Promises & Problems: Howard Stern’s Move to Satellite Radio
In October 2004, “shock jock” Howard Stern announced he’d be leaving 92.3 K-Rock when his contract expired for greener pastures. His destination: Sirius satellite radio. His motives? Following the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” incident at the Super Bowl, K-Rock’s management was kowtowing to the Federal Communications Commission, assigning censors to Stern’s show to dump content deemed obscene.
Stern, who has made a name for himself with humor (low brow and high), was incredulous: what could he say, what couldn’t he say? Fart sound effects were okay, but they couldn’t be too wet. Asking guests if they engaged in anal sex was out unless Stern could find a way to ask without saying the words themselves: “Do you ever get mud on the helmet?” Stern complained on air that the content of his show was being diluted, that he wasn’t free to do what he did best. Sometimes he spent a portion of each 6 to 10 a.m. morning shift going through the list of material that had been censored. His company didn’t defend Stern against the FCC, which was allowing Oprah Winfrey to host a daytime television program with topics including middle school girls taking part in blowjob parties.
Enter satellite radio. Unlike terrestrial radio, satellite radio is not governed by the FCC. It is a pay service like cable television, meaning, presumably, if you’re paying for it you know what you’re getting. Right now there are two major players in the satellite radio industry, XM and Sirius. XM leads in market share and stock price, but Sirius is on the rise. Stern threw in his lot with Sirius, which promised him complete creative control over two to three channels of his own and $500 million dollars over five years. Keep in mind that this $500 million is where Stern’s budget for the show comes from, including salaries for his co-hosts. If you just listen to reports on the news, you might come away thinking Stern is pocketing a cool 500 mill.
Satellite was a trade off. Stern had spent a couple of decades on terrestrial radio and had amassed an audience of some 8 to 10 million listeners. Would his fans pay to listen to him every month? Satellite would mean starting all over again, but Sirius offered him freedom to do just about anything he wanted.
According to Stern, CBS Radio (owners of K-Rock) made no serious offers to renew his contract and keep him on. Not that he would have stayed; he is adamant that he would not have. Instead, CBS made record profits in Stern’s last year and their last quarter with Stern topped all others. People were tuning in to hear Stern’s trials and tribulations. They were getting twenty-two minutes of commercials an hour. He was forbidden to mention Sirius satellite radio by name when on the K-Rock airwaves, opting out of respect to refer to it as “Uh-uh-uh.”
Stern is entering his third month on Sirius. Listeners get to hear “the king of all media” raw. Surprisingly to many, this has not translated to an uninterrupted stream of “foul language.” Sure, Stern can and does work blue, but what listeners have been tuning in for is a reinvigorated Stern, a man busting his ass and turning out some great programming. There are only two commercial breaks per hour on Stern’s Sirius show, each no longer than five minutes (the music stations on satellite radio do not have commercials).
Alas, CBS-FM isn’t doing as well. Former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth was hired to replace Stern in New York on the newly named ‘Free-FM’. Roth was upfront that there is no filling Stern’s shoes. Roth told his bosses and listeners that he was going to be starting from scratch, doing his own thing and building an audience. First quarter reports are coming out and CBS Radio is tanking. Roth is feeling the heat from management and fighting back on and off air.
Roth has been told that he needs to take on a female sidekick, like Stern’s Robin Quivers. Further, CBS-FM wants him to pick up a producer who is also an on-air personality that Roth can bust on, much like Stern’s Gary Dellabate. Roth will occasionally bust out into a Spanish phrase or two, but CBS Radio is telling him to stop. They claim their demographics do not reflect Spanish speakers and it is unlikely their mostly white male listeners will appreciate Roth’s bilingual antics. He is not supposed to read emails from outside the United States. Roth counters that CBS Radio is being racist.
