The Associated Press reported that Howard Stern has announced that he will be joining Sirius Satellite Radio beginning in January 2006. At that time he will leave Infinity Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Viacom, the current syndicator of his program.
I was listening AM radio this morning while working in my office, and the morning news-talk programs in New York City consider this significant news. Imus joked that it will strengthen his bargaining position at Infinity. He went on to say that this has the potential to reshape the radio industry. Similar thoughts were voiced by commentators on WABC.
The Audiovox Satellite Radio Shuttle Receiver
is an example of the equipment necessary to
receive Sirius Satellite Radio today. There are a
number of other product choices available from
dealers like Amazon.com and Crutchfield.
Sirius competes tooth and nail with XM Satellite Radio. XM carries several recently-transplanted radio programs, including The Bob Edwards Show on the so-called XM Public Radio channel and Opie and Anthony on XM High Voltage. Howard Stern will make Sirius more competitive in the market for listeners that seek programming that some people may consider vulgar.
XM and Sirius’ services are quite similar. They are popular with listeners who regularly travel long distances in their vehicles, such as truckers. These services have not yet reached many car listeners in the major East Coast markets, at least from what I can hear when I talk to people and see when I look for satellite radio antennas on cars I pass in parking lots. This announcement should change market penetration some, particularly 12 to 15-months from now, when Stern’s program moves.
Satellite radio has a much greater marketshare outside of the major U.S. radio markets. I saw lots of satellite radio antennas in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, when my wife and I were on our last vacation in February 2004. This seems to indicate that XM and Sirius have momentum in markets where the diversity of radio programs and formats is not as great.
I’m not a Stern listener, but I am looking forward to the change. Satellite radio deserves a chance. It’s the only major change in programming in recent radio history, and I hope this provides some impetus for other radio personalities to make the jump. Ownership of terrestrial radio is too consolidated and, honestly, needs some credible competition.
The only other blip on the radio programming radar screen at the moment is podcasting, where radio programs are produced with delivery to an iPod in mind. I listened to my first podcast the other day, from Adam Curry who was one of the original MTV V-jays a number of years ago. Podcasting is interesting; I’ll try to talk about it in the next week on Operation Gadget, but right now, I think satellite radio has a bit clearer path to the mass market in the United States.