Munarriz asks, “Will his contract be renewed? If his deal is extended, will the terms be for more or less money and for more or less time on the air? Can satellite radio survive without him?”
“In an ideal world, Stern would elevate himself to more of an overseer role, but the shame there is that he hasn’t exactly mentored a fleet of potential replacements,” Munarriz writes. “He has padded his Howard 101 channel with capable bad boys, including Bubba the Love Sponge and Scott Ferrall, but in the end, this is a situation like Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett or Apple sans Steve Jobs.”
“Stern’s biggest crime is that he became too good at what he has done, to the point that he’s indispensible,” Munarriz writes. “If so, he also has a third option that would shun both terrestrial and satellite radio entirely.”
Munarriz writes, “One of the reasons Sirius XM’s streaming application through Apple failed to move the needle was the lack of Stern. His contract excludes streaming through wireless devices. How many more people will own smartphones come 2011? Will there be enough for Stern to launch his own premium app? If he can get a million diehard fans to pay $8.33 a month for app access, that’s a $100 million gross right there, before we begin to consider sponsorships and other revenue-generating possibilities. He’s been given plenty of autonomy at Sirius XM, but this would be his empire entirely, as he once again would ride the hot media trend of the moment.”
Full article here.
“It’s the ELEPHANT in the room, that’s the thing you can’t ignore, not the 800 lb. gorilla.”
As Franz Kafka awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into a raging bull elephant. He charged around his room with his trunk sticking straight up and making loud trumpeting noises. The picture of the lady in furs came crashing down, the vase of anemones tipped over. Suddenly afraid that his family might discover him, Franz stuck his enormous head out of the window overlooking the courtyard. But it was too late. His parents and sisters had already been awakened by the racket, and rushed into his room. All of them gasped simultaneously as they stared at the great bulk of Franz’s rump. Then Franz pulled his head and turned toward them, looking sheepish. Finally, after an awkward couple of minutes in which no one spoke, Franz’s mother went over and rested her cheek against his trunk and said, “Are you ill, dear?” Franz let loose a bloodcurdling blast, and his mother slipped to the floor. Franz’s father was about to help her but noticed the anemones tipped over on the table. He picked them up and threw them out the window, saying, “With Franz like this, who needs anemones?”
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/9900/
Oh yeah.
“I’m glad we agree on this. Best not to stir the metaphors. They’re angry when cornered.”
I’m glad you can follow where I’m coming from. It’s like shooting monkeys in a barrel.
“Howard Stern. Boring.”
But when it’s all just tit for tat, don’t underestimate the tit.
@ampar
I enjoyed your Kafka story immensely. The others – not so much.
“The others – not so much.”
Batting is averages?
I was glad he left radio before my kids could listen to his crap.
Radio?
I just bought a new car that came with 3 month complimentary Sirius. We endured a Nor’Easter a few weeks back and lost power for two and a half days. The ability to go out to my car and turn on Satellite Radio and listen to cable news and NFL was a lifesaver over the local radio programming talking about the storm, and storm damage and power outage… yeah tell me something I didn’t know, but with Satellite they had programming of what’s happening out in the country / world, not just my little neck of the woods with our storm problems! A wonderful respite.
Oh, forgot to say regarding Howard Stern… I didn’t listen to him on radio, watch him on cable and haven’t any interest tuning in or Satellite. So if he leaves when his contract is up, no big loss for me other than to say I might have one more channel on Satellite that has something I might actually tune into because the Howard Stern show ain’t it!
And it wouldn’t stop be from subscribing if I so choose whether he is on Satellite or not.
MDN in surreal mode, much easier on the brain.
Ah, just like the good old days again!
Let Howard retire and make Bubba Sirius’ new headliner.
Who’s Howard Stern?
Seriously, I listened to Howard in college when he was relevant… 15 years ago! XM/Sirius will not be around in a year. WIth iPod connectivity in your car, Xm/Sirius is unnecessary.
Guess you never heard of generators. Power Failure… must be Apple’s fault. Idiot.
The Howard Stern show is the most entertaining show on any medium in my opinion. Since their move to satellite, it’s far better than when they were on terrestrial radio – it’s uncensored! I had no idea there were so many church mothers around to comment on this story. I think I saw “potty mouth” referenced, are you kidding me? He’s a huge talent and I’ll follow him for sure. If he splits, satellite is doomed.
Howard Stern still has a show? I thought he was dead.
just my $0.02
@ChrissyOne
If the metaphor is “Elephant in the room”, then that means…
Bob REALLY DID have an 800 lb gorilla in the room. OH CRAP!!!
I have to agree with other posters, is Stern really that relevant still?
Jumped the shark
Please stop using questions as headlines.
Isn’t he just one big fart app?
If Stern is so influential Sirius would have added tons of subscribers and not have gone belly up. His listeners will not pay $9 a month to listen.
Part of the appeal of Howard on the public airwaves was how close he could come to the “FCC line”. His show is OK now but too long for the ‘old days’
@ChrissyOne
You hit the goose on the head.
@Tyk,
Do you mean like going from a couple hundred thousand subscribers to over 20 million? Lets face it, say what you will about Stern as a performer, etc. but don’t distort the facts. If it wasn’t for Stern, the new company would have been XM-Sirius rather than Sirius-XM. All of the XM management are gone, not the other way around.
With that said, I do question the overall viability of satellite radio in general, with or without Stern. I have it in of my vehicles and it’s a nice additional option, but far from a must have feature. Further, as someone else mentioned already, it’s far more convenient to get a bit torrent copy of the show and listen to it at your leisure. If Sirius-XM were smart, they’d make the shows available on iTunes, etc.
As for the iPhone app, I wouldn’t hold my breadth. Stern is a great interviewer, but he knows nothing about technology (he went from a Palm to a Blackberry) and even less about sports (or politics for that matter).