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Howard Stern Coming To the Net
theodp writes, "To promote an Internet radio service Sirius is launching this week, Howard Stern's 4+ hour program will be made available live online for free on October 25 and 26. The new Sirius service will offer 75+ channels of CD-quality programming for $12.95/month with no need to buy a Sirius satellite receiver."
Let me give that reaction a little more thought...
Nope. Yawn sums it up.
But not CD quality audio. I think the net stream is 32kbps.
... to listen to Howard Stern's talk about midget lesbians. That's so awesome because like there isn't any other access to midget lesbians and other assorted pervsions anywhere else on the Internet.
What, are they streaming WAV files?
When you hear the show, you will want it enough to pay the Sirius subscription fee.
I guess they wont be playing much music on all those channels.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
For a glorified podcast? This is a bit expensive considering their regular real sat service is about the same price, and has the glorious side benefit of being able to be listened to in the car, where most people listen to music. Maybe if the cost was half this, but at 13 bucks I dont see this moving anywhere.
Now??
... and then they built the supercollider.
While I could honestly care less about Howard Stern, I am interested in this Internet streaming service of theirs. Does it have support for mobile clients, like PalmOS 5 and Windows Mobile 5?
Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
CD-quality should imply a real and quantifiable level of quality . . . not "it sounds like a CD to the casual listener (that doesn't know that analog FM radio music is typically compressed in dynamic range and frequency and that radio broadcasts are already equalized for cheap car stereos and boomboxes)."
I'll happily pay more if they have a service without Howard. I'm getting ready to pick up a system and Howard Stern being on Sirius was the deciding factor not to go with them. It's personal tastes but I graduated high school a lot of years ago and hearing him takes me back to high school in all the bad ways. I can listen to obnoxious jerks for free, why would I pay for the priveledge. Yes I know I don't have to listen but I don't care to patronize a service that promotes that kind of programming. I was thrilled when he left the airwaves why would I want to chase the guy to satelite? Too many people these days are thrilled to tell you what to think. I grew up back at a time when the general belief was we should think for ourselves. Now we are all but taught that's dangerous. I guess it's easier for a lot of people to let the government, religous leaders or Howard Stern tell them what to think. If I want an opinion I'd rather go to one of the great minds of our time and Howard just isn't one of them. I don't need him to tell me who's cool or "in". I really don't care. It's childish and pointless.
I had no idea Howard Stern was still relevant.
I don't get it... Can someone explain?
I'll have a go.
The Sirius is on the internet, or they have a website at least which is on the internet (yeah, that'll do)
Nerds use the internet
This is news article about something on the internet
So this is News for Nerds... I did it!!!
That's Numberwang.
Summation 2
I have Sirius in my car as well as a home kit for use with my home stereo. I travel fairly often all over Western Canada so having satellite radio is sort of a must as I don't like to take scads of CDs with me. Sirus fits the bill perfectly and I have access to programs that I wouldn't normally on terrestrial radio, like Fox and CNN radio as well as the World Radio Network.
Now, satellite radio in the car is one thing, but PAYING for the same content strictly for use in the home makes no sense. If you have the Internet you already have access to free, high quality radio stations playing a wide variety of music, never mind that all the cable and satellite companies include commercial free music stations as part of their basic digital service.
I understand the need for Sirius to broaden their income base as they have yet to make money, but even the most novice Internet user is aware of free alternatives that offer essentially the same or better content.
ok, so Howard Stern is syndicated across what, 50-odd radio stations? What's the bet that at least 10 of them stream to the internet?
Windows is a bonfire, Linux is the sun. Linux only looks smaller if you lack perspective.
Now, if Howard Stern was to release his own iPod killer, then I would be interested!
Sirius needs to work on a pod-casting model with Howard Stern in the line up. Just about every podcast i've listened too is absolutely horrible. "Escape Pod" and "Ask a Ninja" set themselves apart from the likes of "TWiT", "Buzz Out Lood", etc ...
I'd be more than willing to pay for quality shows put into a pod-casting format that I can use on my iPod. New, original, fiction that is produced with the quality of the old-time radio shows is what i'm really after, but talking heads that actually keep me entertained would be a nice switch as well.
Maybe if I was still in my adolescence (or stuck in it) I'd really dig Howard Stern.
I'll ignore that this story is spam, but I wonder why it took him so long to put a teaser on the net. I used to listen to him everyday, and Adam Corolla is no replacement. Now I don't, but $12.95/month might be reasonable when I strike it rich.
How is this pertinent to the geek community at all? It looks like an advertisement to me...
Well Howard Stern is already on the net. He is not on any radio stations FYI because the Feds stomped on his free speach. The fact that he can say whatever he wants [(even lez-miget wrestling in crisco) -waiting for that] makes satellite radio worth the $13 when traveling in yoru car. -That is of course if you listen to the radio at all.
No commercials is worth it to me. (howard stern has commercials)
Now offering 75 channels streaming online... i'm listening to sirus ATM in a cafe.. and it SUX compared to good old Shoutcast. Winamp has what.... 200+ stations that you can tweak the audio output of. Plus you do not need a browser window to keep the stream up. I like the freedom that satellite brings to the sheep, but i would never pay to listen online.. that is just absurd.
