Believe in Sirius XM, Believe in Mel Karmazin
In this weekly guest post, Scott Spiegel shares his feelings about Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin.
Mel Karmazin didn’t take President’s Day off. At least it doesn’t seem that way. Now that he, despite all the doubters, has outfoxed the vultures looking to pick from the decomposing carcass, that would have been SiriusXM, I honestly believe that the future is extremely bright for our dear entertainment company.
In my role (as a guest poster), I’m not really required to write that often (honestly, I am going for once a week). But, after reading the comments, to my most recent post, and in light of recent developments, I found myself inspired to voice my eternal support for Mr. Mel Karmazin. However, in fairness, I must say, if the company had ended up filing for bankruptcy today, this post would never have happened. Here’s the deal though: by keeping the company afloat, in current economic conditions nonetheless, the man needs to be saluted.
What Mel Karmazin’s detractors don’t get, is that he is a RADIO guy. When Stern and Chris Russo were discussing the whole financial situation last week (and every time, anyone associated with the company has ever discussed the manner, for that matter), what is the overriding theme? Believe in Mel. The guy UNDERSTANDS RADIO. The one thing the non-believers aren’t realizing: the people in charge at all the other radio companies, are clueless: they are the same ones who gave us the pathetic programming that led us all to Satellite in the first place.
Look, the guy’s not perfect. There are obviously things that I wish I could change about this beloved product, but it’s clear to me, that Mel Karmazin is not only the best man for this situation…he’s probably the ONLY person capable of fixing this mess. If the merger had been approved in somewhat nearly an appropriate amount of time, the company would not be in this condition. For all we know, Mel Karmazin might not have only staved off bankruptcy today, he might have just given a body blow to terrestrial radio, as well.
Scott Spiegel is a freelance writer based out of Houston, you can learn more about him at Scottyspiegel.com
I don’t think anyone is questioning that… we just want to know where the hell he is? What does he do for those millions? If the programming stayed the same but his name were no longer, you would keep listening… correct? Its not the name, its the content that is great.
Here is what we are dealing with with journalists talking out of their ass’s: (An excerp from a journalist I foundon google)
Analysts said, however, that Sirius’s troubles are far from over. With credit markets frozen, the company faces an additional $350 million in debt due in May and $400 million in December. The loan from Liberty will help cover most of the bonds that mature in May, and analysts said Sirius may be able to pay off the remainder through its own cash flow.
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Let’s see – it’s actually about 225 million in December and the 350M in May are not bonds. A bunch of fuckin dopes jumping on the bandwagon trying to get exposure.
Does anybody else get the feeling that there a a lot of people pissed that Sirius has made it this far. This morning I was watching C-NBC and it seemed as if if they had to choke the words out that Sirius will survive another day. Maybe I am being over critical but I get the sense that many in the media would love to see this company go belly up. That said I truly hope Sirius prevails and kicks some ass.
He should never have merged with the XM debt. His ego fucked us all the way to .05 cents.Yeah its great he made a deal with Liberty but he basically set us back years for recouping my and many investors money. All for the sake of EGO.
You’re damn right Matt. I get that feeling too. It’s friggin obvious the hatred the mainstream media has for Sirius. One of the bozos on CNBC couldn’t even hold back his contempt when the news was announced. He basically repeated the tired old phrase, “WHO wants to PAY for radio?” To which Becky Quick replied, “I LOVE my Sirius radio.” To which he responded….”If I don’t want commercials on terrestrial radio, I just turn the dial as soon as one comes on till I find a station not playing commercials.” Becky then meekly said “But I like listening to CNBC and all the other programs.” The other guy then pounced and said, “But WHO would PAY for radio in this economy? Money is tight. The car industry is going down etc etc” ….basically all the NAB talking points.
I think everyone and their mother in the media is either tied to the NAB or short Sirius. They just WANT to see it fail no matter what.
Also, they seem to resent, and make fun of the die hard Sirius fans….dismissing them as obsessive(um…which we can be). But is that any reason to continually knock a stock and never give it props?
I fear we are in a long long wait until we can turn mainstream medias perception of Sirius.
Sirius has to pull an Apple. They have to become more of a must have product in the public eye. They need to establish more of a presence online and in creative tv advertising like Apple did. Perhaps with this cash infusion from Liberty, they’ll finally be able to focus more on that kind of marketing.
