Recently in Howard Stern Category

"Your job is to stay under control," said Howard Stern in the heated exchange with Artie Lange.

"And then I can't do my job... I can't guarantee you that won't do that again," replied Lange.

Stern: "Well then you can't be here."

Lange: "Then I won't be here anymore."

Stern: "You can't Art... you can't act that way."

Lange: "Howard I love you, but I can't do it anymore... I'm an out of control person"

Stern: "Alright, then you can't be here... If you can't control throwing things at people..."

Lange: "I resign, I'm sorry, I can't do it anymore."

"Then I accept," replied Stern.

As the spat continued, Lange became enraged and physically lashed out at Teddy, but the physical confrontation was apparently diffused by other members in the studio.

When Lange returned, he said Teddy would be "dead" had he reached him and that he'd be in jail.

Stern said he cannot condone Lange's actions, but Artie (who's been prone to such outbursts) said he can't guarantee he won't act out in the future.

Artie then offered his resignation, and Stern accepted but told Lange to leave and cool off.

Teddy returned to the studio several minutes later and said there was overreacting from everyone. Howard Stern and producer Gary Dell'Abate said they "did not know what to make of it all."

Talker's Magazine has once again released its annual list of the "heavy hundred" - a subjective ranking of the top radio talk show hosts around the country.

This will be the 2nd year in a row that satellite radio "shock jocks" Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony will be sharing the Top 20, though there were definitely some changes in ranking since last year.

Howard Stern dropped from #12 last year to #13 this year, and while his ranking dropped, Talker's Magazine still acknowledged that he is the "father of hot talk radio" and "the most listened-to satellite radio talk host."

Opie & Anthony dropped from #6 last year, to this year's ranking of #17. Sadly, Talker's placed Mancow above O&A this year... and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why. The industry publication was kind enough to label Opie & Anthony as the "leading practitioners of hot talk" and called them "topical and humorous."

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Michael Savage took the top three spots.

A dubious distinction indeed.

[Talkers Heavy Hundred 2008]

(Due to a high level of spam, comments have been turned off on this post)

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) submitted a letter to the FCC yesterday, voicing their general opposition to the Sirius-XM merger.

And one of the main reasons as to why they don't approve of the transaction is... Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and Bubba the Love Sponge.

"One only has to evaluate the current programming now offered by Sirius and XM to recognize that our concerns and fears are well founded," the NCNW wrote in their letter to the FCC Chairman. "Programming such as Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, and Bubba the Love Sponge - which help to perpetuate racist and sexist stereotypes in our culture - drive the business of both companies." (emphasis added)

The African-American women's organization goes on to say: "A Sirius - XM satellite radio monopoly will focus it (sic) resources on only its most profitable audiences, with more of the same lowest-common-denominator programming of the Howard Stern variety."

That's quite the assumption for a post-merger scenario.

And if that's the case, why wait? Both companies already seek profitability right now. Why would XM hire Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Maya Angelou, and the Reverend Al Sharpton - after hiring Opie & Anthony mind you - if selling out to the "lowest-common-denominator" was such a priority?

Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and Bubba the Love Sponge constitute only 3 channels out of over 300 combined - that's 1% of all programming offered by Sirius and XM together - let's not forget that.

The National Council of Negro Women goes on to voice their support for Georgetown Partners. Georgetown, which also has the support of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, is asking that Sirius and XM be required to hand over 20% of their channel capacity so as to "create competition and diversity" in satellite radio.

Disgusting.

[Read the full letter (PDF)]

Stern made an appearance on David Letterman last night. For those who missed it, watch the video below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Howard Stern effectively doubled the size of his penthouse condominium in Manhattan when he bought the apartment directly below for $15.1 million, according to the New York Post.

His current condo on 54th floor of the Millennium Tower, which is at 101 W. 67th Street, measures in at around 4,200 square feet. He first bought into the building in 1998, and combined two units (3,138 sqft, and 1,011 sqft), for just under $5.8 million.

But with the addition of the apartment below his current condo, Stern is effectively doubling the size of his residence to a respectable 8,400 square feet.

“Before he bought it, he had to get permission from the building's board to combine the floors," one resident told The Post.

According to the Brown Harris Stevens listing, the “triple-mint" eight-room apartment on the 53rd floor includes three bedrooms, 4.5 baths, an office and a library. Not bad, but it's still only half the size of his 16,000 sqft mansion which is still under construction in Southampton.

[New York Post]

Much of the incredible amount of exposure surrounding Howard Stern's move to Sirius hasn't just been the fact that he's on uncensored radio - it's how much they paid him to make the move. And the media obsession hasn't ended even two year later...

Forbes recently released it's Biggest Celebrity Paydays Of 2007, and Howard Stern (who topped last year’s list) comes in at Number 3.

Stern earned the honorable position (ahead of Jay-Z and Oscar De La Hoya) thanks to a stock bonus valued at $82 million. The reason? Helping Sirius boost subscription numbers for a second year in a row.

[Forbes]

Fred Norris of "The Howard Stern Show" recently did an interview with Suburbarazzi on a smattering of topics. Nothing earth shattering was revealed, but it's a fun read for fans.

Among the items discussed, Fred gives his view of whether or not Howard would re-sign his contract with Sirius:

"Three years from now is three years from now. You know what? I think he was thinking he was going to leave radio before he went to satellite. He could be a man of his word this time and walk away at the top, but I think he’d be sitting at home for six months and maybe wondering, ‘Hmm, maybe I could just do this show like once a week,’ and before you know it, who knows? We’ll see. The future remains to be seen."

Hey here's a thought: in three years, if in fact we'll be able to get Internet Radio in the car, what's to stop Stern from starting up his own "Howard Radio" stream?

[Suburbarazzi]

Just a quick reminder that Act I of "The History of Howard Stern" kicks off tomorrow, December 17th at 6am on both Howard 100 and Howard 101.

Above is a poster Sirius created for the special. They also launched an interactive website featuring rare audio from Howard’s vault and a timeline of Act I.

There's an interesting article on Gay.com that's been getting some exposure about Howard Stern's impact on the gay community.

It might strike many as a surprise, but the viewpoint isn't that Howard is exploitive or demeaning to gays, but rather has had many positive effects on the gay community at large. The 4,500+ word tome by Jenny Stewart, entertainment editor at Gay.com, talks about how he managed to change the perceptions of lesbians, as well as for gay men.

"Many lesbians can't stand Howard, who in the early '90s focused much of his air time to 'Lesbian Dial a Date' and other questionable antics, and thus began his obsession with gay women. Some were enraged that they were being sexualized by Howard Stern, but I for one liked the idea that Howard was making lesbianism appear glamorous -- I could identify much more with that than the mainstream American image of lesbians as being man-haters who loathed sex and lumbered around in bad haircuts. Did he exploit the idea of the sexy lesbian? Sure -- but like it or not, he was also changing perceptions."

She goes on to talk about how Howard not only has had an effect on the lesbian community, but also on the gay male community as well. Of the several examples, she talks about the hiring of openly gay actor George Takei (who's one of my favorite personalities on the show).

"The result? A cultural demystification of gay life that's having a measurable, meaningful effect on a national audience otherwise completely isolated from gay America."

Oh sure, the writeup is a little gushing (the author admittedly is a Stern fan for 20 years). But it's an interesting take on a show that traditionally has been viewed as bigoted and obscene, all the while being "one of the most pro-gay media personalities in the country."

[Gay.com, via Jossip]

We learned about this last month when Howard was featured in an AP story, but now Sirius has released more details on the upcoming "History of Howard Stern" special.

Set to debut on December 17th at 6am ET on Howard 100 and 6am PT on Howard 101, the epic series will air through December 21st.

Act I, entitled "The Early Years," spans Howard's birth through his days at WNNNNBC Radio in NYC. Act I will debut in five separate original parts, with one installment airing each day that week and replaying continuously all day and night.

"The History of Howard Stern" features a vast array of rare, never- before heard audio footage from Howard's personal vault plus interviews and commentary from Howard, Stern Show staff, friends, family, and former colleagues. Celebrities will also partake in the enjoyment, including a rare interview with legendary late night host, David Letterman. Other entertainers and Howard fans who contributed interviews include Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Jimmy Kimmel, Joe Walsh, Dee Snider, David Brenner and more.

"It's a complete retrospective of stuff you've never heard -- every piece of history of this show," said Stern. "'The History of Howard Stern' is an incredible listening experience. It's the kind of radio that competes with television and that you'd never hear on terrestrial radio."

Act II will pick up as Howard begins his legendary run at K-ROCK.

Encore broadcasts of Act I of "The History of Howard Stern" will air multiple times, including the weekends of December 22nd-23rd and December 29th-30th on Howard 100.

Check out the History of Howard Stern for more info (which includes a pretty cool interactive timeline).

Yesterday, Artie Lange mentioned on "The Howard Stern Show" that he was doing voiceover work for an upcoming Leisure Suit Larry game.

While there has yet to be an official announcement for a new Leisure Suit Larry, Artie did say that he would be playing the role of "Big Al" in the game. Very little other details are known at this time other than what was said on-air. Joytiq points out that the last Leisure Suit Larry game, "Magna Cum Laude," didn't even star the original character and "was an amateur-hour" Larry adventure.

Does this mean that King's Quest is coming back too?

[Joystiq]
Thanks Todd!

That's what is being suggested in a recent AP article profiling The King of All Media, nearly two years into his current 5-year contract.

"He's only two years into his five-year, $500 million deal with Sirius and he's already considering a possible extension. Stern is on board with the proposed satellite merger with once-rival XM. And he's proud of his role in expanding the number of Sirius subscribers from 600,000 when he signed his deal to nearly 8 million today."

This would obviously be good news for Sirius Satellite Radio Inc, especially if we're to believe the Arbitron numbers that show that a majority of Sirius' listenership is highly skewed towards Stern's two channels.

Meanwhile, Stern's two-year anniversary at Sirius will be marked with a "gift" for his fans: an epic recounting Howard Stern's life. "The History of Howard Stern" - starting off with Stern's bar mitzvah and trips to summer camp - kicks off on December 17th on Sirius, covering the years 1954-85.

[AP]
Thanks Gary!

The Arbitron ratings have really caused a stir, which is not surprising since this is the first time we've seen any public ratings of any kind for Sirius and XM.

And of course, usual suspects are jumping all over it. This from Inside Radio:

Howard Stern then: 20 million listeners. Today: 1,225,100.
That's Stern's weekly cume according to Arbitron's first-ever report detailing listening to XM and Sirius. It shows his $500 million contract with Sirius buys the company an average 96,700 listeners in any given quarter hour. While his audience is just a fraction of what it once was, his "Howard 100" channel is satellite radio's top-rated, delivering more listeners than any other channel.

Now I'm not going to say it's "unfair" to compare satellite radio ratings with terrestrial ratings, but I am going to say that the comparison is useless. It's not about listeners, it's about subscribers.

That's part of the benefit of satellite radio. Not being dependent on ratings and constantly trying to boost your cume/AQH/TSL gives broadcasters artistic freedom and allows them to drop the gimmicks. That's part of the reason why the best broadcasters from terrestrial have made the jump to satellite.

And that's part of reason why we all subscribe, because the B.S. of regular radio - which is ultimately meant to drive ratings - is not prevalent on satellite radio.

Howard Stern still tops the most popular talk radio personalities, based on Internet searches, for the 7th straight year. But coming in at number three, are Opie & Anthony, generating four times more search interest than this time last year.

...that is, according to Lycos.

And apparently some people still do use the aging search engine because, Lycos has just come out with the The Lycos 50 which is used to formulate the "The Lycos Top Talk Radio Hosts of 2007" (a list, that for the life of me, I simply cannot find... which might be a clue as to why Lycos isn't popular anymore? Anyway, I guess we can depend on the press release for this one).

What was I saying? Oh right. Stern's search activity increased 44% since making the move from terrestrial radio to Sirius in 2006, while Tom Joyner takes the number two spot on this year's list, more than doubling in search popularity over the past year.

But shock jocks Opie & Anthony, rank as #3 and are the biggest movers and shakers with web users in 2007, generating four times more search interest than this time last year.

See Lycos' full ranking of all talkers for 2007 after the jump...

Now, ignoring what Lycos is telling us in a fluffy PR, let's see what Google says about online popularity and rankings for talkers:

Here's the Top 4 from Lycos' list, according to Google Trends. Howard Stern remains as the leader, followed by Rush Limbaugh, Opie & Anthony, and then Tom Joyner.

But wait... wasn't there a big stink about a certain talker who scandalously mentioned the words "nappy headed hoes" on the air? Oh right, Imus. So let's add him to the chart:

According to Google Trends, Howard Stern remains in the number one slot, followed by Rush Limbaugh, then Imus (narrowly), Opie & Anthony and finally, Tom Joyner.

Oddly, according to the Lycos press release, "the controversy and subsequent firing of Don Imus failed to boost significant online interest for Imus in 2007, with his search numbers cut in half."

Funny, that's not what a real search engine is showing... ah well, long live fluffy PR.

During an interview, Artie Lange talked with Sports Illustrated about an off-air moment when OJ Simpson was on the phone "yelling at" Howard Stern, saying "I'm coming for you next, Howard."

"That's what I heard, though Howard never told me what he said," said Lange. Adding that it "was the first time I had seen Howard flustered on or off the air."

The confrontation supposedly took place when Laurence Taylor was a guest on The Howard Stern Show, and received a call during the commercial break, explained Lange. L.T. handed the phone to Stern saying that a "friend" wanted to speak with him. "It took Howard a few moments to realize it was O.J. Simpson," said Lange.

"...I heard O.J. talking a mile a minute. He was yelling at Howard, saying 'I'm coming for you next, Howard. You're f---ing with me. I'm coming for you next.' Almost goofing on him," Artie told SI.

"L.T. saw Howard squirming and was laughing. Howard, obviously, is one of the highest profile guys who has messed with O.J. from the beginning."

