I haven’t heard Howard Stern since he moved to Sirius radio, and so haven’t a lot of other people – that’s bad for him, that’s bad for us, and its going to get worse. There is a solution.
Originally Howard Stern’s moved to Satellite radio was met with mixed reaction. Fans were excited they were going to finally hear a completely uncensored Howard without commercials, but they were going to have to get one of those new expensive satellite radios and a monthly subscription to hear him.
In the final analysis, Stern got rich, but his audience is getting screwed.
Recently, thanks to the iPhone Sirius player, I was going to be able to hear Howard without buying a new satellite radio – or so I thought. Turns out that, even if you buy an internet subscription from Sirius, the iPhone app still only delivers a subset of stations, and no Howard. Why? Sirius is dying a slow death and milking its cash cow for every dime – they want you to buy hardware and get a more expensive hardware subscription (it also saves them money on bandwidth if you listen over satellite)
Now, when you get the internet subscription, you can listen on the awkward Sirius media player webpage, which is klunky and makes you enter your password and solve an annoying captcha often then anyone should be asked to do that.
The media player isn’t all that reliable either – I have it open on Vista now and cannot connect – it just keeps saying ‘ready’ or connecting to ‘media’. Firefox keeps asking me to install a Windows Media plugin I have installed at least 3 times.
Now, I did find out there is an $10 iPod App called ‘Pocket Tunes’ which will (again klunkily) hijack the Sirius web player’s stream from Mobile Safari and let you listen to Howard with your subscription, but I have found its ability to hold a connection to be very unreliable. Oh, and if you think solving captchas frequently on IE is a drag, don’t even get me started on Mobile Safari.
Now that I have got the interminable hurdles to actually hearing Howard on the internet without a satellite radio out of the way, let me digest the issues with hearing him even IF you manage to get it working.
First off, when I turn on Howard 100, there is maybe a 33% chance you will actually hear Howard Stern when you turn on the radio.
33% of the time you will hear promos and ads – and sucky ads too, like for debt recovery and somesuch. Yes Satellite radio promised us commercial-free programming, but when it comes to talk stations, it doesn’t deliver.
The other 33% of the time you will be listening to other cast members of the Stern show without Howard. These guys add a lot to the show, but IMHO only when Howard’s there.
As far as I can tell, Howard never appears on Howard 101, I dunno what that channel is.
OK, now let’s get down to my major complaint, and that is, I can never hear the show in its entirety. A lot of us who have listened to Howard for years have never been able to hear his show in its entirety, despite the fact that podcasting makes this totally possible.
The odds that you are getting in your car when the show starts, and arrive to work at the end, is pretty slim, and if you do, then I don’t envy your commute.
The only way to do this, as far as I can tell, is to purchase a $230 SIRIUS Stiletto 2
Seriously, a $99 iPhone can get about 100x as many podcasts and radio stations (without subscription) than the Stilletto, and even works indoors, makes phone calls, and a zillion other tasks – where is the value in this hardware?
The iPhone (and similar smartphones) are big trouble for Sirius, although I don’t see people discussing this alot yet. The iPhone can run circles around Sirius in just about everything their hardware does, and then some, and it doesn’t require spacecraft circling the earth to do it.
What it lacks is the talent – talent is rare. It is still very difficult on the iPhone to find talk radio as entertaining as Howard, Opie and Anthony, even Ron and Fez. That’s why these guys get big bucks – its a rare talent and few are interested in who’s #3 or #4.
A much better solution, which would simply crush Sirius, would be for Apple to allow the iPhone to *subscribe* to commercial podcasts over-the-air and download them automatically (currently you need iTunes to do this). For example, I would gladly subscribe to such as a service for Howard Stern for $5/mo, and be able to listen to the Stern show from the beginning to end whenever I have time.
Now you’ve eliminated all the overheard of Satellites, the consumer hurdle of new hardware (and carrying more than one device), and Howard and can take the all the revenue for himself with minimal overhead.
So there you have it, my proposal for Howard Stern getting the hell off of Satellite Radio and onto the iPhone.
