When it comes to nonprofit broadcasting media, the audio-only action is trumping the televised fare these days. As funding-challenged PBS slowly devolves into a resemblance of other cookie-cutter television channels, NPR gains popularity by accentuating its distinctiveness within a radio wasteland.

The wide spectrum of dedicated channels that cable television provides is cited as having stolen PBS’ thunder:

If you’re the sort of traditional PBS viewer who likes extended news broadcasts, say, or cooking shows, old movies and shows about animals gnawing each other on the veld, cable now offers channels devoted just to your interest. Cable is a little like the Internet in that respect: it siphons off the die-hards. Public television, meanwhile, more and more resembles everything else on TV. Since corporate sponsors were allowed to extend their “credit” announcements to 30 seconds, commercials in all but name have been a regular feature on public television, and that’s not to mention pledge programs, the fund-raising equivalent of water-boarding.

Which makes me wonder: Are we going to be lamenting similar woes for public radio in a few years, when the endless expanse of satellite radio has become commonplace enough to siphon listeners away from NPR? The same dynamics are in place as with what developed in television over the past couple of decades.

I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing that I’ve largely abandoned both mediums at this point. Not that I never look/listen to TV and radio, but I don’t rely on much original content from either.

Carolina Hurricanes radio announcer Chuck Kaiton has established a reputation for zealously learning and using the correct pronunciation of non-English player names in the National Hockey League.

That typically means going to the source and asking the player how he prefers to hear his name uttered. Therefore, it’s not Sergei SAM-so-nov, it’s sam-SO-nov.

This reminds me of an offhand joke from an ESPN SportsCenter announcer, back when Eric Desjardins was traded from Montreal to Philadelphia in 1995. The quip was that, by moving from a Francophone city to an American one, he went from being “Eric de-zhar-DAN” to “Eric de-JAR-dins”…

Having an unconventionally-spelled name myself was probably a contributing factor for why I gravitated toward NHL fandom, in that it gave me a way to identify/relate with players in that sport. Although the caveat is that I prefer having a name that most people don’t even bother to attempt to pronounce, given the incongruous letter combination, as opposed to a name that looks phonetically “correct” but isn’t.

For those early-risers who wake up to the audio blare of National Public Radio, I was emailed this tip-off on a special guest dropping in on tomorrow’s Bryant Park Project show:

Washington, D.C.; December 18, 2007 – Recording artist Moby will Guest DJ, offering his “BPP Playlist” and preview tracks from his as-yet-unreleased new album on NPR’s The Bryant Park Project tomorrow, Wednesday, December 19. Following an interview with The Bryant Park Project host Alison Stewart , an exclusive web-only audio feature with Moby discussing his “BPP Playlist” and a sneak preview of a song from his new album, not airing in the interview, will be made available at www.npr.org/bryantpark.

Local station’s air time of the program is available at www.npr.org/stations. Audio of the interview will be available at www.npr.org.

And I’m sure a wrapup post of Moby’s stylings will appear tomorrow afternoon on Bryant Park Project’s blog.

I doubt I’ll have time to drop by the park tomorrow morn to check this out firsthand. Besides, it’ll be too damned cold to poke around, on the lookout for MC Baldy. Although if I did, I’d have to ask him how he feels about being immortalized as Sell-Out Supreme via the Moby Quotient.

And oh, I was tipped off on this celebrity appearance on the strength of this little post I wrote, back when BPP was ramping up. Despite the best of intentions, I have yet to actually listen to the show. One of these days…

I guess I’m not particularly unique in expressing a fondness for Manhattan’s Bryant Park. The movers and shakers at the New York branch of National Public Radio share that fondness, to the point of setting up The Bryant Park Project.

What’s that? It looks to be a new breaking-news program from NPR, with a hipper, youthful edge.

Since I don’t listen to any radio whatsoever, I’m both the least receptive and most-sought-after audience for this Project. As long as there’s the online component (more the blogging, way less the podcasting), I can always check at my convenience.

