CNN: STERN to sirius after labor day... MAYBE...

[ldivinag]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/14/news/newsmakers/stern_exit/index.htm

btw, what happened to KC?????



(jk).

[mytesirius]

I listen to him daily and it seems as if he's practically begging/goading them to release him.

So maybe there is some truth in these rumors.....would they negotiate the buyout package for him and his crew??

I'm glad I have satellite for whenever he makes the move. :)

[SISO]

It's more then just CNN saying this, seems more and more people are saying this everyday. The only thing I see negative if he comes that early would be they probably wouldn't have any commercials ready (that is TV commercials prommoting him). The reasoning behind this seems logical, so wouldn't surprise me.

[WolfViper]

I hope he comes early! So he can start his U.S. tour and get on the Sirius air waves faster!

[mutant]

btw, what happened to KC?????


Let go by Stern. Did a recent phoner on show describing his drug problems.

[Chad]

Bleh, I never really cared for KC anyway.


Now Howard coming early would be a real treat and get those sub numbers to sky rocket. :cool:

[deadhead13]

That would be great is Stern get to Sirius early. The market i'm in lost the show a long time ago and i've been dying to hear the freaking show.

BTW: The only thin i miss about KC, are the song parodies they used to do about him being a homo. Those where funny as shit.

[sternfan1990]

btw, what happened to KC?????



(jk).

KC is doing stand up comedy in Los Angeles, every monday in north hollywood.."

[STEELERSRULE]

I have discussed this very situation on AVSFORUM in the Satellite Radio Section.

IMHO, Stern WILL NOT be on Sirius Radio until his original designated date of January 2006. Why? A few reasons.

First, it is Howards contract that, in case he is "fired or let go", there is a BUY OUT. Stern has mentioned this COUNTLESS times on his radio show(this was one of the BIG things coming from his mouth when he was essentially "fired" from the Clear channel stations. They eventually settled out of court, I think, but the case may still be going on for all I know.) that he needs to be paid, REGARDLESS. That is the way his contract is set-up, purposefully(Don Buchwald is a smart dude). In other words, his contract, I am sure, has a BUYOUT Clause built into it.

Other people(CNBC, MSNBC, etc...) have said it does, and they "say"(no proof that I know of) that the buyout is at least $20 million dollars. They say Stern is putting this out there, and that Infinity intends to hold him to the contract until Dec 31, 2005 when it expires(it will probably be cheaper to keep him until then for I would guess the buyout would be $20 million up front)

Second, and this is a big one tied to the contract. When Opie and Anthony were fired in NYC a couple(maybe 3?) years ago, they were still paid the remainder of their contract, as long as they signed a "non-compete" contract until the deal with Infinity expired.

In other words, O&E COULD NOT work anywhere else in radio(and possibly other mediums) until there contract with Infinity was up. When it did expire, they signed on with XM.

If I was going to buyout(it wouldn't actually be a buyout, but a sort of "you go away, but we will still pay you under these terms) Stern's contract, I would WITHOUT QUESTION make this part of the buyout. No Doubt, and these people are a helluva alot smarter than I am, so I am sure they thought of this already.

Basically Howard will get a 4 month paid vacation. But he will be under a non-compete clause until his contract expires on Dec 31, 2005. That will definitely mean no radio, period. But it will also most likely mean:

1. No interviews on Radio/TV/Internet/Etc... for Stern until the contract expires
2. This might also include personalities from the Show, as they all have contracts(separate from Howards) with Infinity or K-Rock or someone. These would include Robin, Fred(doesn't talk anyway), Artie, BaBa Booey, etc...(funny, this would not include Benji for some reason)

Of course this would not stop Sirius from advertising, but they COULD NOT include Stern(meaning him physically)in the ads including his cronies(of course this would exclude the WackPack which would lead to some hilarious commercials for them).

Either way, you will not hear Stern on Sirius until 2006. Ad rates can be easily adjusted(I am sure Infinity is in talks with there advertisers as to this situation).

Howard knows that people in this country are fickle. Out of sight, out of mind long enough(and 4 months is a long time) people WILL forget about you, and possibly find something else. I don't think he will be bought out, let go, or whatever(unless he WANTS a 4 month paid vacation. Wouldn't we all?)

Either way for me, I am ready and waiting. I will be listening when he comes. Whenever that is.

[HarleyJoel]

I have to agree with SteelersRule in most of what he says. First of all, Steelers do rule. That aside, I don't think Sirius will buy him out to get him on four or five months early. I don't think that if they wanted Stern off the air they would allow him to go freely without the gag-order. But I do think that if they take him off the air that people will remember and await for his arrival on Sirius as they would have normally. O & A were off the air and it created alot of hype when they went to XM. Hell, I even was excited when they came on (only to be disappointed after several months of unfunny, unprepared, unorganized material). Howard has said that if he is taken off the air that he will keep us updated on his web site so I guess they can't gag him from that. Anyway it won't be long now so even if they do take him off, it'll be January before you know it.

One thing that annoyed me on the CNN article is that it says at the bottom that "Not all satellite radio subscribers are thrilled with Stern's looming arrival. Click here for more." I clicked it and it went to that stupid article on Hyundai not choosing Sirius over XM because of Stern (B.S.). Gotta love the media... :rolleyes:

[vitaminjuckie]

Man, I wish I heard this but I turned it on about 7:15 just when they were finishing this bit. A lot of news organizations and websites fell for it hook line and sinker.

http://billboardradiomonitor.com/radiomonitor/news/business/net_syn/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000980497

[HarleyJoel]

I started listening at 6:00 and realized that it was a bit about 15 minutes into it. It was pretty convincing at first though.

