NY Post - "STERN EYES FREE RADIO" (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Sums it up.

Right now, XM is basically giving away subscriptions to keep people from leaving. Call them and tell them you are going to move to SIRI, and they will offer you an incredible discount on your XM.

SIRI is getting free advertising through O&A and whoever as long as Stern keeps popping up in the media, and they are making out like bandits on the NASCAR circuit where they have basically setup tents at races. And, while people hate it (and I am not a NASCAR fan) most NASCAR fans like the radio broadcasts far more then the TV or just to watch, as it allows them to hear the "in car" and other information they value so highly.

Right now, the basic claim being made that no one approached Stern is just a ridiculous one, no matter who made the claim. The marketplace dictates that stations basically have to do it. Whether he says no or not. But I don't understand why XM people worry about this at all, or why they feel the need to leap into this.

I wish good luck to XM, it helps to have competitors in the marketplace. XM has one more Clear Channel (commercial) station they are legally obligated to add, and I will be interested in hearing the catterwalling when that goes down.

 

[Brent T]

So OnA being on both FM and XM is good for XM because of advertising ??? Isnt this the same duo that couldnt bring in 100k people to XM on their own when the only place you could hear them was on XM? So now the hope is that they can attract the built in Stern audience who wouldnt move to Sirius for Stern but they will for OnA even though they hear two hours for free...

I find that to be rather comical

I guess now XM will let MLB, NASCAR, NHL and all of their other exclusives go on to FM or maybe even Sirius all in the name of advertising. Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

This is what confuses me about O&A comments on the Free FM deal. They rail on about how they "now have a chance to capture Stern's 10 Million that didn't go to Sirius for Stern", but in the same breath they claim it is a good deal for XM because "people may want to buy XM to hear the uncensored stuff." If they didn't sign up for Stern on Sirius when they had no alternative besides DLR, what makes them think they are going to all of a sudden have a change of mind over DLR's replacements and fork over a sub to hear an uncensored version of a 5 hour show of which they get 3 hours for free?

It just makes no sense.

 

[Jed M]

Although technically you may be right, I doubt you would take that very positively if somebody was saying that about your mother. I could be wrong though. Stern ruins a lot of peoples lives that aren't just his target victims. But who cares as long as he makes us laugh.

 

[Tim_Stack]

How is that possible? The vast majority of radio listeners are in their cars on their commutes in the morning. If the first three hours are on free radio, and people listen on their way in to work, why would someone shell out cash? Exclusivity has to be the key to any satellite success. Advertising something that most people won't hear (hours 4 & 5) won't lead to many new subscriptions.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Examples?

 

[Blu]

Personally as a former dual subscriber I did like the O&A show. Never been in a market that offered Stern but when I did finally get to listen to him with his debut on Sirius, I just didn't care.

I cancelled my XM kept Sirius and now it is all NFL and next year NASCAR!!!!

I do wish that XM stays healthy and financially viable though. Competetion is best for all Satrad fans!!!!

 

[Jeff#]

Howard Stern has said repeatedly that he would never go back to broadcast (a.k.a. "terrestrial") radio because of the extreme censorship that was driving him up the wall. His show on Free FM suffered and you could tell in his voice that he was unhappy from presenting a watered-down version. Since he's come to Sirius, he's done his best work in at least 10 years....before the FCC started making things difficult for him. It isn't merely about the big money he's making now, but what's more important to him is the creative freedom that he now has.

It doesn't make any difference what Opie and Anthony said, because it isn't true. Stern himself also pointed out that he doesn't lie. After listening to him for close to 16 years, I'm inclined to agree.

Look at the frivilous lawsuit that Leslie Moonves of CBS has filed against him. Howard honored his CBS / Infinity Broadcasting contract to the very end! And on the next to last broadcast last December, Moonves and his associate came into the studio to wish Howard luck on satellite. (I heard that broadcast). A few months later he slapped him with a multi-million dollar lawsuit for breach of contract!?!

I can't understand why anyone would be enthused about NASCAR or any other sports on radio, when you can't see the action as it happens but I'll digress....The appeal of Sirius Satellite Radio, and why I pay for it isn't just for Howard Stern but also 120 other channels to choose from. I listen to at least 10 of them when I'm at work throughout the day. Free radio is limited and boring. Where else but on satellite radio can you listen to stand-up comedy (Comedy Break 105, Raw Dog 104), old-time radio (Radio Classics 118), Rolling Stones Radio (Ch. 98), 1960s Vibrations (Ch. 6), and Elvis Radio (Ch. 13), to name just a few?

 

[Jed M]

Yeah, there is no way for them to hear what Stern has been saying about their mother except if they listen to the show. I bet they never hear a thing about it on the playgrounds. Sorry, but I don't believe anybody would be that naive to think that Kathy Lee's kids don't hear what is said. But thats right, just blame Kathy Lee since Stern obviously knows whats better for her kids than she does. Stern has done such a bang up job with his family I think its great that he can be so critical of others.

 

[MichaelBA]

If it's profitable and possible, it's not ridiculous for Stern to return to FM radio in syndicated form. The money would the central question, but also whether he'd have enough material. Am I wrong, or doesn't he do only four days per week on Sirius? Edited for content, even with commercials, would he generate sufficient material for five mornings per week on FM radio? It would make sense for him to reconcile with his previous company, at least then to be able to make use of his two decade's worth of tapes.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I would argue, but I see there is a bit of emotion (re. hate) going on with you and it's always a good idea not to argue emotions. Whether you think Stern is a good or bad person is not relevent to this discussion anyway. It is simply a discussion of whether the Post misreported his "return to FM", which they apparently did.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

The "Fridays off" thing has been every other week since the first month, although there is word that it may be more often during the summer. He has, however, frequently taken the show well into the 6th hour (11:00-12:00) and never leaves at 10:00am like he often did at K-Rock.