Actually, it’s been a good while since I’ve visited Bryant. I’ve been way too busy most of the summer to do more than just pass by. I guess NPR’s campout there will give me a mild incentive to drop in and check things out. Maybe especially inside of a month, when I’ll have my new wi-fi capable iPod Touch, and so will be able to Web-browse while I track down, say, BPP contributor and ex-MTVer Alison Stewart.

Britney Spears is back on the horse. Her new comeback single, “Gimme More”, debuted on the website of NYC’s Z100 today.

And, while supplies last — or at least until the Z100.com crew figures out how to mask a URL — you can download the MP3 track by right-clicking here.

Really amazing that by this point, a major media channel would leave a track with such built-in popularity exposed to mass download. It’s not the most pristine recording — only 160kbps — but hey, it’s decent. And free.

As for the track itself? It’s alright. I rather like that “It’s Britney, bitch” opening. But it’s a bit overproduced for me, doubtless the influence of Timbaland protege Danja. It’s still Britney, but not as infectious as her past efforts. I’ll keep a lookout for the forthcoming dance remixes, hopefully on iTunes.

Yes, XM Satellite Radio’s decision to hand down a 30-day suspension to Opie and Anthony over their latest racist/sexist crudefest is evidence that shock-jockery is no safer on unregulated satellite broadcasts than it is on the old-fashioned terrestrial waves.

But there are more complex reasons behind XM’s move (even though it ultimately comes down to the cha-ching):

The fact that XM was willing to suspend Opie and Anthony is proof that offensive programming could hurt even satellite radio, a medium that does not depend on advertising dollars as free radio does. XM and Sirius do have to worry about losing subscribers if shock jocks go too far.

The suspension also demonstrates how scared the satellite radio companies are of looking like the poster children for bad behavior at a time when XM and Sirius will depend on the goodwill of the government to green-light their merger.

Actually, I think more concern is addressed toward the latter factor than the former. More subscribers probably will drop XM in the wake of this suspension, than would theoretically leave if the everyday content got too risque.

This is an example of industry self-censorship: The instance of a private concern preemptively taking corrective action against itself, in order to stave off actual governmental intervention. It’s more alarming than if the government were to get involved, as it eliminates the popular-will element (or at least defers it; the paying customers can make their feelings known later, when it comes time to renew subscriptions).

If any “edgy” disc jockeys on America’s airwaves somehow thought that the Don Imus fiasco didn’t apply to them — watch out. CBS Radio today suspended the hosts of WFNY-New York’s “The Dog House With JV and Elvis” after their prank phone calls to a Chinese restaurant — which were predictably rife with ethnic and sexual slurs — brought the beginnings of an advocacy group-led boycott movement.

Now, I’m not blind to the context here. So soon after Imus, CBS wasn’t going to allow a second on-air incident to explode and scare off even more advertisers; the suspensions were a no-brainer. And while the targeted group has a right to be insulted, I’m not crazy about the stifling of expression that this fosters. And I’ll reiterate the raw deal that radio stations typically mete out in such situations: They push their shock jocks to push the envelope, but unceremoniously dump them the second there’s significant negative reaction.

Cynicism abounds! All that said:

If the post-Imus era brings about the demise of all these idiotic morning-zoo crudefests, I won’t shed any tears. I’m sure this current climate will be short-lived, but one can hope.

While the fall of Don Imus continues to be parsed and analyzed for potential ripple effects, I’m fairly surprised that no one’s really keyed in on the underlying, and more pertinent, reason for his dismissal:

The man who had earned an annual salary of about $10 million…

That’s all I’m going to snip, because that’s all that matters. When a media talent is making that much money, the people signing the checks will pounce on any chance to wipe that salary off the books. Imus may have been pulling in plenty of revenue for CBS, but not enough to convince Les Moonves and others that the network couldn’t attract practically as much with a lower-priced voice behind the mic. Once the major advertisers started bailing out, that just tilted the accounting ledger even more against Imus.

