 MSNBC.com |
LOS ANGELES - Sirius Satellite Radio said Tuesday that reports suggesting that shock jock Howard Stern was planning a return to mainstream radio was “wrong.”
“There has never been any discussion of Howard Stern in any way, shape, or form being anything but exclusive to Sirius. Published reports suggesting otherwise are wrong,” said Sirius spokesman Patrick Reilly. Stern’s agent was not immediately available for comment.
The New York Post, citing Inside Radio editor Tom Taylor, reported on Tuesday that there were rumors among radio insiders that Howard Stern may be planning a return to free airwaves.
Reilly said there had also been an earlier report in Inside Radio newsletter.
Stern moved to Sirius in January with a five-year deal valued at $500 million after leaving CBS Radio, a unit of CBS Corp. , which was spun off from Viacom Inc..
The newspaper article said industry talk suggested that a mega-deal was brewing among Stern, Sirius Chief Executive Mel Karmazin and Farid Suleman, a long-time Karmazin associate whose Citadel Broadcasting Corp. is buying ABC Radio from Walt Disney Co.
Karmazin, Viacom’s former president, was a staunch defender of Stern when the radio host’s off-color humor and sexually explicit remarks drew fire from U.S. regulators.
Reached on his mobile phone from the National Association of Broadcasters’ Radio Show in Dallas, Inside Radio’s Taylor said rumors were swirling about a Stern deal.
He said the upcoming closing of Citadel’s ABC radio deal was likely fueling the chatter and noted that Stern announced his terrestrial radio exit two years ago at the NAB Radio Show.
In an interview with Reuters in June Stern ruled out a return to terrestrial radio as “inconceivable.”
“I’d have to go back to the old rules and regulations and censoring myself,” he told Reuters. “I’m miles away from that. ... I just don’t even want it in my life.”
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September 19, 2006
By David B. Wilkerson
CHICAGO (Dow Jones) -Howard Stern, who bolted to Sirius Satellite Radio early last year after more than two raucous decades as a top-rated morning host on Infinity Radio, could be set to return to the traditional medium, according to a published report Tuesday.
The New York Post reported that Stern is concerned that he has lost impact as a performer since his move to satellite radio, and a deal between Sirius (SIRI) and terrestrial radio group Citadel Broadcasting (CDL) could allow him to return to the free airwaves.
Sirius did not immediately provide comment Tuesday.
Stern defected to Sirius in January 2005 after hyping that jump for months on his Infinity (now CBS) Radio program,
If Stern does appear on Citadel stations, which will soon include outlets acquired from Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) ABC, it will remind many of the deal shock jocks Opie & Anthony have with XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) and CBS Radio, owned by CBS Corp. (CBS) .
Opie & Anthony also do a three-hour CBS Radio broadcast from 6 A.M. to 9 A.M. Eastern time in several markets. That program is simulcast, uncensored, on XM. The duo then broadcast their exclusive, more risqué XM show from 9 to 11.
The arrangement is designed to entice new listeners to XM and reacquaint many CBS listeners with Opie & Anthony, who previously had a show on that company's stations before being fired in 2002.
Stern's switch to satellite not only lifted awareness of Sirius, but that of rival XM as well, signaling that the medium could attract marquee talent.
Sirius shares were down 3.4% at $3.97 Tuesday afternoon on massive volume of 36.1 million shares, while XM was down 3.2% at $13.44.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
