Infinity Broadcasting Corp., finally revealing its plans to replace the self-proclaimed "King of All Media," announced a new morning drive time lineup Tuesday of assorted hosts for its 27 soon-to-be former Stern stations. Rather than turning to a single replacement, Infinity offered a variety of names for different markets.
The end is near for radio, folks. This isn't the first shot, nor will it be the last, but radio as we know it is dying at an accelerating rate.
Before you peg me as just another loud-mouthed Howard Stern fan who believes every bit of his hype, I will head you off at the pass. I am a former Howard Stern fan. I got bored with him. Now I am an XM Satellite Radio fan. I have seen the other side of the mountain and this desolate valley that terrestrial radio has slowly dropped itself into, is barren, cold and boring.
On the other side there is uncensored talking, a la Howard Stern at Sirius and Opie and Anthony at XM. There is more music, including channels for all the decades as well as genre-based stations. They have news channels. They have sports packages for the NFL, MLB and the NHL so you can listen to your favorite sports teams no matter where you live around the United States. They even have traffic stations for most major metropolitan areas.
Meanwhile, all terrestrial radio can do is continue to play tons of commercials, continue to automate their formats (JACK FM Anyone?) and pretend that anyone cares about High Definition Radio. They are walking themselves right off the plank to a shark-infested sea of media irrelevancy. It is true that satellite radio costs money, but so does our cable and satellite television. I am sure there were many skeptics who thought nobody was going to pay to watch television. They couldn't have been more wrong.
Article comments
1 - Chris Herr
Agree with you 99%. The NFL is on Sirius though.
2 - Craig Lyndall
I was talking about Satellite in general. I mentioned O&A and Stern in the same sentence too even though they are on separate services.
By the way, the one thing I decided to leave out of this rant is the satellite's inclusion in new automobiles. This is a whole other deal that I feel could be a whole other topic.
3 - ryan
Sirius will win. No Question.
The only reason that regular radio is failing is because of shitty programing.
THATS WHY SIRIUS IS SMART TO HAVE SUPERIOR PROGRAMING.
4 - Cliff
How do figure Sirius will win? Both companies started at the same time, sirius has less that 2 million subs (I know Howard told you it was over 3million, but he lied, as he always does). XM has OVER 5 Million, check both numbers online anywhere. Compare the stocks, XM around $35, Sirius around $6, and they are about to get on hell of a bill from Howie every month. (Approx 100 million a year), and when Howie gets to Sirius, they will lose subs at an alarming rate, face it folks, Howie has lost it, it's all about the money for him, his listners know it and so does he. XM Radio on the other has Opie and Anthony, and in the last year that they have been on, subs went from 2.2 million to over 5 million(announced last month). Face it folks, Opie and Anthony and XM are an unbeatable combination, for listners and investors alike. Rock on boys, kick howies ass so he can wear it for a hat.
5 - Craig Lyndall
Sirius has a larger market capitalization than XM and while that doesn't mean success, it does mean that their company is worth more than XM. It might be based on hype. I don't know.
I am not sure why exactly Sirius is worth more because XM has bigger car contracts (Honda, Toyota, Porche, Hyundai) and more exposure to potential subscribers through DirecTV and AOL, not to mention they have 3 million more subscribers than Sirius already.
It should be interesting what happens over the holidays with radio sales on the eve of Stern's debut.
At this point, if I had to choose between stocks to invest in, I would choose XMSR
6 - Natalie Davis
I used to work for Sirius (and enjoy it), but I suspect XM will end up the winner. Frankly, I hope both survive, thrive, kick terrestrial radio to the curb. Won't benefit me -- I'm not in a position to have pay-TV or pay-radio -- but conventional radio (JACK, Infinity, Clearcrapchannel, et al) need to be taught a lesson: Screw your listeners and give the finger to quality in an effort to maximize profits and you deserve to DIE. I have loved radio all my life; it needs to be put down to save listeners from their misery. As long as I have NPR, I'm cool.
7 - Victor Lana
The old MTV adage was simple: video killed the radio star.
Now, we have a new ballgame.
Radio killed the radio star? No, the star killed the radio. That's why satellite will thrive.
R.I.P. good old FM.
8 - Brian
Sirius has a bigger market cap because they have about 3 billion shares outstanding compared to XM which only has a couple hundred million. Thats not a really good judge of which company is better.
9 - Craig Lyndall
Brian, I never said that it made Sirius a better company. I said that Sirius is WORTH more. The definition of market capitalization is that it is the overall value of the company in equity markets.
If that is the conversation, then Sirius is worth more money than XM. That doesn't mean I would invest in Sirius, think they would win, or anything else.
Today, as a fact, their company is worth more.