Stern Gets Sirius

Neglected to mention this one earlier in the week: Howard Stern has apparently gotten tired of struggling to satisfy FCC's speech nannies; he'll be moving to Sirius satellite radio when his contract is up.

Comments

[andy]

Good for him!

I wish him much luck!

[Jason]

I've never really cared for the guy's show, but I hope he can find a medium where he's not penalized for what he says.

Any bets on how long before the FCC starts regulating cable and satellite radio?

I'm guessing 10 years; 3 if they start running political ads.

[scott]

I've never really cared for the guy's show, but I hope he can find a medium where he's not penalized for what he says.

Doesn't this ruin his whole "_almost_ too crude and obscene for radio" schtick?

[kwais]

I don't listen to his radio show anymore, but I do watch it on the E channel, and I wish it didn't have to have the blurry thingies.

[Jack]

Uh, Julian, I think Nick Gillespie is going to be hurt that you don't read his blog postings, since he put this same story up just three days ago:

http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2004/10/howard_stern_go.shtml

[Overlord]

Poor Howard, without the censors, he'll be like a pug-ugly exhibitionist at a nude beach.

[andy]

Jason: "Any bets on how long before the FCC starts regulating cable and satellite radio?"

What makes you think they will?

[pigwiggle]

Stern is an idiot.

[HS]

Whether he realizes it or not, Stern's move to Sirius is HUGE boon for free-market radio over government-managed radio. Millions of his fans will switch over when he does, and from what I've heard of satellite radio, they'll never look back. This would make a great Reason article, I can't think of anything more indicative of the "free minds and free markets" philosophy.

[Jason]

andy,

I just think it's a matter of time before the FCC's scope extends to all broadcast media. Like I said, it's just a guess, but there are at least a few people in congress who think that's not such a bad idea. Some info and opinions here and here.

More generally, as long as broadcast media are seen to be "profiting from the public's airwaves for free," the likelihood of the "public" scrapping some undesirable content remains high, regardless of where and how it's broadcast. What the government gives, the government can take away. I know; I'm a cynic. I hope I'm wrong, too.

[Slothrop]

As long as we remember that Stern is a free speech hypocrite.

He called out his lawyers to prevent Opie and Anthony from mentioning his name on their program.

Yeah, here's Stern, radio's free speech poster boy, forbidding the free speech of others.

Wonderful guy.

[phocion]

This is where we really have to make a stand on property rights and freedom of speech. Regulating a limited, public electromagnetic spectrum is one thing (as much as I don't like it); when the moralists go after cable and satellite, or even worse, the Internet, they have no legitimate argument except that they need to be our nannies, protecting us from things they don't want us to hear or see.

Stern's show has sucked ever since he got divorced and rid of Jackie, and even more so since it's become nothing but a rant against the FCC. But I think this is the right decision, especially if it gets him to quit his bitching and try to be funny again.

[Wild Pegasus]

Much of Stern's audience comes because radio programmes are free and radios are available everywhere. Stern is about the closest thing satellite radio will ever come to a "killer app," but I don't think a ton of people will shell out for new hardware and subscriptions when they were listening to him for free.

- Josh

[Gimme Back My Dog]

Slothrop,

IIRC, Stern pressured Infinity Broadcasting, owner of both the HSS and O&A, to bar O&A from mentioning his name. Not really a Free Speech issue since it was an interaction among private entities.

His hypocrisy is that he supports smoking bans in restaurants and doesn't see parallels between that issue and the FCC meddling in radio.

Phocion,

F Jackie! Arte Lange rules! The FCC rants, however, are getting a little old.

Pegasus,

I think the growth of Sirius over the next 18 months is going to be installations into new cars. I know the next new car I buy will have a Sirius radio built in. And despite what someone will surely post, Stern listeners are not stoned slackers. They are more educated, affluent (and libertarian) than the general population.

[Jeff]

Sat Radio exists under license from FCC. FYI.

[Daniel Carver]

The funniest thing lately on the show was when they were talking about the Kobe Bryant rape case and Artie speculated that maybe the first seven inches were consensual! They didn't know how to hit the button on it, so it went-out over the air. Hilarious.
Not-Daniel

[Slothrop]

It's the spirit of the thing, Gimmee.

[Matt]

I'm a Stern fan who will be purchasing a SIRIUS radio in 2006. I think the show will lose some of that walking the edge quality since there will be no edge. But I think Stern is smart enough to make it more that a 7 dirty word fest and live sex show. Not that I wouldn't tune in for that.

I think Stern put it best when he used the HBO Chris Rock Show as an example. It was a great show that would have failed if Chris Rock had been shackled by network conventions. I can't wait to hear Stern unshackled.

What I look forward to is his ability to get into subjects outside of sex. While less so than in the past, in a large part thanks to Stern, topics like religion and race will always be taboo on broadcast. The absence of the FCC will let him mine some great comedy gold.

And, God willing, a whole lot more fun with the retarded.

[chicagoan]

Steve Dahl is better than Stern and has been for decades.

[Stevo]

Stern's migration might indeed be a "tipping point" for the popularity of satellite radio. I've never even thought about getting satellite radio before. Now, if it's the only way to hear Stern ... I might.

An awful lot of what I hear on Stern's show makes me wince. And he's not exactly a rigorous thinker. But a few times, he's damn near made me run off the road laughing. (I like the news segment at the end of the show the best.)

Although he hasn't been so funny lately because he now spends most of his time bitching about Bush and the FCC without being entertaining about it.

I do have to join in the wondering whether Stern will be so funny without broadcast boundaries to push. And I also wonder whether satellite radio will remain so free and open once Stern moves there.

[Ken Bruce]

Just saying Stern is an idiot or Steve Dahl is better doesn't make it so. Are we supposed to take you at your word or may we ask why? By the way who is this Steve Dahl and when is he on the air?