Stern pissed that 4 million, not 20, have paid to hear him on Sirius

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Howard Stern Lashes Out at Some Fans

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060401/ap_en_ce/people_stern_6



NEW YORK - Howard Stern is angry more fans haven't followed him to satellite radio. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the 52-year-old shock jock lashes out at those of his fan base who haven't made the transition to Sirius Satellite Radio.

In January, Stern moved his popular and bawdy morning show to the subscription satellite radio provider.

"I was just at my psychiatrist and I said, `I just got great news: We hit the 4 million mark. And I'm angry. It should be 20 million,'" Stern says in the magazine, on newsstands Monday.

"It's insulting to me that everyone hasn't come with me. I take it personally," he says. "I want to say to my audience ... `You haven't come with me yet? How dare you? We're up to wild, crazy stuff, the show has never sounded better. You cheap bastard!'"

[henslee]

1. Stern is in his own bubble. His porno fixation does little for me but I

do like his celbrity interviews and the exposure he gives unique musical and comedic talent that would never get it anywhere else.

[peekaloo]

2. Was his contract dependent upon the number of subscribers he lured?

:shrug:

[madrchsod]

4. yes it is

i didn`t listen to him when he was on chicago radio..but i`n out of his prime listening ages

[mdmc]

3. do a better job ripping off imus

:cry:

[leeroysphitz]

5. You forgot to put a "sarcasm" at the end of your statement... (nt)

[mdmc]

6. true

they both are jerks though. very low class / vulgar.

[jmowreader]

7. Hmmm...lots of interpretations here...

We could talk about the fact that he's on Sirius instead of XM--and since he's doing a musically-oriented show, he probably should be on the music-heavy XM instead of the talk-heavy Sirius.

We could talk about the fact that the four million probably represents Sirius' entire subscriber base. Not all of those people roll up on Stern.

But the major thing that I think is keeping Stern's supposed audience from dropping $13 per month to listen to him is that unless you're either a New Yorker or you have the New York State of Mind Billy Joel made a brazillion dollars singing about, Stern ain't worth paying to listen to. I won't listen to him for free. The guy's a sexist pig, m'kay? I find him only slightly less irritating than Pigboy--and that only because unlike Pigboy, Stern doesn't get shitfaced before he goes on the air. I don't do strippers. I don't do porn. Stern has this serious stripper/porn fetish that doesn't entertain me in the least. I'm certain he's very popular among porn lovers and New Yorkers, but come now--are there 20 million porn lovers and New Yorkers who love Stern enough to pay to hear him?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. It's not a musically oriented show at all. I don't disagree with your

other points. My wife loves this show and we have Sirius as a result, and the show is basically the same as before, it's about 10-15 percent cruder.

[Room101]

9. Many ignorant cold reading comments here

I'm in California and i'm an Sirius subscriber. I made the move because of Stern. I'm not just paying for stern i'm paying for over 140 channels of entertainment.

Do you pay for cable tv? Have you ever listened to Sirius?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. What's with the hostility? Hello! I HAVE Sirius. I listen to some of the

other stations.

I was just saying I'm not particularly impressed that there's any difference in Stern's show at all, not that I expected there to be any.

In the case of MY household, we got it specifically because of the Stern show of which my wife is a big fan.

The comment I made about "musical" is because the poster I was responding to implied Stern's show is musically oriented (which it isn't at all as far as I can tell, you could maybe say "showbiz oriented" and be more accurate) and as a result would do better on XM.

[Room101]

16. The hostility was directed at others

I mistakenly replied to your post.

[YankeyMCC]

11. Yeah, lets all jump on the bash Howard bandwagon

If you listen to the show at all you know this comment was a self-deprecating comment. He acknowledges his own ability to be happy in life.

I listen to the show, he's repeatedly discussed how successful and how great it is that 4million have already come over. The fact that 30% (which brought Sirius up to that 4million total subscriber number) of his fan base right off the bat is incredible, unheard of in the industry. And the fact that people will continue to come over as time goes on just like there was an initial rush to early cable offers then a slow but constant current of the rest of the TV audience over to cable subscriptions.

But he's a compulsive, a work-a-holic, never satisfied with his accomplishments, as many very successfully men and woman are, and he beats himself up over it very often and is open and honest about it with his listeners. Which is core to what makes him different and interesting as opposed to nitwits like Imus and the other Stern copycats out there.

Yes, that means he lashes out at people around him, including occasionally his audience, that's what human beings do to each other in real life and listening to Howard you better be able to handle it all. It's honest and raw and dangerous in a good way, in the way that provokes people, gets them laughing and even on occasion - gasp! - Thinking!

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. Thinking about how crude he is perhaps. I have listened to his show.

It's a vehicle for women to feel self conscious about their bodies, IMO. I've got no problem with Howard having a show, I just don't care for it...nor for him particularly. I don't find him funny in the least, nor thought provoking. I do credit him with creating a gold mine.

[YankeyMCC]

15. Obviously I think you're wrong and haven't understood what

it is he does on the show. But fine ... to each their own and certainly it can't and won't appeal to everyone.

But that's no reason for the OP or the author of the article to present a one-sided story about something they have little or no understanding of.

[ScreamingMeemie]

21. What he does on his show is rate the looks and bodies of women...

...that's enough for me not to tune in. I've no problem with him being on the air, free speech and all. I'm just not going to give him anymore credit than being a shock jock basically.

[YankeyMCC]

23. Yeah that's all he does

:eyes:

But again, if you like him or not that's a personal preference and as you please of course.

But discussing liking or disliking him was very far from the point of my post. You don't like him...ok got it. I disagree but really not the point.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

28. Well, I'm the OP, and I stand by posting the story.

If you have proof that the story is misleading or inaccurate, send an e-mail to its author.