Imagine if Sirius came up with a great kick ass advertising campaign. Revamped their online interface to make it more appealing and easy to use to download or buy songs. Tie it into the iphone app.
I mean REALLY change their image. They’ve got the content. They just haven’t marketed themselves in a new way. They are still associated with old radio…when in reality, they have everything they need to market themselves as NEW COOL must have radio.
It’s there for the taking. I only hope Mel takes some aggressive action in this direction and quick.
Bashing Sirius has become the “in” thing to do…and is why you see the same negative talking points. No one and I mean NO ONE is pointing out the fact that Sirius has managed to do the seemingly impossible in the tightest credit market in history! While other companies all around them are declaring bankrupcy or going under…Sirius has survived AGAIN.
And yet they get NO love. Zero. Nada. Bupkus.
If this bull crap continues to hold down the pps…I am going to continue to average down in small chunks. I am currently at about $1 break even. I think I can get it down to half that in a few months.
The sooner I can get out of this equity the better. Not because I don’t have faith in the company. I just don’t trust the media or the powers that be that have it in for this stock. It is by far the most toxic, most manipulated equity that I have EVER been in.
If I can free up the bulk of my assets that I originally put into Sirius, there are other equities that I can make money in without the roller coaster.
I can triple my money elsewhere, and then come back and drop 20 grand into Sirius – which in all likelihood – will still be at a depressed pps thanks to the bashing that no doubt will keep going on from the media. I will then let that chunk ride and forget about it.
But for now, the sooner I can get my chunk of money out, the better. I NEED to step back from this equity with a chunk of cash and a clear head.
Or at least thats my plan for now.
Good luck all.
I hate the fact that SIRI has gone up:
34+% on last Thursday
41+% on last Friday
could not trade in US on Monday (President’s Day)
51+% on Yesterday Tuesday
61+% would not be unreasonable Today Wednesday
I hate this constant upward movement. All the Day Traders are buying it in the morning and selling it before the close of business. The Day Traders might be making a ton of Money; However, unloading at the end of the day is flat lining this stock and every one knows it. I wish they would have to hold it for just one week so it could get back over a Dollar without the flat lining at the end of the day!
Maybe I should “trade” this stock too…because I’m ALWAYS behind with Sirius. No matter HOW MUCH I average down, It’s never enough. I never seem to have enough money to break even and get out.
Like when it dropped to the .05 to .07 cent range I could only put in a grand which lowered my average pps to $1.
But now it looks like it won’t reach $1 if ever the way the media is talking.
If only I had 10 grand to put in when it hit .07 cents, I could have gotten out break even at a mere .20 cents.
5 grand would have put me at a break even of .50 cents.
But I didn’t have the cash then. And now at .16 cents it’d take me double that to reach those break even points now….putting me getting out of this stock further and further away.
I just want out. But the target is always moving. I can’t seem to get a break….and the hope of Sirius ever reaching a buck let alone .50 cents in the forseeable future is looking dim(if you go by wall street).
Do I gamble and save another $2,000 hoping that Sirius hits .08 cents again so I can average down with a break even price of .50 cents?
Or do I stand a better chance of making some money trading Sirius while it’s stuck in the teens?
I’m beginning to lean towards trading…since averaging down and holding has given me ZERO relief.
Perhaps if I let the shares I currently have ride….but try my hand at trading any future amounts I put into Sirius…I will fair better. I dunno. I just figure that the pps is so low trading it seems safer than just buying more and holding.
Matt A/friggenregan,
You guys are not imagining things; the hate for this product is widespread, from the media and competing technologies(both old and new), and from the man on the street. I’ve said this before, but it’s true; mention Sirius/XM in a crowded room, and you will get an immediate negative reaction like you wouldn’t believe! If there are 15 people in the room, 6 people will say that they could NEVER pay for radio, 4 will say that they just can’t afford it (while their Lexus is parked outside), 4 will say they never heard of it, and if you are lucky, 1 person will say that they have it and that they love it.