[Sports Illustrated]

Bubba The Love Sponge's contract with Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc. is coming up for renewal in December/January, and it's long been known that the negotiations between the two parties have not been going too well.

A recent blog post by Bubba seems to indicate that the grumblings about being underpaid and underappreciated by Sirius are coming to a head, and that the contract might very well not be renewed:

"the amount of money they have given non-radio people is absolulty insane….we meanwhile have done radio, and good radio i might add, for over 20 years, we are radio people that know the business, but because we are not martha stewart, or lance armstrong, or jamie foxx, granted all of which are big time names, but none have ever done radio. sirius feels they can pay us pretty much anything they want….and give us take it or leave it type options……..if you only knew some of the stuff they have done to us,"

Howard Stern this morning even brought up the situation with Bubba, giving his full support on the air, but expressed a level of doubt that the negotiations can be resolved.

The real looming question is whether Bubba has another offer on the table. He was seen exiting Cox Radio offices with his agent, fueling speculation of his return to terrestrial radio.

This morning though, Bubba confirmed that two offers from terrestrial radio companies are currently on the table:

"its kind of sad that i have two regular radio offers on the table that are willing to pay me over double right now to come back. granted i wont have as much fun, but at least i will have a steady contract for a long time, with good money and they (regular radio) will treat me as a valueable asset, not talk down to me, and push me around like the way i am being treated now…"

Many would hate to see Sirius go, especially since many Howard listeners have become Bubba fans. But as it stands, it definitely doesn't sound hopeful...

[BTLS Blogs]

UPDATE: The blog posting in question has been removed.

Bah, all this merger talk is so boring and complex. Let's instead turn our focus to something far more important: Howard Stern's teeth (or, according to the New York Post, the lack thereof).

A discovery was made by a crew member on a photo shoot for Hamptons magazine that accidentally "got lost" (yeah right) and "ended up in the master-bedroom bathroom." I know that when I get lost in someone's house, the first place I'll head for is the master-bath... because it will undoubtedly lead me to safety. (In the midsts of my confusion I tend to rummage through medicine cabinets as well.)

"Sitting on the counter were a set of dentures," the source told the New York Post.

A rep for Stern did not return multiple requests for comment by the Post. Understandably so because the story is... friggin' useless.

[New York Post]

Since 2002, we've heard about Howard Stern's remake of the cult-classic film Porky's - and now it appears the movie has been greenlit and is ready to shooting as early as this Fall.

According to SlashFilm, Stern Stern took a vacation from his daily Sirius Satellite Radio Show to work on the film project.

"They say it's all greenlit and everything, ready to go. They say they can even start shooting in October, but I don't know if that's true," says Stern. "It seemed like a fun project, which it is."

There's still no word on who exactly will be writing the script based on the original 1982 movie. Reportedly, Stern also said that a director has not yet been hired.

"We got two scripts that were developed simultaneously kind of. One's a rewrite of a rewrite of a script that we did - that I didn't do, but I was sort of in on. It's coming along pretty funny," said Stern. "We're going to combo them now because there's funny jokes in both and you have to figure out which is better for the movie. And I obsess on shit too because you want it to be good."

[SlashFilm]
Thanks realwx!

For those who missed Artie on Conan the other night, here's the video. I guess he is wearing a lot of make-up, but I would have never noticed otherwise.

(Side note... what the heck do you do with a sponsor who refuses to pay you?)

"Cabbie" - real name Lee Mroszak - was fired by Sirius Satellite Radio on Thursday after claiming that he had a Howard Stern sex tape. But Cabbie thinks he was really fired because of a lawsuit over a botched weight-loss product promotion.

Cabbie says he destroyed the tape Wednesday after talking to his biological mother, who hadn't seen him since giving him up for adoption as a baby.

"Howard helped me find my mother, and she said, 'What are you doing?' I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a [bleep]bag," Cabbie told Page Six. "I took the high road [by destroying the tape before it could be made public]. It was something I didn't want on my soul."

But when Cabbie appeared on the Opie & Anthony show recently (6-19), he didn't indicate at all that he had destroyed the tape, though he did say that he might throw it out. He also professed his independence from the Howard Stern show during the segment.

An Orbitcast reader sent in audio of Cabbie's appearance on the O&A show. You can listen to it here:

Cabbie claims the tape was given to about two years ago and said he could have sold the tape for a large amount of money. When asked to describe the alleged Stern sex tape, Cabbie told the Post, "It was Howard and a woman having sex at a place where rich people go to sun themselves. That's all I'm going to say." Oddly enough, this differs from the description Cabbie gave on the Opie & Anthony Show, where he describe the act being performed in an RV-like vehicle.

Regardless Cabbie, who was a DJ on Sirius' Faction (ch 28), claims on his website that he was fired over the $100 million lawsuit against Stern and Sirius. The lawsuit made by weightloss product i57 Ignite, charges Stern/Sirius with defamation after Howard said that Cabbie looked "fatter than ever."

[New York Post]

An advertiser on The Howard Stern Show - JEC Nutrition - is filing suit for $100 million after they say their product was trashed on the show during a live-read, resulting in a 20% drop in sales (according to JEC).

The CEO of JEC Nutrition, Kelly Lockwood, told Page Six that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote the I57 Ignite fat-burner. Crazy Cabbie was on the show to talk about how he's shed 20 pounds with the product.

But according to Lockwood, "The first thing out of Howard's mouth was, 'Geez, Cabbie, you look fatter than ever.' "

"Then, [Stern sidekick] Ralph Circella says to Cabbie something like, 'What the hell are you doing in here promoting a weight-loss product, you fat piece of [bleep]! Why don't you lose 60 more pounds and then come back?' This was horrendous for us." Lockwood told the Post. "Our sales have dropped more than 20 percent. In seven minutes, he undid all the good work we did."

Lockwood says the suit will charge Stern, as well as Sirius, with defamation. 

[New York Post] 

UPDATE: Many of the reports on this are misleading (causing this post to be misleading as well). It was not a live-read for I57 Ignite, and they are not a sponsor of The Howard Stern Show.

The New York Post dug through the Southampton town records and has released details on Howard Stern's custom-built mansion currently under construction (pictured).

According to plans filed with the town, the three-level oceanfront mansion measures just over 16,000 square feet, with eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a great room, a media room, an attached cabana, a bowling alley and a wine cellar with a tasting room.

Howard Stern and his fiancee, Beth Ostrosky, will share a master bedroom of about 1,500 square feet with a private balcony, an office/study and his-and-hers baths with separate dressing rooms.

Stern reportedly paid $20 million for the vacant 4-acre Southampton property in May 2005.

The grounds will include a seaside pool, a spa and a large stone wall surrounding the house.

I'm jealous. 

[New York Post] 

"What do you say Howard, are you with us or are you against us?" Hughes was quoted as saying in the article. (Full audio available here.)

"I'm not spending a minute thinking about you," Stern said in response on his show. "I'm not with you, and I'm not against you. Your biggest 'nemesis' is you. You're fighting with you."

Howard further distanced himself from the situation. 

"Listen guys, I've got nothing against you, do you're show, have a blast," Stern continued. "But don't call on me to help you. I don't condone what you said about Condoleezza Rice."

The question remains whether Stern's show itself will fall victim to this newfound scrutiny of what is said over the airwaves - even if on unregulated airwaves. It's painfully obvious that the reason why XM is being so careful with how Washington perceives satellite radio (especially the "shocking" content on satellite radio) is due to the pending Sirius-XM merger.

Stern himself was the topic of discussion at the Congressional hearings over the Sirius-XM merger, particularly when it came to the topic of decency. As the Wall Street Journal points out, the satellite radio companies have signaled a willingness to work with the FCC on the issue of decency as part of a merger.

Mel Karmazin even offered a block-and-rebate style tiered pricing plan, allowing consumers to receive a discount on blocked explicit channels. But with Stern likely being seen as "Public Enemy #1" by the decency police, you can bet that he too will do his best not to ruffle any features in the weeks to come.

Howard Stern fans will be able to enjoy more of the free Howard TV promotion for a few more days than originally planned.

Registration problems prevented many users from accessing the site on the first day of the preview, so In Demand and Howard Stern said they plan to extend the offer until May 1st (instead of April 29th).

The Howard TV registration process requires users to prove that you're 18, as well as to prove that you're a US resident. The form asks that you enter your current and previous home address, date of birth, gender and the last four digits of your social-security number.

All of which apparently led to the delay.

At the time of posting, I encountered a repeated failure in the registration process myself. So instead of reaping the rewards of the striptease seen during registration... I saw this picture instead. Ugh.

Sign up for the free Howard TV preview by going to howardstern.com/free. 

[Multichannel News] 

Did you miss Artie Lange's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Friday? No problem. Just watch it below.

Part 1:

Part 2 is available after the jump... 

Bridge Ratings, our favorite little research group (only because they make a good amount of data available for free) has put together a survey to figure out the impact of the propose satellite radio merger.

As par for the course with many Bridge surveys, there's some inconsistencies in the methodology that should be noted. The survey was conducted largely prior to the official announcement - instead respondents were polled while rumors of the merger were mounting. Bridge interviewed satellite radio consumers at retail outlets, as well as via telephone to "current and potential subscribers."

With that said, the results are not really surprising (especially considering the extreme lack of information at the time of being surveyed... arguably, there still isn't enough information being made available - but that's another post).

Of the major concerns among consumers: raising rates, increased hardware costs, decreased number of channels, reduced programming costs and increased number of commercials on music channels; ranked the highest.

And as you can see from the chart below, consumers took up a "wait and see" attitude when it comes to the purchase decision:

But what would a survey be, without a question about Howard Stern? As you can see from the chart below, Bridge decided to ask XM subscribers how likely they would be to listen to Stern if he were offered on XM, free of charge:

These respondents were polled via telephone during 8/1/06 - 2/23/07 (remember, the merger was announced on 2/19/07). Based on these numbers, and XM's subscriber base of 7.6 million, Howard Stern's audience would potentially increase by nearly 1 million listeners.

[More on Bridge Ratings] 

Talkers Magazine every year comes out the with their "Heavy Hundred" list of talk radio hosts, and two of satellite radio most listened to talkers are in the top 20.

Last year Howard was #1 (even from "outer space") and this year he dropped down to #12 - a point that David Hinckley found to be very important. Still, Talkers refers to Stern as "the original hot talk superstar" and "the face of satellite talk entertainment."

Meanwhile Opie & Anthony have made the jump to #6 (I don't even think they were on the list last year). Talkers calls them the "leaders of the new generation of hot talk" and as "satellite pioneers now in national syndication."

Also of note, Neil Boortz ranked as #9, and Rusty Humphries placed #41. 

[Talkers Heavy Hundred 2007] 

Sirius is opening up the archives of The Howard Stern Show and showcasing the most memorable musical performances from the past 25 years.

Starting on Friday, February 16th at 3pm ET and running all weekend long, Howard 101 is airing performances from music's biggest names, with commentary from musicians who have stopped by the show, along with memories from Howard and his cohorts, plus bits from inside the studio and off-site parties and road shows.

You'll hear the in-studio performances by legends such as James Taylor, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, AC/DC, Jethro Tull, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, and Willie Nelson as well as classic performances by superstars like Dave Grohl, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Counting Crows, and Stone Temple Pilots, among many others.

Recorded musical performances from 25 years of birthday shows, international shows and road shows will also air. Highlights include songs from Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie, Tom Jones, The Wallflowers, Sting and Bryan Adams.

And to add to the coolness, over the past 2 months interviews were conducted with artists (like Jon Bon Jovi, Dave Grohl, Steven Tyler, Rob Zombie, and Perry Farrell) to accompany their performances, and their commentary about their songs and experiences will also air.

Howard will also share which musicians and moments stood out to him from this remarkable collection. Robin, Fred, Gary, Artie, Scott the Engineer and Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling are just a few of The Howard Stern Show crew that will also reveal their favorite stories and memories.

There have been some truly great performances over the years, and this sounds like something that shouldn't be missed by any past or present Stern fan.

[Press Release]
Thanks Lee!

Related:

• A look at Stern's deal with Sirius
• Bubba The Love Sponge to air Friday mornings
• Howard Stern engaged to Beth O

Hey now! Last night Howard Stern popped the question to long-time girlfriend Beth Ostrosky, Stern announced the news this morning on his show.

The very naked Howard produced to (an also very naked) Beth O a 5.2 carat emerald-cut diamond ring, after which she said "yes" to his proposal. No wedding date has been set as of yet (we should prepare for a very long engagement). 

More details and discussion on Stern Fan Network here.

Congrats to both Howard and Beth! 

UPDATE: Check out a sketch of Beth O's ring, as rendered by the talented Lisa G. 

So says Forbes in their The Best-Paid Talking Heads feature. The $302 million payout for Stern of course includes stock, bonuses, and salary all lumped together in a big ball of cash.

That total figure beats out Oprah Winfrey's meager $225 million over the course of last year, which includes the money she made from her XM deal in 2006. Further down the totem poll is David Letterman, raking in $40 million, who still earns more than rival Jay Leno. Sadly, neither Letterman or Leno have anything to do with satellite radio.

24/7 Wall St. is quick to suggest that Stern's pay may not be worthwhile since Sirius earned $167 million in revenue last quarter, has an operating loss of $154 million and is still walking around with over $1 billion in debt. (Something tells me that 24/7 isn't very bullish on SIRI.)

There's no question in my mind that 2006 was a rocking year for Sirius, and Stern obviously deserves his due credit for contributing significantly to this feat. I'm just curious about the year ahead (and an earnings call might help).

We all know who the King of All Media is, but Howard Stern wants to make it official. So what better way than to trademark the term?

Last September, Howard applied for the trademark, and yesterday it was approved for publication. In about two months, the trademark for "King of All Media" will be published for opposition.

It ain't over yet, there's a long arduous road ahead in becoming the true and official "King of All Media." Thank goodness too, because we'd likely see "King of All Blacks." "the Limo Driver" and "the Stockbroker" all up for trademark as well.

