Comments (6)

By Mark D, December 14, 2011 12:35 am

A few months ago I took to beating Bubba over the way he’s treated his fans, mostly riled up by his requesting the removal of his forum at SternFanNetwork because it was too negative. Well it seems that Howard Stern finally got his way and got Mutt to shut down the forum. Here’s what he had to say:

I don’t go on that SternFanNetwork,” said Stern. “I hate it, and Mutt, you know, that’s his whole life…People just get on there and talk about what a horrible person I am…They’re terrible to my wife…my parents, everything. It’s awful. You know what Mutt? If you have any love for me, close that f***ing thing down.

Of course it doesn’t take a genius to point out that if Howard doesn’t go on SFN, how does he know what they are saying? Why does he even care what they are saying?

It’s obvious he visited the forums and read them. Although in the past he had played off the hate coming from SFN, I think it had easily reached it’s boiling point now. There was seemingly no one defending Howard for a multitude of reasons. From his Imus like behavior when it came to his wife, to his attempts at suing Sirius in order to get out of his most recent contract, this is no longer the Howard Stern many of us have been listening to for more then2 or 3 decades.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve been a pretty fervent listener of Howard since the early 90s. I was borderline about switching over to Satellite Radio when Howard did, but after listening to a few shows I was hooked. Before we even consider my subscription rates, I spent over 400 dollars on two different radios and all the different gear I needed. The worst part was that everything eventually broke down, even my 200 dollar Sirius Stiletto 2. But I was still able to listen to Howard, so it was fine.

But the problem became Howard himself. Personally, if there’s any moment the show jumped the shark, it was when Artie left. He was the last guy bringing any kind of energy into the studio. Even if he was telling the same story for the 100th time, at least he was excited to be telling it. I’m sure part of the refusal to replace Artie with anyone is because the person would be paid out of Howard’s pocket (That 500 million you heard he makes is actually the budget for the show). Howard now cares more about money then putting on a show.

That really should be easy to see though. He starts the news at 9 on the dot so he can be out the door at 10 on the dot. The whole time he no longer discusses or really interacts with Robin, it’s just “Anything Else, Robin?”. The program breaks feel like they take almost as long as the commercials used to at his old building, as they pad them out with the same old phony phone calls you’ve heard a million times by now.

While there are people on SFN who take the hate a bit too far, the problem for Howard (since we know he reads the board) are those somewhat sane people that have given up on him. Because he knows it’s true that he’s only a former shell of himself. Combine the fact that he now rotates 3 day weeks with 4 day weeks while taking off almost 2 whole months in the summer now and that for most Sirius susbscribers have seen a raise in their subscription rates ever since Sirius bought XM. So your getting less and less show for more and more money.

And don’t try to argue that most subscribers do more then just listen to Howard. I’m willing to bet a good majority of the people who subscribe listen to Howard and the music is a nice extra. But they wouldn’t be paying what they pay for just the music. It’s a different world out there now, and why pay for Sirius when my smartphone (well not mine, but you get the point) has built in wifi and I can go to Pandora for free?

In the end, it’s probably for not. While Mutt (the owner of SFN) and his mods worked to control some of the insanity that was going on.  While there is http://realbubba.boardhost.com/index.php which I work with somewhat, unfortunately for Howard there is already SternFanSNetwork.com which has none of the mods getting rid of anything. It’s basically what SFN was but completely insane given how Howard got SFN taken down. Silencing the voice of people is never a good idea.

Comments (0)

By Mark D, July 21, 2010 1:43 pm

I get some interesting emails. Might as well show the world my responses to them.

To: Webmaster

From:
S O

Message:
Hi Mark,

We would love to share with you an article that we just posted on our
own blog! “10 Reasons Satellite Radio Rocks”
(http://www.satellitedish.org/blog/2010/10-reasons-satellite-radio-rocks/)
would be an interesting story for your readers to check out and
discuss on your blog, so we hope you will consider sharing it!

Thanks so much for your time, and have a wonderful day!
S O

So let’s start discussing Satellite radio! Join the fun in my comments! It was obvious whoever sent this just googled satellite radio and since that’s one of my tags and categories this blog came up. So here’s my reply.

Not sure how you came across my blog, but you could have at least took the time to read one of my posts about Satellite radio. The fact that your “10 Reasons Satellite Radio Rocks” doesn’t include Uncensored Howard Stern is just crazy. Not only that, but the continual mistreatment of Sirius customers is horrible. Why is there a “best of XM/Sirius” package when obviously they can cross broadcast as has been proven by their ability to cross broadcast the music stations. The move to bleed customers dry once the Merger was approved made them look like complete dicks.

Thank you very much, and I’m sure if you drive a lot or travel long distances, Satellite radio does rock. However for those who just want an alternative to the radio (ask me how well my Stilleto 2 works) are bound to be disappointed. I can’t find any reason to post your article, along with the fact that despite 140+ blog posts I only have a total of 29 comments, half of them mine, mean it won’t start a discussion anyway.

