Fred Jacobs writes:
... The fact is that as good as Howard is, environment plays a role in his success. And with Sirius, his landscape has changed. He isn't attached to a real radio outlet, his reach has been greatly diminished, and with it, his influence. ...
... 2006 is a very flat to down year for Stern, with none of those telltale "peaks" back in the old, terrestrial radio days. ΒΆ We used to see the impact of environment on Stern from radio station to radio station, and market to market. When he was on a great station with a real format, he tended to have blockbuster numbers. When he was on a dog station that played music that was much-duplicated in the market, or just not very good, his ratings seriously lagged. Despite the fact that it was the same show all over the U.S., the Arbitron numbers were far different, depending on the situation. You can look it up. ...
Link: JacoBLOG.
Farting in church department: Among my responsibilities is a network of 13 public radio stations, so it's been a minor annoyance to have National Public Radio's programming carried on Sirius along with Howard Stern. Although not alone, sadly, he's IMHO debased the radio neighborhood for years with (uh, searching mightily for the least offensive term) ... juvenilia. NPR has been running noncommercial promos for Sirius that we carry by contract, and recently they've included something like, "... where you can hear Howard Stern." So now my stations are telling people there's a strip club in the neighborhood. Wouldn't it be more effective for Sirius to tell NPR listeners that they can find NPR there? --Dennis
Comments