[via Satellite Radio TechWorld] 

So yeah, it's a slow news day, so I'm forced to post something about this story in today's New York Times. Normally this would get ignored, but yeah, it's the Times and I'm kind of fond of them lately.

The whole basis of the piece is about the "mysterious" appearances of Howard Stern's Sirius show on terrestrial radio. As we all know this is pretty much old news since the FM mods were fixed last year, but of course some older receivers are out there excessively emitting away. If anything this is fodder for the NAB (among others) to continue crying for a satellite radio recall.

So kudos to Patrick Reilly, Sirius spokesman-extraordinaire, for giving up absolutely nothing that would help fuel the NAB's effort with this quote, "All satellite radios need to be approved by and in compliance with applicable F.C.C. rules, and all of our radios are compliant."

As a result, the piece needs to hunt around looking for another "potential suspect" that's causing Howard to bleed into the free airwaves. The thing that's curious is that no one ever seems to bring up over-emitting iPod adapters - which, considering the marketshare and number of FM transmitters built for the iPod - could very well outnumber over-emitting satellite radios.

[New York Times] 

A replay of Howard Stern's appearance on David Letterman will air this Thursday, January 25th.

This apparently is a rerun from Stern's December 12th show as Gwen Stefani is listed as the musical guest. Luckily enough, you can just watch that episode here.

[CBS via Sirius Backstage] 

Penny Crone has left Howard Stern's "Howard 100 News" on Sirius Satellite Radio due of budget cuts, according to a report by the New York Daily News. George Flowers has also left Howard 100 News.

Crone, a former WNYW Fox 5 New York TV news reporter, joined Howard 100 News a little over a year ago. 

Howard mentioned on today's show that Penny may be able to fill in when needed and that she may be able to contribute on Howard TV.

Here's a funny article in Florida Today by columnist Breuse Hickman. The article headlines with the dramatic title of "Stern's leap to satellite the year's biggest flop" - yet it does little to support that bold statement.

First off, Breuse doesn't own satellite radio. Great. But, even though his beat is on local and national media, he justifies not owning satellite radio because... well... actually it's hard to understand his justification.

This graduate of the Univertsity of Central Florida (with a degree in technical writing) doesn't really back up his statement at all. He first says that he doesn't feel left out because of the "latest year-end reports" (let's assume he means the reduction in subscriber guidance) then he goes on to refer to Forbes' "Dethroned" article, for really no purpose.

But... then he goes on to say that regular radio is boring. Breuse, a reporter for 15 years at Florida Today, gets so distracted in plugging different local radio stations that the whole article just resorts to name-dropping. So how did "the year's biggest flop" happen? Who knows, but the title sure is catchy.

Fine reporting there Breuse!

[Florida Today]

If you missed Howard's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel late last week, you can watch it below:

Thanks Nate! 

Following Howard's appearance on Letterman, someone was outside recording fans reactions to the free Sirius Satellite Radios. Not surprising, they were all pretty happy.

Check out video of Howard's appearance on Conan last night. It was definitely a funny and good showing. Even talked about Martha's interview (and her using a vibrator, fighting off lesbian sex in prison, wearing no panties, etc). A good plug for satellite radio in general, but of course great exposure for Sirius.

[Video 1] [Video 2]

Did you miss seeing Howard Stern on David Letterman last night? Then you missed some a pretty funny interview and an even more interesting outfit that Howard was wearing.

Well turn that frown upside down kids (did you know it takes more muscles to frown than it takes to smile?) because you can watch a highlight clip of Stern's appearance on Letterman.

View the video here (RealPlayer) and watch Howard talk about Bryant Gumbel's Christmas Party.

UPDATE: Forget the highlight clip, the full appearance of Stern on Letterman is below.

Part 1 [Link]

Part 2 [Link]

Thanks cb!

It's been one-year since Martha Stewart launched her Sirius Satellite Radio channel, Martha Stewart Living Radio (ch 112). And what better way to celebrate than to make an appearance on Howard Stern?

It's an appearance so earth shattering that Sirius even issued a press release on it.

Though little details are available about what will be discussed (hopefully it involves a dazzling Creme Brulée for the Holidays) we do know that her visit to Stern's studios will be on Thursday (12/14) at 7:30am ET.

Tune in, a sybian ride may be in order.

Be sure to tune in tonight to CBS' Late Show with David Letterman as Howard will be making an appearance, though without Evil Dave unfortunately.

Stern will also be making an appearance on NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" this week. All this in an effort to help boost SIRIUS Holiday sales and make Scott Greenstein happy.

Steve Langford of course will be reporting on Howard's visit on scene and I'll try to grab video of his appearance for posting tomorrow.

With Sirius' recent lowered subscriber guidance (and don't forget, XM lowered guidance - twice), and continued evidence that the retail market is continuing to decline; you have to wonder what might be the cause of this "softness" in satellite radio retail sales. One possible cause for this could be Opie & Anthony's move to terrestrial radio.

Before I continue: There's absolutely no doubt that Howard Stern has had a massive influence in moving subscribers to Sirius. He has brought in more subs than most people expected, so this is in no way an attempt to downplay his success. Stern also continues to be bring brand awareness to the entire satellite radio sector, Sirius especially. So let's not go there.

Moving on.

A recent Bridge Ratings study estimates that a total of 1.6 million Stern fans have made the jump to Sirius with him. That's approximately 13% of his total fan base. During the first month following Stern's move to Sirius, David Lee Roth lost 75% of his audience - no doubt many of these listeners decided to subscribe to Sirius after hearing his on-air dribble.

But in April, Opie and Anthony signed with CBS Radio and began broadcasting in many of Stern's prior markets. They now are syndicated in 26 different stations nationwide. Below is a chart that shows the number of Stern influenced subscribers, with the time periods of when O&A began syndicating to terrestrial:

An interesting coincidence to say the least. Now this isn't necessarily translating to XM subscribers either. In the week following Thanksgiving, Bridge estimates that 15% of respondents were Stern motivated subscribers, compared to a mere 3% of Opie and Anthony motivated subscribers.

But the fact that new nationally syndicated "shock jock" talent is now available on terrestrial radio has most likely caused many listeners to reconsider a satellite radio subscription. This could also be why satellite radio has dropped off the map as being a "hot item" of the Holiday season.

The fact is, prior to Stern migrating to Sirius there was absolutely no non-political morning drive talent on the air. When Stern left, the vaccum of poor on-air personalities undoubted drove a portion of the audience to seek an alternative - even if they had to pay for it. But with a free alternative readily available, there's no impending reason to leave anymore.

Food for thought. 

Bridge Ratings is reporting in their latest Satellite Radio Consumer Trend that that Thanksgiving Weekend retail sales are down 31.5% from the same period in 2005.

Bridge did say that they expect the coming weeks to improve comparatively, but that YoY retail sales will likely fall very short of 2005's final results. Bridge estimates that retail will be off 23% - 25% for 4Q06 sales when compared to the same period last year.

As for Stern's influence: Bridge found that Stern influenced 52% of Sirius subscription decision, between October 2005 and November 2005. Last week, Bridge Rating's interviews found that only 14% of Sirius subscriber decisions were influenced by Stern - and has fallen to the lowest point in months for this week: only 10%.

They also conclude that November's free Sirius Internet Radio offer did not impact retail sales, but appears to have impacted Internet sales.

Read the full report here. 

The November 27th issue of Forbes Magazine has a scathing article, entitled Dethroned, talking about Howard Stern's move to Sirius and how he has "slipped as a cultural force."

The article cites several pieces of data to prove it's point - some of which are legitimate - others are unrelated in my opinion. 

For example, Forbes states that Stern's media mentions are down 23% year-to-date compared with 2004. It also highlights that Sirius has less of an audience than his terrestrial show. These are facts that can't be disputed and are related to the story.

Unrelated is Sirius' loss of $853 million last year, and the fact that Sirius' stock is down 44% since his first show debuted - there's a lot more factors in stock price than just Stern. It is intriguing to learn the 31.3 million shares Stern had handed to him back in January - then valued at $236 million - are now worth $116 million today (who knows if he's dumped any along the way).

Forbes does stick to facts though, if only to prove their point. They acknowledge his "antics" at CBS helped add 2.2 million subscribers for Sirius in 2005. They also point out that Sirius added 1.8 million subscribers since Stern's first show - but that rival XM added 1.2 million subscribers during the same time, sans Stern.

This graph illustrates the figures very nicely: 

And while the "dethroned" concept is probably only of interest to celebrity-watchers and the media (since they loathed referring to Stern as their "King"), the data itself`makes some good points - and if anything wakes up those who thought this was going to be an ongoing trend. I think that's really the bottom line here. Everyone needs to understand that there's a finite number of hardcore Stern fans, and there was a finite date to hear him on terrestrial, so this created an event. This is not a sustaining event though - and the numbers alone show it.

Where do we go from here? That's the question.

According to a recent Bridge Ratings study, 12.8% of Howard Stern's terrestrial radio fan base have converted over to Sirius Satellite Radio. Bridge estimates that's a total of 1,530,758 subscribers.

Bridge also feels that 20% of his original terrestrial radio audience were his most loyal fans, and are the most likely to convert to Sirius (makes sense). So using those numbers, Sirius has roughly 7.2% of his "most loyal" fans left - a group that I assume they'll pursue this Holiday season.

Converting 1.53 million ain't too shabby, but that doesn't prevent the NAB's favorite publication Inside Radio from spinning it to say that Stern's "impact is lessening." Of course it's lessening, there's a finite number of hardcore fans out there (and we're only talking about 20% of his audience - the other 80% are familiar with Stern, and as such, Sirius). Take a look at this graph to see The Stern Effect in action:

Now tell me if adding over 300,000 retail subscribers a month can be realistically maintained. No? Then it's lessening. Isn't that crazy? Note to the people at Inside Radio: if want to know something that's lessening, try looking at your status as a legitimate media publication first.

[Bridge Ratings] 

Yet another great e-QB special from FMQB, this time around the e-QB features an interview with Tim Sabean (the Program Director for Sirius' Howard Stern channels).

Howard fans, and others alike, will find this interview a good read. It not only captures the excitment behind working on Howard's channels, but the level of opportunities that satellite radio presents for creative-types.

Questions range from the biggest challenges in going from terrestrial to satellte; to working with strong personalities; to Pete Townshend walking off the show; to the creation of The Bitter Half - it's a great interview and must-read.

[FMQB e-QB] 

Sirius free two-day event was widely publicized - from on-air promos, to multi-lingual press releases, to commercial spots chanting "Howard! Howard!" - they pushed it hard. The question remains though whether this was effective in driving new subscribers... and that question will likely not be answered for a few months.

What we can do though, is look at traffic numbers. 

According to Hitwise, traffic to Sirius' website was up 91% on October 25th compared to the week before and up 201% when compared to the same day a year ago.

And while I loathe referring to Alexa data now (it seems to be getting less and less accurate), it does show Sirius' traffic numbers nearly doubling from its average levels. 

Looking at the Yahoo Buzz Index, which scores according to Yahoo searches, shows that searches for "Sirius" jumped 78% on October 25th over the Monday before. Searches for "Howard Stern" went up 51% over the same weekly period as well. Google Trends, on the otherhand, shows no change in searches (perhaps it's not updated yet?).

For some hard numbers to compare this with: Sirius.com drew in 1.75 million unique users in September, while HowardStern.com grabbed 832,000 (XMradio.com drew in 2 million unique users in September as well).

The interest in Sirius and Howard Stern, at least for a free-trial, did cause a significant spike in traffic last week. If we're to assume the same numbers as in September, that's an average of ~60,000 unique visitors a day to Sirius' website. So a 91% increase would work out to just under 115,000 unique daily vistors for those two days. Not too shabby. Whether or not this translated to paying subscribers? Well, that's a different matter.

[AdAge] 

Read our follow-up to this article: Sirius' Free Online Promotion... was it a hit?

Sirius is really pushing this two-days of free Sirius, scheduled for October 25th and 26th, having issued a press release listing both days' programming lineup and Howard Stern's guests. The Sirius.com homepage features two slides pushing Sirius Internet Radio.

The jury's still out on whether or not consumers will actually respond to this "Howard Stern Worldwide" event, or that subscribers will actually sign up to an Internet-only service that costs the same as as the regular service. The standard consumer mindset is that anything over the Internet should be provided at a discount (or free).

Either way, check out Stern's guest list and the other Sirius programming that people can hear during this 2-day free event, after the jump...

SIRIUS Satellite Radio is kicking off their Sirius Internet Radio service with a two-day worldwide event - allowing listeners to hear both Howard Stern channels, as well as 75 other CD-quality channels - absolutley free.

On October 25th and October 26th, SIRIUS will open up their "airwaves" and let people listen to Sirius Internet Radio - and Howard Stern - for free. The regular monthly cost for SIR is $12.95 (the same price as their standard satellite radio service), but instead allows listeners to hear the 75 channels (including 64 music channels) over the internet.

Go to Sirius' website today to register for a free trial, then tune in on October 25th to listen to Stern.

Howard Stern's VOD channel, Howard TV, is launching a new promotional campaign to celebrate a free (well, almost, it costs $0.01) promotional weekend.

The new ads will hit men's magazines, NYC taxi tops and male-oriented websites starting this week. The campaign includes print ads in Playboy, Maxim and FHM magazines (featuring two women "canoodling"), while the taxi ads are much tamer simply featuring the words "In Howard We Trust" with Stern's face on a penny.

The Howard TV Preview weekend runs from November 3rd through November 5th, with the one-penny charge meant to limit the number of underage viewers from seeing the action. 

In Demand Networks is reportedly "spending north of $1 million" to promote the weekend.

[NY Daily News] 

Just a quick bit of Howard talking about the Stiletto. Takes a couple shots at terrestrial radio as well. A good listen.