I’m not excusing Imus for his “nappy-headed hos” idiocy, nor am I arguing that the punishment was too severe. But anyone who thinks Imus’ pay rate was just a minor or inconsequential factor in his firing is missing the big picture.

Ultimately, this sequence of events shouldn’t be surprising. In fact, it’s par for the course regarding the radio biz and how it handles its shock-jocks:

[The 2004 firing of Bubba the Love Sponge was] a cynical move, especially because it shows how slimy [Clear Channel], and others like it, is. They’ll put raunchy programming on the air, encourage the personalities to continually push the limits in pursuit of ratings, probably with assurances that they’ll stand behind them. Then, once the heat gets too hot, they stab them in the back. That was the case with Viacom’s “Opie and Andy Show” in New York, and that’s exactly what happened with Bubba. It tells you just how meaningless a contract is in the radio industry.

With Imus, it was a double whammy of money and envelope-pushing.

Here’s my recommendation on a new brand for the newly-merged combination of satellite radio companies XM and Sirius:

Xirius.

It’s got a vaguely Greek sound to it, if you pronounce it with the “ks” sound. Doesn’t mean anything, nor does it mean I’ll actually pony up for it. Especially when I consider my iPod to be a far superior option to any radio format, terrestrial or extra.

The New York Times pokes a stick at the corpse of Knight Ridder, wondering what went wrong.

The blame is nominally laid at the feet of former KR chief P. Anthony Ridder, for not putting up more of a fight against the Bruce Sherman-led financial barbarians at the gate. It’s even suggested that the post-McClatchy sell-off of individual newspapers should have offered a blueprint to Ridder for avoiding the sale of his namesake:

Some thought that Mr. Ridder could have sold off pieces of the company in order to keep it afloat. William Dean Singleton, the chief executive of the MediaNews Group, which eventually bought four of the Knight Ridder papers from McClatchy, was one.

“In retrospect, if Tony had it in him to sell Philadelphia and Akron, as Gary has done, the company he had left would have looked good,” he said, referring to Mr. Pruitt’s sale of the Knight Ridder papers in those markets. Without those papers, Mr. Singleton said, “his financial performance would have been among the best in the industry.”

More broadly, the short-term performance prerogatives that come with being a publicly-held company are blamed for doing in KR and applying constant pressure on other newspaper conglomerates to cut operating costs. That’s nothing new — the evil spectre of the bleating shareholder has been the newspaper industry’s bogeyman even before the Web showed up as an undercutting competitor. And particularly lately, lots of public companies and analysts have been dreaming of going private, thus ditching those pesky quarterly reports.

I’m thinking we’re overdue for a historical analysis on how the last “dinosaur” media sector fared when faced with extinction: Radio. Television was supposed to kill off the AM/FM dial back in the ’60s and ’70s; I’d imagine the stock market back then reacted in a downcast manner similar to the current attitude for newspapers. Of course, radio reoriented itself and became a hugely profitable business, regaining the full confidence of Wall Street; no reason why newspapers shouldn’t be expected to turn a similar trick.

More people willing to cough up dough for Sirius equipment and subscriptions, that is. The King of All Media is peeved that he hasn’t converted more listeners to satellite:

“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 [this week’s Entertainment Weekly], 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!’”

A provocative stunt by Stern, with low risk: It’s not going to lose him any existing subscribers, even if unlikely to challenge many to ante up. Even if calculated, I’m sure it served as an effective personal vent. But even calculating in a massive ego, even Stern should have known that the critical mass to be achieved with his move to satellite wouldn’t be that critical. Besides, 4 million is nothing to sneeze at.

If Stern really wants to juice up the numbers, he needs better exposure. The fact is, satellite programming has no presence to those who aren’t already subscribing. The perfect outlet: A television show! Getting back on E! is pretty well out of the question, considering his current court hassles with his old bosses; but I’d definitely tune in for a rebirth of his old show on some other cable station. A five-day-a-week video recap of his show would create a steady stream of new sign-ups. Definitely an avenue to reopen.