5 responses so far ↓
1 OhioPest // Jul 1, 2009 at 1:17 pm
It was refreshing to read a web article that offers unbiased criticism as well as a viable solution. This is very very rare. Also thank you for not starting a Stern is better than Opie and Anthony argument for the 200,083,000th time. it is a matter of taste and both sides benefit from the competition in my opinion. I used to love XM for the likes of O&A and R&F and still do I miss some of the XM original channels like the punk-centric FUNGUS 53. So with no music channesl that appeal to me other than the underground garage and occasionally Alt Nation and Faction the iPod is my source for music. The one thing that the iPod and downloadable media lack is true live original programming. Surely Sirius/XM and iTunes et al can see the value in this a and remain marketable and valued commodities.
2 Buster Banjo // Jul 23, 2009 at 11:35 am
I have been using the car radio hardware with a software program called “Sirius Recorder”. I have been using this setup for over 3 years. I purchased a Sirius home antenna connected that to the Sirius car brain and ran that to my desktop computer. I then use the software to capture and record any of the Sirius programing. I have every Howard Stern show recorded and easily download them to my iPod to listen to them anywhere. I have been able to hear every show to completion. I can listen to them via the ipod in the car, while working out or at home and office. This technology satisfies every need and it only requires one subscription. Wonderful.
3 jOey krillz // Aug 22, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Excellent article that is straight to the point and spot on accurate for the times. The Satellite system is just not a good way to deliver audio media. I signed on with Sirius a few months before Howard went live and the technology is horrible. A cloudy day or driving around any sorts of trees makes the radio cut out. Listening on the web is equally as painful. Sometimes the show will refresh itself after about an hour….you realize that the show jumped back to about an hour previous.
Why would Sirius/XM not put the best of their content onto the iphone device? I was actually waiting for the app to come out and I was going to purchase and iphone. When I heard there was no Howard I was like, WTF?
I wonder if Howard’s people have made him aware of this article. He could produce his own show, sell it on a monthly subscription and even make money on the bullsh!t advertising while still selling video content to ondemand.
HOWARD! As the “King of all Media” you should get with the times!
4 Walter Graff // Feb 7, 2010 at 1:00 pm
I have been a Sirius subscriber since day one. You really haven’t listened to Howard Stern as your 33% assumption is far off, and you are way off with your assumption that only his cast members are on most of the time. In fact this week alone I thought how much Stern is talking too much and not letting others in. But then again, this is not the terrestrial show and the team makes far more of a contribution. But as you said “I haven’t heard Howard Stern since he moved to Sirius radio”. No you haven’t and your article makes that clear. Stern was paid a great sum to be on Sirius. He has fulfilled his numbers well. His shows are as good as he was in his early to mid years on terrestrial. As for Sirius, it makes it clear that all music channels are free of music. Talk channels are not. And recent studies show listeners actually like commercials on talk. I know I do. It gives me a break. Truth is (from someone who actually listens to Stern) that Stern has far less commercials on then he did on terrestrial. In fact, many times he complains because Fred tells him he goes for 90 minutes without having done an ad. And as a long time Stern listener, I can tell you that most of the time I love the commercials because Howard makes them part of his show. I suggest you try Sirius online at sirius.com which is free as a three day trial so you can hear what you mistakenly reported in your article. And while your idea sounds like fun, as a marketer I can tell you it is a disaster. Distribution is key in the success of a program. And unfortunately without a broadcast platform first and foremost, Stern would die a hard death. Niche radio is not going to produce meaningful numbers. As for Sirius, their subscriber numbers are 18+ million. Each month the additional subs are steady, and the turnover rate is dropping. Oh, and they are in their first profitable year. Considering the economy and the auto market, that says a lot about their success. Give them a free listen. Maybe it will help you to spend some money on a great service rather than bashing one that isn’t free.
5 Walter Graff // Feb 7, 2010 at 1:22 pm
In addition, you do not need to “make sure it is outside every morning for the total duration of Howard’s show”. Sirius is a satellite service but also has land based transmitters all over the country. In NYC I can have a unit on in my apartment with no antenna connected and get a perfect signal since NYC is blanketed with terrestrial SDARS transmitters which mean no satellite needed. So buy a Stilletto and enjoy Howard anywhere anytime. http://www.dogstarradio.com/sirius_map.php
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