A recent article in AdAge highlights the fact that Howard Stern's ad rates have dropped to $5,000 - $6,000 per spot - with live reads maxing out at $10,000. That's about 1/2 of what Sirius was originally asking, and back in his terrestrial days Stern was commanding a live-read upwards of around $30,000.

But that's not really the interesting part of the article, because well it's not really much of a surprise. The interesting part is the listener number data coming from Sirius.

While XM does offer some audience data from a custom Arbitron report, Scott Greenstein, president-entertainment and sports at Sirius, said Sirius has hired a third-party research company to get audience data on "certain things our advertisers would need." The third-party data, culled from the unnamed research company, shows that 58% of subscribers listen to Howard Stern during the week.

That means there's about 5 million Stern listeners according to this data. Take 4.7 million Sirius subscribers multiplied by an estimated 2 listeners per subscription, equals 9.4 million total Sirius listeners. Multiplied by 58% and you've got Stern's audience of about 5 million people.

"Given the state of terrestrial, there are a lot of shows and hosts that would like to have that [many listeners]," Mr. Greenstein said.

[AdAge]

Howard Stern's former sidekick, Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling, is rumored to be getting his own show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

Insiders say Stern will announce on his show next week that Martling will have his own program on Sirius, which "will debut mid-October," says a New York Daily News source.

Martling said through his rep he has "no news" about a new radio show just yet. If this were to be true, it would be a great move in my opinion. Jackie rules. 

[New York Daily News via Wizbang Pop]

John Mainelli, the New York Post reporter who helped spread the rumor (twice) that Howard Stern is returning to terrestrial radio, has left the paper after receiving an ultimatum from editor in chief Col Allan.

Mainelli was told that he had to choose between his freelance job covering the radio industry for the Post and his consulting for terrestrial radio stations and owners. Something that was not disclosed in his articles, magnifying a possible conflict of interest.

Though Mainelli was pretty much regurgitating a report from Inside Radio, he did spice up his story a bit saying that Stern was having trouble booking celebrity guests (something that Gary quickly squashed).

Howard 100 News called attention to Mainelli's terrestrial radio consulting ties on air, which was quickly picked up by Jeff Jarvis' Buzzmachine.com. The information then made its way to the New York Post's Editor in Chief.

"I'm very disappointed, and I'm really pissed at Howard Stern," Mainelli said. "From now on, anything I write about him will have to have a disclaimer: John Mainelli has an ax to grind against this man."

[Radar Online] 

UPDATE: Listen to the Howard 100 News report below:

;

An article by the New York Post's John Mainelli set off Howard this morning on his show. Citing Inside Radio's claim (which incidently Orbitcast cited as well) that Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin was in talks with Citadel's CEO Farid Suleman, John Mainelli expanded on the rumor hinting that WPLJ or WABC were possible outlets.

Howard Stern explicitely stated on his show that he has absolutely no intentions of returning to terrestrial radio. He's quite happy on satellite radio.

You all called bravo-sierra on this one, and obviously were right (did anyone believe this rumor?) but just in case there was any doubt... there should be no more.

[New York Post] 

Side Note: A post on SeekingAlpha seems to think that a good way for Stern to boost his popularity, and Sirius subscribers, is by... uhm, podcasting. Pure genius.

At least that's according to radio industry publication Inside Radio. Apparently there is word that a "mega-deal" is brewing between Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, Howard Stern, and Chairman & CEO of Citadel Broadcasting Farid Suleman. Links to Inside Radio tend to have a short lifespan, so here's a snippet for your reading pleasure:

What’s with all the speculation about Howard Stern back on “the radio”?

The gossip continues to be that some sort of mega-deal’s brewing among Sirius chief Mel Karmazin, Stern, and Mel’s longtime associate Farid Suleman — who’s running Citadel and about to take over the ABC properties.

No other details are available regarding this, but Audio Graphics is thinking that Stern is destined to return to terrestrial airwaves.

[Inside Radio]

UPDATE: And yes, and the 60 Minutes profile of Stern last night was a rerun.

Howard responded yesterday against the claim that his popularity is waning, based on traffic to Stern's website, stating that "I've got more enemies now than I ever have. We are so successful here at Sirius Satellite Radio. I have the entire radio industry fucking with me, hiring publicists to plant whatever shit they can say in the paper to make it seem like we're losers.

"My enemies are way worse than the government. Big business is my enemy, business people desperate for money. And let me tell you, they are way worse than the government," Stern continued.

Now while I find the comparison to website traffic to one's celebrity status a bit... useless. I also have to openly disagree that this would be a conspiracy of some sort put together by terrestrial radio. The publishing of the Hitwise numbers was simply a bait for media attention, in my opinion, and it is obviously working. But a smear campaign?

Stern later promised to release numbers contrary to the report by Tancer that will show traffic on his website has not dropped since joining Sirius.

[via FMQB] 

Artie Lange's Beer League debuts today in a limited opening (160+ theaters) and word has it the nationwide opening is set for October 6th. Check here for a list of theaters premiering the movie today.

Staring Artie Langue (of course), as well as Ralph Maccio, Anthony De Sando, Cara Buono, Jimmy Palumbo, Joe Lo Truglio , Jerry Minor, Seymour Cassel, Michael Deeg, and Laurie Metcalf.

Variety has an interesting review on the movie if you want to check it out, or watch the trailer after the jump...

With Howard Stern's move from terrestrial to satellite radio, and his show gone from E! to OnDemand, visits to Stern's website and search queries are down - at least according to Hitwise (via Media Buyer Planner). This sparked my curiousity, because some people are using this data to say that his move to satellite hurt his celebrity.

So first, let's work backwards and take a look at search queries data. First, the Hitwise numbers:

Now, let's contrast these numbers with what Google Trends shows us:

Strange, the trend lines don't seem to match up... even if you just look at the same date ranges (Hitwise starts from March 2005 - right around the "D" mark on Google Trends).

OK, so let's look at overall website traffic:
 

Now, aside from the "siriusradio.com" thing - which redirects to sirius.com anyway - I wanted to see how this matches up with Alexa traffic results:

(Note that I'm only able to overlay sirius.com and howardstern.com on the Alexa chart.) These tend to be tracking with each other, as opposed to opposite each other as the Hitwise numbers seem to be.

Now wait, didn't comScore do something like this earlier this year? Oh yeah, that's right, they did. Let's take a look at their numbers as well:

Interesting.

Now... really all this proves is that each service's varying methodology has the ability to create different results. Interesting to say the least, but not nearly the law-of-the-land.

So that leads me back to the question of using this to measure the amount of celebrity. Does the decline in traffic and search queries (according to Hitwise) indicate a reduction in the 'celebrity' of Howard Stern?

Well... yes actually. He's talking to a lot less people now, so what? The thing I really don't like about both posts is that they are indicating that being on satellite radio is a step down in "status." But this form of media is still very much in it's infancy, yet the rate of adoption is faster than cell phones, cable and the Internet. Sure, right now the audience is relatively small... but what about in 2010?

Listening to Howard this morning was an eerie and solemn tribute to the 5-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks. At 8:58am this morning, Howard replayed the original 9/11 show from that day.

I say it was eerie because I was listening to Stern on that morning half a decade ago. I can recall exactly where I was at each moment of that show and it brought me back to every minute. There was a lot of anger, confusion and yes a bit of levity in between (because no one knew exactly what was going on yet) - it was real.

From the second that the towers were hit, until we arrived at our office less than 2 miles away, I was glued to my radio listening to Howard. Hearing him again today was an incredible reminder of how the feeling was on that day. It's important to relive it and experience that feeling... because we should never forget.

Thanks Howard. 

Longtime friend of The Howard Stern Show, Donald Trump, will introduce the all-time top ten uncensored Howard Stern moments, as voted by fans from Stern's classic material of the last 20 years.

The classic Stern moments began airing over the Labor Day weekend, and listeners can vote for their favorite moments until 10:00 am ET on Friday, September 8th.

Howard Stern's All Request Top Ten will be announced in a special broadcast this Friday, September 8th at 12pm ET on SIRIUS Howard 100.

[Vote Now] 

SIRIUS Satellite Radio will unleash classic unedited material from Howard Stern's last 20 years on radio starting this weekend.

Chosen from 23,000 hours of tape, these fan favorite moments will include unedited interviews with such memorable guests as Paul McCartney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, Sylvester Stallone and Sam Kinison.

In addition, bits featuring famed impersonator and past longtime Stern show regular Billy West will air throughout the weekend, as well as classic prank calls, song parodies, live musical performances and much more. The material will be played 100% unedited and censor-free... the way it was meant to be.

The all-request special begins Labor Day Weekend, airing Friday, September 1st at 3pm ET and will run through Monday, September 4th at 12 midnight ET on Howard 100. Simultaneous West Coast broadcasts will also be heard on Howard 101.

In case you missed it, here's a video of Artie Lange's appearance on David Letterman last week.

HotMovies.com is kicking off a multi-week promotional campaign with Sirius Satellite Radio and The Howard Stern Show, called the "Ho-Deo" starting on September 5th. The promotion asks listeners to ride the Sybian - a lovely machine that has been host to several of Howard Stern's female guests, including Jenna Jameson, Carmen Elektra, and Jenny McCarthy.

Howard will invite five to seven female listeners to ride the Sybian in the next few weeks. Of those chosen, the contestant who stays on the longest will win $5,000 courtesy of HotMovies.com.

In addition to running on live broadcasts and replays on Howard 100 & Howard 101, Sirius will work in conjunction with Playboy Radio to have Playboy Sexperts drive subscribers to the Sirius Playboy Radio webpage where they can register to win a $500 gift certificate from HotMovies.com.

HotMovies.com is a pay-per-minute adult website - with fees starting at 8 cents a minute - where visitors can watch more than 45,000 adult titles in streaming (or download).

[Press Release] 

Thomas Cipriano, better known as Captain Janks from The Howard Stern Show, got through to CNN's "The Situation Room" yesterday. Janks was posing as Wendy Hutchens, a California woman who claims that five years ago she had detailed chats about the death of JonBenet Ramsey with murder suspect John Mark Karr.

"Wendy Hutchens is joining us on the phone right now," Wolf Blitzer told viewers. "Wendy, thanks very much for doing this. Tell our viewers how you got involved with John Mark Karr." The fake Wendy, being impersonated by a man mind you, explained that she met Karr through a relative.

"So then what happened after that?" Blitzer pressed. "When did the E-mail, when did the talk of JonBenet Ramsey begin?"

The fake Wendy answered: "It started around September of 2001, when he told me that he knew more about the JonBenet Ramsey case than what anybody else had known - and that he was instructed to kill JonBenet by Howard Stern."

"All right. Well, that sounds like we've just been Howard Sterned, as they say," concluded Blitzer.

[NY Daily News via SSG]

That's what this New York Daily News article would lead us to believe. According to Rush & Molloy, Howard Stern fans are in such an outrage - after he skipped out on the funeral of Gary Dell'Abate's father - that they're threatening to drop their SIRIUS subscriptions.

Allegedly, fourteen-thousand people have express their distaste on Stern Fan Network and Chaunce Hayden has declared Stern "A-hole of the Week." (Note to the Media: The mere mention of Chaunce Hayden instantly reduces the validity of your news piece.)

SFN is quick to bring up that the numbers are bit skewed in this report. At the time of posting this the thread in question was viewed 19,214 times.

Now don't misunderstand me. I personally would never miss the wake, or the funeral, of a close co-worker/friend... but I figure the numbers should be somewhat accurate if it's to be reported on.

[New York Daily News via Gawker]

Filling in for Scott Ferrall, who is currently on vacation, Crazy Cabbie makes his return to the airwaves tonight at 8pm on SIRIUS' Howard 101. Cabbie - who was released from prison on July 27th - will be Ferrall's substitute on both today's show and tomorrow's show.

Crazy Cabbie will be joined with former K-Rock dj Brad Maybe. When asked whether he would have Cane in to recreate the Cane & Cabbie Show (from K-Rock), Cabbie said that Cane just signed with XM and they won't be able to do that.

Tune in tonight @ 8pm and tomorrow, August 16th, @ 8pm to hear Crazy Cabbie on Howard 101 (ch 101).

Howard Stern was the #2 highest-earning celebrity in 2005 - second only to Steven Spielberg - according to a report released in yesterday's Forbes magazine. Stern pulled in a total income of $308 million last year, compared with Spielberg’s $340 million.

Howard's income of $308 million comes to a meager $588 per minute. Compare that with XM's Oprah Winfrey who had a total income of $230 million in 2005, or $454 per-minute.

[Forbes via Radio Ink]

The duo played a clip of Stern saying that Letterman's "people" called his agent to see if it was okay to book Opie and Anthony, and that he could have said no but didn't. O&A in turn challenged Stern to "do it!"

On his SIRIUS Satellite Radio show, Howard Stern told his audience that Letterman "asked me how I felt" about the booking, and that the booking came after "a lot of pressure from a certain person" at CBS. Stern claimed that Letterman's staff "weren't into it. They were feeling a lot of pressure."

"Howard says a lot of things that can't be confirmed. We are telling Howard, do it ... go ahead, get us off of Letterman, you lying sack... he thinks he has power over CBS and David Letterman," Anthony Cumia said.

Opie added "his listeners need to know that he's full of shit... We’re begging him to do it because we know it’s just a bunch of crap.”

[via AllAccess] 

UPDATE: Listen to audio of this here (MP3)

Howard Stern will be available to SIRIUS Satellite Radio without any contractual restrictions for an aggressive fourth quarter marketing campaign, and Mel Karmazin intends on using him.

"Howard Stern is mobilized for an aggressive campaign in the fourth quarter for Howard to bring on some of the fans that he had, that have not yet made the conversion to satellite radio. So unlike last year in the fourth quarter, we did not have Howard Stern officially selling for us. This year we will have Howard selling for us."

While he didn't specify exactly what Howard will be doing, Mel did turn up the hype-machine with:

"This will be the first holiday season... where the best salesman on radio is going to be selling subscribers for us."

