Note To Sirius: Offer Howard Stern Podcasts To Boost Subscribers

I used to listen to Howard Stern. I found him actually a bit entertaining and also liked the live musical guests he had as well as the interviews he would do with people.

I haven't listened to Howard Stern since he's moved to Sirius (SIRI) and now Erik Gunther over at Yahoo's buzz log is saying that his influence might be dwindling.

"The King of All Media is losing ground. Hitwise, which monitors Internet traffic, says the number of visitors to Howard Stern's Web site has declined a staggering 71 percent since March 2005...And look-ups of Stern's name on search engines plummeted by 90 percent in that same period..."—New York Post, September 13, 2006

I never used to really listen to a lot of Howard Stern. My commute in the morning is about 7 minutes in the car from my house to the BART station so I'd catch a bit then and also every so often if I was driving somewhere for a meeting in the car I'd catch more.

But since Stern's switch to satellite I haven't listened to him once. It's just not worth the 7 minutes I'm in the car in the morning to pay for either the satellite radio or the satellite radio service.

I do, however, listen to podcasts. And I think Stern's content is good enough that if he offered a download service of a podcast of his show in conjunction with Sirius I'd subscribe to Sirius tomorrow -- even though I don't have a satellite radio yet.

Offering podcasts for listening anywhere, anytime, anyplace would provide a big boost to both entertainers like Stern and satellite radio in general.

Comment on this article

Comments

[J C:]

Are you kidding me? The Sirius S50 is a portable unit that allows you to download podcasts and allows you to record content from Sirius including Howard's show. You clearly didn't do your homework. But at least Sirius will be getting another subscriber tomorrow.

2006 Sep 19 11:15 AM

[Shawn Hubbard:]

Terrestrial radio and XM are paying public relations firms to spread misinformation about Sirius and Howard Stern.

2006 Sep 20 03:06 AM

[victor Betesh:]

What you fail to mention on your article (which quotes from several other articles) is that the Stern show used to broadcast from 6 am to 11 am now it broadcast 24 hours a day and most of the time on 2 separate channels, and on weekends. The old show was only available on radio with tons of commercials, while the new show is accessible from any computer. In other words you don’t even have to invest $50 to purchase a radio; you can tune in any time.
In addition to enjoying the Stern show on Sirius you also get over a hundred other commercial free music, news, sports and comedy stations so any commute even a 7 minute commute is enjoyable.

Getting advice on radio from somebody who barely listens to it is like getting baseball batting advice from the guy who sells peanuts at the game. Your commute is probably from your parent’s basement to your parent’s garage. If your point was that pod casting would be great for Stern then you really are wrong. Stern is slowly building his and Sirius' audience and this holiday season should be the best for Sirius, why would they halt that so you can have your 7 minutes of entertainment and live musical guest as well as the interviews he would do with people. Because The Office’s Ricky Gervais made some money doing podcast? Now you’re a genius? Stern doesn’t care about whoring himself out. You don’t see Stern dolls, or board games because he’s got a plan and so far his plan has netted him 500 million.

2006 Sep 19 11:39 AM

[Rob Alsberg:]

Regarding Davis Freeberg's comment that while he enjoys Howard Stern, it is not worth his 7 minute commute to subscribe.

If he were more aware of the product on which he comments, he would know that the Howard Stern show is available on streaming audio (on the web) free with his monthly subscribtion, and that the show repeats 3 times per day so that he need not limit his listening to his 7 minute commute.

biz.yahoo.com/seekinga...

www.sirius.com/sirius/...

2006 Sep 19 11:50 AM

[Ron Casalotti:]

I think you need to attribute the downturn in Web traffic not so much to dwindling influence, although there is still a steep learning curve for those yet to follow Howard to satellite, but also to the content of his post-terrestrial show.

In the past, you often vistied Howard's Web site for content that was censored during his radio show. Now, with no restrictions, Howard's fans get the fully uncensored presentation as it happens 9or in replays) right off their satellite radio unit.

As such, the need to visit his Web site is diminished.

2006 Sep 19 12:08 PM

[Fred Shecter:]

The quoted report about decline in searches for Howard Stern on the web is easily explained:
1) the report was paid for by commercial radio as part of the smear campaign to try to defame howard.
2) No need to search for howard Stern when you already have him saved as a Favorite or Bookmark. And how difficult is it for people to type in howardstern.com ????
3) People have searched for Sirius Satellite radio.

The rest of the responders have already pointed out how moronic your article is since Howard is available 24 hours a day and the S50 (and new S100) will record it for later playback.

A Podacst would be nice for subscribers. For all the shows on Howard 100 and Howard 101. This would allow for a semi-quick download at anytime onto the potable device of your choice.

2006 Sep 19 01:21 PM

[Jack Mayhoffer:]

It's not a bad suggestion, but it's one that Howard himself has said he isn't remotely interested in. It's not really a necessity since, as people have indicated above, the Stern Show bends over backwards in many other ways to make itself available to Sirius subscribers. The bottom line is that if you don't think it's worth it to subscribe for the reasons you've listed, you've never been a fan of the show. A fan of the show HAS TO HAVE IT.

2006 Sep 19 04:34 PM

[Scott Abbott:]

"...and now Erik Gunther over at Yahoo's buzz log is saying that his influence might be dwindling..."

Well, I guess the sky *might* be falling. Erik Gunther also said, "We checked searches on Stern and found he has nothing to worry about. "

You obviously have done a lot of research on Sirius. The Howard Stern Show has been available on the internet for a while now, it's replayed continuously throughout the day, and you can buy a radio that will store large amounts of content.

For what it's worth, I don't think Stern uses the web to make money anyway. Subscriptions are what pay the bills, and Sirius has grown more than anyone could have imagined.

2006 Sep 19 05:47 PM

[victor Betesh:]

Sirius Satellite Radio on Tuesday denied speculation that Howard Stern might be headed back to traditional radio.
"There has never been any discussion of Howard Stern in any way, shape, or form being anything but exclusive to Sirius," said Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly, in a statement. "Published reports suggesting otherwise are wrong.

2006 Sep 19 06:33 PM

[Shawn Hubbard:]

By the way, I agree with Jack Mayhoffer, and I'm sure Rod Stiffington and Mitur Benisdurty would agree as well. Thank you.

2006 Sep 20 03:08 AM

[Bob Schwartz:]

A lot of listeners, like Davis, listen to radio only when their cars. For them, it makes sense that getting Sirius for 7 minutes/day of Stern isn't worth it. Stern's Sirius show has been available via bittorrent from day 1, though, and that serves the MP3/podcast folks geeky enough to download it that way.
P.S. Stern sure brings out the best in some folks.

2006 Sep 20 12:56 PM

[Jason Roche...:]

You have no idea what you are talking about. I subscribed to Sirius because of the music. I live in Northern Michigan and we literally have 3 radio stations for 400 miles. Heck we are only offered two diffrent cell phone carriers up here. I had never listened to the Howard Stern show before I got Sirius. Now that I have Sirius I don't need to do a search on google or whatever. I know where to find Howard. Either on his web page or Sirius.com. As far as his decline according to Hitwise (whom I have never heard of) the only reason you are pretty much making this up is so you can get your ratings up. Bottom line since his move critics haven't been able to talk about him like they use to so they make up stuff about Stern that isn't true so they can get people to listen/read their garbage. If this wasn't such a Busch League article I wouldn't even have replied but since it is far from the truth I wanted to give my 2 cents. Satellite Radio is the present and the future so get SIRIUS!

2006 Sep 27 07:13 PM