CBS Radio isn’t only whining about Diamond Dave. They’ve filed a lawsuit against Howard Stern seeking half a billion dollars. They are suing him for fraud, breach of contract, misappropriation of airtime and unjust enrichment. There are two main points to their case against Stern, each easily laid to rest. First, CBS Radio claims Stern spent his last 14 months on terrestrial radio promoting Sirius. Stern counters that his speech was being monitored the whole time, that they could have censored him or suspended him at any time if he was crossing any lines. CBS Radio head Les Moonves came on Stern’s last show and wished Howard well, saying that he (Moonves) owned a Sirius satellite radio and stock in the company and would be listening to Stern. Secondly, CBS Radio alleges that Stern and his agent had a “secret deal” with Sirius, where if he pulled enough new listeners to make the transition to satellite radio he would be rewarded. Sirius subscriptions went up a million listeners in Stern’s last year on terrestrial radio. Stern counters that he and his agent did in fact receive 34 million shares of Sirius stock valued at $220 million for passing subscription goals, but that this was not a secret deal.
Even David Lee Roth considers his boss’ lawsuit against Stern “frivolous.” CBS Radio may see its day in court, but it might not be to argue the merits of their case. Their lawsuit may very well be dismissed and Stern is sure to countersue. When Howard ran for governor years ago he pulled out of the race so that his income would not become public record. He has always been protective, even secretive, of how much he earns. CBS Radio’s suit against him makes that information public. In case you were wondering, Stern made $705,000 in 1985 when he started with K-Rock and his last contract with Infinity broadcasting (CBS Radio’s predecessor) saw him earning $58.8 million over five years. Les Moonves may be feeling frustrated as Free-FM’s ratings sink, but legal action against Stern looks like it might only come back to haunt him. Should this lawsuit fail, the longterm repercussions for Moonves could be career-damaging. Moonves is one of two men expected to jockey for Viacom head Sumner Redstone’s position once the octogenarian steps down.
In the meantime, Stern’s move to satellite radio is fraught with as many problems as promises. Yes, Stern will have his creative freedom and be able to do what he wishes, including hours and hours of original programming. For instance, Sam Simon, creator of the Simpsons, is putting together a radio serial for the Stern network. The fact that such creative freedom could only be found on satellite radio valorizes the private sphere over the public.
We live in a time when the public sphere is increasingly under attack. Privatizers tell us our world would be a much better place if only we would submit to the suzerainty of markets. Privatization is underway in all facets of our lives, from education and health to the prison industry and the military. Part of the plan to promote the private sphere over the public involves maligning the public as much as possible. We are told that the public sphere is inefficient at the same time that the social contract is rolled back so that the public sphere cannot deliver.
As if it’s not bad enough to watch this full-on assault against the public-sphere, it’s even more disconcerting to watch it consciously speed its own downfall. The radio airwaves nominally belong to the people. In truth, they have been parceled out among powerful corporations. The people haven’t been too successful in rescuing them from the corporate domain. Yet the capitalists are battling it out themselves.
Infinity Broadcasting, instead of sticking by Stern and cautioning people who find his content offensive to change the channel, gave in to the FCC. Terrestrial radio today exists to sell audiences to advertisers. The autonomy of disc jockeys who cannot stray from pre-programmed play lists is next to zero. Infinity got rid of New York’s Oldies Station, CBS-FM, and replaced it with JACK-FM, a mix of music without DJs, just an occasional canned voice trying to inject a bit of humor between the commercials and the music. CBS-FM’s Cousin Brucie and others have also found homes on Sirius.
People once complained that they wouldn’t pay for cable television. Now some of the best programming available is on pay TV. We are at the beginning of an era where there will be just one more thing we have to pay for: good radio. Give a listen to the dial: outside of listener-supported stations like WBAI, the only other options are bland broadcasts that offend no one bearing the stamp of the U.S. Government by way of an FCC license and blessing to operate. Not to mention the nonstop commercials. Cutting edge content, commercial free, is available for $12.95 a month (Sirius’ monthly fee). Stern’s move to satellite radio may be good for him, but what about the rest of us?
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