While Howard hardly sat idly by in promoting his move to satellite radio in 2005, there's little doubt that Stern will be an integral part of SIRIUS' holiday season promotions.

[via Billboard Radio Monitor]
[Transcript by Seeking Alpha]

Are you dying to see the winning video of the Howard Stern Film Festival was? Sure you are. Well, you can view "Radio Play" by Scott Masterson on AOL Comedy (note to Firefox users: requires Mozilla ActiveX control to view).

Sit back and enjoy as you watch lil' kinder-versions of Howard, Robin and Fred all meet each other for the first time back in 1962 while playing with HAM radios. It's a hoot!

["Radio Play" on AOL Comedy via SSG]
Thanks Mike and Todd!

Bridge Ratings has just released a graph that reflects their data since October:

Bridge does state that with the start of Stern streaming online, they'll continue to track and report on the affect this may have on Sirius subscriber adds. It'll be interesting to see if a change does in fact occur as the buzz about Howard is getting somewhat renewed as of late (streaming, the tapes have arrived, CBS Radio settlement, etc).

That's right folks, Howard 100 and Howard 101 are now streaming ONLINE!

A Howard Stern fan approached Opie & Anthony during the XM "Walk Over" on today's show. The Stern fan first came up to the microphone and said, "This is Opie and Anthony's whole audience here? I just wanna say, uhm, Howard Stern has a huge cock and I love him."

The Stern fan then continued and was allowed to say his anti-O&A/pro-Stern comments on the air (calling O&A "douchebags"). There was some back and forth - where the unnamed Stern fan claimed Opie & Anthony steal "a lot shit [from Stern]" - Anthony responded with "steal a lot of shit? Yeah, like his radio stations!"

At that point the Stern fan then threw Ben Sparks against a wall and was subdued by "Club Soda Kenny" and "Master Po" who pinned the Stern fan down and made him apologize on air. His alleged reason for the attack was that Ben Sparks (Opie & Anthony's Producer) spit on him. He was held until the NYPD came.

"Alright, that worked out well... that was the best walk yet!" Anthony said afterwards. 

The whole incident was caught on video, but as far as we know all video is in the hands of the NYPD pending investigation.

Listen to audio of the Walk Over incident (MP3)

FMQB is reporting that audio of the incident will not be rebroadcast during XM's replay of the show. This probably also means it will not be available on Audible either. Confirmed - the audio is not on the Audible version either.

Thanks to Scott B for sending in the photo!

Inside Radio has a more dramatic take on Bridge Ratings' recent findings answering the question of how many Howard Stern listeners followed him to Sirius:

Maybe 1.3 million, says Bridge Ratings. And Dave Van Dyke finds “an apparent apathy” among those who’ve not already trailed him to Sirius. Bridge asked 3,200 Stern fans why they haven’t yet subscribed and 26% said they were listening to their “second choice” show on terrestrial radio. 15% said they didn’t miss Stern enough to shell out the $13 a month.

Not included in that report: 25% said costs were too high, and 20% don't see the value in satellite radio. 

A reader sent in this full-page ad which ran in today's New York Daily News. Great promotion by Sirius, and the New York market is a no-brainer.

Check it out after the jump... 

You might recall late last year that Howard Stern's former accountant, Gary Herwitz, was busted for inside trading of SIRIUS stock. Well, yesterday a federal judge sentenced him to two years probation and a $20,000 fine (and a complete a mental health treatment program).

Herwitz, who faced up to 16 months behind bars, bought 25,000 shares of SIRI in September 2004 prior to Howard's announcement to move to satellite radio.

"No purpose would be served in sentencing the defendant to a period of incarceration," the judge said, citing undisclosed family issues.

[NY Post] 

"This is going to be the biggest thing. The second wave of the revolution," said an excited Howard Stern over the acquisition of CBS Radio's archives of The Howard Stern Show.

20 years. 23,000 hours of uncensored content. All for only $2 million? Incredible.

"A dream of mine has come true," said Stern. "I could never imagine that I would be announcing this, but circumstances are strange."

"It is nothing short of miraculous that this material is available," he continued. "I had resigned myself to the fact that this material would never be available again. I had decided that, most likely, the material would have had to be destroyed."

Personally, my vote goes for an all-day-long channel. With that much footage available, give it to the subscribers!

[via FMQB] 

Howard TV - Howard Stern's On Demand channel - will be available exclusively on Personal TV through Rogers On Demand. Howard TV is only available through Rogers Cable and is not available on satellite or through any other television provider in Canada.

Canadian Howard Stern fans will get unlimited access to uncensored Howard Stern content totaling more than 30 hours of new programming each month, including: Daily Shows, Best Of The Week, Favourite Guests, From The Vault, Wacky & Weird - and lots more.

[Roger's Howard TV] 

While the remainder of details are confidential, the fact that SIRIUS Satellite Radio now has the rights to 'Classic Stern' shows is undoubtedly the headline winner. This morning, SIRIUS issued an 8-K providing some more details to the settlement:

The lawsuit brought by CBS Radio Inc. against us along with Howard Stern and others referenced in Item 3 of our 2005 Annual Report on Form 10-K has been settled. As part of the settlement, CBS Radio is conveying its rights in the recordings of the Howard Stern Show that aired on CBS Radio from 1985 through 2005. We will have the right to use those recordings as part of our Howard Stern channels through December 2010. We are making a total payment of $2 million to CBS Radio. This is the only payment we will make under the settlement agreement.

Great deal for SIRIUS, not just because they get two decades worth of programming, but also since this is the only public information about the settlement. They definitely walk away the winner here.

Satellite Standard Group is reporting that as part of the CBS Radio / Howard Stern suit settlement, SIRIUS Satellite Radio has agreed to pay $2,000,000 for the rights to replay the Howard Stern Show.

No other details are available at this time, and SSG did not list a source for this information.

UPDATE: FMQB confirms and adds some color to this.

A settlement has been reached in the CBS Radio breach of contract lawsuit against Howard Stern, according to an official in the court clerk's office in New York - but both sides said no agreement had been signed.

"The only response we're authorized to give you is the settlement agreement is not yet signed. We will release a statement when it is," said the office of Peter Parcher, lawyer for Stern.

"A settlement agreement has not been signed. When it is signed, we will make an announcement," said a spokesman for CBS.

Two weeks ago, we learned the two sides were close to settling. Then last week, Judge Ira Gammerman postponed a hearing to give more time for a settlement.

[Washington Post]
[Reuters]

Yesterday's CBS Radio vs. Howard Stern breach of contract hearing has been postponed until next week, a clerk for New York state court Judge Ira Gammerman told reporters. This delay suggests that both parties have not yet reached an agreement, but are still in talks over a possible settlement.

The hearing was postponed until May 24.

At a hearing last week, a CBS lawyer told the court the two sides were close to settling the suit, in which CBS is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for breach of contract, fraud, unjust enrichment and misuse of CBS broadcast time.

[Reuters] 

Lawyers on both sides of the CBS Radio/Howard Stern breach of contract lawsuit have indicated that they are close to a settlement.

CBS lawyer Irvin Nathan told Judicial Hearing Officer Ira Gammerman, "We have an agreement, but there are details that have to be worked out," addeing that they were "very close" to a settlement.

Stern's lawyer, Peter Parcher, confirmed Nathan's report but refused to elaborate.

If they do not come to an agreement, both will return to the courtroom next week.

[Billboard] 

Bridge Ratings has traditionally been showing very positive trend numbers for SIRIUS Satellite Radio over the past few quarters, and rightfully so as SIRIUS has done an absolutely incredible job of adding new subscribers - much of that is due to Howard Stern.

The question on many people's minds, investor's and industry watchers alike, is whether this growth is sustainable. Sure, no one expects the hoards of people to continue signing up at the rate they were doing in Q4 and Q1, but exactly how much influence does Stern have for a long-term effect? Bridge attempts to answer this.

Bridge Ratings estimates that a total of 8.4% of Stern's terrestrial audience (not a small amount mind you - that's 1.1 million listerners) have made the move to satellite radio. For the remaining listeners though, Bridge noted that there's "an apparent apathy for future subscriptions" and that The Stern Effect seen during their satellite radio trends from 4Q05 through 1Q06, "has virtually stalled."

Bridge Ratings asked 3,200 Stern listeners 18+ between April 1 and May 8, "why haven't you yet subscribed to Sirius satellite radio?", these are their responses:

Bridge Ratings is also projecting that over the last ten weeks 1,142,312 additional satellite radio subscriptions have occurred at the retail level and that since early April, the retail subscriptions have swung in favor of XM after being dominated by SIRIUS.

I'm curious to see if this continues (or changes) as new devices, from both XM and SIRIUS, are unveiled in the coming months and as preparations for the 2006 Holiday season begin.

Bridge has more metrics about retail awareness and consumer preferences, you can check them out here. 

So speculates the New York Post, based on a few misquoted segments from the Howard Stern Show. Here's the quote from the Post:

"The joke could be on them if I get good and worked up [because] I got offered a major deal to go back to terrestrial and stay on satellite at the same time," Stern told his Sirius listeners.

Of course, the Post is (as usual) only leading to an inaccurate conclusion because Stern continues to say, "but I won't do it."

Mel Karmazin, as recently as last week, stated wholeheartedly that they intend to keep Stern exclusive on SIRIUS. And considering the investment they've made, that sounds pretty logical. This is simply the New York Post doing what they do best.  

[NY Post]
Thanks Glenn!

SIRIUS Satellite Radio today announced that they have plans to stream The Howard Stern Show via the Internet to SIRIUS subscribers by Father’s Day. This will be a momentous day when this occurs, because many fans have been frustrated by the lack of an online stream. Even back in the 'terrestrial days' Howard was never streamed online. Cubicle rats rejoice!

Inside Radio had a bit of spin based on the recent Winter Arbitrons:

Katz researcher Maggie Hauck says “Howard Stern listeners have stuck with terrestrial radio despite all the hype.” From the first batch of Winter Arbitrons it appears “the Stern audience poured out all over the terrestrial radio dial” — scattered among other stations — but “the Persons Using Radio levels barely budged.” So Americans (at least n the biggest markets) didn’t run to Sirius to catch their idol. [...] What Katz is saying is that the total audience — the PUR — didn’t shrink in this Winter book (so far).

I'm not the only one who found this funny, as Radio Marketing Nexus found some curious discrepencies with this. See, apparently Katz forgot that Satellite Radio listenership is now recorded and as a result SIRIUS listeners are counted towards Persons Using Radio. So there definitely was no "signficant loss" because Stern's listeners just moved from one row to another. In fact, Arbitron told the Nexus that almost 4% of the NY MSA diarykeepers reported listening to Satellite Radio in the Winter book.

Hmmmm... so that didn't work. What about those not listening to satellite? The audience that "poured out all over the terrestrial radio dial" as it's so colorfully stated?

This from Nexus' inside source on the NY numbers:

Let’s look at 25-44 men (Howard’s core demo) in morning drive. [The AQH] figure is off 3% book-to-book and 9% this Winter compared to last Winter!

Just got an email from SIRIUS promoting the new Howard 100 and Howard 101 schedule lineup that most of us already are quite familiar with. Still, it's a very nice promotional piece to remind everyone - especially the casual listeners - of the schedule in an email that they can print out or refer to.

Check out the full email after the jump... 

Talkers magazine has selected SIRIUS' Howard Stern to receive its 2006 Freedom of Speech Award. Stern will receive the award on June 10th during the annual New Media Seminar in New York.

[UPI] 

Imagine walking into your hotel room after a long flight, throwing down your luggage, turning on the TV and after a few deft thumb moves across the remote - you're watching the Sybian in action. That scenario could be happening starting this month when Howard TV begins arriving in Hotels across the country.

iN DEMAND (the VOD service that runs Howard TV) and On Command Video Corporation (a company that provides in-room interactive entertainment for the hotel industry) have inked a multi-year agreement to offer Howard TV to On Command users. Hotel visitors will be able to select from several of the most popular recent shows filmed during Howard Stern's popular morning satellite radio program. On Command will constantly refresh the content as it becomes available.

[Press Release] 

After appearing naked on The Howard Stern Show, Alison Cushman, a 31 year old child abuse investigator, is facing possible disciplinary action.

The photos where Stern and crew assessed her body are still up online (not really work-safe) and are what may cause "appropriate action" to be taken according to a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County office of the Department of Children and Families. "State employees are held to a higher standard, and as such, unbecoming behavior will not be tolerated," she added.

You know, I have to say that Sarah McBride from the Wall Street Journal really does a great job with her interview with Mel Karmazin and is one of my favorite journalists covering satellite radio. The article is truly insightful, and the questions she throws as him are not nearly the softballs that you've come to expect from most media outlets.

One key statement by Karmazin is this one pointing towards another marketing push in the coming months:

"We have a very aggressive campaign to mobilize all of the people who are Howard fans to get a Sirius satellite radio as a graduation, as a Father's Day, a holiday gift."

Interesting. Can't wait to see what it is.

Another interesting snippet is about the upcoming "Buy Button" and the new "S100" (or whatever it's called) that is coming this summer. On the topic of a digital music download service, Mel says:

"...buying music is something that we're open to. If you, the consumer, hear a song on Sirius and you want to buy that song on our device, we're going to enable you do it. But you can go to Yahoo and do it, or you can go to some other third party to do it."

Considering the previous relationship between SIRIUS and Yahoo, and pretty much confirmed by Mel's "slip" in this interview - I'd be willing to bet that the 3rd party digital music provider will be the Yahoo! Music Unlimited.

[Wall Street Journal] 

Check out this very long and in-depth interview with Howard Stern in this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly.

Definitely a worthwhile read, where Stern talks about everything from Howard 100 News, to the Howard TV VOD service and the general evolution of the show since it's moved to SIRIUS.

Even if you're not a Howard fan, it's worth checking out just for the photos.

[Entertainment Weekly]

Thanks Tim! 

