Mark your calendar kids because Howard Stern Jumped The Shark in my eyes today. This is coming from a long time devoted fan, ever since I first saw the channel 9 show back in middle school and was taping shows on cassette from his first night on air back in 1992-93.
The actions of Sirius Satellite Radio corporate in conjunction with Stern himself regarding the resigning of Bubba The love Sponge to a deal that essentially replays Bubba's censored morning syndicated terrestrial radio show in the afternoon to paying Sirius subscribers is a slap on the face on so many levels.
For two stations that have a battle cry of "No More Bullshit" this deal and Howard's absolute silence reek of a shit sandwich served up hot to the customers. Hampton's Howie has been castrated by Beth O. and no longer has any balls to talk freely and openly with his listeners. When Bubba resigned on December 19th it was heralded with much fanfare, phone calls from Howard, Tim Sabean and Scott Greenstein calling Bubba on air and telling him how happy they were to have him on board for another two years. No mention was made of the fact that Bubba would no longer be doing an uncensored show exclusively for Sirius, but that Sirius would be airing a censored FM morning drive show!! On Howard 101!!! Is that something that Howard Stern would allow if he gave two shits about his paying fans? I highly doubt it.
Sirius offices were flooded with calls and emails from the Bubba Army in December showing support and love for a show that many including me knew nothing about 3 years ago, but has in fact been funnier than Howard over the past three years. On December 19th they announced a deal had been made and Bubba had signed on for another year. This stopped subscribers from canceling en masse and protected SIRI year end numbers.
This morning Howard goes on air and does a full 5 hour show, complete with a missing Artie Lange due to a stint at a rehab/wellness center and nary a word is spoken from Howard giving the fans a heads up that Bubba's show would now be a rebroadcast Monday thru thursday with only a live show on Friday. No More Bullshit my ass Mr. Stern, this move is total and utter bullshit! As a fan for almost half my life the actions of Howard and Sirius in general are really beyond belief. I can not believe that a company would treat their paying customers in such a manner.
I travel 100 miles round trip a day to work and without Sirius the only thing to listen to would be WEEI, but being treated in such a way makes me want to cancel just out of spite.
People are ripping Bubba, Stern and SIRI on all their respective message boards, Bubba even had the courtesy to post on his message board and effectively blame Sirius corporate. He stated he did not want to make this deal, he wanted to do a live SIRI exclusive show from 10am-2pm but SIRI wanted to keep him in the 3-7 slot and the replay was the only answer. He knew the fans would take a shot on the deal, but he had been disrespected by SIRI corporate long enough, which is the truth.
Bubba should have kept his dignity and told SIRI thanks but no thanks and SIRI should have found a replacement in order to give the fans the live show that they pay for.... This shitstorm is far from over and more details will be coming.
6 comments:
I don't agree that this is Howard jumping any shark, it's Bubba. Sure it's Howard's channels but that is really just in name. I think Bubba and Sirius should be blamed for this lame decision not Howard. The Stern Show has never been better in my opinion. The Artie drama, although not my favorite aspect of the show, is what is really happening at the moment. The beauty of this sort of long form comedy is that it can take hours, days and months for stories to unfold.
personally BTLS has never made me laugh so I don't give a shit if he stays or goes.
The fact that this is going down on H101 which bears the Howard Stern name shows some culpability on my part.
I am able to listen to all of Stern everyday as well as 50% or more of Bubba since coming to SIRI I think that Bubba has provided more hardcore one off belly busting laughs, while Howard has a bigger "must listen everyday" factor.
I just find it very disrespectful to paying customers that they did not outline the terms of the deal prior to the New Year.
Who cares. I've never even listened to BTLS once. If they didn't mention him occasionally on Stern, I wouldn't be aware of his existence.
Sirius has a huge amount of debt following the merger. That debt will be difficult to refinance in the coming year (in case you aren't aware the world economy is in the toilet.) There just isn't money to pay Bubba. Now, the choice is simple. You can either hear Bubba's terrestrial radio show replayed four days per week plus one live show on Friday, or (unless you live in FLA) you can do without Bubba at all. Personally, I don't care if he ever appears on Sirius again.
Howard, however, is still the shit.
Hoops,
I'm well aware of SIRI's debt and the current state of the economy.
Bubba's show is streamed online thru his terrestrial station's website. Far from exclusive SIRI content 16 hours a week as it can be picked up online by anyone for free.
The so called REVOLUTION and breaking free from the chains of the FCC and censorship is now a sham with 16 hours a week of terrestrial replay.
Howard's whole attitude of daring subs to cancel this week is really off putting to me.
What good is an online stream going to do for Bubba's core Sirius listeners, fat over-the-road truckers?
Howard has begun to get boring and reptitive. Bubba rules (well, Ned rules)... at least there is someone still interesting and compelling on the airways. I still love Howards voice though, and Robin is awesome.
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