Kill your TV
XM has offered streaming radio for almost a year now. I know for sure it's included in the monthly standard plan price (12.95) but i do believe they have a cheaper streaming only price as well.
XM also has the far funnier Opie and Anthony as well.
I never listened to Howard when he was on terrestrial radio but now I do on Sirius. He's funny and there are some interesting interviews. Not all the time mind you but a fair amount of time.
To the prudes out there that can't stand to hear what he has to say, don't listen. Turn the dial.
$13 bucks a month is worth having something to listen to on the way to work. There are more then just Howards 2 stations to listen to.
XM has been offering this for years now for $7.95.
Bought Sirius for Stern and the music channels just to find out that Stern takes off every Friday and the regular music channels is flooded with DJ's who talk to just hear themselves talk. I fixed this problem by buying XMradio
I can ignore him there too!
Seriously, he was broadcasting in Montreal for a while and he couldn't cut it there because no one found him interesting.
There are plenty of places where his humour just doesn't cut it and he comes across as rather boring and unimaginative.
I imagine alot of people also find him shocking, but I just find him lame.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
howard stern is a no talent hack and has been for years
Care to explain how a "no talent hack" regularly had a highly rated syndicated radio show, multiple best-seller books, a movie that did reasonably well, and also highly rated television shows before being offered $500 million to go to satellite? How can a no-talent hack like me get a paycheck like that?
CTRL-F, SIRIUS
Nothing found.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
Um, Sirius isn't on there, buttwipe.
How can a no-talent hack like me get a paycheck like that? Do you seriously believe that what Stern does shows a talent? If you want to do what Stern did, just get a radio show, and be an asshole. It worked for Stern, it worked for Limbaugh, and it could work for you, too. -jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Again, look at how many people are angry. If you don't want to listen, just dont! It's not like you HAVE to listen to satellite radio. I enjoy the program, so please dont go bitching to the FCC now just because you happened to: log on, click the link, and enjoy it until it got to something that offended you.
Thanks,
the 5+ million Sirius subscribers
stuff |
They're joking, right?
I actually pay for one internet radio service that has thousands of stations w/out commercials. Even if one gets redundant, I can probably find a dozen others that play a similar format -- plus formats that aren't even on Serius. It costs me around 1/3 of what Serius wants to charge.
Now add in all the free audio on Shoutcast, all the broadcast stations that stream over the internet and the free XM stations that are available on Winamp and I think Serius is fooling themselves.
Of course, there are probably enough idiots out there who will think it is a good deal that they'll see a profit -- especially since there's basically no additional cost for them.
Nowadays it is impossible to be the next Stern with the FCC's overzealous regulations and right-wing overlords.
Ba Ba Booey to you all.
--- RFC 1149 Compliant.
I listen to Howard Stern all the time, commuting on route 128. All I do is tune my FM radio to 87.9.
Apparently many Sirius satellite radio receivers must be add-on units that work through FM modulators with the car's FM radio. And 87.9 is apparently the default FM conversion setting.
Based on my unscientific poll, during drive time something like 2/3 of Boston-area Sirius subscribers are tuned to Stern.
OK, to tell the truth, no, I don't get continuous, uninterrupted Stern that way, but, yes, I do keep one of my presets at 87.9 and I do check from time to time to see if anything is on there... and I get enough Stern to feel like I'm still "in touch" with him and his gang.
So, the question I have is, which is it? are jackbooted Sirius thugs going to sue me for theft of services? Or are jackbooted FCC thugs going to toss the converter operators in jail for operating pirate radio stations?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
How much radio do you listen to? Stern is an important figure in the history of radio - this is accepted by most in the industry and it is not because of fart jokes.
I don't like Howard Stern, nor do I like to listen to or watch his programs. However, I realize the power of the dial or channel/changer is enough. I merely change the station, and don't go into a hissy fit because someone somewhere likes Howard Stern, and I don't try to get legislatures and government bodies to force my personal listening preferences on others.
Where were you when the voynix came?
First off, I'll say that I'm absolutely a Stern fan, and for those that don't find him funny, I'd just say that there are MANY more stations on Sirius that play all kinds of great music, so tune it to those and shut up already about this "Stern will lower decency of the net" and all that horseshit, gimme a break and stop being so dramatic, no one cares!
As far as the significance of this for "nerds", I'd say that it has more to do with the likelihood that this is the direction that radio is going much in the way television went from broadcast signals to cable in the late 70's and early 80's. I got Sirius last March (mostly to hear Stern again, since he's been out of our market for a few years). I admit, I was thinking at the time that the music stations would be a nice "extra" but my real motivation was to be able to hear Howard uncensored.
I was astonished at how good some of the music stations are. I bought a $16 receiver off of Ebay and stuck it in my car. I listen to the Internet Streams on my PC at home and at work and I find the selection of music MUCH better than other internet streams. Additionally, I ended up liking the Sirius in my car a lot more than I expected. OK, I'll concede that it's definitely not CD quality, but it's as good as FM. The main differences, of course, are no commercials on music stations, stations don't fade out once you get out of town (great for road trips), and a MUCH larger selection of music. I can't tell you the last time I listened to conventional radio, and I wouldn't mind a bit if I never did again.