According to this Reuter's article, SIRIUS CEO Mel Karmazin said, at the Sports Business Journal's annual World Congress of Sports event, that he met with Howard Stern on Monday to try to get him to extend his term with similar pay structure.

Howard wasn't interested.

"He'll take his chances when the contract is up," said Mel Karmazin.

The only reason why I could see Howard turning down an extension of the contract would be either:

1. He's considering retirement.
2. He's waiting to see how much advertising revenue he can bring in within the 5 years.

I can't really blame him if you think about it. At the current rate of growth, why would lock in the current salary when it could be much bigger in 5 years?

Thanks Cranky Media Guy! 

[Reuters] 

Audiographics is quickly becoming one of my favorite Radio-related sites. Ken really does call it like he sees it. His latest article, Radio Industry's Use of Words About Howard Stern, features a perfectly snide and accurate look at how terrestrial twists things to be artifically positive.

Let me place two sentences side by side that describe Howard Stern and his move to Sirius. See if you react differently to each:

•  New Jacobs Study Says 70% Of Stern Listeners Stayed With Terrestrial Radio
•  New Jacobs Study Says 30% of Stern Listeners Moved To Sirius

[...] 

Perhaps, if the radio trades followed the same style word usage for Arbitron's RADAR national audience measurement service, instead of seeing the headline "Arbitron: Radio Reaches More Than 230 Million People," we'd have been witness to "Arbitron: 63 Million Persons Not Listening to Radio." 

Of course, as Get Sirius Info points out, Jacobs Media (the company who did the survey) is regularly contracted by major terrestrial radio companies... like CBS Radio.

Considering the sensitivity of this information, I really need to stress that this is currently speculation and based on 2nd hand information. But according to sources, there is a strong rumor that Howard Stern was served a subpoena by the SEC last Wednesday (March 22nd). The grounds for the subpoena are unknown.

Several attempts to contact SIRIUS regarding this went unanswered. The only feedback I received was to forward me to Patrick Reilly, SVP of Corporate Communications at SIRIUS, but then further communications stalled. I had really hoped that SIRIUS could at least confirm or debunk this rumor before posting, but after multiple attempts I've still heard nothing. I'm no lawyer, so I don't know if they're even allowed to make a statement at this point anyway.

So there it is. As I find out more information, I'll post it. If you yourself have more information you can email me here.

Thanks Jonathan! 

Fred Jacobs ran a 25,000-person web-based study from 79 rock stations in late February and learned that 70% of listeners decided not to do the jump to satellite radio. In the study he states that "the biggest winners appear to be many of Stern's former FM competitors," though he backpedals a bit and says that there's no doubt that Howard has been a "big plus to Sirius."

Let's see, because today the Phase II Arbitrends are due, and I don't see David Lee Roth or Adam Carolla doing so well. 

According to comScore Media Metrix, it looks like Howard Stern hasn't lost his edge in terms of traffic even after moving over to SIRIUS Satellite Radio. His site even beats out Rush Limbaugh.

Here's the comScore chart showing a year's worth of traffic details: 

Interestingly enough, these don't correlate with Alexa's traffic numbers, here's Howard Stern vs Rush Limbaugh's Alexa numbers:

Now, of course statistics are only as good as the data they're derived from - so it can be argued that more "adware friendly" people will visit Rush's website and thus are more likely to skew the numbers for Alexa. But more than anything, I'd look at these charts in terms of trending. Don't look at the hard numbers (and be wary of them), but instead compare the two in terms of the peaks and valleys. Comscore doesn't seem to be registering the spikes on Dec 16th, 2005 and on Jan 9th, 2006 - so I'd assume they're doing a rolling average of some sort.

Either way, it's neat stuff to look at and to help decide whether the "Long Tail" of Howard actually exists or not. Read more on The Back of the Napkin.

Speaking of Long Tail, there's a free, anonynous survey targeted to Howard Stern fans to help determine whether the Stern Effect was actually limited to Dec-Jan. It's completely free and anonymous - so go fill it out here.

Thanks Jim and Mike! 

According to recent report by April Horace, analyst for Hoefer & Arnett Inc, Cablevision reported over 5,000 people signed up at $9.95/month in the first two days of launching Howard Stern’s VOD service.

Even though SIRIUS won’t be enjoying any of the revenue associated with these fees, Horace believes it still shows the power of Stern is running strong, at least in the Northeast.

Thanks Brian! 

Howard Stern is pissed and he's not going down quietly. In an interview with the NY Daily News, Stern said CBS Radio attorneys sent him a letter asking him not to speak publically about their legal battle.

"I don't think they expected me to talk about it," Stern told The News. "Obviously not - why are they sending me a letter to say shut the f--- up?"

A CBS spokesman confirmed the network sent the letter after a lawsuit was filed last month. Stern also alleged that CBS threatened to pull advertising from the trade paper Daily Variety unless its editors killed a favorable piece about him.

"As for Variety," the CBS spokesman said, "we have never threatened to pull any advertising from that publication, ever." Daily Variety editor Tim Gray called the claim that pressure had been placed on the paper "ridiculous."

Separately, but just as entertaining, according to the NY Post - Stern isn't too happy about CBS Radio releasing his salary history in the 43-page lawsuit. According to the article:

Stern was first signed by CBS Radio in 1985 for a now-modest $705,000. According to the CBS filing, by 1996, when his show was in all the top markets, he was making $39.1 million over five years with another $8.85 million in annual bonuses and stock options. When Stern's contract was extended in 2001, "the base compenation increased to over $58.8 million over the five-year term." 

[New York Daily News]
[New York Post]

I don't really know what to think about this. It's obviously meant to capitalize on the CBS Radio vs Howard Stern lawsuit hype - what with a press release even being sent out - but it also attacks terrestrial radio, and that can't be a bad thing.

Whatever the motivation, go ahead and check out Les Is My Bitch and maybe you'll find something for yourself... or your dog.

Many people have doubted the 'consipiracy theory' that Howard Stern issued a gag order against Opie and Anthony during both their terms with Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio). Well, Howard admitted to the gag order on Hannity's show last night. Listen to the audio here.

I often wondered about the supposed gag order where O&A were not allowed to bring up Howard on their show. You can understand, especially after hearing this audio, why they're so obsessed with him. They actually weren't really competing with each other at the time - with Howard in the morning and O&A on a separate station in the afternoons - and even moreso in that they worked for the same company.

While I totally understand the thought that Stern is brand and he wanted to protect that brand (honestly, I can appreciate that), it's just sad that statements like "I'm a strong supporter of MY free speech," would actually be made - let alone enacted upon. If you want to know why this war between the two is going on, listen here.

Thanks OneWithDog! 

You know, these goddamn O&A fans are really just a bunch of pests. Yesterday these silly geese got together and decided to "greet" Howard Stern outside of the Late Night with David Letterman studio. Lots of yelling, screaming and downright stupidity ensued. I personally like the limo speeding away and the fat dude running after it.

One thing you have to admit though. You don't see this kind of passion and following with terrestrial 'jocks' anymore. Where's the Mancow army? Exactly.

[via Foundry Music]

Thanks Rev!

While the headline to this NY Post article is enough to drive your attention elsewhere, the content of the article has some gems of information I didn't realize before.

Such as the fact that SIRIUS isn't getting a rev-share out the Howard's InDemand VOD deal:

Though Howard TV, which will be shown exclusively on In Demand through 2009, will be carved out of his Sirius show, the satellite radio company won't be getting a financial cut - revenue will be divided between In Demand, the cable operators and Stern.

That's a bit surprising. Also that supposedly there's an estimated 250,000 subscribers for Howard TV. That's surprising as well (I would've thought less).

Thanks Tim!

Below is a television ad spot for Howard Stern's InDemand show. I can think of a couple sequels to this commercial (cat, donkey/mule, etc.. you get the idea). More than anything though, the music rocks.

Read the full lawsuit, courtesy of The Smoking Gun.

1. That Sirius Satellite Radio demonstrated a "high degree of moral culpability so flagrant as to transcend simple carelessness" AND
2. That Sirius caused a "public interest harm" in that the general public (not just CBS Radio) was somehow harmed by Sirius’ actions.

In a twist of irony, it seems that Howard Stern will be making an appearance on David Letterman on Monday, March 13th. The Washington Post is reporting that the appearance was scheduled back in January - meant for Stern to talk up his In Demand show. This serves as TV gold though as everyone will tune in to see how much talk about the CBS lawsuit will make its way onto the show.

"This is a booking that has been planned by the show since January," said CBS Entertainment spokesman Chris Ender.

"Obviously issues have arisen since then, but we respect the show's editorial independence and don't intend to censor their programming decisions."

After yesterday's closing bell, CBS Radio issued the official announcement that they have filed suit against Howard Stern, One Twelve (his company), Don Buchwald (his agent), Don Buchwald & Associates (his agent's firm), and yes, Sirius Satellite Radio.

The lawsuit seeks $218-million in restitution, as well as an unspecified amount punitive damages.

Of focus in the lawsuit is the 34-million shares of SIRI stock, valued at approximately $220 million, that were issued to Stern for exceeded 2005 subscriber targets. The Stern-Sirius contract supposedly had these goals set for payment in 2010, but there were provisions that allows for this to be paid ahead of time. Alegedly, this was motivation for Stern to utilize CBS Radio airwaves to assure himself immediate access to $200 million in assets that could be readily converted to cash."

The suit further charges that Sirius intentionally induced and caused Stern to breach his contractual provisions by offering to accelerate Stern's payment of millions of dollars in stock options to promote Sirius on CBS airwaves and by concealing Stern's stock interest from CBS Radio.

[Press Release]
[LA Times]

(Does anyone have video of the press conference? Email me if you do.)
UPDATE: Got the video, check it out here.

Howard Stern hastily arranged a news conference in New York today after the New York Post published a claim that CBS Radio was filing suit against him. Stern said CBS accused him of reaching a "secret agreement" with his new employer, Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., even though he disclosed it to CBS executives and discussed his intentions to move to Sirius on the air.

Stern also disputed CBS's claim that he caused them financial damages by discussing satellite radio on the air, saying it was a legitimate story about the media and helped lead to high ratings for his show and sold-out advertising time.

Stern and his lawyers indicated that no lawsuit had been filed yet.

CBS declined to make any comment.

[ABC News] 

The frontpage of the Drudge Report shows that Stern says CBS Radio will sue. I can't open the link.

The story probably comes from New York Post's Page Six column who is reporting that CBS/Infinity Chairman Les Moonves is considering a $500 million lawsuit against Stern for breach of contract, due to failing to disclose the specifics of his Sirius contract to his bosses at the time.

"When you mention the name Howard Stern to Les, his face turns red and his rage becomes uncontrollable," said a CBS insider. "And Les has a bunch of Washington, D.C., lawyers who hate Howard almost as much as he does."

Until something is official, we're gonna file this one as a "rumor" for now. 

Self-proclaimed as the Mother of All Film Festivals, The Howard Stern Film Festival will be held in Manhattan on April 27th. According to the press release:

"Forget Sundance and Cannes, The Howard Stern Film Festival is destined to become the most talked about film festival of 2006. And, he's inviting his fans to join in."

The Howard Stern Film Festival will anoint the next great American filmmaker by Howard and his distinguished judges and will be catapulted into stardom on April 28th when Howard's loyal fans will be able to view this and other outrageous selections from the Festival on Howard TV On Demand.

Submissions are due by April 11th and are open now. Entries should be no more than five minutes in length and should demonstrate creative film interpretations of "Howard Stern" related storylines. Festival winners will be awarded an aggregate of $25,000 in cash. Finalists and other notable projects will run exclusively on Howard TV On Demand following the event.

The top three films will be awarded prizes as follows:

• 1st Place ($15,000)
• 2nd Place ($7,500)
• 3rd Place ($2,500)

Looks like an Opie and Anthony pest used resources available to him to bring down the Stern Fan Network message board.

Check out the SFN homepage.

One of the biggest requests from subscribers is the ability to listen to Howard Stern online. This is something that SIRIUS and Howard would like to do, but the barrier to entry is essentially bandwidth/backbone concerns. Citing the huge online event of Yahoo streaming Howard's last day on terrestrial radio - the concern is that the load will be more than expected. "We're not going to do it until we get the technical issues worked out" to ensure the best consumer experience as possible.

SIRIUS would like to do it, intially, with no increase in cost. And if/when they do this, there will be no incremental cost to having to pay Howard as a result.

There's this group called the FamilyMediaGuide (which is actually a division of the Media Data Corporation) who thinks its a great idea to sit there and track the amount of profanity occurences on the new Stern Show on SIRIUS. They even go as far as to dramatically call the system the "Shockulator" - a real bunch of silly geese over there. All in all, it's just an excuse to create press releases and generate awareness over their service.

Anyway, they counted the number of "profanity" occurences from the inaugural January 9th show, to the February 9th show - and discovered that overall occurances increased from 2.23 "bad words" per minute to 3.08 per minute. Isn't that shocking?

If you're really into it, check out the full breakdown of each word here. Otherwise, just move on with your life like the rest of us.

Howard Stern wants retroactive pay and monetary damages for his daughter Emily Stern, who he says abruptly quit the Jewish Theater of New York production of "Kabbalah" because the theater's Web site had posted her unauthorized photo to exploit her father's name.

Yesterday, the theater fired back with a letter from lawyer Ron Kuby, who also happens to co-host a daily WABC terrestrial radio show. Kuby said he's ready to fight a Stern lawsuit against the theater and said Emily was trying to "bully the very theater that gave her the opportunity she so craved."

[FOX News]

Jeff Jarvis' Buzzmachine has a great writeup on his recent visit to Howard 100 News and his experiences with the people and the processes of the channel. Very detailed, very well written and the underlying concept that this is the "New News" is an interesting one. Equating Howard 100 News to John Stewart and the Daily Show is an appropriate comparison - they are a satire of radio news. Yet another way that satellite radio is taking a jab at terrestrial.

