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.