Before you put my off as a Stern/Sirius "fan-boy", consider this: when broadband first came out, a lot of people (ok, maybe not geeks) didn't see where it would make a big difference, and stuck with dial-up because they didn't want the added expense and didn't see it as being worth it. No problem, good for them, until the internet evolved and made itself basically unuseable to anything but a broadband connection. I'd contend that this is a real possibility with satellite radio, and if a big radio personality is using his name to start it off, I can see its relevance. Just as a person cannot bring him/herself to go back to dial-up once they're experienced the net on high speed, the same ends up being true with satellite radio...regular radio really sounds crappy afterward. Just my opinion.
Howard Stern is perpetually stuck with the mind & maturity of a poorly disclipined teenager with a one track mind...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Leave it to a bunch of douchebags to trash talk Howard Stern in a geek forum. No talent hack? glorified podcast? I suppose the industry just hands half a billion dollars over to people who fit that profile.
More relevant to the topic, I hope they don't take away net access to the people who already have subscriptions, or make them pay extra for it.
If you think his show is nothing but sex and midget strippers, you are sorely mistaken. That says to me that you have never even listened to the show, or your head is so far up the religious right's ass, you can't think for yourself and everything must be censored. He invented the talk radio entertainment genre and everyone else is just an imitator. Almost 5 million people didn't sign up in less than a year because Stern has no clout or nothing interesting to say like the guy from Montreal commented. But hey, he's a French Canadian, so we know how that goes. As a previous subscriber to XM and a current subscriber to Sirius, XM has a slightly better music offering, but the all-around package for sports, news, political discussion, music and entertainment, goes to Sirius. The only thing XM does better is music. There is a reason that they have had to lower their subscriber forecasts twice this year. The internet stream is not CD quality. It is a 128kbps, but it's above average for an internet stream. Before everyone bashes the service and Stern, try it out. His show is hilarious, Artie Lange is an amazing addition to the show and I gladly listen to the whole show every day.
All depends on how you define talent. If talent means that you have the ability to entertain a lot of people then Stern has tons of it. So, in the entertainment industry Stern is one of the top talents.
I am trying the free trial and there is no Howard Stern.
Their web app sucks. It is streaming at 32K, far from "CD quality" and has little to no content. If they are only letting me have it for two days, give me more than 5% of what you have to offer. Or at least let me choose what I want to check out.
You don't have to install their plugin to use it. Firefox doesn't recognize their plugin anyway...
After picking through their site, Stern is supposed to fall under the "entertainment" category. All that is in there is Maxim Radio, Cosmo Radio and Martha Stewart. This trial sucks big time...
heheh - not only is sirius not on there (as MANY others have said) but they also link to 'proof' that the WTC was brought down by explosives... This is a site that should be held in high regard. And of course I laugh now because of South Park.
The $12.95+tax price tag includes service for one Satellite radio and the ability to stream various Sirius content, Non FCC controlled content. Sirius is an indispensable service for any of us who spend a lot of time in our cars and don't want the hassle of cds/mp3s and cant stand FCC sanitized radio with zero content. Remember the list of classic rock songs that can no longer be played because of the FCC crack down? How about most of the music in mp3 collection? It's well worth the price of a CD to hear uncensored content. Outside of Sal and Richard's homofest, The Stern show continues to get funnier everyday. Could use a little less of the Sybian too. Search any of the torrent sites and you will see just how popular the show is. (btw: Stern is no longer on terrestrial/fcc content controlled radio.) Sirius over all has a lot to offer XM. 2 NPR stations alone would be enough to go with Sirius over XM. I'm a big fan of firstwave, backspin, chill, and classic vinyl. Opie and Anthony now do a censored, FCC friendly show since they went back to FCC content controlled radio. XM charged/charges extra to listen subscribe to o/a, and they unable to get more than 500,000 listeners. They produce completely forgettable and unlistenable material. Notice that there are zero torrents for this crappy show no one cares about.
It appears that the offer is for US citizens only and with no apparent way of us outside the US getting access. Oh well back to bittorent
Cheap UK and US VPS
the fight for freedom of speech is the fight for freedom of speech... saying fuck, shit, and cunt is just as important as being able to remark on your government. It really is an all inclusive fight.
Howard Stern is the reason I stayed with XM.
Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
Howard is WAY past his prime, anyway. He's an interesting guy, and is even capable of the occasional intelligent insight. But the daily grind of listening to him go on...and on...and on...and on...and on about strippers/lesbians/his dick/porn stars/etc. tends to get VERY old, very fast.
When he was in his heyday, I listened to him. He had some interesting stuff to say and his interviews were truly unique (who else could have gotten away with asking Julia Roberts how big Liam Neeson's dick was?). But it was, at best, one good segment for every 15 lame ones. And that was in his HEYDAY (10-15 years ago).
Besides, without the FCC or his wife to mock anymore, what's really left for him to do? He's like an aging knight in a world where all the dragons have already been slain.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I don't agree with the things that Howard Stern says and does, but is he really a no-talent hack? Stern is a natural. Like another radio personality I try to avoid, Rush Limbaugh, he has a great voice, great feel for the medium, and obviously has an innate understanding of what people want to hear. I concede that he's a jerk while on the air, but to make it on talk radio, you definitely have to be over-the-top.
