# Stern to Retire?



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

As if Sirius XM doesn't have enough problems Stern is hinting according to reports I have read that he is going to retire when his contract expires.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Dolly said:


> As if Sirius XM doesn't have enough problems Stern is hinting according to reports I have read that he is going to retire when his contract expires.


Howard has been saying that for twenty years. It's certainly very bad news if he really does it this time...but I got a feeling he'll stay around...maybe just with less shows.


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## thestaton (Aug 14, 2008)

I believe it's his way of negotiating a contract... He just says look I'm going to retire and be done with it. Unless they pay him what he wants then he stays. It's the no fuss approach.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

You guys could be right, but IMO Stern has at this point done all their is for him to do, and he knows it. For good or bad, he's extended the limits of what a DJ and radio talk show host can do, but there really isn't anywhere else for him to go anymore. He's made his mark, and made his money, but it still young enough to enjoy it for a while, so it would be a great time for him to retire.

If he did, I'm sure he would do the random gig and stay in the spotlight for years to come, but he wouldn't have to come into work every day like he does now.

Besides, I think everyone will agree that sat radio has been a huge mess, and has turned a lot of people off. Even though Stern has arguably been the top host draw on sat radio, it's still a fraction of the listener base he had on terrestrial radio. And with the recent problems with XM and Sirius, there are going to be a lot of canceled subscriptions and angry subscribers who won't ever give sat radio another chance.

For those reasons, I think the chance of Stern retiring from a daily radio show are pretty good.


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## txtommy (Dec 30, 2006)

If only he would retire....
Maybe Sirius could lower their fees. I hate that a part of my subscription cost goes toward paying this moron.


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

There is a "mostly music" package for both XM and Sirius, $9.99
http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/full-channel-listing.xmc?sort=editorschoice&tier=MM
http://www.sirius.com/servlet/Conte...id=1218563499691&pid=SIR_AUD_PKG_MM&catid=all


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

txtommy said:


> If only he would retire....
> Maybe Sirius could lower their fees. I hate that a part of my subscription cost goes toward paying this moron.


I totally agree with you about Stern being a "moron", but other people don't. Say what you will about Stern, but he got Sirius a lot of subs and I'm sure some XM subs got the "Best of" just to get Stern


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

machavez00 said:


> There is a "mostly music" package for both XM and Sirius, $9.99
> http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/full-channel-listing.xmc?sort=editorschoice&tier=MM
> http://www.sirius.com/servlet/Conte...id=1218563499691&pid=SIR_AUD_PKG_MM&catid=all


Thank you so much for this information :sunsmile:


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

txtommy said:


> If only he would retire....
> Maybe Sirius could lower their fees. I hate that a part of my subscription cost goes toward paying this moron.


How much was Sirius before Stern? Same as it was after...Stern has helped to keep rates from increasing. At 1,000,000 listeners he was at break even for Sirius...I'd say he's done several times that. Actually, without Stern there's a real good shot there wouldn't be a Sirius today.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

You're not paying for Stern. His compensation was in *stock*. Like the rest of us stockholders, the value of said stock is down over 95%.


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## Jimmy 440 (Nov 17, 2007)

Howard Stern,he's so in love with himself.


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## DJConan (Sep 14, 2006)

I liked his movie. I tried watching him on E awhile back. Then I tried listening to him when he was added to Sirius. I'm not offended by much and he does not offend me at all, but his show seemed to be a lot of, "show me your boobs." For me as a listener at least, I didn't laugh and wasn't entertained. I remember a show where he had some American Idol singer on there. All I remember from her name was "Star." He kept trying to talk her into stripping or flashing him or something. Boring.

I used to listen to The Don & Mike Show on the FM dial and liked their show much better. After the Janet incident with the new FCC regulations, Don & Mike became pretty boring as well.


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## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

djlong said:


> You're not paying for Stern. His compensation was in *stock*. Like the rest of us stockholders, the value of said stock is down over 95%.