As we all know, the marketing of this service has been a disaster. friggen – I agree with you wholeheartedly – they need to ADVERTISE! I see way more condom commercials on television (and hear more on radio) than I do for satellite radio! That is “friggin” sick. We are not talking rocket science here; the American public are not the most astute bunch of poeple in the world. They would buy a pile of dog shit if you could convince them that it’s cool. My sister sits on her fat ass for hours ordering every conceivable piece of crap you can imagine from QVC and all those other shows. She has a huge pile of the crap, unopened and collecting dust, on the floor of an already too small living space. For what she spends on crap, she could but several lifetime subs, but she’s content to sit there like a slug and order crap juat for the sport of it. I think she has mental problems, like the rest of the losers in my family.
The potential is there to reel in lots of people who are “on the fence” about satellite radio. All they have to do is put the word out there. So far, they have put NOTHING out there, yet subscriptions have continued to grow, albeit slowly in this economic climate. I would love to see what would happen if they actually COMMUNICATED to people that this superb technology/product/service EXISTS!
Matt – what passes for media and journalism these days is pathetic; we live in a junk culture, and the media perpetuate it, and honesty and decency in reporting is a thing of the past. Look how many times they have been wrong about the merger, and about this latest development. We are a nation that is easily manipulated by the media, and they know it. People need to stop believing everything just because they heard it on television(the biggest cesspool on the planet), or read it in the paper. Just follow your intuition. My intuition tells me that if they bring back the quality to the programming, cut out the annoying chit chat and morning zoo bullshit, and ADVERTISE intelligently and LISTEN to the subscribers, satellite radio can become the cool, must have product that so many of us already know it is.
15-20 years ago 14 out of 15 people would have told you that they would never pay for TV as well….I think we all know how that turned out..
Wait for Direct TV’s advertising campaigns to begin, aren’t they the ones with that ‘QVC’ thing going on??
ONLY if they sold radios and subs on QVC can you imagine the increase in revenue would be…you heard it 1st here…
SteveO – I always get a good laugh when you go off on the pathetic wastes of society that would rather blow their $ on crap and just get fat, rather than have an unbelievably entertaining service for a few bucks/month. I have friends that don’t want to add another bill if they don’t have to, but blow $75 every weekend on 4 mixed drinks and a couple of beers.
30 days of service doesn’t even cost 1 mixed drink in the lounges and bars we go to.
The picture of your sister described as a slug is just classic.
sxminvester – Hey, it’s good to hear from you. It’s good to hear from anybody! I’m just thankful that someone knows I’m alive.
I visited my alcoholic cousin last weekend. He has recently completed 100 hours of community service, and before that 6 months of classes trying to learn that drinking and driving is bad. He’s failed that class twice before – well…. 2 accidents and an arrest before. He’s not bad at the community service though. It’s hard not to spill your drink while you’re raking, painting and shoveling!
We were driving around in his $26,000.00 Honda Accord that has heated everything in it. The only thing that isn’t heated is the broken cigarette lighter. I asked him if he was going to have the X/M radio turned on again in the car; he had a 3 month free sub when he purchased the vehicle. After 3 months, he just never subscribed – he listens to AM talk radio for hours each day. He is not only stupid, but he is a cancer on society in general. He still owes me over $100 for helping to bail him out of jail. Anyway, his response was that he just can’t afford to have it activated again at this time. We ended up at a bar, and in the next 2 hours he blew 50 bucks on drinks! Like most people, he is a moron and lives a life of delusion.
Satellite radio is one of the only real bargains available today. Drinking is one of the worst buys available today. My cousin is an imbecile, and he will never be convinced that satellite radio is better than terrestrial. God, do I hate my relatives.
Melvin is only interested in making money for his close friends.
This showboating to the last-minute was a feeble attempt at orchestrating a media show starring, you guessed it, Melvin Karmazin.
But, this too failed. One Bloomberg honey actually could not pronounce his last name… she was Oriental.
Nonetheless, Melvin made money for his friend, but not the shareholders.
For this, we are to believe in Melvin? Nah.
the I-man didn’t call him the “zen master” for nothing…
I am coming back around. the fact that Mel saved Sirius from bankruptcy this week has convinced me that he’s not out to steal the company away from shareholders.
I was REALLY pissed when I thought they were burying us, but now I am leaning towards believing that he does think about protecting shareholders…. probably because he has a lot of them himself.
the only thing mel did was save his job. mel is for mel. remeber mel said we were all un educated investers..
dan,
Uneducated investers…… who know more about resolving the companies problems than he does! I hate to say it, but every time I look at that BA BA Booey mug of his, all I can think is “con man.”