Opie And Anthony Provide Sirius Solution
The BEST OF programming on Sirius XM Radio may provide a shock jock solution for Sirius subscribers who love their Howard Stern, but express frustration on the days when Stern is on vacation, or when there are replays of the Stern show instead of a live show.
It is no secret that Howard Stern gets a lot of time off. After all, the King of All Media gets three day weekends thanks to a contract that allows him to take of every Friday. Last year, Sirius added Jay Thomas to the Friday morning slot on Howard 101 which provided a solution to the problem of no live programming on Friday’s. The solution was great, and as a fan of Jay Thomas, I enjoy being able to catch him in morning drive. Jay already has an afternoon drive slot on Sirius Stars 102.
However, what is a fan to do when they want a topical shock jock show when Stern and the crew are on vacation? One potential answer is Opie and Anthony. Now for passionate Stern and O & A fans, the crossover idea may seem strange. After all, there seems to be no love loss between Stern and O & A, and that attitude permeates through to the core fans. However, there exists a large group of subscribers that simply want to be entertained, and their allegiance to one brand over another is not so strong that they will ignore a quality show in the absence of their usual listening.
Lately, the Stern channels have been running replays. With Stern getting married, and regularly scheduled vacations, fans have not received the live entertainment that they have come to love. Subscribers who have taken advantage of the BEST OF programming now have a solution in the form of Opie and Anthony from the XM line-up.
For O & A, this is an opportunity to shine, and a chance to expand their own audience. The duo have been putting on entertaining shows, and are likely getting a bit of exposure from frustrated Stern fans who are seeking something other than a replay to listen to. If you are into Stern, and sometimes want a change of pace, the BEST of programming offers a great way to keep your shock jock options open.
Position – Long SIRI
(SUMMARY) Sirius XM Spotlight: Cash Flow Ignition or Abort Mission?
Sirius XM faces many challenges, but the most important hurdle is refinancing its debt in 2009. Continued bank failures would make any refinancing very hard, but Sirius XM has good future cash flow prospects that could attract banks.
Jake Newman, CFA
[email protected]
Tyler-
First, good to see a post from you (btw, I missed the ‘Tyler’s Take;’ hopefully U can fit it in your schedule).
I think a more direct way to fill the Stern void is for Stern himself to step up. I know he has a great contract; he is off almost 6 months a year (when U factor weekends and Holidays plus his ‘normal’ vacation). Why not help the company out by being on every other Friday (if not every Friday for the near future)? Look, to a large degree, Stern’s face is Sirius’s face. It would only help his portfolio go up if he stepped up and performed 5 days a week. Is he going to? I doubt it, but I think it would another step forward (I realize this doesn’t address the debt problem, but I’m not focusing on that here).
Sirius has to be careful about Stern being the face of them when his contract comes up. So based on this, they need to bolster their lineup as Tyler indicates, in order to have insurance.
They need to sign him for another 3 years, but at a lower price and maybe reduce next 2 years contract by 25 million/yr and add it to the back with extra incentives if he could personally sign up another million.
I don’t see him out there promoting the service and his show.
I agree with you SXM
Stern is for Stern..not for his employer or pps values. He has plenty of $$$ and could care less. Just a meal ticket to him. There’s alot more to siriusxm radio than TOILET MOUTH STERN.
i think stern will resign for lower comp but might go to an afternoon format with repeats the next morning–He would also work fridays in the afternnon instead of having off–That would seem to be good for both sides
I love O&A. when howard went off the air on terrestrial radio, I listeed to them and they are really good.
I can’ wait to add them to my subscription. only thing keeping me from doing it is my car sirius reciever doesnt have the capability to get the best of XM.
I wonder if Stern kept his Sirius stock that was part of his compensation deal? if so, he may need to re-up his contract.
good question jord3t–If he has much stock, its in his best interest to re-up and the chances are greater for sure
Email I just received from siriusxm
SIRIUS XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) today announced that multiplatinum multiple Grammy(R) winner Beck will take over Left of Center SIRIUS channel 26 with Radio Beck for the entire weekend beginning Friday, October 10.
(Logo:
Radio Beck will premiere on Friday, October 10 at 3:00 pm ET and will air through Sunday, October 12. The launch of Radio Beck coincides with the release of Beck’s universally-acclaimed current album Modern Guilt.
The channel will feature Beck sharing the story behind his new album and playing songs from Modern Guilt as well as his entire catalog. Beck will also play songs by various artists who have influenced him throughout his career.
