A recent survey found that over one in five listeners (22%) planned on subscribing to Sirius to continue to hear Howard Stern. 41% were undecided, while 37% said they wouldn't subscribe.

When told that they would have to pay for hardware and a monthly subscription fee (gasp!), only 7% said they would subscribe to Sirius, while 44% said they wouldn't. I can only imagine the endless Customer Service calls, "No sir, your AM clock radio won't receive Sirius. Yes sir, you need to pay for this." Half were undecided (yeah, great, thanks).

Mind you, the study surveyed 1,857 listeners who described Howard Stern as their favorite morning show personality (as opposed to Katie Couric?). It was conducted in Los Angeles (#2 largest market), San Diego (#17 market), Phoenix (#15 market), Boston (#9) and Detroit (#10). Interestingly enough, they didn't survey the #1 largest market, New York, where Stern is no-doubt the most popular in.

Jay Thomas, who's been a familiar face in popular television shows and films as well as a top-rated radio personality, has officially joined SIRIUS Satellite Radio as a talk show host.

Thomas, will enlighten and entertain weekday afternoons, exclusively on SIRIUS Talk Central - Channel 148. He was a radio DJ since the 1970s, is known to radio listeners on both US coasts from his work on stations such as WKTU, WXRK and WTJM in New York City, KRWR/Power 106 in Los Angeles, and from hosting nationally syndicated radio programs. In 1978, he landed a role as deli owner Remo on the hit TV show Mork & Mindy, which led to more television sitcom roles, such as the right-wing talk show host Jerry Gold on Murphy Brown, for which he was awarded two Emmys.

Thomas' best-known television role may be that of hockey player Eddie LeBec on Cheers; he also starred in the TV shows Married People and Love and War. More recently, Thomas guested on the hit shows Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Joan of Arcadia. In a humorous tradition, he has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman each year since 1998 to throw a football at a meatball placed atop a Christmas tree. Thomas also starred in the feature films Mr. Holland's Opus, The Santa Clause 2, Straight Talk and Little Vegas.

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