Are you kidding me :eek2: May be that is the real reason he is thinking of retiring :lol:


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

djlong said:


> You're not paying for Stern. His compensation was in *stock*. Like the rest of us stockholders, the value of said stock is down over 95%.


Stern's primary compensation is in cash not in stock, the exception being the one time performance bonuses that he got in 2006 over and above the compensation provided for under the "$500 million for 5 years" part of the deal,

Additionally Stern didn't just get a lump sum for the whole deal when he started.... he continues to get paid as he continues to perform on his contract, so saying that his compensation *was* in either stock or cash would be wrong either way. Even if his deal was to be paid in stock, these days Sirius would have to give him 40 times more shares of stock each month that they would have had to give him back in the days of it's better valuation, since it's unlikely that either Stern or Sirius would agree to a deal primarily based on the unknown value of SIRI stock 5 years into the future instead of a fixed dollar amount each year of the contract.


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## braven (Apr 9, 2007)

DJConan said:


> I liked his movie. I tried watching him on E awhile back. Then I tried listening to him when he was added to Sirius. I'm not offended by much and he does not offend me at all, but his show seemed to be a lot of, "show me your boobs." For me as a listener at least, I didn't laugh and wasn't entertained. I remember a show where he had some American Idol singer on there. All I remember from her name was "Star." He kept trying to talk her into stripping or flashing him or something. Boring.
> 
> I used to listen to The Don & Mike Show on the FM dial and liked their show much better. After the Janet incident with the new FCC regulations, Don & Mike became pretty boring as well.


I enjoyed the movie before his divorce. I tried watching it after the divorce and now it's just a big joke.

As for Don and Mike. Don has retired and Mike does the show on his own. IMHO the show is better than ever. I podcast them.


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## Chad Dyess (Jan 17, 2009)

I don't think he'll retire yet. He's a workaholic and probably wouldn't know what to do if he wasn't on the radio. I say he'll renew his contract at least once more, assuming Sirius is around that long.


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

i hope he renews 


bubbas show im just starting to get into i was listening to that last night around 1am while playing madden on the ps3


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## Italia (Dec 8, 2008)

If Stern were to retire, who's listening? Expenses would probably be higher than the profits. Does anyone know why Stern doesn't sell his shows to other outlets, like an audiobook on itunes? Opie & Anthony do it and I have no problem paying for the show and listening to it when I want to.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Stern does sell his show to On Demand TV.

As for who's listening...only a large majority of the Sirius subscriber base.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Ken S said:


> As for who's listening...only a large majority of the Sirius subscriber base.


Actually, I doubt that very much. Myself, I never listened to him beyond a week after he was hired when I had Sirius. I saw nothing funny or worthwhile about his program. I'd rather listen to some good punk music on Underground Garage.


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## Araxen (Dec 18, 2005)

If Stern goes I go.

That's all that needs to be said.

Stern is the only reason I've kept my sub active. I find the music channels very stale nowadays.


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## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Richard King said:


> Actually, I doubt that very much. Myself, I never listened to him beyond a week after he was hired when I had Sirius. I saw nothing funny or worthwhile about his program. I'd rather listen to some good punk music on Underground Garage.


Okay, so all of the ratings and all of the polls are wrong. After it was announced he was going to Sirius all those people signed up because they wanted punk music...that must be it.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Although I know a lot of people switched to Sirius to hear Stern, the phrase I would quibble with is "large majority."


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

paulman182 said:


> Although I know a lot of people switched to Sirius to hear Stern, the phrase I would quibble with is "large majority."


Bingo.


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## Italia (Dec 8, 2008)

Are you saying that the large majority of subscribers are not there because of Stern?


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Considering that, even a year after Stern, XM still had more subscribers than Sirius, yes.

Look, Stern is something *subjective*. You may like it, you may not. Some people have to get over their fan-boy-ism (and it's not just restricted to Stern admirers) and realize that each of these personalities has a segment of fans that is a MINORITY. Do you think that Oprah is responsible for more than half the viewers on cable?