I think it's a mistake to equate the Howard Stern Show with Howard Stern. The show is dreck and appeals to the lowest common denominator in our society. If you lisen/watch for a bit, however, you'll realize that Howard Stern the person is a pretty smart guy who just happens to realize that appealing to the lowest common common denominator of society is pretty good for your paycheck. He doesn't respect his listeners and he knows that the second they have an opportunity to giggle and point at his misfortunes and kick him to the curb, they will do so. Meanwhile, he's getting a hell of a ride. He's a modern day P.T. Barnum barking for the freakshow. I never thought I'd use this term, but in this case it's true "Don't hate the player. Hate the game."
"Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?"- Peter Gabriel
Yes, but he's EXTREME . Being EXTREME is cool. You want to be cool, don't you? Then listen to Howard Stern. Because he's EXTREME , and EXTREME is cool. By listening to Howard Stern, you then become EXTREME -- and therefore cool -- by extension.
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
You mean I can get 4+ hours of infantile poopy jokes and lesbian fetish fantasies for free?
I already get that with Slashdot and Fark!
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
Weird, his old ratings books always said he was top with ppl who make over 50k and had a college education. and now it looks like his current listeners are those whom not afraid of new tech or paying to listen to him. Lowest common denominator? Please. Who doesnt love rotten, consumptionjunction, boing, etc? Where else will you hear someone doing battle with the crazy godhatesfags group? Or hear someone making the klan look foolish? Howards social political idealogies are hardly what we could consider lowest common denominator. Oh, and Poop jokes never stop being funny.
This is really the issue. I know people who think that Trailer Park Boys is a great TV Show. I think it's terrible, and stupid, and not funny in the least. Yet there's many people who think it's the best show ever. Myself, I think South Park is a great show, but there's others who don't hold the same opinion as me.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
"Howard Stern's 4+ hour program will be made available live online for free..."
I think this exists already, its called bit torrent.
I can do this for no additional charge on my XM. And the XM radio cost $24 net last xmas.
Howard stopped being funny when he stoped shocking New Yorkers in a novel way and just started amusing himself.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
People said the same thing about Cable TV. They'd never pay for something they could get for free... Guess what? Most of you nay sayers now pay for cable. In fact I'd wager ALL of you do.
I don't. That's because finally we have a choice other than subscription for a larger variety of TV - download (legal or otherwise). Why would I pay any monthy fee, much less the $60+ cable companies want, to watch just a few shows?
No, if consumers are offered a choice many people prefer to pay as they go - and the rise of cable was all about that not being an option.
Music is in the position where you can always pay as you go, and talk radio even the same way with podcasts. That's why the iPod has done so well, because it lets people escape radio and play what they like.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
When I say "lowest common denominator", I don't mean people who make under $50k and didn't go to college. I mean people who think that poop jokes never stop being funny.
"Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?"- Peter Gabriel
Internet radio for music ? Shoutcast works well for me. I get it through streamtuner (windows versions also avail) which is better than through the shoutcast web site in my opinion... streamtuner, streamripper, xmms for Linux.. or steamtuner, streamripper, winamp for Windows and you'll be happy internet radio campers. (except that damn NFL.. thought it might go well with Fantasy Football)
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
Stern is an important figure in the history of radio That doesn't mean he has any talent. Jerry Springer's an important figure in the history of TV, too. They've both shown that you can make a lot of money hosting a freak show. -jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
No, no one is thinking about them at all.
In that case, please post a "story" for my business, too... 10% off my PHP development services when you mention this ad!
Some folks will pay for the convenience of it rather than hunting and pecking and surfing along the web finding or not finding the kind of music or talk they want to listen to. And if Sirius can sell that to John Q Public then good for them, everybody wins. Even the fanboys who say you can find music and talk on your own on the web can feel superior for their greater knowledge of surfing the web. Win Win.
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.
Since when does slashdot provide free advertising to Howard Stern? What's the next hot topic- viagara ads and Nigerian bank fraud schemes? This one slipped by the crap filter!
In trying to correct myself (streamtuner not steam) I thought I would try and find a URL for Windows version.. cant find it anymore.. sorry bout that. You still might find streamripper plugin for winamp handy though.
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
All I've been reading so far is how awesome Sirius is and how much Stern sucks. Now I've never been a huge fan of Stern (for some reason I don't get too much enjoyment out of him asking every woman who walks into the studio to take their top off and then listen to him ooh and awe and remark on "that broad's sweet cans"), but want to bitch about is Sirius. When I bought a new car, it came with Sirius and a trial of its service. For a good 4 months, I listened to Sirius off and on and was utterly dissapointed. Now I am fully aware that this was a limited trial and I only had about 10 stations (not including Howard) but my biggest gripe was with the QUALITY OF SERVICE! Maybe it's just me, but I found that the audio quality was much WORSE THAN FM! I had heard others describe Sirius as being "tinny", and that's exactly what I heard when I turned on my stereo for the first time. No matter how much I tweaked the stereo, it always sounded like the treble was turned all the way up. For talk this doesn't matter, but for music, I want that full range of sound that pumps your chest (not for some shitty hip hop song, but for wicked double bass drum work and kick-ass basslines). Furthermore, whenever I went through an area with a lot of trees, or under an overpass, or through a tunnel, my signal dissapeared. Sitting in traffic under an overpass? Well you won't be able to pass the time listening to Sirius. All you can do is stare at the "Linking..." message on the display. I'm sick and tired of people singing the praises of satelite when it is clear there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made as far as the technology is concerned. If I'm even going to pay for radio service, I damn well expect it to sound better then anything I've heard and it better not stop playing because I drove past a couple trees. Eventually, my trial subscription expired and it was at least a month before I noticed. I had Sirius, and I did go back to "terrestrial" (btw, I hate how Howard Stern "invented" the term just so he can make satelite "radio"[cause it's not really a radio frequency if it's sent by satelites] sound so much superiorAs long as it is free of commercials, I'd much rather go with HD Radio, something based on a technology that is not dependant on line-of-sight to reach my receiver.
