 20 years...the guy is doing the same tired ass interviews...the same tired ass "Bababooey" crap...everything has a shelf life.
He's now an old guy desperately trying to be hip.
He should have called it a day when he was still on top, instead of embarassing himself the way he is now.

As I said, if you dig Stern, that's cool, but please stop trying to blow through here like he's still at the top of his game, because as you can see below, it's just not a reality anymore.

From Mediaweek:


Stern's Ratings Fall in Many Major Markets
October 24, 2005
By Katy Bachman

Howard Stern’s year-long commercial for Sirius Satellite Radio, and continuous rant against traditional radio and the FCC, may be costing him a few of his 6.5 million weekly listeners. Or, it may be that the 50 plus-year-old graying shock jock’s schtick needs to take a new turn.

For whatever reason, since Stern announced a year ago he was leaving traditional radio for an irresistable $500 million, five-year contract with Sirius, his ratings on the whole have slid in nearly every one of his major markets, according to Arbitron ratings for Stern in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Boston, Detroit and Dallas.

Among Adults 25-54, Stern’s audience share was down in the just-released Summer survey by double digits in 6 of his 9 top markets compared to a year ago. Stern's total number of weekly listeners also took significant hits in 7 of the top 9.

Even more astounding, Stern’s losses were worse among his target 18-34 year-old audience where his audience share was down in 7 of the 9 top markets. Compared to a year ago, the number of weekly listeners decreased in 7 of top 9 markets.

Some of Stern’s biggest audience losses were in perennially strong Stern markets, New York and Philadelphia. Even though Stern retained the No. 1 position among the 25-54 and 18-34 year-old demo, his weekly audiences dropped by double digits. His weekly audience among 18-34 year-olds dipped by 17 percent in New York and 21 percent in Philadelphia.

Stern’s ratings in Washington, D.C., where Stern came to fame early in his career on WWDC-FM, were particularly hard hit. On Infinity Broadcasting’s WJFK-FM, Stern’s share among 25-54 dropped by 37 percent and his weekly audience by 31 percent. Among the 18-34 demo, his audience share was off 19 percent and weekly audience down 17 percent.

Stern’s performance among 25-54 and 18-34 demos was also down in Chicago (which has never been a strong Stern market), Dallas, and Los Angeles.

In San Francisco, Stern managed to increase his audience share and weekly audience on KITS-FM, by 16 and 10 percent among adults 25-54. His ratings among 18-34 was mixed with his share up 8 percent, but weekly audience down 5 percent.

Detroit ratings were also mixed, up among 25-54 year-olds, but down among 18-34. In Boston, another traditionally strong market for Stern, ratings were basically flat.

Stern will probably go on the air and claim the lost listeners have seen the light and already bought Sirius’ radios. Maybe they have. Or maybe they’ve moved on to something else. Stern will have his chance come January to prove it

Just activated my Sirius account for the first time tonight. Bought the car over a year ago and Stern is the ONLY reason I've activated. I'm sure I'm not alone.

I had to hear the Ronnie Scores party, Double-A's Beth interview and most importantly, High-Pitch's pooh weighing day on Thursday...hysterical!

huge stern fan here.there would be no o and a if there wasn't a stern.o and a are fine if you love o and a god bless ya. stern has not lost his edge.24 hrs of breaking wind was classic.your getting 3 channels with stern and not paying extra and jim brewer on raw dog is awesome.

also XM went after stern before sirius.

Except, apparently, they did not want to pay him such a huge amount of money (as compared to what he is getting from Sirius).

I used to be a big Stern fan as well. But I've lost interest in him in recent years (proabably started around the time that Jackie left) I feel his persona has changed too much and it has negatively effected his show. Add to that pretty much the entire year when he went on lengthy, daily rants against Bush and the FCC, that did not help either. I'm more of an Opie and Anthony fan now. I like the more laid back structure to their show and the fact that they have much more interactivity with their audience. They know who their audience is and are more in touch with who their listeners are than Stern has been in years.

I'm not saying that I don't like listening to Stern completely anymore, but I do believe that his best years are behind him.

I think Stern will be fine for Sirius, at least in the begining. Course, he's going to need to change some of his patterns lately because it sounds like he's alienating listeners with his rants, and not what his show is about.

Course, there is a question of how many people are going to be willing to pay to listen to these guys, especially since they still need breaks, and at least O&A do run comercials in their breaks. I have a coworker who was a big fan of O&A, but isn't willing to pay for Satellite Radio to listen to them. He will continue to listen to whatever WJFK decides to play (Right now, Don & Mike, the Sports Junkies, and whoever replaces Stern.), because he doesn't have to pay for it.

I understand that issue, which is why I don't think Stern is going to end up being enough for some people, and they will have to buy into what else Sirius is selling.

Jason

I am sure the Sirius/Stern deal will pay off for both. I think XM will be in the rearview mirror within a couple of years. As for the Stern/OandA debate... I personally can't see how anyone finds O&A interestering and "fresh", but thats just my opinion. They spout to their fans how "hooknose is old and tired, and we're fresh and new", just as Howard preaches to his fans "everyone steals from me, all my clones, etc etc". Fans of either are obviously going to defend whichever they choose.

Anyone hear High Pitch's "craptacular" on Howard100 yesterday?

I love how seriously the news team treats the absurdity...hilarious.

thank god for that news hour. i tried to listen to that and just picturing high pitch on the throne had to turn it off and wait for the news to come on.

Yeah, that could throw me off too. I do love the concept.

Listening to his lips smack while eating and hearing him yell at his dog were my highlights.

The WackClave will be the best though. That's the next event that I'm salivating over.

Sirius will give Stern a chance to get back to his roots of being the shock jock that he was. It seems a lot of people /were/ Stern fans back in the day until his show started to change. One can argue endlessly what caused the change in his show (my take is BethO and a dash of FCC), but Stern is promising us something bigger and better then what he used to be. I'll tune in for that for sure.

My concern is will he be able to retain his new listenership? Everyone is going to hop on the Sirius wagon initially to see what he will say. Hell thats easy with $50 tuners and easy month-to-month contracts. But he's gonna have to come large with a strong show to keep those listeners for the next five years. Just being able to say the F-word isn't enough.

I purchased my Starmate Replay unit...for two reasons...

I wanted to hear Howard Stern, since he is no longer on the air in Las Vegas and two, to hear the commercial free music.

Tom,I agree. O&A couldn't shine Howards shoes. They had thier moments,but got annoying real fast. I think he will find a whole hew niche on Sirius , many new listeners. O&A where in NY, not nationwide like Howard. He has a hugh fan base.

i've never really listened to howard

actually i've never listened to him on the radio... just caught his show on E! a few times. it seemed pretty funny.

i am a subscriber that wanted sirius for reasons other than stern, but now that stern is coming on board, i'll give his show(s)? a chance.