Personally, I can't stand Stern. However, I have hobbies that other people think are rather strange and can't understand why I like what I like. That's why I tiptoe around comments people make when they think their preference is larger among the general population than it really is.


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## txtommy (Dec 30, 2006)

Italia said:


> Are you saying that the large majority of subscribers are not there because of Stern?


I know many people who have Sirius. Not one of them is a Stern listener, including my two teenagers.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Italia said:


> Are you saying that the large majority of subscribers are not there because of Stern?


Yep. I am sure there are many there because they are Stern fans, but, certainly not a "large majority", or even a small "majority" for that matter.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

txtommy said:


> I know many people who have Sirius. Not one of them is a Stern listener, including my two teenagers.


That group would also include my three brothers and their combined eight teenaged kids.


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## txtommy (Dec 30, 2006)

This is from an article on the 15 most likely to fail businesses for the coming year:



> Sirius Satellite Radio. (SIRI - parent company; about 1,000 employees; stock down 96%). The music rocks, but satellite radio has yet to be profitable, and huge contracts for performers like Howard Stern are looking unsustainable. Sirius is one of two satellite-radio services owned by parent company Sirius XM, which was formed when Sirius and XM merged last year. So far, the merger hasn't generated the savings needed to make the company profitable, and Moody's thinks there's a "high likelihood" that Sirius will fail to repay or refinance its debt in 2009. One outcome could be a takeover, at distressed prices, by other firms active in the satellite business.


Apparently Stern has not added enough customers to pay for his contract.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-Companies-That-Might-Not-usnews-14279875.html


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

I'd bet that most XM'ers were not Stern fans. If we were, we'd have sub'd to SIRI.


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## ehilbert1 (Jan 23, 2007)

txtommy said:


> This is from an article on the 15 most likely to fail businesses for the coming year:
> 
> Apparently Stern has not added enough customers to pay for his contract.
> 
> http://finance.yahoo.com/news/15-Companies-That-Might-Not-usnews-14279875.html


For Stern to pay for his contract he had to bring in atleast a million subscribers. This was said many many times. Stern brought in atleast 2 to 3 million subscribers. You tell me who else could do that? Not Oprah,Not Martha, not even Nascar or the NFL. You can not like him and put him down all you want,but he is a major force for satellite radio. I'm no "fan boy" I'm just a fan of his. Its also amazing how many people on the XM side now have the "Best of Sirius" package and call into Sterns show. They may not have went to Sirius because of him,but they sure dig him now.

If you guys really want to talk satellite radio go to digitalradiocentral.com. Thats the board I go to and there are a lot of good people there that know this stuff inside and out. There are also people that work at SiriusXM there. That board is where the price increase story broke first.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Even if Stern brought in 3 million, that's 3 out of 18 million. Less than 20% is NOT a "large majority".


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## TomMac (Dec 23, 2006)

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

I will not miss him.


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## ibooksrule (Feb 16, 2003)

I wont miss him either. People subscribe to satellite radio for commerical free music and for music you cant find on radio. The only station here that use to play oldies now rarely plays 60s and never 50s. Now its 70s and 80s. Even then they talk more then they play. The main rock station in town they play all kinds of rock and every 3 or 4 songs its talk talk talk about crap no one cares about and its annoying.

Satellite radio may talk sometimes but some of you need to go listen to Fm sometime for a week and you will miss your satellite radio.
I am sure some people listen to stern. BUt how many of those people would just cancel the sub just because he is not there? ANd how many say they will and how many actually would? I doubt that they would lose all these people everyone thinks


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## Italia (Dec 8, 2008)

ibooksrule said:


> I wont miss him either. People subscribe to satellite radio for commerical free music and for music you cant find on radio. The only station here that use to play oldies now rarely plays 60s and never 50s. Now its 70s and 80s. Even then they talk more then they play. The main rock station in town they play all kinds of rock and every 3 or 4 songs its talk talk talk about crap no one cares about and its annoying.
> 
> Satellite radio may talk sometimes but some of you need to go listen to Fm sometime for a week and you will miss your satellite radio.
> I am sure some people listen to stern. BUt how many of those people would just cancel the sub just because he is not there? ANd how many say they will and how many actually would? I doubt that they would lose all these people everyone thinks


Good point...but I personally never made the switch. You might be right. Some people might have made the switch due to Stern and then ended up finding other programs to their liking. They probably felt more justified spending the money at that point.