[BenDee]

Whether he leaves early or not, I believe that Howard is allowed to be on TV, internet, etc. without violating his non-compete clause. This would probably mean appearances on Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, Jay Leno, daytime, Letterman(IF Viacom doesn't try to block it) and others. In response to Sirius commercials... I could imagine a series of ads featuring someone picking up the phone and hearing "baba booey baba booey Sterns coming to Sirius", followed by a voiceover giving the Sirius spiel and the Stern charicture(sp?) Sirius uses for him on the screen.

[Hoffer]

Howard has talked about this stuff recently. They feel that they will get canned sometime in September. The reseason being is that is when a new ratings period begins. A sponsor would buy advertisement time for Stern's ratings, when they have a different person in there.

Also, Howard just mentioned yesterday that he will go to satellite immediately after he gets canned. He said at first he wanted to go on vacation for a while. Sirius has convinced him that he needs to get over there ASAP since the heat will still be on. He has realized this is the best way to go. He never mentioned Infinity not allowing him to go. So, I'm thinking he actually will.

about KC...He was fired after going through rehab for drugs and gambling multiple times. He was just on Stern again today, first time being right before the 4th of July weekend. The sad part is that he really gives Tom a hard time and it doesn't seem like he deserves it.

[v1ru5]

I was under the inpression that even if Howard is released B4 12/31,He is not allowed to work anywhere else until 1/06.

[merovingian]

I was under the inpression that even if Howard is released B4 12/31,He is not allowed to work anywhere else until 1/06.

I believe that allof that is under discussion as we speak. Howard has said that if he is let out of his contract early, then he wants to be on satellite as soon as possible.

[merovingian]

Here is what Mel Karmazin said the other day concerning Howie:


With the recent hoopla surrounding Howard Stern's status, Karmazin said that we still shouldn't expect to hear the King Of All Media on Sirius before January 1. "He is under contract to Infinity through the end of this year," said Karmazin, adding, "We're excited to have Howard start with us as quickly as he can once he's free of his contract. If that's at the end of the year, we'll start on January 1. If its sooner, we'll start sooner. But, we've had no conversation with him about coming early. We do not want to, in any way, shape or form, interfere with Viacom's relationship with their performer." He also said that Sirius will further step up their marketing campaign as Stern's start date gets closer. "There will be nobody in the United States who will not know that Howard Stern will be on Sirius," he said. "The marketing will be very aggressive."

[RyeGuy]

Regarding KC, I read somewhere that, in addition to the drugs and gambling, the thing that actually got him fired was when he talked on the show about losing $300,000 on a gambling website. Apparently it was a lie and he did it as a way of sneaking a "product placement" advertisement into the show.

[WolfViper]

Listening to Stern today and once again he did another mistake. He said Sirius has about 3 to 3 1/2 Million Subs. They haven't even reached 2 Million yet.

[deadhead13]

Listening to Stern today and once again he did another mistake. He said Sirius has about 3 to 3 1/2 Million Subs. They haven't even reached 2 Million yet.

Just wandering. How much of a difference does that make?

[STEELERSRULE]

Yeah. Howard gets a little TOO EXCITED sometimes, and people in the know(like us here at SBS) know it is complete BS.

But you know what, let him continue to LIE about the numbers. This may cause people to actually sign-up who were on the fringe. Let him screw up the numbers/quality of the product. Let him overblow it. It will be good for sales.

With regard to the KC issues with Tom, I think this may be the reason. Granted this is all speculation on my part:

I think KC ACTUALLY BLAMES BOTH HOWARD AND TOM for his firing, although he says it is all Tom's fault. Why? Because KC life right now is miserable. He is a hack out in LA(I can almost guarantee that) who is going nowhere, no matter what he says. He WAS somebody on that show. Howard no longer will be working for Infinity/Viacom(This means he won't be working for Tom at WXRK[KC that is]) and so KC is putting the blame all on Tom. Burning that bridge is no big deal.

He is not blaming Howard(although I believe he does. Just as much as Tom) because I can guarantee if it has not happened already, KC wants to go to work for Howard at Sirius. Howard is loyal to people, and KC knows this. He will kiss Howards ass, and then ask if he can come back and work for him. I guarantee this has already happened.

Howard should never allow this because KC holds as much resentment towards him as he does Tom. Howard always says, "Don't blame me for what you did"; to people who get into trouble on his show, whether they are employees or just some random idiot. But he is to blame. He created this environment on the radio(naked chicks/fights on air/blue language/generally stupid stuff no one in their right mind would do or say), hired these lunatics, and then he acts like none of this is his fault when someone screws up. sometimes very badly.

I am sure he gave KC(more so Tom) ample opportunity to clean up his act. KC probably figured that somewhere along the line, Howard would swoop in and save him(alot of his cronies, especially idiots who appear regularly, expect him to do this) from being fired. At any other job, KC would have been out on his ass alot sooner than he was at WXRK. There are limits, but on the HS Show, those limits have been pushed to a point where the common nitwit doesn't know where the line is. This is Howard's fault(Gary/Robin/Fred know these limits, and are smart enough not to cross them) because HE CREATED this environment.

Keep KC out. If Howard is dumb enough to re-hire him at Sirius(I REALLY DOUB IT. He is much smarter than that) than he should be ready to take the blame for when it all goes to hell. Which it would. No doubt.

[WolfViper]

Listening to Stern today and once again he did another mistake. He said Sirius has about 3 to 3 1/2 Million Subs. They haven't even reached 2 Million yet.

Just wandering. How much of a difference does that make?

:news:

[AnfKid]

I highly doubt Stern will start before January. Why get rid of yer cash cow before you have to? Howard constantly mentioning this on the air will only do one thing. Drive listeners out to the store and get those Sat radios hooked up.