Sorry that was quite a rant, but I just had to get it off my chest.
"It's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get." -- H. J. Simpson
Great, so for $13 a month I can listen to some no-talent shock jock making dumb comments with his idiot buddies? Woohoo. No thanks.
Howard Stern was mildly amusing when he was being censored, just to see how far he would push it. Now he's uncensored what little humour there was has been lost.
I'm no Bush fan, but when he started trotting out the 9/11 conspiracy stuff before the last election, and Robin/Artie & Co could be heard just playing "yes, sir" to every allegation Stern spewed, that was it for me. Bash Bush. Fine. But don't trot out a pile of moonbat propagandistic bullshit that by necessioty drags hundreds, if not thousands, of other people through the mud.
And, yeah, the end of his marriage broke him away from a sense of the common guy. How many times do I need to hear about his $500 meals out on the town with his trophy girlfriend and their stupid terrier? Wheee.
If you argue this you are an ignorant fool.
How many of those "sales" numbers were "XM-ready" cars where the owner never signed up or did not extend whatever free trial was included? There's other allegations of numbers inflation.
You *did* know about that angle to it, right, I mean, with you not being an ignornat fool and everything?
And Stern is not talentless, but he HAS become another Chevy Chase in his old age. He's become what he once held in contempt: the rich kid with the cheerleader girlfriend who drops celebrity names whenever he can.
How can my post be redundant if it was the first one posted? :-P
Note to those with mod point: Check the TIME
~ Mooga
It always has...just getting worse lately.
Ask yourself the same question the next time a Nintendo (proprietary gaming platform) or Google (proprietary search engine) blurb shows up. Many, if not most of Slashdot's stories are cheap, positive PR pieces for corporations open-source Slashdotters normally wouldn't support.
He moved to Sirius, which jumped from 600,000 subscribers before he was on it, to 6,000,000 subscribers now.
He is credited with basically saving Sirius from going out of business, and at the same time making himself $500,000,000 (and more, probably, with stock options).
Now I know why a marginally entertaining, psuedo-news show like 60min would have this no-talent, self-centered, ego-maniac on. It was part of a new PR campaign leading up to this announcement. Stern's presence on satellite is irrelevant. He's not getting the attention he needs to generate the cash his promoters expect. So, just like the over-acheiving, brown-nosing kid in class that desparately waves his hand in the air to get the attention of the teacher, Howie is back on TV first in an attempt to regain some form of visibility and now s/he's on the web. Oh, joy. I think I almost yawned just now, too.
An effective "democracy" creates the illusion the people have a say in their government.
Isn't he retired or something?
Is he working 3 days a week now or 4?
Unfortunately, too many broadcasters focused on reproducing the crass jokes rather than what really made Stern special. It doesn't appear you were able to get past that either.
get a clue, poop jokes are funny. the show is, and always has been, a mix of pop culture, politics/social issues, approached from a high and low brow angle.
Dude, you missed the underline. It's just not extreme enough without an underline... of course, you'd need to find a link for that here on /.
Over the years anytime stern mentions a website for the first time gets hammered with traffic. Think rotten.com back in the 90s. It's clear that geeks listen to stern. Slashdotters appear to be concerned with tech and social/political issues.
To be fair, Howard isn't just a village idiot - he is the original village idiot. :)
I used to listen to Howard every day, and thoroughly enjoyed his show. A lot of it is just blabber, but can be fairly entertaining. I didn't have a problem just changing the channel if he wasn't talking about something that interested me. (i.e. I am not one of the rabid fans who worship him as some kind of genius) When he went to satellite, I was kind of bummed. I thought about getting Sirius. But after doing a cost/benefit/hassle analysis, I realized that it wasn't even worth my time to do a cost/benefit/hassle analysis. Sure, I miss his show a little, but it isn't going to have a negative impact on my life. It just isn't that important. I pretty much despise all other talk shows, and music? Well, nothing really excites me. I have 60 GB of MP3s at home, and my car CD player reads MP3s on CD. So I can make my own mixes, or pull from my vast collection of things to listen to. There is the radio if I want to hear the latest punk-rock wannabes, or the hit songs from 2 years ago, or endless uber-annoying commercials. I listen to NPR to and from work, and I am better informed for it. I hear people expounding the virtues of satellite radio, just like people ooh and ahh over TiVO. Yeah, they are cool - but I guess it just isn't worth it to me. If I get a TiVO, then I'll have all this recorded crap I would feel the need to watch - or worse yet, I would have nothing recorded because there isn't too much I want to watch on TV anymore. I've heard it is more liberating because you can watch what you want when you want, but to me it is still restricting because you are still WATCHING. I'm not one of those "get rid of your TV" people, I just don't want it to be a controlling factor in my life. Same goes for satellite radio. I find that once I remove myself from it, I just really don't care about it all that much. And I am really OK with that.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Doesn't sound like a great deal considering you can already listen to Howard online along with a lot of the other Sirius channels on the net when you buy a receiver. If you like Sirius you want it in the car and not just a internet only subscription.