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## Ozwalt (Feb 24, 2009)

The genius of Howard Stern was his "say anything and accept the consequences later" philosophy. For me, that really only has appeal when there are potential consequences (i.e. broadcast radio). On satellite, he's ALLOWED to say whatever he wants, and that takes away the edge of what he does.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Ozwalt said:


> The genius of Howard Stern was his "say anything and accept the consequences later" philosophy. For me, that really only has appeal when there are potential consequences (i.e. broadcast radio). On satellite, he's ALLOWED to say whatever he wants, and that takes away the edge of what he does.


It certainly has resulted in him being invisible to the non-subscribing general public.


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## ddrumman2004 (Mar 28, 2007)

I subscribed to Sirius when my daughter gave me a Sirius radio for a Father's Day gift over 3 years ago. It wasn't for Stern that I subscribed...it was for commercial free music.
Now I listen to Patriot 144.....take that away and I go Bye Bye!


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

howard is funny if you dont like him dont listen there is a bunch of other channels to listen too


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

pez2002 said:


> howard is funny if you dont like him dont listen there is a bunch of other channels to listen too


Huh????


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## bidger (Nov 19, 2005)

I think it's _text speak_, Richard.


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## stevecon (Sep 6, 2006)

txtommy said:


> If only he would retire....
> Maybe Sirius could lower their fees. I hate that a part of my subscription cost goes toward paying this moron.


He's the reason I canceled. An extra $3/mo to support on air farting, belching and childishness? Not me! He obviously brought more subscribers than he turned away. I'm not complaining really, I voted with my wallet & quit.

I found for about the same as a year of service, I could buy an iPod adapter for my car stereo. My iPod is loaded with 80GB of music (not a stinker in the lot), no commercials, and a play list that is much larger than any 2 or 3 or more sat radio stations.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

bidger said:


> I think it's _text speak_, Richard.


Ahhhh... But, I read it as "Howard is funny if you don't like him. Don't listen. There is a bunch of other channels to listen, too." Since I don't like him, he must be funny. I did take the advice of the second sentence, and don't listen. As for what channels are listening to me, I don't want them to do that. I prefer to listen to channels myself, but really don't want them listening to me.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

stevecon said:


> He's the reason I canceled. An extra $3/mo to support on air farting, belching and childishness? Not me! He obviously brought more subscribers than he turned away. I'm not complaining really, I voted with my wallet & quit.
> 
> I found for about the same as a year of service, I could buy an iPod adapter for my car stereo. My iPod is loaded with 80GB of music (not a stinker in the lot), no commercials, and a play list that is much larger than any 2 or 3 or more sat radio stations.


I also have an IPOD with close to 5000 songs on it. I don't use it in the car often though because I like to listen to things that I am not always familiar with and I know all the songs on the IPod. I just ordered a Slacker http://www.slacker.com/ and I am going to give it a shot and see what it is like. I ordered the 25 channel unit (from the last WOOToff). It may be able to replace my XM service in the future. I really enjoy Underground Garage (including the dj's on the channel) and many of the XM talk channels though and would miss them.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

My Slacker arrived from Woot today, and, so far I am impressed. It came preloaded with 25 random "radio stations" and I listened to the "Alternative" channel while at the house that I am rebuilding today. This evening I am loading 25 channels of my choice into the unit (it takes forever) and will have more variety that I am interested in for tomorrow's listening.


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## Piratefan98 (Mar 11, 2008)

TomMac said:


> Good riddance to bad rubbish!
> 
> I will not miss him.


Agreed. He's become the Willie Mays of radio personalities. I actually loved him in his early days in DC, and his middle days in NY. Now, he's just done. Time for the pasture Howard.

Jeff


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