RadioBanter - Stern Proclaims the "Death of FM Radio"

November 18, 2004
By Paul Heine

Scores girls, decked out in Sirius halter-tops, shaking their stuff on
stage, hoisting signs proclaiming "Howard Stern-only on Sirius."

An adoring crowd of several thousand Howard Stern fans carrying signs of
their own-some homemade, most handed out by Sirius staffers.

A loud sound system pumping out the tunes and Sirius promos.

Howard Stern's noontime appearance in New York's Union Square today felt
like a rock concert and a political rally rolled into one.

"Are you ready to get Sirius?" Artie Lange asked the pumped-up crowd, before
bringing out the rest of the Stern cast. "Hey now," said Stern, walking on
to the stage just before noon. "I wonder what the FCC thinks of this."

Stern's brief spiel was pure Barnum & Bailey-style promotion. He called
Sirius the future of radio and said it had re-energized him. He took shots
at the FCC and XM. "Once we can give you the show without FCC interference,
we will once again have the greatest show in radio," he promised.

Stern told the crowd he was ready to leave radio after his current contract
expires, and he told his bosses at Infinity so. Then conversations with
Sirius began.

"I thought I was burned out on radio, I thought it was over. but now I'm
rejuvenated," he said.

Then came Stern's strongest words: "It's the death of FM radio, the death of
the FCC. They have ruined commercial broadcasting."

Stern claimed credit for inventing "a different kind of radio" when his show
took off in the '80s. "And the FCC dismantled it."

After plugging his new radio home from the stage, Stern descended into the
crowd to grip and grin. 500 or so listeners that got to Union Square early,
including some whack pack regulars, were personally handed Sirius boomboxes
and a certificate for a one-year subscription by Stern. The rest of the
crowd received certificates for a free Sirius radio, "when you prepay for a
one-year subscription by Nov. 24."

The Stern-Sirius media campaign continues tonight with an appearance on Late
Night With David Letterman.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/h..._id=1000723191