You should do the math yourself, if he added 5 million subs at 12.95 a month thats $51 million a month attributable to him. 10 months and sterns paid for in full. The other 4 years and 2 months is profit. And that doesn't include the $49+ a radio every one of those subs bought to listen.
Sirius knew what they were doing, and they made a good deal.
Gadget News at Gizmo.com
Probably/maybe now vs DEFINITELY before. Out of the two companies, Sirius is looking like a better bet at the moment, XM's subscriber rate is slowing while Sirius is growing.
I don't really care, since I don't have stock in either. I imagine ultimately one will buy the other out.
Yaaawwwwwwnnn....
Every new subscriber cost Sirius $130. At $13 a month, it takes them most of a year to recover that cost. Sirius isn't even breaking even on cash flow, so after the 10 months it takes them to pay off the subscriber for showing up, they still lose money on every subscriber every month.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
Do the math. For every subscriber if your numbers are right he earns 100 bucks and more as you say.
So? Do the math yourself. I signed up for Stern. I've now been a member for 14 months.
14 months x $13 = $182 they've made off me that they wouldn't have without Stern.
His $500 million salary is spead over 5 years, that means in 5 years Sirius will have gotten $780 from me (and the same from other Stern fans), without paying anything extra to Stern.
ANY subscription based business is a long term prospect. Assuming subscriptions keep growing at even a modest rate, and assumming Stern fans still like Stern enough to keep their accounts, I'm sure they will do fine.
Again, I feel it's likely the two satellite companies will merge, but I don't really care about that, as I'm not a stockholder. I just want to keep listening to the content I like, with as little commercials as possible, in my car (since I have a long commute).
Love him or hate him, it is impossible to claim he is not relevant in 2006. In his domain (entertainment), he was one of the top grossing performers last year, nudged out by only the likes of Steven Spielberg for total income. He's also considered one of the most powerful men in showbusiness, as evindenced by this article in Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/53/5S85.html ...which places him in position "7" out of 100 of the most powerful Celebrities in the entertainment business.
The news story about having a couple of free days on Sirius may be ho-hum, and there may be many of you that have an extreme dislike for his programming...but irrelevant he is not.
Except that it cost them $130 to sign you up. So, by your own numbers they have made $52 off of you in the last 14 months. That's less than $4/month. How much of that do you think is profit? How much of it do you think is available to pay Stern?
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
His show fell apart during his divorce. Everyday, all day he just whined about the whole ordeal. Every single day it was the same crap day in and day out. I got tired of it, and stopped listening to him.
After all that, what you describe above is true.
until (succeed) try { again(); }
Sirius isn't even breaking even on cash flow, so after the 10 months it takes them to pay off the subscriber for showing up, they still lose money on every subscriber every month.
Not true, at least not teh way you have phrased it. After they pay off what it costs to acquire subscribers, they do NOT lose money on every subscriber, they lose money overall. It doesn't cost them any extra to transmit to 6,000,000 people than it would to 600. Thus, there must be a point where if they have X subscribers, they will have positive cashflow. Their costs are fixed, but the # of subscribers is not.
Sure, but in 5 years, once I have paid in $780, how much extra have they paid to keep me signed up?
The answer is nothing. And it doesn't cost them ANYTHING extra to transmit to me. Their signal goes out just the same, either way.
So in five years, I will have generated them $650. Possibly more as I imagine I will have bought a second reciever by then.
Multiple that $650 by a few million other people and you have a business model that is similar to Cable Tv, which also probably generated tremendous losses in the beginning.
Speaking of that, how much of that $130 figure you keep quoating is defrayed by the $100 i spent on my reciever + accessories. Not the full $100, of course, but some of that must have made it back to Sirius.
That's a good analogy, but you're forgetting one thing. The FCC and his wife being gone has not stopped him from being popular. I thought it would, but 5 million people signed up for Sirius and proved me wrong. It's these very people that make him relevant. He's someone that people enjoy listening to, no matter what he talks about. I think it's his hypnotic voice and his sexual awareness that makes him interesting. But above all I find him interesting because he's a great way for me to find out what a lot of people are interested in, so it lets me see the world in a truer light.
Wow and about time they offered the service online. I've always wondered when they were planning to make the step and offer it online for people, this can only mean that the company is greedy or there not making as much money as the investors predicted so this is how they can make more money. I've always wondered when they were planning to offer the service online, still if I wanted to actually listen to Howard Stern online I'd just download it from the newsgroups, right?!?
Don't mean to correct you - but you CANNOT get all of the Sirius channels thru WiFI. You get the same number you would normally get when you stream it online via your browser. The music is there, Howard is there as is Martha Stewart and one or two others - but NONE of the other talk/news/comedy channels are streamed.
