Space Oddity

On Monday, Howard Stern—radio’s former bad boy—will take to the starwaves on Sirius Satellite Radio as its new golden child. On Friday, December 14, Stern signed off of New York’s K-Rock and all terrestrial radio syndicates, closing the door on a run of almost twenty years as radio’s most-listened-to (and most scrutinized) morning-drive host.

Monday, Stern’s morning show moves to Sirius’ Howard 100, a new station programmed by the shock-jock himself. In addition to his morning show, Stern has revealed that the station will broadcast original sitcoms, news, game shows, talk shows and perhaps even movies.

The move to Sirius was prompted by three factors.

First, satellite radio is entirely unregulated by the FCC. In recent years, Stern’s racy content and locker-room humor has drawn more of the FCC’s ire than any other of radio personality. But because satellite radio is a subscription service and is not broadcast on the public airwaves, it falls outside of the FCC’s jurisdiction. Like premium movie networks (such as HBO and Cinemax), it is left to subscribers to voice their objections by canceling subscriptions. And in the days leading up to the launch of Howard 100, Sirius hasn’t seen many cancellations. When Howard signed with Sirius a little over a year ago, they had about 600,000 subscribers. On December 27, Sirius announced that they had passed the three-million-subscriber mark. Sirius is able to give Stern complete creative license, and that’s something that terrestrial radio could never do

The second factor, in my opinion, is Mel Karmazin. Karmazin was the CEO Viacom for many years. In the tangled amalgam of media ownership, he was the head honcho of K-Rock during much of Stern’s tenure there. And he was Stern’s biggest supporter, even going so far as defending him before Congress. Karmazin fought the FCC when he could win and paid the fines when he couldn’t. Karmazin took the job of CEO at Sirius shortly after leaving Viacom, and I believe that Stern’s move to satellite has a lot to do with his desire to work again for Karmazin.

And then there’s the almighty dollar. Sirius has committed to spend $100 million a year to produce Stern’s show, a sum than includes Howard’s salary. It’s a safe bet that he’ll be raking in significantly more dough than he was at terrestrial radio.

But does Howard’s departure from the airwaves indicate the imminent demise of FM radio? I doubt it. I’m the first to admit that Sirius is a fantastic product. I’m not a subscriber, but it comes included in my DISH Network service, and I listen. It’s commercial free, offers loads of variety, has compelling and knowledgeable DJs, and is probably worth $12.95 a month for its 120+ channels. But it’s no substitute for live, local FM radio. I can’t listen to Sirius and find out about an accident on Telshor. Sirius doesn’t tell me about the local hotspots for New Year’s Eve. Sirius doesn’t give me prizes and I can’t hang out with their DJs at a live remote broadcast.

People don’t subscribe to HBO and then quit watching the networks. I know a lot of people who subscribe to satellite radio, but they haven’t quit listening to their favorite FM stations. Sirius subscribers listen to satellite radio for its music and content, but when they need information about what’s happening in their world, FM will always be here.

-From Pulse
January 5, 2006