The Passion of The Stern



Above: A face made for radio.

"Down with the F-C-C!'' Howard Stern shouted out at his impromptu Union Square rally at noon, which spilled out, at times, into the street, stopping traffic, "They have ruined commercial broadcasting."

Although shares of Sirius were downgraded by Banc of America Securities (and subsequently dropped 5% share price at press time), that did not stop Howard Stern from energetically promoting his appearance on tonight's David Letterman show today at Union Square in New York.

What will he speak of on Letterman tonight? Will he make some announcement? Will he use the opprtunity to do an infomercial? Will Letterman object to being used? Will he badmouth Viaocm on CBS, which is Viacom owned? Will he be forced out of his Viacom/ Infinity Broadcasting contract early? These are some of the questions being asked on his messageboard and in the chattering classes. One thing is for certain: media eyes will be on Stern and Letterman tonight.

One poster on the Howard Stern Message Board writes:

"Just got back from the Howard Stern / Sirius Rally at Union Square. A massive crowd gathered to see Howard, and to pick up their free Sirius Satellite Radios (500 were available) and 20,000 vouchers for free Sirius systems (when you prepay for a one-year subscription).If you couldn't make it, no problem - just go to www.sirius.com/offer/sternrally and enter in promotion code 263.

"Select your Sirius system and purchase an annual subscription for $142.25. When prompted, enter in the certificate number HS7436 in the 'referral ID' field.The free system is the Audiovox SIR-PNP2. The offer expires on November 24th, 2004 - so if you want it, get it now."

Another wrote:

"i got my free audiovox sirius boombox, it was given to me by the beautiful robin quivers."

Still another:

"i went down there too - I thought it wa cool to experience that, and see all those people. it really makes you feel good - when everyone was cheering for howard it almost brought a tear to my eye. Everyone was so nice, there was no pushing or trampling or anything. it was a great experience. Even though all I got was a free poster and that certificate, it was worth it to go. I took lots of pics and video. Cant wait to get home and upload it - if Howard announces tonite that hes moving to sirius early then ill use the promotional codes to buy in immediatly - otherwise i think it would be best o wait till late 2005 before you join"

Finally:

"I think Howard has finally 'jumped the shark.' I've been listening to him since NBC and was at the Private Parts Premier at Madison Square Garden. I went to today's event at Union Square and I've got to say it was weak!I believe 90% of people only showed up because he said he was giving something away for free and most of the media claimed it was Sirius radios.

"There was very little energy in the audience, and we had to stand and wait for these 'magic' certificates while he personally gave away real boomboxes with 1 yr subscriptions to a couple hundred people up front that have no jobs or responsibilities that they can spend all morning there.Finally when you get the piece of paper you realize that it's going to cost you money for the 'free gift' and it's more than the $142 1 yr subscription, because all they give you is the plug and play 'brain' you still need to buy a boombox or car kit if you actually plan on hearing anything.This is all pretty lame. Howard has sold out his faithful audience to cash in and go to satellite. Like they've said, they only plan on a small percentage of us actually paying to subscribe in order for them to turn a profit.

"So what about the rest? If Howard's audience is 1/4 the size it is today will he still be as relevant? Will anyone care what he says? Probably not since 99% of Americans do not have satellite radio!"

Stern gave out free boom boxes, posters and certificates, which -- and this is probably a world's record -- have already slithered onto eBay (what would you expect?).

Note: Due to a work assignment, no blogging tomorrow.

Update: Mel Karmazin to become CEO of Sirius:

"First, Sirius Satellite Radio landed Howard Stern. Yesterday it hired Stern's former boss.A month after signing Stern to a five-year deal, Manhattan-based Sirius said yesterday its new chief executive is Mel Karmazin, the former head of media conglomerate Viacom who was successful in building Infinity Broadcasting into a giant of traditional radio.

"The hiring puts an end to rumors about where Karmazin would end up after his June resignation from Viacom, where he had a tense relationship with company chairman Sumner Redstone. In fact, there were whisperings over the summer that Karmazin would end up at Sirius, a pairing regarded in the industry as a perfect fit, said Tom Taylor, editor of InsideRadio.com.'Wall Street has always liked Mel. ... People see him as a star,' Taylor said. 'This is an extremely logical move.'"

Sirius Shares are up +7.84%