This point in particular has me irritated more than anything and I've already complained about it. I'm actually seriously considering taking the radio back to the store for my money back because of this. I listen to Howard occasionally too, but the lack of the headline news and other channels streamed over WiFi has me pissed.
At least XM has a home-repeater you can purchase so you can mount one antenna and broadcast the full satellite signal throughout your home. The nitwits at Sirius still haven't done this...
Never have a philosophy which supports a lack of courage
Why would I want to spend $13/mo for something I can get for free?
http://www.shoutcast.com/
Yeah, I know, you can't get it over that special receiver you bought.
Heard any good sigs lately?
Lemme think... Strippers, midgets, l0sers, all doing stupid things. Sex, crass language, etc. Um, isn't Howard just YouTube without the videos? -rick
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Oookay... Shoutcast anybody?
May not have such legendary radio talkers such as Martha Steward or Deepak Chopra (who?) but I'm pretty sure that they're free and you can get amazing music for any mood whenever you want with fairly good quality to boot.
/not responsibly for any grammir/speeling errers
Listen to Howard Stern for free, only $12.95 a month.
..at the general haughty nature of the posts. This is the same crowd that falls all over itself trying to come up with the most insipid 'Wii' jokes, isn't it?
Don't you have someone you'd die for?
And nobody cared. It certainly didn't make slashdot. I guess that answers the question, if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?
It sounds to me like they are trying to charge for basically what I get for free with http://shoutcast.com/. Sure the content might be different, but there are TONS of channels available up there.
I think I'll stay away from this one. I have better things to spend 13 bucks on.
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
I had no idea that commercial terrestrial radio was still relevant. I haven't turned on an FM tuner and listened more than 5 minutes in the last 10 months.
Sirius just released its third-quarter subscriber data: more than 5.1 million subscribers. That more than doubles the 2.2 million subscribers Sirius reported a year ago. Sirius claims it's out-grown competitor XM Satellite Radio for four straight quarters.
It was about two years ago that Howard Stern and Sirius announced their deal. Recently I blogged about Stern's lower ad rates on sat radio compared with his old terrestrial radio net. As several readers pointed out, that's only part of the formula.
Sirius currently charges $12.95 a month for a subscription. So every thousand subs means another $155,400 in revenue for Sirius. As cable TV does, sat radio gets two major revenue streams: subs and ads.
So what's the magic number? When does Howard Stern become a profitmaker for Sirius? We may have passed that number some time ago. Stern and his production staff reportedly cost Sirius $100 million a year. That's roughly the income from 644,000 subs at the current monthly rate.
link
So, there you go. Assuming that # is correct, as long as around 650,000 people subscribe (and continue toi do so) expressly because of Stern, he is paying for himself.
I've been a Sirius subscriber since Howard announced the switch, and I will never go back to testicle radio again. The quality is as good as any radio station, but it cuts out under bridges and in hills. They need more repeaters like they have in the big cities, other than that I plan on sticking with Sirius until something better comes out.
I'm listening to Howard's web stream right now.
You don't get all of the Siruis channels online when you buy a subscription to Sirius. They only offer a few channels online - mostly music. In fact, I don't think there is a single talk channel available.
So, with this, you get ALL the Sirius channels online. That's cool. But, it's $13/mo. That's not cool.
Howard is WAY past his prime, anyway. He's an interesting guy, and is even capable of the occasional intelligent insight. But the daily grind of listening to him go on...and on...and on...and on...and on about strippers/lesbians/his dick/porn stars/etc. tends to get VERY old, very fast.
Keep in mind that for the past 5 years or so on terrestrial radio he was really holding back because of more draconian FCC regulations as well as his own bosses being afraid of lawsuits, loss of their FCC licenses, etc. Since he's been freed on Sirius of all that he's back to his old self again.
Another thing that many people don't seem to realize is that Stern also has the rights to all the tapes of all his old shows. That's 20+ years worth of some of the most entertaining radio content out there, and all uncensored. They've already started playing some of it, and apparently they may even set up an entire channel devoted to all this old material. If you liked him in the old days then you can listen to it all over again, and this time without the bleeps and the cuts from the dreaded "dump button".
One of the things people aren't taking into account about all the new subscriptions is the fact they're being generated by bulk sales to auto manufacturers. Stern is a distant second when it comes to the reason for new subscribers.
Plus Stern's not doing anything new or innovative considering his newfound freedom from his arch-nemesis of the FCC. He's coasting until his contract is up in 2011 so he can retire.
One of the things people aren't taking into account about all the new subscriptions is the fact they're being generated by bulk sales to auto manufacturers. Stern is a distant second when it comes to the reason for new subscribers.
Is this a FACT, or a spin? You have some hard numbers to back that up?
Plus Stern's not doing anything new or innovative considering his newfound freedom from his arch-nemesis of the FCC. He's coasting until his contract is up in 2011 so he can retire.
I dunno, his show on satellite is wildly entertaining, and his channels are also quite entertaining. Six minutes of commercials versus 24+ on KROC is innovative enough for me. Especially since the show is one two channels at once (with a coastal time delay) so when the commercials play, I can switch to the other coast for a few minutes and never hear them at all.
