Howard Stern
Howard Stern To
Leave For Satellite Radio
Declaring that "I'm tired of
fighting," Howard Stern announced Wednesday that he will move his popular,
raunchy morning show to Sirius Satellite Radio, in a five-year deal worth an
estimated $500 million, in January 2006, after his contract with Infinity
Broadcasting expires.
"Now I can be on around the whole country," Stern said during his regular
broadcast on K-Rock (WXRK/92.3 FM). "For me, it is everything I've worked for."
Stern, whose sexually graphic, candid commentary has been heard in New York on
WXRK since 1985, said he was moving because of frustration over increased
pressure from opponents of supposed broadcast indecency. The Federal
Communications Commission has levied fines of more than $1,567,000 for indecency
so far this year, an increase of more than 256 percent over the $440,000 in
2003, according to the industry watchdog Center for Public Integrity. Clear
Channel Communications dropped Stern from its six stations after the company was
fined nearly $500,000 in April.
Time to move on
"For a guy who started out only wanting to work in radio, to see some of the
great things we were able to do, and then to see it come crashing down because
of a couple of religious kooks ... " Stern said. He has been predicting his
departure from traditional broadcast radio for months.
"This is an historic occasion in the radio and entertainment industries," Sirius
chief executive Joseph P. Clayton said in a conference call to financial
analysts Wednesday morning. "Howard Stern is the most popular radio personality
in radio today. He is also an accomplished actor, author and advocate. He is the
most effective person to shift radio listenership to satellite radio, and in
particular to Sirius Satellite Radio."
Stern, currently heard on 46 stations around the country, has an audience
estimated at 8 million to 12 million, many of them in the prized demographic
category of men aged 18 to 49.
Sirius currently has about 600,000 subscribers,
at $12.95 a month, and expects to hit 1 million by the end of the year. Sirius'
competitor, XM Satellite Radio, has more than 2 million subscribers, for $9.95 a
month.
The two companies broadcast their signals from satellites stationed over the
United States. They each offer more than 100 channels of music, sports, talk,
news and other entertainment. The music channels have no advertising.
Clayton said Sirius estimates that Stern's show will cost about $100 million a
year for production and operation, including cast and staff, construction of a
studio in New York, and development of additional programming and marketing. The
6 to 10 a.m. weekday show will be the anchor of one channel, Clayton said. In
addition, Stern may produce one or two more channels.
Doing the math
Sirius estimated that Stern needs to bring in about 1 million new subscribers
to cover the costs.
Stern's listeners "are fanatics," Clayton said.
"Only 8 percent of his listener base needs to sign up."
Stern's departure is expected to hurt Infinity, which, according to an online
report by CNN/Money, makes a profit of about $25 million a year from his show.
"It will be a blow to Infinity," said Michael Harrison, editor of the talk radio
magazine Talkers. As a comparison, Clayton said that the Clear Channel stations
that dropped Stern lost large numbers of listeners, from 33 percent in Orlando
to 84 percent in San Diego.
"We at Infinity have enjoyed our years with Howard," Infinity said Wednesday in
a written statement. "We wish him well in his new foray into the world of pay
subscription radio, beginning in 2006." Infinity is owned by Viacom, also parent
company of CBS and MTV,among other networks.
As for a replacement, "we are weighing our options," an Infinity spokeswoman
said. "We have a lot of talent at our 185 stations, not to mention [parent
company] Viacom."
Speculation on potential successors included Chicago's Mancow Muller, and Ron
and Fez, formerly of WNEW-FM and currently heard in Washington D.C., among
others. Muller, however, recently signed a new contract with Emmis
Communications. "It could be the beginning of a great talent hunt," Tom Taylor,
editor of Inside Radio, said.
He cautioned against making too much of this one move.
"Keep it in perspective," Taylor said. "There are 280 million people who listen
to terrestrial radio. Satellite radio has fewer than 3 million subscribers ...
It's a lot of publicity, but it's not going to affect radio for a good long
while."
- Peter Goodman, Newsday, Thursday, October 7, 2004
This page was last updated on
12/30/06
.
