Stern Staying in Orbit
If you thought the self-appointed King of All Media is going to give up his new profanity-laden perch on satellite radio, think again.
On his morning show on Sirius Satellite Radio Wednesday, Howard Stern smacked down reports that he was considering a return to terrestrial radio, although he admitted that his agent had fielded big offers from three different companies.
"I'm very flattered terrestrial radio can't let go of me, but I would throw up if I had to go back. I'm never going back," the shock jock said in an on-air interview with an Associated Press reporter.
While Stern just made the shift to subscription-based satellite radio this year, the transition hasn't exactly been hitch-free.
Stern, who's currently in the fifth month of a five-year, $500 million contract with Sirius, complained last month that his once mammoth audience of 12 million has not plunked down the $12 monthly fee to follow him to the unregulated universe of satellite.
Instead, recent polls have shown that only 1 million to 2 million Stern devotees are tuning in, while the rest of his former listeners have scattered along the dial, many shifting to other well-established programs, including, believe it or not, NPR's Morning Edition.
But in no way is Stern letting his fan base shrinkage get to him.
"I've never been happier," Stern added enthusiastically. "We're flying high and doing great."
Stern's professed happiness comes as he and his ex-bosses at CBS Radio are locked in a fierce legal battle, after CBS filed $200 million breach-of-contract suit against him in February. To make matters worse, his former employers have retained the services of Stern nemeses Opie & Anthony to work the morning shift.
According to the New York Post, which reported Tuesday that Stern might jump back to FM radio, one of his likely suitors is Citadel Broadcasting, which is in the midst of buying Disney-owned ABC Radio and its three affiliates in New York. The company's chief executive, Farid Suleman, once worked with Stern at Infinity Broadcasting before it became CBS Radio.
The report theorized that Suleman might come up with a big payment to Sirius to simulcast Stern in key markets. That's excactly what happened with Opie & Anthony, whose morning show on XM Satellite Radio will be simulcast on CBS Radio after the company's initial East Coast-based Stern replacement, ex-Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth, was a ratings bust.
Mocking Opie & Anthony's move from satellite back to FM radio as a "failure," Stern said he had every intention of sticking with satellite, especially given the limitless freedoms it has to offer.
"The story is I wouldn't do [terrestrial radio] for any reason," Stern told Sirius listeners. "Not for money. I left because I couldn't stand the censorship."
Stern was a frequent whipping boy for the Federal Communications Commission, which slapped him with record-breaking indecency fines during his run on terrestrial radio.
Even if Stern wanted to make the move back, any such deal would hinge on Sirius' willingness to grant a reverse license--an idea CEO Mel Karamazin has rejected for now, but he hasn't ruled it out for the future.
A rep for Stern and Citadel could not be reached for comment.
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