More than a year after announcing it, today was the day Howard Stern debuted his show on Sirius Satellite Radio.

I don’t subscribe to Sirius (nor to XM, for that matter), so I had to rely on Eric Deggans’ review. I wasn’t expecting it to be much different from Stern’s usual show, with the addition of a few non-bleeped curse words. The addition of George Takei as inaugural satellite show announcer was a neat twist, I thought. It also led to some confusion for me, as I somehow assumed that Takei was a permanent replacement for Robin Quivers; Deggans later clarified this for me and confirmed that Quivers was still on the show.

The real impact, of course, is in the Benjamins. Specifically, if Sirius’ enormous commitment to Stern will pay off, and if so, whether or not it will change the talent/content economics of the entire radio business, satellite and terrestrial. I’m sure the investment will pay off for Sirius, but only in limited terms: It’ll keep Sirius afloat, but won’t move it out of second place behind XM. And I don’t see a ripple effect for other radio talent, simply because there’s no one else in the radio universe even close to Stern’s level — it was and remains a one-horse race.

I do like the snarky spin XM put on Stern’s coming-out party:

“Our content has not changed,” said Eric Logan, XM’s executive vice president of programming. “We have a platform targeted at mainstream America. There are more and more people who find Howard Stern repulsive and offensive and will go away from anywhere he is.”

If you can’t join them, flog ‘em.

I listen to WUSF 89.7 FM at work, mainly because it plays classical music for most of the day. Not that I especially adore classical, but the key is, it’s 99 percent instrumental — and for me, non-lyrical music doesn’t glue itself to the brain nearly as much as songs do. (I guess that says a lot about how my mind works.)

I’ll leave WUSF on after 4PM, when the music stops and the local edition of National Public Radio takes over. I usually turn it off after half an hour or so, because it gets to rambling.

Today, the weekly sports segment — all five minutes of it — was on, and involved itself with the return of the NHL. Some localish hockey reporter was in for a chat with the host, and they basically rehashed the national NPR story.

While wrapping up, the hockey dude brought up the online/blogger barometer on the start of the season. He noted that it’s been enthusiastic, but cited Hockey Rodent’s rant about the fans’ acquiescence despite the lockout as a dissenting opinion.

Not only did he mention Hockey Rodent by name (having a little chuckle over it), he also paraphrased this little nugget:

Every time I see the words “Thank you fans!” painted along the blue lines, I finish the sentence with “… for being such suckers” and then I throw the TV Brick.

I’m wondering if Rodent got any visits from the Tampa Bay area as a result of this tiny plug. They didn’t spell out his URL, but it wouldn’t be that hard to find.

In any case, it was amusing to hear the citation of a hockey blogger.

Bubba the Love Sponge, out of the limelight since his unceremonious firing by Clear Channel Radio, finally has the satellite radio gig he’s been craving. Howard Stern is providing space on his Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 100 (to be dubbed “Douche 100″) for Bubba and other DJs who’ve been canned over indecency issues.

In a related, universal-karma-balancing move, Artie Lange will be running for Pinellas County Sheriff. (Just kidding, although the rumors of Lange departing the Stern show made me think that Bubba would be moving into the brown-nosing chair; I guess not.)

It’s a lucky break for Bubba, because he was never going to get a satellite show on his own. I’m not confident that he’ll last long in this new go-round, although as tired as his schtick is, I suppose it’s as effective as any other Stern wannabe.

The next feature from September’s Florida Trend:

English-to-Spanish takes a look at the growth of Florida’s Spanish-language media outlets outside of traditional stronghold Miami, particularly in radio. In the last five years, the number of Spanish radio stations has gone from 22 to 50:

That boom mirrors Hispanic media habits. Arbitron research shows that Hispanics spend more time with radio than the general market — approximately 3.5 hours more per week — and are bigger consumers of radio than of newspapers and television.