The humanizing of news is another facinating point. Snip:

To old news folks, this is counterintuitive, but I believe that the voice of news must become more human to be credibible. We don’t believe that voice now because it is so separate, so staged and packaged. But when we get to know the person, we can decide whether to trust him or her. [...] The news makes plenty of artificial attempts to inject humanity. That’s why newspapers hire columnists: we token humans with opinions. That’s why TV news is overrun with happy talk. But we see through that.

Perfect. 

SIRIUS Canada folks get to finally hear Howard Stern (legally) in Canada since he was cancelled in 2001 from Q107 Toronto. But now as a result the CBC finds themselves in a bit of a PR conondrum. The CBC, who owns a 40-percent stake in SIRIUS Canada, has a lot to lose should they piss off the CRTC - directly or indirectly. So while they own a lot in the business side of things, they need to ensure everyone understand they have little to do from the broadcast side of things.

"It's no secret that Howard Stern's program is not consistent with the kind of programming that you find on our [the CBC's] airways. But Sirius Canada made a business decision that was right for it, a decision that was based on the market's demand," said CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald. "We've expressed concerns about some aspects of the content. But Sirius Canada has in place significant safeguards to make sure that the people who are going to hear Howard Stern are the people that want to hear Howard Stern."

[globeandmail.com] 

Start celebrating Canada! Starting this Monday, subscribers to the Sirius Canada satellite radio will begin hearing Howard Stern on his Howard 100 channel. Stern was not originally included in Sirius Canada's initial lineup announcement, so a grassroots movement of Canadian fans started purchasing American receivers and using US addresses (ie, the Canadian "grey market") to access Stern's new satellite channel. It was also the source of some product confusion as some Sirius Canada subscribers assumed they were getting Stern as part of the deal and we're truly pissed when they learned otherwise.

Well, now everyone can breath a sigh of relief because Stern is coming to Canada on Monday February 6th. Woohoo!

[Press Release]

Yahoo's Buzz Index, a meter to show the percentage of searches made on a day, shows that Howard's impact on web searches is still running strong. Citing spikes in searches for peeps like George Takei, Rachel Hunter, Adrianne Curry, Shawn King, Roy Simmons, Alexis Stewart (Martha's daughter - who had by far the biggest spike in with a buzz increase of 5,739%) and of course Bubba The Love Spong - the "Stern effect" still applies for the web.

Sorta.

One thing that I really should point out is that searches for these people aren't necessarily huge to begin with. So it's easy to throw off the Buzz Meter from that standpoint. Still, trying not to be a cynical ass, it's cool to see this kind of stuff in action.

[The Buzz Log] 

In a scathing article, Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield pulls no punches in his review of Howard Stern's new show on Sirius. The title and tagline of the article says it all: Howard's End - Stern's show puts the "um" in "tedium" - OUCH! The thought behind the whole article is that now that Howard has no enemies - no censors, no FCC, no Clear Channel - he also has no substance anymore either.

"He sounds like he no longer has to deal with anybody who doesn't kiss his ass, and as a result he sounds like a bored, gloomy fifty-two-year-old man."

The most painful part to read was this: 

"Howard spends most of the mornings talking about how famous he is, how loyal his listeners are, how many millions of people are running out to buy Sirius radios, while his studio monkey-boys crowd around the mike to say, "Right on, Howard. You still the king." Fans call in to remind him he's still got it. [...] If you thought his sidekicks were useless suck-ups before, get a load of them now. Robin compares him to Martin Luther King Jr. Artie says the main reason he wishes his father were still alive is so he could hear him on The Howard Stern Show. "We're making history," he gushes. And this was the first seven days. By next month, Howard will only be able to keep himself awake ordering the staff to do tag-team ass-to-ass action."

What's your opinion on this? Has Stern lost his edge? Is it a little too early to go judging yet? Were expectations set too high from all the hype?Read the article and sound off here.

[Rolling Stone] 

A few days ago, Wired featured an editorial about Howard Stern and Podcasting (linkage: Real Stern Shocker: No Podcast). The thought was that Podcasting is the new radio revolution and Stern is pretty much an idiot for going to Satellite Radio instead. Big money contract notwithstanding, the author saw no reason why Stern wouldn't gravitate to the Podcast medium instead.

Well, a few Wired readers responded and it pretty much sums up exactly how I felt about it. There's definitely an enhanced experience from listening to something LIVE as opposed to the delayed experience that Podcasting provides. Podcasting is a wonderfully empowering medium - one that gives the people the ability to broadcast with a massive reach - much like blogging. It's citizen media. But questioning why Stern went to satrad as opposed to Podcasting? The point is moot in my opinion.

[Wired News: Rants and Raves]

Yesterday the New York Post frontpage (view) featured Howard Stern with the headline "MOUTH TRAP" in their classic sensationalistic style, followed by an article citing "a source" from Sirius that reported an internal standards-and-practices document that will "censor" the show. Howard retorted on his show, pretty much calling it ridiculous - and it is.

Of course, the media has grabbed this ball and is running as far as they can with it. But is it really such a big deal? Afterall, this IS a public corporation we're talking about here, and while there are no concerns about FCC regulation (which for some reason the media is trying to weave into the picture). Instead, the concern is LIABILITY. In a land where lawsuits abound, why wouldn't SIRIUS have a standards-and-practices guideline?

Afterall XM has its own guidelines in place, as Opie and Anthony know, and they have for a while. As a broadcasting media company, they need to have a set standard for which their on-air personalities should follow - but there is no "Dead Air Dave" sitting in a room somewhere waiting to dump out on the show.

Slander, defamation of character and a whole boatload of other possible liability cases are still a reality that these companies need to deal with. Is this a preemptive strike to prevent the FCC from regulating satellite radio? No. Is it a big old conspiracy created by Clear Channel to go after Howard? C'mon. It's just corporations covering their asses - that's all.

[CURSES FOILED AGAIN FOR STERN: NY Post]
[HOWARD COMES TO HIS CENSORS: NY Post]

Thanks Cranky! 

On January 9th, when Howard returned to radio on SIRIUS - 300,000 people called in to talk to him. Crazyness.

"The number of callers was insane," said Telos Telephony Product Manager Rolf Taylor, who added, "That's like having the entire population of Tampa trying to get through!"

[Radio Ink] 

The New York Sun has a very in-depth article on Howard's new 'defiant fist' symbol. Created by Havas' Euro RSCG (which coincidently is not the same ad agency used by the rest of SIRIUS - Doner handles their business) - the fist symbol is meant to convey a revolutionary attitude.

"It's really simple. It's a symbol of being a revolutionary and being a pioneer in radio," Sirius spokesman, Patrick Reilly, said.

Some people don't necessarily agree with that point though. Such as NY City Council member and former Black Panther member Charles Barron, stating, "he'll do anything to get attention." Adding "using a symbol like that is electoral exploitation in his attempt to appeal to the black community."

...I wouldn't go that far, but I have to agree with the statement made at the end of the article by designer and professor at Pratt Institute, Barry Berger, that the "universality" of the fist removes much of its power and significance. "I think because it is so universal and also so overused, it is not clear what individual message the sender means," he said.

What do you think about it? Thumbs up or thumbs down for the Defiant Fist?

[New York Sun] 

Ad Buyers are reporting that Sirius Satellite Radio is getting about 1/2 the rate they had originally asked for to advertise on Howard Stern's new show. Earlier reports were that Sirius was asking $20,000 for a live read on the show - compare that to the $27,000 for a live read on his old terrestrial radio show.

Still, this is the very beginning and the market can only grow from here. Let's see what kind of rate the show commands in 5 years.

[Media Buyer Planner] 

UPDATE: Mel Karmazin said at a recent Citigroup Media conference that he feels that Sirius is likely to exceed its advertising goal equaling 10% of overall revenue, but stopped short of "officially" forecasting such an outlook. 

Heineken has continued it's 11-year relationship with the Howard Stern Show by signing on as the first beer advertiser on his new show at SIRIUS Satellite Radio. The advertising agreement was reached over the weekend (last minute anyone?) and remain as the same frequency as their previous buys. Heineken Brand Director, Andy Glaser, even went as far as to say, "we are confident Howard will attract an even wider and larger audience on satellite radio in the months ahead." NICE!

[Press Release] 

With Howard's first day on satellite radio comes a whole new bag of crappy criticism from the jaded media. First of note was this article in USA Today (hat tip to Engadget) which gave a play-by-play of the morning's activities. Great publicity right? USA Today is major media and always great exposure for the industry. But, it doesn't take long for the tone of the article to turn negative. They actually had someone, an intern I'd hope, sit down and count every swear word said (172 in case you care). First they were celebrating the "King of All Media" and now they can't stand him.

And throughout the day I read whiny annoying little articles popping up all over the place. (sigh) Hypocrites? The media? naaahhhh..

Howard Stern debuts. Are you listening?

There's a great promotional video released this weekend on both SIRIUS' website as well as on iTunes. It's a very nicely edited piece with some dramatic movie-trailer music playing, but aside from just a few shots from the Dec 16th Rally, there's really not much to it. But whatever, it's a nice watch and if you need help getting psyched about Howard's arrival to Satellite Radio on Monday, I guess this'll do it for you.

[SIRIUS]
[iTunes]

Penny Crone, former WNYW Fox 5 New York TV news reporter, has joined up with Sirius Satellite Radio as a correspondent for Howard 100 News. Crone, who was fired by Fox, has a particularly "raw" style and candor that seperated her from the pack.

She is also quite familiar with Stern, having followed him around back when he ran for governor of New York. She also traveled with him to LA, when he got beat out in the ratings by a Spanish-language station.

[Billboard Radio Monitor] 

According to Hitwise, interest in satellite radio has increased as the holidays approached. Searches containing the word “sirius” surged 78% when comparing the week ending December 17, 2005 to the week before Thanksgiving, while the share of searches containing “xm” were up 13% in the same period.

Hitwise also reports that the market share of visits to Sirius Satellite Radio increased 99% and share of visits to XM Satellite Radio increased 62% for the same period.

[Tekrati] 

Some very impressive numbers here - Yahoo! announced that over 4.4 Million video streams of Howard Stern's Farewell Celebration were streamed on the day of the event. More than 214,000 users stuck around to watch the 4.5 hour party after his final terrestrial broadcast.

Yahoo! promoted the crap out of the event, and it definitely paid off. More than 10,000 new Yahoo! Group members, more than 1,100 photos were shared via Flickr (which were viewed half a million times) and over 122,000 Yahoo! Podcast streams in association with the HowardNation community.

[Press Release] 

For you Opie & Anthony fans, there were a some 'protests' of the Sirius / Stern Farewell Rally at the entrances of the event. I'm sure you 'pests' will enjoy these pics.

Here's photos from the Howard Stern / SIRIUS Farewell Rally.

Yahoo just issued a press release for the online coverage of the Howard Stern Celemonial Walk this Friday. We get a the 'official'information about what's expected to go down (though it's the unexpected stuff we really want to see):

Beginning at 9am (EST). Stern will be escorted on a Yahoo!-branded double-decker bus after his show and brought to an exclusive special event at the Hard Rock Cafe, all of which will be webcast LIVE from Yahoo!.

To access the webcast, consumers can go to yahoo.com and search for "Howard Stern." Simple enough.

[Press Release]

...between Opie & Anthony and Howard Stern. I have a funny feeling that a lot will go down on December 16th when Howard does his ceremonial walk from the K-Rock studios to Sirius Satellite Radio HQ. If you can't make it in person, watch it on Yahoo, because it's sure to be a spectacle.

To add fuel to the fire, this clip (MP3) from the 12/09/05 O&A Show sure has fired up a lot of peeps from both camps. It's even made it's way to Digg. Whether you're a fan of either show or not, listening to that clip will surely be of interest. (Match.com? hmm...)

[Foundry Music] 

Looking for the Howard Stern / Sirius "Dessert" Commercial? Well, look no further. According to Sirius Backstage, this spot first aired on CBS Sunday during the NFL game, and again on Survivor.

This is just the beginning of Sirius' own marketing campaign for Howard's move to satellite. I love this spot and hopefully it sets the tone for things to come.

Watch the commercial after the jump (Flash 8 required). 

And the promotion begins on Yahoo! for the Howard Stern event on December 16th. RadioShack, Crutchfield, Best Buy and Circuit City are all getting major plugs for this. All of which (with the exception of BB) have the S50 prominently displayed on their destination pages.

[Yahoo! Music] 

XM Satellite Radio fans are being treated to a "radio first" with the debut of the "Tissue Time With Beth And Allison" bit. Or so says the press release issued by the "O&A Army." An obvious swipe at Howard Stern's bit "Tissue Time With Heidi Cortez" on Sirius - the press release, craftily put together by some knitters, even made it's way to industry publication FMQB.

Hilarious.

[Press Release] 

(thanks Frank!) 

Looking for the Howard Stern appearance on Bill O'Reilly? Get Sirius Info's got it, so get in there. It's a big ol' download (118Mb) but watching Stern and O'Reilly go tit-for-tat is entertaining at the very least. Over the next three nights The Factor will give a "no spin" look at Howard Stern... should be interesting.

[Get Sirius Info] 

Check out more exclusive video from the 60-Minutes interview with Stern, with footage including Beth O talking about Howard on-and-off the radio show, and why Howard runs his own soundboard.

Watch the video here. 

[CBS News] 

Can't get enough of Howard Stern in the media? Of course not! As part of Howard's media tour, he stopped on by the set of the Today Show for an interview with Katie. We get a glimpse inside the new Sirius studios and a nice interview (better than 60 Minutes in my opinion).

A few interesting points: the apology for "sub-par radio" over the past 10 years. Definitely a nice touch on Howards part (to fall on his sword) in an attempt to generate interest in listeners he may have lost over the past decade. He's really hitting up all angles here, and it's great to see.

Today was part one of a two-part interview, catch the 2nd part tomorrow as Howard gives Katie a tour of the Sirius headquarters.