I copied and pasted and with all due respect don't need a "reason" other than the content of the article.

If you don't care for my threads, stay out of them.

:patriot:

[YankeyMCC]

40. LOL!

Yes sir! Right sir! No questioning the OP! Got it!

ROTFLMAO!

[OhioBlue]

22. Exactly!

anyone that knows him knows he says stuff like that all the time that is partially tongue in cheek - partially his ridiculous obsession with perfection.

We got Sirius b/c of Stern - I enjoy listening to his show a lot of the time. Especially when he bashes the * admin.

My b/f is the big Stern fan in the household, but I like him too most of the time - you have to know not to take him too seriously. It is about the comedy and willingness to ask questions, discuss topics, that nobody else will.

[adriennui]

30. thank you

howard is more sophisticated than most people think (and his audience is not made up of imbeciles). i love waking up to him each morning....he starts my day with laughter, in fact i'm more of a howard fan than my husband.

[kwassa]

12. I would never listen to Stern, even if you paid me $13 a month.

If you pay me a lot more, we can talk.

what a waste of time he is.

[Strong Atheist]

31. We AGREE!!!!!!!! nt.

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. I guess they're just not that into you, Howard...

too bad.

[Room101]

17. You sure are living up to your name. Grumpy

You sound like tons of fun!:sarcasm:

[ScreamingMeemie]

20. MrG doesn't appear to have a problem with me.

My opinion on an opinion board,right? :shrug:

And...it's MRSgrumpy. Thank you. :hi:

[Kingshakabobo]

26. A rude awakening, I guess. That people don't REALLY want to PAY

to listen to crappola.

[tjdee]

18. I love Howard, but I can't justify the entire Sirius network as a purchase

.

XM and Sirius seem like TOO MUCH to me. I don't need to have 100 channels of music or talk. It seems almost like gluttony, in a way, to me. But I'm not a huge radio person anyway--I have my own commercial-less radio when I listen to my cds.

So dropping $70-100 and then $13 bucks a month or whatever, isn't a good choice for me. For one show? Sorry Howard, but no.

Maybe if I was a truck driver, or listened to the radio all day long...I'm already irritated at how much I pay for cable tv when I don't watch all of those channels. At least with cable tv I get cable internet as well.

[YankeyMCC]

24. I felt the same way

I like the Stern show but I wasn't going to pay for the equipment and service just for him.

But I came to feel that Satellite radio may very well be the only way to ensure I get to hear quality radio (a key source of information and entertainment for me) as the FCC and Moral gestapo continue their attacks the owning corporations continue to cave in.

So I got interested because of Howard (I'd heard of it before him and had briefly considered prior to his announcement) but I made the plunge for much more than Howard. And so far it's been worth it for entertainment and news.

[Mutley]

19. I listened to Stern on regular radio

but haven't switched over to Sirius, mostly because I have better things to do with my money right now. Maybe when I graduate and get a decent job I'll make the switch.

[shawmut]

25. I'll sign up when Jackie and Billy West come back

I miss those days.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

29. Howard's single funniest show:

...the one where they devoted the ENTIRE SHOW to ripping Jackie a new one over Comedy Central's (then still called "The Comedy Channel") never-aired documentary on Jackie's career, done "Behind The Music" style, with Jackie taking himself W-A-Y too seriously and Howard, Robin and Fred each doing their best Jackie voice as excerpts were played.

They basically spent the whole show playing clips, ripping Jackie, and then Robin did the news. It was KILLER stuff.

Howard can say whatever he wants about Jackie...the show was better with him.

Billy West? I could handle Stern with Jackie and without Billy.



:patriot:

[Room101]

36. Jackie is the most Unfunny comedian I have ever heard

He rarely ever talked and when he did it sucked. Lame ass stories. Artie is a funny mother fucker.
They play his(jackie) stand up on the raw dog channel and it makes me want to stab my self in the ear.

Billy west could be funny at times but they are both amateurs compared to Artie.
I find Artie to be funnier than Stern.

[Crazy Dave]

27. I'm surprised that people listened to the same old tired format day...

...after day for so long even when they could hear it free. Talking and making sexual innuendos with strippers and porn stars all the time and there was nothing else. Not my idea of entertainment but oh well.
Here we have the Lex and Terry worshipers who I'll never understand. Their show is a rip-off of the Stern show with the only difference being they have a large audience of drunk inbreeds that call in every morning....drunk.

[Gatchaman]

32. Why do people listen to this douchebag?

Really, why? He can't conduct a decent interview, the "celebrities" he does try to interview are porn stars and game show, er, I mean reality show contestants, and various idiots from around new york. Robin is a sycophant, Gary is a decent guy who is endlessly degraded, most everyone else is just there to smell his farts.

[bridgit]

33. that's one thing i dislike about Stern the most, he's always griping...

about money = money he should be making, money that people owe him, money his fan base should be paying him/giving to him...it's daunting; a guy making 500mil a year griping about money is just plain tacky

and just to be clear, subscriptions = money vis-a-vis what i'm sure were highly animated negotiations when Howard was cutting the deal

[swag]

34. Who?

[Strong Atheist]

35. .

:nopity:

[DeaconBlues]

37. Sorry, Howard.

Many people don't have the money or inclination to spend 13 bucks a month to hear fart jokes.

[NNadir]

38. I used to work out at a health club where they played Stern in the morning

I quit.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

41. I don't know why; but

your post has me :rofl:

Some folks get rich by acting holier than thou. (Pat Robberson)

Some push their political views to the extreme. (Lush Limpballs)

Then there are the ones who make a living by acting like assholes.
That's Howard.

[Southsideirish]

39. He's disappointed that he doesn't have the control over his fans that he

thought he had. Disappointed and scared.