“Radio is the most accessible free source of advertisement that the Hispanic person can get, be it radio and music or other formats,” says Pedro Perez, co-owner and a vice president of Nuevo Advertising Group in Sarasota, which specializes in marketing to Hispanics.

Lots more Hispanic consumer data accompanies the article.

Most telling is the rapid conversion of many traditional-format radio stations to Spanish. Stations with weak ratings in overcrowded markets now have the option of going after Hispanics (albiet at more expense for conversion, with having to hire Spanish-language talent, etc.).

As far as print goes, Central Florida has proven to be fertile ground, and a launching pad to these parts:

Thanks to an aggressive marketing campaign that included the posting of billboards, television ads, radio ads and a kickoff festival, the Orlando paper has achieved a circulation of about 27,000. [General Manager Jaime] Segura says El Nuevo Dia also is building a steady stream of regular advertising revenue, mostly from car dealers, real estate companies, lawyers and healthcare companies like Humana.

Segura hints that a Tampa edition could be down the road. The newpaper’s main office is in Orlando, but with printing operations in Lakeland, “Tampa is a natural for us,” and although the Tampa [Hispanic] market is not as big as Orlando’s just yet, it is growing.

Gaining mainstream mass media exposure is a sure sign of validation. It all comes down to where the audience wants to go; and where the audience goes, the money will follow. Miami’s multinational experience served as an example that the rest of the state is now emulating.

If you subscribe to the theory that sportstalk radio is the barometer of a particular sport’s wider popularity, then the lack of airwave chatter over tomorrow’s Chicagoland Speedway race in the Windy City (and Tampa Bay) tells you that NASCAR hasn’t completely arrived as mainstream.

None other than NASCAR’s head honcho shares this view:

That indicates to NASCAR CEO Brian France that although viewership and interest continue to increase, stock car racing has failed to leach into the fabric of America’s sporting consciousness. That’s the last realm, it would appear, for NASCAR to conquer, and until it does, France seems bothered by what he hears. Or doesn’t.

“That’s one of the hot topics that occurs in my office every day,” France said in a national teleconference. “Because, in fact, we are very undercovered for the size audience we have, not just in sports-talk radio.”

So why aren’t more firsttime-callers, longtime-listeners burning up the phonelines over restrictor plates and how much Jeff Gordon sucks? Aside from too much competition in the big cities, France also offers up this intriguing reason:

“The other thing is, we have a big plus in that all of our races are national events, mega events. That’s one other issue: We don’t have home teams. So there is a tendency for publications and newspapers and radio affiliates to want to cover just what they think the hometown fan base wants to hear, which is the hometown teams.”

Of course, those of us who hold sportstalk radio in the highest of contempt — here, right here — might suggest that autoracing is better off being free of the idiot squawkbox. Not that that’s particularly good business advice…

When Howard Stern announced his move to Sirius satellite radio, I noted that one thing hedged what was otherwise a risky move:

The other consideration here is Howard Stern’s E! show. Unlike other radio personalities, he’s got that added exposure on television. Assuming he stays on TV — and that’s not a sure thing, if there’s a falling-out with Infinity and E! parent Viacom, but chances are good for maintaining it — he won’t become completely marginalized by a move to satellite.

The chances got worse yesterday, as E! pulled the plug on the King of All Media’s televised peepshow.

Of course, this is Howard Stern, and a guy who’s drawing Sirius signups by the droves isn’t likely to be without a TV home for long:

On Tuesday’s radio show, according to the fan site, MarksFriggin.com, Stern said he would reveal his future TV plans in a week or two. Per the Hollywood trades, Spike TV was floated as a possible new cable home.

Indeed, Spike would seem to be a natural fit. And the still-struggling channel would love to have him to further cement its niche young male audience. Still, it does represent a downshift for Stern. Then again, both networks are owned by Viacom, so really, there’s little material difference.