Watch the video here (6:55)

[MSNBC: Today Show via Get Sirius Info]

According to this super-long article in New York magazine (and I do mean that - it's a long one) Hugh Panero admitted that XM Satellite Radio was willing to pay $30 Million a year for Howard Stern's contract. Infinity even was willing to pay out $35 Million a year but Howard never gave them the chance (oh darn).

At the time of the signing of the deal, Howard was pulling in a "meager" $13 Million.

Have time to burn? Go read this thing here:
[New York Magazine]

Howard Stern's feature in Newsweek (Dec 12th issue) is available online. The entire article is pretty much a huge advertisement for Sirius, which is awesome. Why not? With the media so anxious to get a sitdown with Stern, plugging Sirius is expected and - best of all - is free. Someone with the celebrity clout like Howard should definitely use this power to bring as much exposure as possible. That's what he did for Private Parts, and that's what he's doing now. Perfect.

Interesting tidbit to mention, Newsweek mentions that Stern "seems to" have brought on 1.6 Million new subscribers already. The Daily News wrote a whole article on this even.

[Newsweek]

Reports that Yahoo! will be streaming live video of Howard Stern's final ceremonial walk have been confirmed true on Howard's show this morning.

On Friday December 16th, Howard's last day of commercial-radio broadcasting, Stern will walk out of his building on 57th between 5th & 6th and greet his fans. He'll then pack up his stuff and walk up to Sirius Satellite Radio headquarters at the McGraw Hill building a few blocks away. Stern also said on-air that there may be a "surprise" for fans at the event.

[Broadcasting and Cable]

Did you miss Howard Stern on 60 Minutes last night? Well, thanks to the beauty of the interweb you're able to watch it on your own time. And in different video formats too!

Howard Stern on 60 Minutes Video:
[Windows Media]
[Real Player] 

It's a humanizing piece, and while it's providing the "Softer Side" of Stern in talking about his background, it's also the first time I've seen a mention of Howard in the media without talking about the "raunchy" and "shocking" material. They never represented the Howard Stern Show from that angle at all and it's almost... disappointing?

Not a big deal really, the 60 Minutes demographic is definitely not the same as the average Stern listener, so it's understandable.

[CBS News] 

CBS News gives us a preview of what's to come on 60 Minutes this Sunday when Howard Stern sits down with Ed Bradley for an interview. Stern is generally media shy, but with the jump to Sirius Satellite Radio about a month away, he's been making the rounds in media appearances.

A good strategy because the cost for media coverage is essentially nothing, and his elusiveness makes him all that more desirable for the press. Why spend the money if you can get exposure for free?

[CBS News] 

Howard Stern is doing a photo shoot today for the cover of Newsweek in an upcoming issue. Howard 100 News will be there with behind the scenes goodies - tune in at 6PM today for all the action.

Also, Howard will be making the rounds as the countdown nears the end. He'll be on 60 minutes this Sunday December 4th, and making an appearance on Saturday Night Live on December 17th (the day after he goes off the air in terrestrial).

UPDATE: The NY Post reports that Stern talked to Katie Couric last week in a pre-taped interview for the "Today" show set to air next Monday. In it he discusses his 2001 divorce with Alison Berns.

There's a great article in the Wall Street Journal today that profiles Howard Stern's Video On-Demand Executive Producer Doug Goodstein.

Gives some great insight into the steps needed to put together all the content for this new program.

A very nice read, go check it out.

This is just blogging gold people. Anytime you see the words: Oral, Strippers, Lesbians, Midgets, and Shaving Ryan's Privates (a personal favorite) in a job posting, you just have to write about it. The Howard Stern Channel on Sirius is looking to fill a Production opening available, so get in there and send in your demo if you've got the skills.

This article by the Hollywood Reporter has additional details on Howard Stern's In Demand deal. Definitely a good read if you didn't catch it over the holiday weekend.

An interesting thing to note is that In Demand won't be covering the Sirius Satellite Radio programming until March 2006. During now and April 1st the cost will be $9.95, until the Sirius programming goes "live" - then the price gets bumped to $13.95. I guess I'll have to officially fall on my sword about my theory that Stern's In Demand deal might canabalize Sirius Satellite Radio subscriptions - they're different markets, with VoD being more of a suplimental product than a replacement - and I'd now bet that Sirius is getting a rev-share deal out of it. Win-win.

[Hollywood Reporter]

UPDATE: You're looking at an old post from November 2005. If you want to see video of Stern's latest appearance on Letterman, then just go here.

Get Sirius Info has some great pics and even some audio of Howard Stern on David Letterman last night. He didn't unveil any new satellite radio receivers, but he did talk about his move to Sirius and had the numbers 1-9-06 on his sweatshirt. GSI also throws out the question as to whether the logo on Howard's arm is the new Howard 100 Channel logo (expected to be talked about last night).

Very cool stuff indeed, go visit Get Sirius Info and listen to the audio clips if you missed it.

UPDATE: If you're looking for a BitTorrent of last night's Letterman show, you can grab it here. 

The Toronto Sun's recent article, Stern can't beam here on radio, explains exactly why Howard Stern won't be carried Sirius Canada when he makes the jump to partner company Sirius Satellite Radio in January. Apparently when Howard had debuted in Canada back in 1997, he said "the French should bend over for me the way they did for Hitler," and that didn't make the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council very happy. As a result of this fallout, it's inevitable that the CRTC would force Sirius Canada to remove Stern from the airwaves.

Thanks David! 

I completely agree with this Audio Graphics article - Infinity needs to cut their losses and take Howard off the air if they hope to not make a media frenzy out of this. He's totally gaming them like he did the FCC, and suspending him for a day will only make the matter worse. Doesn't their PR dept know this? Infinity, no matter what, is going to be losing out in this deal - it's now just a matter of managing that loss.

HowardStern.com (as well as MarksFriggin) reports that Infinity has issued a one-day suspension to Howard Stern for talking about Sirius Satellite Radio too much on the air. Supposedly the Stern was notified by K-rock General Manager Tom Chiusano after today's show that he was being suspended for Tuesday.

Howard 100 News is also saying that Stern is not willing to give Infinity any 'Best of Stern' tapes to play tomorrow morning while he's suspended.

UPDATE: Billboard Radio Monitor and FMQB have a little more on this, as does Crain's New York Business.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin said he wants to buy ?a whole bunch? of advertising on Howard Stern?s terrestrial radio show, but Infinity stations ?haven?t accepted it yet.? Infinity responded, “it’s up to the individual station.”

With Infinity buying up all of Ad Age magazine’s ads - all 24 pages worth - to promote their “Free FM” crap, I see no reason why any of the Infinity stations would balk at a little extra ad revenue. Afterall, with “Free FM” you get a whole lot of “free commercials” don’t you?

UPDATE: Apparently Mel was just kidding. Jim Collins, VP of Corp Communications at Sirius said, ?he was just joshing. It was a joke.?

For the past year we’ve known about Howard Stern’s move to Sirius, and so has his current employer Infinity. Yet now watching them fumble around trying to find a replacement for him, with merely two months left, is like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know what’s going to happen, but you just can’t look away. Adam Carolla, David Lee Roth, oh and the Junkies. Great job guys.

Stern Measures: Infinity Settles on A Post-Howard Lineup [Washington Post]

Radio programming veteran, Tim Sabean, has been named programming director of Howard Stern’s two SIRIUS channels 100 and 101. Sabean will report to Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS President of Entertainment and Sports. For more than a dozen years, Sabean programmed many of the stations that carried The Howard Stern Show on terrestrial.

Sabean will begin with SIRIUS on October 17, 2005

I guess the rumors were true? Though until an announcement is made, we can’t rule anything out. Apparently Fox News has the “official” word that Diamond Dave will be replacing Howard. The real announcement will made officially next month by Infinity Broadcasting, so we’ll see.

UPDATE: Happy 50th Birthday Dave! Just realized that David Lee Roth is born in Bloomington, Indiana on this day in 1955.

FMQB has a feature about the breaking of silence, with some gas (oh man, I’m a literary genius!) on Howard Stern 100 and 101. It’s pretty funny that this even makes the news, but then I started thinking about this for a bit, and it’s an incredible PR move by Howard. Here’s the thought…

As time goes on, more and more ridiculous programming will show up on 100 and 101 - like the aural/anal experience created by Junior The Farter - and the press is going to get ‘wind’ of it and start ‘ripping’ it to pieces (I’m on a roll here). This is a PR stunt. Silence, then farting, then silence. It’s watercooler talk. The guys are the shop will snicker over it. The utter stupidity of it will keep the buzz going, until finally Howard makes his move in January and the real programming comes out.

See, Howard contractually can’t be heard on Sirius, so he can’t actually do much until January. But current subscribers will tune into the channel every once in a while, simply because it’s there, and hear pretty much nothing. It’ll piss of subscribers - and that’s exactly what Howard does best - because they want to hear something, anything, but are getting nothing. It’s a tease. A method to grow the anticipation for what is to come.

Howard fans who have already subscribed are still listening to him on terrestrial. They don’t want to anymore, who does? Terrestrial sucks. So “Douche” 100/101 might possibly supplement their desire to hear his stuff on Sirius, but they get NOTHING, forcing them to stick with terrestrial until the move. The silence only grows the desire to hear more.

It’s a stunt, a risky one, but a genius one too. I don’t care if you’re a Howard fan or not, his ability to intuitively market something is his best talent above all.

Stern’s pages are now up on the Sirius.com website, but there isn’t much to look at other than a couple purty picture of Howard and a microphone. Still, a sign of “things to come” (as if we didn’t know already!)

Check them out here (it’ll take you a whole 2 minutes): Howard 1 | Howard 2

[via Get Sirius Info]

Howard Stern announced on his show today that he’s signed Bubba the Love Sponge. Bubba will be on Sirius Channel 100 and it’s expected that other ‘shock jocks’ will be featured on Sirius 100 as a “haven” for those from terrestrial radio.

Bubba and Stern didn’t get along very well a few years back, so it’s interesting that this has developed. More info as it develops…

Thanks Rev the Pest!

UPDATE: FMQB is adding to this with a bit more info. Would MANCOW be part of the “Douche 100” channel as well? Interesting.

UPDATE 2: A Sirius spokesman has confirmed to MediaWeek that Bubba the Love Sponge will be joining Sirius Satellite Radio. No press release yet, but this is our best indication that this is “official” as of yet.

Sirius Satellite radio will launch one of its Howard Stern channels (Channel 100) in September. While Stern’s start date is officially January 9th, Sirius Channel 100 will launch next month and will be home of Stern programmed content including an appearance by his parents and several Wack Pack members as the channel gears up for Stern’s official arrival.

If something happens to Stern that will get him kicked off the air early, he stated he will appear on Sirius the following day. Channel 101 is also designated for Howard Stern as a “creative outlet” on Sirius.

No further details have been provided by Sirius, but I have a feeling we will find out a lot more at today’s event. Orbitcast will have full coverage of the SIRIUS Press Event today, so stay tuned.

FMQB: How ridiculous can this country get? Looks like when Howard mentioned that he heard “rumors” that he’s going to be investigated by the FCC, he wasn’t lying.

The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau is infact investigating a February 4th, 2005 broadcast of “allegedly” indecent material on The Howard Stern Show. The complaint, filed by indecency lunatic, Jack Thompson (jackpeace@comcast.net) against WRXK/Ft. Myers and Infinity Broadcasting?s WXRK/New York.

The problem? Women golfing with strap-on dildos on their foreheads, and attempting to sing “Amazing Grace” with a four-inch sausage down their throats. How is that indecent? THAT’S COMEDY!

This could mean the end of Howard on terrestrial due to the wussy Consent Decree Viacom agreed to on November 23, 2004.

I don’t care if you don’t like Howard, or if you love him, it’s not about that. This indecency crap needs to end. Are it hoards of parents calling in because their precious children heard the dildos? oh wait, IT’S RADIO! Oh it was the gagging that offended the millions of good parents who let their kids listen to Howard everyday on the way to daycare. NO. It’s just one bored man with nothing else to stress about in his life. RIDICULOUS.

Didn't get enough of the XM/O&A Army crashing Stern's Rally?

Foundry Music was on scene above Union Square filming the whole event. Out of all the clips, these two are my personal favorites:

Video 1 (1.04Mb)
Video 2 (1.01Mb)

See all 8 Video Clips on Foundry Music.

XM Satellite Radio and the O&A Army were at the Stern / Sirius Rally in full force armed with XM Satellite Radio protest signs, O&A 'WOW' stickers, t-shirts, hats and the Opie & Anthony/XM Radio van. Met with cheers and boos from the crowd, the O&A Army had a massive presence all day in Union Square and managed to steal at least some of the attention from Howard's show.

The Police didn't like the sticks attached to the protest signs and confiscated them:

Devoted Opie and Anthony fans penetrated the crowd and helped do their part to 'spread the virus':

No sticks? No problem. XM had plenty arms to hold up the signs:

'Frenchy' a regular guest on the O&A Show:

Looking for the Howard Stern Farewell Rally? Check out the photos here.

The stage where Howard Stern was giving away free Sirius radios from:

Truck in the back distributing the Sirius vouchers:

Security was pretty tight, even on the roof!

Up close at the front stage handing out boomboxes to the anxious fans:

A horrible shot of Beth O (Howard's girlfriend):

Just got back from the Howard Stern / Sirius Rally at Union Square. A massive crowd gathered to see Howard, and to pick up their free Sirius Satellite Radios (500 were available) and 20,000 vouchers for free Sirius systems (when you prepay for a one-year subscription).

If you couldn't make it, no problem - just go to www.sirius.com/offer/sternrally and enter in promotion code 263. Select your Sirius system and purchase an annual subscription for $142.25. When prompted, enter in the certificate number HS7436 in the "referral ID" field.

The free system is the Audiovox SIR-PNP2. The offer expires on November 24th, 2004 - so if you want it, get it now.

Pics of this event will be posted shortly. You can find photos of the Howard Stern / Sirius Satellite Radio Rally here.