Mad Dog Radio With Chris Russo Launches On Sirius XM
It is official. Chris Mad Dog Russo will be broadcasting his show on Sirius XM Radio. As we speculated here last night, the show will be aired on both the Sirius as well as the XM systems, demonstrating a synergy of the merged company.
SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) announced today that it has signed renowned sports talk personality Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, the former star of the Mike and the Mad Dog show, to a five-year contract to headline a new sports talk channel exclusively available on SIRIUS and XM.
Mad Dog’s recent departure from the market-leading Mike and the Mad Dog has been national news in recent days — a dramatic reflection of his loyal fan base, huge popularity and strong name recognition. Mad Dog is known for having helped popularize the sports talk radio format across the country and speculation on his next step has been high.
“Mad Dog’s fans are passionate about their sports and passionate about where they get their sports news and commentary from — these are the listeners that any audio entertainment company would want,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SIRIUS XM Radio. “Having Mad Dog on SIRIUS and XM will fuel subscriber growth and create new and exciting opportunities for advertisers. Choose whatever sports analogy you want — this is a big win.”
SIRIUS channel 123 and XM channel 144 will relaunch as Mad Dog Radio, a reformatted channel that will cover the spectrum of sports with engaging talk, high profile interviews, up-to-the-moment news and live remote broadcasts from the biggest sporting events.
“No other sports talk radio comes close to what I will be able to do with SIRIUS XM Radio. I get to create a whole channel of my kind of sports talk and am very excited to join SIRIUS XM which has the largest collection of sports properties in the history of radio, consisting of virtually every major sport including, MLB, NFL, NASCAR and the NHL,” said Russo. “With football season about to kick off and all the pennant races heating up, I can’t wait to get on the air and talk to the 18.5 million SIRIUS XM Radio subscribers around the country.”
Russo will host the channel’s anchor program, “The Mad Dog Sports Show,” live from SIRIUS’ New York studios every weekday afternoon from 2:00 to 7:00pm ET. The exclusive show will begin airing daily on SIRIUS channel 123 and XM channel 144 on Monday, September 15. It will feature Russo’s take on the biggest sports stories from around the country, plus listener calls and hard-hitting interviews with some of the most intriguing people in sports.
“Mad Dog is a national personality and now he has a radio audience that spans the country. Already a regular on national television, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Mad Dog will now be heard every day by listeners across the nation. He is now unleashed and the result will be a compelling and informative channel with totally unique access and attitude. We are thrilled he has chosen to join us as we deliver fans the very best in sports talk radio,” said Greenstein.
Broadcasting simultaneously on SIRIUS channel 123 and XM channel 144, “The Mad Dog Sports Show” will be the first original show available both on SIRIUS and XM.
“With the huge sports audiences SIRIUS and XM have, it is fitting that our first major talent announcement following the merger would be Mad Dog,” said Greenstein. “Subscribers get the programming they love today and new options in the future. Our stockholders benefit from the subscriber growth and increased advertising revenues that Mad Dog will certainly bring.”
Preceding his official debut, Russo will host special preview shows over the next month with fans from three of the fall season’s biggest sporting events. The show will debut in its regular daily timeslot on Monday, September 15.
Known to sports fans everywhere for his feisty, unflinchingly candid approach to talking sports and unrestrained, rapid-fire delivery that earned him the nickname “Mad Dog,” Russo comes to the company after nearly 20 years on New York radio where he represented one half of the hugely popular Mike and the Mad Dog radio show.
He is the author of two books: The Mad Dog 100: The Greatest Sports Arguments Of All Time and, most recently, The Mad Dog Hall of Fame: The Ultimate Top-Ten Rankings of The Best In Sports.
[Sirius XM Press Release]
POSITION – Long SIRI
So what the stock will drop on the good news to 1.20 today maybe to 1.10.
We are heading to $1 mark my friends. Triple up. While content is King, debt refiance and share dilution controls the kingdom. Until Mel and Sirius XM tells Wall Street his plans regarding refinancing debt due next year, we will head lower. The risk is simply to high. Noone disputes that the content level of Sirius XM is amazing. But refinancing PLANS do matter for both the short and long term.