I’m not sure if I’ll bother to migrate to Spike, or whichever channel Stern lands on. Even though the show started going downhill with the arrival of brown-nose extraordinaire Artie Lang, it was still amusing half the time (especially mainly when whole episodes were devoted to female guests, the nuder the better). And of late, with less focus on Lang and more on resident porn addict Richard, it seemed to be getting back into an entertaining groove. The E! reruns will be good while they last, I suppose.

I will say that, without the Stern show, I can’t imagine flipping on E! for much besides a quick glance. “True Hollywood Story” lost its edge long ago, and “Wild On!” became tedious once girl-next-doorish Jules Asner left (Brooke Burke is hot, but has a glaring lack of any discernible personality).

I guess all those iPod car-kits are having an effect: Infinity Broadcasting is converting one of its AM stations in San Francisco to all-podcasting format.

It’s a very interesting experiment — the equivalent of transforming a TV channel to all-blog or all-Web content. There’s no risk on Infinity’s part: KYCY-AM gets no listeners as it is, so any change is worth trying. And no money’s going to change hands, to it’s an absolute free-for-all, content-wise.

But the only important question: Will advertisers go for it? Even in a Web mecca like San Fran, it might be tough to convince buyers that listeners are going to tune into a 24/7 amateur showcase. Even if an audience exists, will they opt to tune in, rather than fire up their iPods? Especially if they don’t want to deal with commercial interruptions?

I hold a dim view of podcasting, despite being one of those iPod car jockeys. I don’t put much store in the content — I’m quite happy with music on my digital player, and blog content on my computer monitor. So this doesn’t appeal to me; but since I’m cold to the concept in general, I’m probably not the ideal focus subject.

Is this the future of radio? I really doubt it. Broadcasting’s chief advantage is that it’s wholly portable and passive: You don’t have to remember to carry it around with you, relatively speaking. That’s the tradeoff for enduring listening to commercials. Podcasters might get a kick out of having their audio go out over the air, but I don’t see the appeal extending too far past that.

UPDATE: I’m guessing Tampa Bay’s podcasting community, including perhaps Area 51 and Digital Flotsam, is salivating at the prospect of getting local radio output.

Who listens to satellite radio? Primarily new-car buyers, who tend to be men, which tends to dictate how programming on XM and Sirius is created.

The connection with cars is most interesting. The most intensive radio listening takes place while people are driving. Television dominates in the home, and the workplace can be spotty for either medium. Drivetime gives you a captive audience (unless, like me, the driver resorts to non-radio music sources). So it makes sense to partner with automakers to really push the service, especially since they’re investing in the companies:

Even though Sirius has lost more than $1 billion in the last five years and XM has lost $1.5 billion since 1992, they’ve attracted investments from most of the large auto makers.

Daimler-Chrysler has invested $100 million in Sirius. Honda Motor Co. has put about $50 million into XM while General Motors has invested $120 million and given XM a $250 million line of credit.

And that’s not all. There are other incentives: GM and Honda pay for the first three months XM subscriptions in some model cars, said Chance Patterson, an XM spokesman.

The Acura TL, Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Cobalt advertise XM radio availability. “You go to a dealership and XM has a visible presence there,” Patterson said. “Most dealers have an XM kiosk with a radio and a lineup.”

“How important is the car industry? Critical,” he said. “Half of our subscribers come from the new car market.”

With more than a hundred channels/stations, there’s enough room for plenty of gender-neutral programming, especially since most of the bands are music. But keeping in mind the male customer, there are things like a Playboy channel (audio-only sex talk — what’s the point?), and more:

But there’s also lots of testosterone-tinged programming, especially on underdog Sirius, which has spent millions on deals to air the National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League games.

It has a garage rock channel produced by Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band guitarist “Little Steven” Van Zandt and is launching another produced by rap star Eminem and Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Records. Sportswriter Mitch Albom, football commentator John Madden and the men of the Orange County Chopper custom bike shop all have shows.

Then there’s the “Wiseguy Show,” promoted as a celebration of “life, the arts and meatballs.”