Additionally, SIRIUS listeners will hear a live recording of Beck’s performance at the Austin City Limits Festival from September 27, 2008. The live performance will air on Saturday, October 11 at 12:00 am, 2:00 pm and 10:00 pm; Sunday, October 12 at 10:00 am and 6:00 pm and Monday, October 13 at 2:00 am, 12:00 pm, 8:00 pm and 12:00 am (all times Eastern).
SIRIUS’ Left of Center features the best in indie, underground and imports. Left of Center listeners can hear artists like Radiohead, The Arcade Fire, Feist, Interpol, Kings Of Leon, Modest Mouse — and other music left of the mainstream.
If Sirius only lost let’s say 250,000 subs in a scenerio where Stern did not get extended, I’d be happy with it because he is paid 100 million/yr and those subs would only generate 25 million, so it would be good for the bottom line.
Now if you lose over 1/2 million, it starts to get questionable even though the net effect is positive on bottom line, until you hit around 800,000.
After having the service for many years, I don’t think more than 20% of his loyal Sirius listeners would leave.
This deal turned out positive for them with the attention Stern brought along with listeners, maybe 2 million at most. But if he left in 2+ years, I don’t think it would necessarily be a big -.
If he left, it would be for retirement.
I’m with Newman. The Debt is the 800lb Gorilla in the room. The economy is crap…and it’d be tough for Sirius now even if it had no debt….but with the debt…it’s not going anywhere.
The scary thought is….that it’s already mid October. Mel has less than 4 months to cut a deal now!!!
KInda freaks me out…especially in this market.
Who woulda thunk that after fighting the FCC and the NAB for nearly 2 years….that we’d land in the middle of this worldwide economic meltdown???
Sirius has the WORST luck in history…as do it’s shareholders!
I mean to have survived the criminal merger delay….gone thru ALL those UPS and DOWNS and suffered the CONSTANT onslaught of bashers and shorts….it was MADDENING.
After going thru ALL that….we never got to catch our breath. THe merger was approved but under UGLY conditions.
And JUST as the NEWLY combined company was getting out of the gate….WHAM….the ENTIRE economy collapses.
Is that just the worst luck and timing you’ve ever seen????
It’s not just battle fatigue us Sirius Shareholders are feeling….it’s downright TORTURE. SICK FRIGGIN “HOSTEL THE MOVIE” TYPE TORTURE.
I mean we CAN’T win.
Not that I’d feel THAT much better at a BUCK. But at least that would be SOMETHING.
I can’t believe I’m HOPING for a BUCK….but being below 50 FRIGGIN cents is just KILLING me.
I averaged down at $1.32 and then again at $1.00.
I am KICKING myself for doing that. Because once this market gets a pop….there are SO MANY OTHER BEATEN DOWN STOCKS I KNOW WILL GO UP.
And that money could have been better used. I should have known better. I doubt Sirius will go up on any market pop. At least not significantly.
Sirius is like an island onto itself. It doesn’t follow the market.
I should have just let what I had ride….and used that last bit of free cash for something else.
When Sirius was bouncing around in the 90s the other week…I had my finger on the sell button for the shares I bought at $1.00…but never pulled the trigger. Now that money is worth HALF it’s value. I can’t believe that.
Going from $6 to $3 took a long slow ride to lose half it’s value.
But the ride from $1 to 45 friggin cents almost happened overnight in comparison. So that is why it hurts even more. How could I have been so stupid?
I have not made ONE right decision in regards to buying Sirius Stock. It’s so unlike me….and having SO MUCH money stuck in it SUCKS so bad.
This dude from “ANDO MEDIA” is on CNBC talking about advertising for ONLINE RADIO…
How come this guy is getting face time? Why not Sirius. It’s like CNBC doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with Sat Radio anymore.
I strongly feel that Sirius has to AGGRESSIVELY create a better online presence. They’ve got the car market for now…but to let the likes of PANDORA and RHAPSODY become the HIP ONLINE RADIO providers for the youth of America is a HUGE MISTAKE.
Sirius can not only do the MUSIC…they have the killer content that RHAPSODY could only DREAM about.
There is no reason why Sirius shouldn’t be totally reinventing ONLINE radio. Going head to head with Rhapsody instead of avoiding them.
Sirius ignores this at it’s own peril.
Sat radio for cars is great. But they have to expand and dominate in ALL areas of competition. Online and Cell phones. They don’t have to worry about hardware. Only content. And Sirius is ALL about content. 🙂
This dude from “ANDO MEDIA” is on CNBC talking about advertising for ONLINE RADIO…
How come this guy is getting face time? Why not Sirius. It’s like CNBC doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with Sat Radio anymore.
I strongly feel that Sirius has to AGGRESSIVELY create a better online presence. They’ve got the car market for now…but to let the likes of PANDORA and RHAPSODY become the HIP ONLINE RADIO providers for the youth of America is a HUGE MISTAKE.