Also great is the fact that you can HEAR THE BITS. Everything was so censored on KROC that sometimes you couldn't even understand the stories the guests were telling. Now it's great, because if nothing else, Stern is good at getting juicy stories out of his guests...
I'm a longtime fan of the show and now it's better than it's been since I first started listening in the mid 90s... maybe better, actually because Artie Lange is the best member of the cast he's ever had.
the fart jokes (which you seem to believe is all he does). Don't try to tell me what I believe, sunshine. I was living in the DC area at the time of the Air Florida crash. Stern is a fucking asshole, and that's about all there is to it. Just ask the NY Libertarians that he jerked around. Interview techniques, my ass. -jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Sooo basically, you hate him and think he has no talent because you don't get him, and because you feel that you were insulted by him?
Clever signature text goes here.
I despise him because he's an asshole, which he has demonstrated on many occasions. I say he has no talent, because he has never demonstrated any talent. I don't feel that I was insulted by him, because to the best of my knowledge, he's never said anything at all about me. -jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
iTunes has internet radio for free.
Speaking of that, how much of that $130 figure you keep quoating is defrayed by the $100 i spent on my reciever + accessories. Not the full $100, of course, but some of that must have made it back to Sirius.
I see where the confusion comes from. A significant portion of that $130 is actually in that receiver you bought. Sirius subsidises the cost of the receivers, so you don't have to pay $300 for them. Buying another receiver doesn't help them out, it actually costs them money.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
I see where the confusion comes from. A significant portion of that $130 is actually in that receiver you bought. Sirius subsidises the cost of the receivers, so you don't have to pay $300 for them.
There is NO WAY the reciever I have is worth $300. Post some facts that prove this. It's a circuit board, a basic LCD, and a plastic housing. No way the circuit to recieve the satellite signal costs $280, and there is nothing else there that could possibly be worth more than $20- the LCD is what you'd get on a clock radio or something, the audio and DC power chips components have to be cheap since you can get discmans that play audio and run on DC power for $25. The antenna is just a standard passive antenna, as well. Are you really saying the satellite reciever chip is worth $280?
And, even if that $130 figure you keep throwing around is due to the reciever, my above post remains unrefuted by you... namely, the fact that after the first 10 months of my subscription they've paid nothing extra to "keep" me, so years 2 and beyond of my subscription is gravy for them.
Buying another receiver doesn't help them out, it actually costs them money.
I strongly doubt this, since they offer a plan that lets you get a second reciever for an extra $3 a month (plus the cost of the reciever). They wouldn't do this if they were losing money on the deal.
I doubt they make much money on those recievers, but between the recievers and and the accessory packs such as the boombox, they are at the very least breaking even, and I expect, making something back. There's no way you can say they are losing money on a $80 "boombox" that is just speakers, a battery compartment, and a slot to stick your reciever. Or on a car kit which is $50 and is just various glue strips and a passive car antennna. If you can break down how they could possibly be losing money on either of those items, I'd be interested in hearing it.
Sorry, when they replayed Larry Fine goes to Woodstock they still had the bleeps.
Stern has not innovated anything on satellite. At best he's a spokesmodel.
Howard has turned into the celebrity that he despised back when he was hungry and trying to make a name for himself. I cancelled Sirius a few weeks ago because Stern didn't live up to the hype. Listening to anything for twenty years is too long.
When I listen to Master Tape Theater (the old tapes show) content from KROC, the content is uncensored. Content from WNBC might still be censored though, maybe, because I think the only archives they have of that stuff is from air check tapes. An air check tape would probably contain the audio feed that goes out to the antenna, not one right from the board - I don't remember, I've been out of radio way too long now :)
Anyway, I don't remember the bit you are referring to, so I dunno when that was from.
No new content is censored, however, which is why I listen to the show - the live show, not the old tapes. Today was great, actually, Artie had made a bet with the gay wrestler that was fired from the WWE that if the Yankees didn't win the world series, he'd make out with Blue Iris, a 80 year old porn star. Well, today he paid off the bet... funny radio. Artie is definitely the heart of the show now. Howard is the ringleader/enabler, but Artie is the heart.
But yeah, if you don't like the content, don't subscribe - that's a no-brainer. A lot of people do like it, though. Myself included. Makes my commute bearable.
http://www.shareholder.com/Common/Edgar/908937/95
Si vis pacem, para bellum
The only thing more annoying than a Libertarian is an (un|mis)informed Libertarian
I agree that all of those things cost, and can add up. I DISAGREE with your statement that the radio that I bought cost $300 to manufacture, which is what your original statement said: "A significant portion of that $130 is actually in that receiver you bought. Sirius subsidises the cost of the receivers, so you don't have to pay $300 for them."
Nowhere in there do you address retail or dealership commissions, so I didn't address that. You simply said that the reciever would cost $300 if they didn't subsidise them, which I still don't believe is true, nor did what you paste imply is true, either.
Once you add in the other elements from what you just pasted, such as rental cars, automakers, retail stuff, sure - but none of those apply to the cost of MY player, since I didn't get it with a car, nor from a retail store.
Again - find me something that says the basic, non car model radio would cost $300 just for the equipment, and I stand corrected. Otherwise, correct your own original statement to include factors that you didn't mention. Until then, I find it very hard to believe that this player cost $300+ to manufacture.
And you still didn't refute any of my other points...