Stern dollars

[David Tomm]

People seem to forget that last year Stern's numbers were down 
significantly from previous years.  He was off 20%, even more in some 
markets.  His battles with the FCC and Clear Channel helped to spike 
his numbers considerably over the last few books.   Take away the 
controversies surrounding him and what do you have?  A dirty old man 
interviewing strippers and c-list celebrities.

Also, Stern has the most loyal followings (and gets the best ratings) 
in the markets where his show has been on the longest, like New York, 
LA, DC, Philadelphia and Boston.  He's just another morning show in 
most of his other markets.  This doesn't bode well for a national 
rollout on subscription radio.

If Sirius can get a bunch of the Stern diehards in the Northeast to 
sign up and get a few of their friends and family to get the service as 
well, they will make back their investment.  However, I don't see Stern 
being the huge draw to satellite radio that Sirius and the industry are 
hoping he'll be.  Outside of his battles with terrestrial radio, his 
show has gotten stale and predictable. Using four letter words and 
talking about racier topics won't save it.

Dave Tomm
"Mike  Thomas"

On Oct 8, 2004, at 2:01 PM, Bill O'Neill wrote:

> Rick Kelly wrote:
>>
> Let's face it, sooner or later he's going to be even more of a 
> caricature of himself than he already is.  He and his staff must be at 
> critical mass in terms of financial independence.
> Stern has hung his cans on being the "bad boy" and in busting 
> management and all that goes with it.  Once on Sirius, with free reign 
> to do _anything_, and being answerable to no one but himself, where's 
> his beef then?  Does he go political like Imus has? Nope?  Does he 
> have even more naked women in his studio?  The older he gets, the 
> younger the women will seem and there could be an ick-factor.
>
> Bill O'Neill
>