Comments (0)

By Mark D, July 12, 2010 3:42 pm

So remember when Sirius and XM merged. The consumer was supposed to be the winner. All sports on one satellite. XM could finally get Howard Stern. It was going to be glorious. Then Sirius XM announced that it was too tough to broadcast channels to both receivers. But if you bought the “Best Of” package (depending on which service you were on) for a few bucks more you could immediately get the most requested stations from the other service. While XM listeners could now hear Howard, NASCAR, NFL and Playboy Radio, Sirius listeners were offered Oprah, NHL, PGA and Opie and Anthony.

It’s now obvious that the Best Of XM package was struggling compared to the Best Of Sirius. In the last few weeks it was announced that there was a new channel, Fantasy Sports Radio. But are you looking for it on a Sirius receiver? Jokes on you, it’s now a part of the Best of XM package. That’s right, somehow despite it being 2 years since Sirius and XM merged and all the music stations cross broadcasting, Sirius XM decided to just broadcast Fantasy Sports Radio to XM listeners. Unless of course you already have the Best of XM or feel like paying extra for it.

It’s just a comedy of errors over at Sirius XM. Doomsday is coming for them soon though. They seem willing to go into the future without Howard Stern. They are going to learn just like CBS Radio did that they are underestimating the selling point of Howard. I for one keep buying my 12 month subscription in December, without Howard there’s no way I’m renewing and I’m going to guess that there’s a good 5 to 10 million people who only listen to Howard. The fireworks this winter when Howard doesn’t return will be fun to watch.

Comments (0)

By Mark D, May 3, 2010 1:10 pm

I’ve just about had it with Sirius. First off after they merge they claim that they can’t combine channels. But if you want to hear the sports you’ve been promised you can get the Best Of package. Two months after the Best Of Package comes out they somehow manage to combine every music channel on Sirius and XM.

Then as a way to raise subscription prices, the WiFi which was advertised as free was then given a charge. Everyone had to upgrade to the more expensive premium internet feed for an extra three or four dollars a month.

I found out recently that they don’t make anything for my Stilleto 2. It’s falling apart and barely works. I just got it working again and I’m ready to throw it out the window.  It’s annoying enough when your listening to the Web that they constantly check if your still listening. Well now I just got disconnected from listening via my S2 internet feed for being idle. I listen to a 6 hour long show, I’m not going to be changing the station ever few minutes. So now I get to pay extra money to listen to the internet feed which I can’t be idle on or I’ll be disconnected.

Not only that, but this so called portable device isn’t exactly portable. Sure if I  have a home dock (extra 50 bucks) I can set it up to record and have the receiver outside. Then I can record the show in the morning and listen as I go. But they give you satellite headphones which lose reception all the time. My satellite headphones only lasted 4 months before they fell apart. Replacement for them? 20 – 30 bucks.

I haven’t even been able to use my radio the last few months because I’m tired of it dieing. For some reason the battery gets loose and the slightest jiggle of this portable device kills it. I then need to hook it up to my computer via usb and re-download the firmware. Also to go along with that my power switch no longer works. So I need to constantly remove and put the battery back in to start it up again.

Thanks for nothing Sirius, I can’t wait until Howard leaves and starts up something decent elsewhere.

Comments (0)

By admin, September 4, 2009 1:21 pm

So now the dust has settled and Sirius has merged. Where has the average Sirius customer found themselves?

1. The once free internet feed with a subscription is no longer. You must pay for the higher quality stream now. Of course many people point out that packaging advertised the free internet stream as a way to listen when you were out of Satellite range.
2. That whole promise of getting Baseball and Hockey? Not so much.  Sirius claimed they couldn’t just add the channels from XM to Sirius. So you could pay for the best of XM. Of course that didn’t come with Baseball or Hockey games, just the NHL and MLB Channels which don’t broadcast games. A few weeks later they somehow managed to combine all the Sirius and XM music channels and broadcast them to both.
3. Now Sirius is adding a Licensing fee. This is something that Sirius had paid itself previously. It seems like nothing more then a way to raise rates while getting around their promise to freeze rates. Pretty much if you want the same service that you got before the merger you now have to pay two more fees on top of the rate you paid.
4. Extra charges for multiple subscriptions. Previously your 2nd sub only cost 6.99 and it now costs 8.99.

So where is the FCC? The same FCC that held up the merger for over a year because it was worried about a monoploy. Where are all the represenatives that complained about Sirius during this time? While the customers are getting gouged and getting rate increases in everything but name, they are silent. Its obvious that Sirius has broken its agreement not to raise rates. Just because of a technicality it should be allowed to dance all over the corpse of that agreement?

Apparently if you bribe the government to fight competition, government will fight for you. But when your the average citizen expecting to be protected from big companies, your fucked.