Are You Sirius?

Howard Stern is making lots of headlines of late because of his pending jump from Infinity Broadcast Corp., or what you and I would typically refer to as free radio. So the question becomes, just what is Howard Stern going to provide to his listeners once he is no longer censored?

He pushed the envelope on his way to the top, and spoke about things no one ever really did. There is no doubt he influenced today’s market of what a morning top show is considered. One that comes to mind is Kidd Chris, previously of a KROK (K-Rock) affiliate in the San Antonio market, who now performs his show in Philadelphia after a similar battle Howard, is presently wrapped up in. Sexual topics and “toilet humor” are some of his top draws, and now they are practically a dime a dozen.

So the popular question is, what can Howard do to lure 12 million listeners and persuade them to pay $12.95 a month? Surely he is going to have to pull more than old stunts which he is now banned from doing, such as "It's Just Wrong," where fathers and daughters undress each other, and "The Bathroom Olympics," where Howard and his guys race to see who can pee first. Cursing up a storm isn’t going to draw in people either because that too will drag on and become stale, saying the word “shit” just to say it just isn’t funny and will the show will become, well for lack of a better word “shit” if it is overdone.

However, Howard is determined to make the new show a success. You can hear it in his voice on the radio as he speaks freely as to what is happening behind the scenes as his last broadcast quickly approaches. How his radio director would rather give Stern’s archives away than to see him take the tapes with him to Sirius. He is passionate about bringing a huge audience with him to Sirius, so he can have people hear the show he has always wanted to do, but never could.

Free radio has big problems, from shortened, national style play lists, payola scandals, and lack of original content and higher levels of syndicated shows. The commercials, one of the main sources of revenue for these companies aren’t nearly as effective as they once were, and often times annoy would be listeners prompting them to change the station in search of something more enjoyable. Ultimately, when they had enough they hit the button and go to CD, their i-pod, or yes their newly installed satellite radio.