Speaking of "reconcile", he and CBS are close to an out of court settlement, the terms of which are not being discussed.

http://www.amny.com/entertainment/am...,4862361.story

 

[WillG]

How about a certain revelation where he got a nose job after years on the air claiming he did not. True, it is somewhat trivial, but a long lie nonetheless.
Also about the terrestrial radio deal, some of you are wondering why anyone would subscribe to XM when they could hear the O&A show for free. Well what if someone likes their show on terrestrial and eventually decides to get satellite. Not necessarily just because of O&A, but just because it is time to get into it. That person's enjoyment of the show could be a deciding factor to go with XM. They now have a big opportunity to reach a lot more listeners than Stern can and they can be a deciding factor for many people once they decide to get into satellite.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Jeff,

Thank You for sending me the sound files. They were received,
but as of this afternoon, I have not had time to sit and listen
to them. I'll get to the files by the weekend.

Just to let you know....

Howard Stern is indeed talking about Opie and Anthony. The boys
started their FM show this morning talking for over 15 minutes about
the situation.

First, the remarks Stern made a few days ago on the air (those
that you apparantly did not hear) was that Stern would love to
go back to free radio and kick O&A's ass. This is based on the
short soundbyte I myself heard a few days ago.

That was what sparked the latest round of rebuttles from O&A
including them bringing to light the fact that Howard was never
approached by any company with an offer to return to FM radio,
despite the fact that Howard claims he was. According to O&A,
Howard claimed he was approached by no less than 3 radio companies.

Opie and Anthony have challenged Howard to name the companies.
They figure since Howard turned them down, he is in a position
where he can name exactly who approached him. It is an open
challenge that O&A have made for the past few days with absolutely
no response from Stern.

The latest news being reported this morning is that Howard
went to the Associated Press (there is indeed a published story)
and touted that O&A are on FM radio because they failed on
satellite radio.

So, I just want to confirm to you that Howard has indeed been
vocal about Opie and Anthony over the past week.

Honestly, I'm not here to start an O&A/Stern war. However, I
think there are a lot of things being posted by those of us that
are bias to our favorite shock jock(s) that need further clarification.

I hope that we can continue to be civil in our debate.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Well, I did listen to them at WAAF and they were more obsessed with Stern there than they were at WNEW. They ranted for hours about Stern because he was on rival station WBCN and O&A were at little WAAF, 45 miles from Boston. Sure they said they "admired" him, but they also said how "old" he was, how "tired" he was and how "fresh" their show was. Sound familiar??? This was 11 years ago, just when does "old and tired" get, well ... old and tired?. This obsessive rainling is why Stern did not like the fact that Viacom hired them. However, to say Stern started the "war" is pure BS. There actually was no war, just a lot of ranting on O&A's side and a lot of manipulation behind the scenes on Howard's side because he did not like the two newcomers trying to get airtime on his show by baiting him to mention them. They tried to use Howard's tactics in order to get exposure, just like Howard did to Mancow, Imus, DiBella, etc., and it backfired because Howard invented it. He won, they lost, and they should drop it, because they can be funny when they drop the "Love me Daddy!" passive/agressive obsession with Howard.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Ron, that would be a perfectly logical challenge if you could tell me once in the last 10 years that Howard has appeared on O&A's show. He does not care about them, he barely mentions them (out of a half hour opening yesterday, he mentioned them in 4-5 sentences, even after the Post article specifically mentions them). As I said in my e-mail, they spent almost as much time on Whoopi. He'd never answer their challenge,because that's what O&A want him to do! If they have not learned by now, Stern does not do what they want him to do.

I'm working on the clip that was quoted in the Post. I'm almost certain it does not mention O&A by name, it mentions Les Moonves and CBS. I'll try to get it this weekend. If I'm wrong, I'll admit it, but I'm almost positive.

 

[MichaelBA]

Whether Stern was approached or not, or whether perhaps this is all posturing toward a potential negotiation on his part, I don't think even his worst detractors could reasonably argue that if he WANTED to be back on FM he wouldn't find any takers. No?

 

[dailW]

if theres not a lot of companies that howard can go to .and dopi wants howard to name names ,from the reports ive read on the net dopi is now best buds with the head of cbs and citadel ask them.jeffs right about howard talking about them on the air.like this morning their names were brought up and artie was making up radio names star & Anthony in an accent

 

[WillG]

Exactly how did they Lose? They did very well on WNEW and got Syndicated. Now just recenty got into a pretty good deal for them and reaching a much higher potential audience that Stern is. And yes, Stern has been talking about them recently. Oh he constantly says he wishes them luck. But with the recent quotes where he says they failed on satellite, how it would be fun to kick their asses in morning radio and how we wishes Mancow could get syndicated and kick their asses, the whole "wish them well" seems to smell of sour grapes to me. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[Brent T]

I listen to Stern every AM and I would love to hear where and when he said he wishes he could kick OnA's ass on FM.

What he did say is that he does not understand why the other companies up against CBS do not put mancow, don and mike or some of the others up against OnA.

Like it or not OnA on XM was a failure, they couldnt bring in 50K new subscribers, XM had to cut they loss and pimp them out to CBS all in the name of "advertising" to quote Ron (you can see my above post on how absurd that is).

Will OnA do well on CBS? Sure they will, what else is there to listen to on FREE FM ? However they will not pull in Stern numbers but cant do worse then DLR.

Its a joke and to think if Stern did go back that he wouldnt once again dominate in the ratings is just silly. However he has 500 Million reasons not to.