What we need is some real bad news to move the stock up because any good news move to price down see if that works.
OK- that was funny!
This should show the investment community that Sirius XM is here to stay and that they have $ to spend and are not in such danger like Cramer wants everyone to believe.
Mel is looking at the books and sees the synergies and when your going to have upwards of 400 million saved in year 1 and 400 plus year after year, you can afford 3 million.
I assume they will follow this up shortly with O & A signing an exclusive deal to get them off testical radio & the Simulcast of them on Sirius & of Howard Stern over XM.
I suspect that at the meeting planned for after Labor Day that Mel will announce further synergies in the form of heads rolling at XM (and maybe Sirius). There are too many chiefs and not enough indians. Betweeen six figure incomes and stock options there is a lot of unnecessary money going out the door. I am sort of anxious to see what kind of contract O&A gets with Mel doing the negotiating. That will give us an idea as to what the others will be offered. Sirius XM is now the only satrad game in town. That means no more outlandish bidding wars.
They still do have to outbid Clear Channel.
Don’t you think they want O & A exclusively on terrestrial.
Satellite radio can’t let them go since they have a decent following an if they make the deal exclusive, it just gives more of his fans reason to sign up if they can’t hear him elsewhere.
I saw the CNBC exerpt with Mad Dog and (I think it was) Scott Greenstein who is apparently President of the sports department of Sirius XM. Someone should have slipped Scott a Red Bull or something. He looked like he was about to fall asleep during the interview. I would have expected some enthusiasm and a little more upbeat interview from someone in his position.
Scott probably was depressed because he had to give up 10% of his salary to help fund the Dog’s salary.
Or they could let O&A stay with CBS. It won’t be long before they get an indecency fine. Then Sirius can get them for dirt cheap.
Did you guys see that CNBC Russo interview with Scott Greenstein sitting next to him?
Could Greenstein have been anymore sedate? My God, I’ve never seen a more dour expressionless mug in my life.
He kinda looked like the muppet “beeker” from the Muppet Show.
The fact that Russo was so high energy only made Greenstein look worse.
Mel should have introduced Russo…not Mr Sour Puss. Mel should ban that guy from doing any tv promotional work….EVER.
Seriously. Maybe he’s great behind the scenes, but in front of the camera he is about as exciting as dog poop.
Having said that, Russo looks like a GREAT addition, and a nationwide sports channel run by him is going to be awesome for advertising and subs. IMHO.
Cheers
I just saw the video as well and it’s the first time I ever had seen or heard Greenstein.
Boy he must be just a ball of fun at parties. He is all business, zero personality, but then again he is there to do a job abd Mad Dog is the entertainer.
Scott Greenstein needs to be replaced with that young guy that work for AOL NOT Steve Case
Help please what was his name ?????
http://njfrogman.blogspot.com/.....rious.html
Bob Mantz Reports Wouldn’t it be perfect to a) Put Sid Rosenberg on
would like to see someone like pittsburgh’s mark madden, another mad dog, added to this channel, in an uncensored, edgier, hardcore sports-type format. maybe former FAN and miami’s sid rosenberg and toronto’s gabe morency would be worthy too.
young AOL guy? bob pittman?
I listened to this guy for the first time today and what an utter disappointment all he did was cry about the yankess payroll.. that is a definite loser perspective..I will never listen to him again..and I will advise everyone i know not to bother..his team obviously sucks..The yankees are the world champions and you can cry all you want about that.
Dear Chris:
I am really getting tired of Dino Costa. I am an African-American and I am really getting sick of his definiding blatantly racist figures such as the Rebel Colonel from Old Miss, Howard Cosell calling Alvin Garett a Monkey, and the most recent one about Arizona and the Super Bowl. I know he has a big following but it is really getting old hearing his comments. I think he is okay, except for the almost 1950’s attitude he brings to your station.
Thanks,
Morgan Maxwell