This is a good analysis of the satellite market and how it’s taking shape. It goes a long way toward explaining why Sirius’ snaring of Howard Stern could be such a watershed moment.

For all the bitching Howard Stern has done over the years about the FCC, I never would have guessed he really would do anything about it. The expert opinion agreed:

Rumors have been flying that the current climate would force Stern out at Infinity and into satellite radio’s open arms. Stern, whose contract with Infinity runs out at the end of 2005, has long hinted that he might just make such a move.

But [publisher of Talkers magazine Michael] Harrison, for one, thinks Stern’s job at Infinity is safe. He said the shock jock king, who analysts estimate brings in as much as $25 million in profits for Infinity each year, always manages to play anti-smut campaigns to his advantage. This time, said Harrison, he’s done it by blaming election-year politics and efforts by the Bush administration to appeal to conservative voters.

“It’s been good for him,” said Harrison. “His ratings are up.”

So much for that line of thinking. Stern dropped a bomb today by announcing he would bolt broadcast for a five-year contract with Sirius satellite radio, starting in 2006.

Big move? Yeah.

“Imagine if the New York Giants left the NFL for the American Football League in 1960. Or if the Green Bay Packers joined the XFL,” said Quinnipiac University professor Rich Hanley. “Stern’s decision to go to satellite radio is that and much more. He will basically drag the rest of radio — or at least the form of radio that matters most to profitability — with him.”

I think it’s important to take note of the main reason Stern decided to go to satellite: The lack of broadcast regulations. Without that, he wouldn’t have made this deal.

Even if this addition fulfills Sirius’ wildest dreams about boosting subscriber rolls by a couple of million, it’ll still be a much tinier listening audience, no matter what. Already a big fish in the biggest of ponds, Stern will go to being a whale in a fishbowl. Yet the drastic shrinkage of audience doesn’t matter as much as the removal of the regulatory headaches Stern’s had to deal with for twenty years. That’s significant, because again, it’s the only thing that enticed Stern about Sirius.

Given that, it’ll be interesting if the next two years brings any sort of drive from Washington to apply regulations to the satellite spectrum. If the FCC somehow gains jurisdiction over XM, Sirius and any other satellite providers (probably as an extension of jurisdiction into cable television), Stern will find himself in the same fix he was in on broadcast radio. In that case, he’ll come off looking like an idiot.

The other consideration here is Howard Stern’s E! show. Unlike other radio personalities, he’s got that added exposure on television. Assuming he stays on TV — and that’s not a sure thing, if there’s a falling-out with Infinity and E! parent Viacom, but chances are good for maintaining it — he won’t become completely marginalized by a move to satellite.

The last thing to factor in is that Stern is well into the closing act of his career. His drawing power is still strong, but he’ll be getting closer to an age where he’ll want to hang it up. He’s already established himself, so he’s got little to lose by making such a dramatic move. Even if it doesn’t pan out, he’ll be able to bow out gracefully.

So I was reading this article about how black radio is making a modest comeback in Tampa Bay, and got a good chuckle out of this bit:

But depending on what part of the city [Thea Moore] was driving in, WTMP’s signal would fade. And Wild offered too much hip-hop and too little R&B. Sometimes, she said, she would give up and “start riding around not listening to anything.”

Talk about cruel and unusual punishment — having to drive around without an accompanying soundtrack!

It struck me as amusing because I never listen to the radio, either in my car or elsewhere (if I can help it). That’s been the case for more than five years now. Radio does indeed suck, and from my admittedly limited exposure, it’s not just in Tampa Bay — it’s that way everywhere. Between idiotic DJs trying to be funny and never succeeding, and the replaying of the same five songs all day long, it’s a wasteland that’s got nothing to offer to me.

So half the time, I do indeed drive around without the “benefit” of music. The other half of the time, I plug in my iPod, with it’s 700-odd tracks, and let that occupy my ears. Nothing beats it.