Sirius can not only do the MUSIC…they have the killer content that RHAPSODY could only DREAM about.
There is no reason why Sirius shouldn’t be totally reinventing ONLINE radio. Going head to head with Rhapsody instead of avoiding them.
Sirius ignores this at it’s own peril.
Sat radio for cars is great. But they have to expand and dominate in ALL areas of competition. Online and Cell phones. They don’t have to worry about hardware. Only content. And Sirius is ALL about content. 🙂
Yes Friggin..I just heard about andromedia on cnbc…we need to attack internet big time and provide more and more.
JUST READ THIS…someone called IR and spoke to Paul Blalock…don’t know if it’s just pumper info…
For what it means, I asked him point blank if they were thinking bankruptcy as an option.
Of course, he said no. I then asked him if they were marketing themselves to a potential buyer or possibly a partnership with another more established company to allow Satrad to be coupled with another product. I did not mention any particular company, but Apple would be nice.
Paul said that they Do have a major announcement to make very soon, but they cannot talk until it goes public. This, in my opinion, would not be a partnership with another because that would be too obvious considering my question.
Does anybody have any idea what this announcement might be? We need something to move this POS upward.
Paul also mentioned that they have a $100 million line of credit with a firm (forget which company), and this would be used to pay off the debt coming due in February. I asked about the financial condition of this firm, and he said that he wasn’t sure about their stability either way.
He also mentioned that they have $400 million plus in unrestricted cash for ongoing expenses (did not know about this) and they would use it to keep the company afloat. Tough road ahead for SIRI, but they are not throwing in the towel. Or so they say.
IF…um…I mean WHEN Mel announces SOME sort of refinance deal…
the stock may finally get out of the basement alittle.
My HOPE is that this news and upward move might entice other parties to FINALLY express an interest in BUYING Sirius.
If MSFT or GOOGLE saw the advertising potential of a nationwide product like Sirius…especially in these hard economic times….then a bidding war could start.
I strongly feel this is our BEST short term hope of getting the pop we NEVER got AFTER the merger.
Otherwise I see a long slow upward climb.
Which is fine too…but I’d much prefer the exciting explosive buzz a buyout would generate. It would finaly cast a more positive YANG light on what has been a very dark YIN period we’ve been in for years now.
Imagine if word got out that giants like GOOG or MSFT were interested in Sirius. It’d scare the shorts to cover and bring much needed positive attention back to Sirius.
What do u all think? Pie in the sky? Or a real possibility?
All hinges on the refinancing tho. Come on Mel. Give us some hope.
Seriously,
Will someone please explain to me how we can all be clinging onto the hope of our stock going through the roof (read: back to where most of us bought in at) with debt refinancing? I mean, all we have been hearing about is the debt.
First it was a major hurdle, but now the general consensus seems to be that Feb. and May debt is not an issue and that Dec. ’09 is the real obstacle.
I just don’t see how the refinancing will do much more then keep the stock price a little higher then where it is now until a few years from now when the company starts generating a positive cash flow.
It seems as though each time we hold hope for a “pop” from some good news, we don’t see it and then rationalize it to the next obstacle in the companies way. There is a daily masochistic routine of posting on these boards where we go through this same talk of debt and refi.
When are we all going to realize that this stock is only going up when the company is operating in the black?
I am a huge Stern fan, but I am more then a little outraged over the fact that he doesn’t get out there and promote the company. He was filthy rich before he signed the Sirius contract; now he is obscenely rich! Come on Howard, be a team player at least a little bit, even if you have to fake it!!! Maybe you just don’t give a shit. Whatever
Howard is jealous of Mel. Mel is richer than Howard. Mel is jealous of Howard. Howard is younger than Mel. There it is.
Howard is one of the most valuable pieces of Sirius. Without him they would have went by the wayside by now. What we need is a positive announcement soon, like within the next couple of weeks to get us at least through the holiday season.
THis is CRAZY. We just dipped into the 30 cent range. This is either getting DANGEROUS or the chance of a lifetime to load up.
Personally I have so much already vested in the stock…I can’t pull the trigger anymore.
BUT….if Sirius drops to 25 CENTS (GULP!) I would consider grabbing 4000 shares for $1,000.
Thats INSANE. Just a couple of years ago 4,000 shares would cost you over $16,000.
TALK about AVERAGING DOWN!!!!!
friggin – Are we allowed to exchange personal emails? I’m not sure if that is okay with this sites rules. If so I’d love to talk about a couple of things not appropriate for public post.
Whatever they have to announce, it better come very, very soon…because there may be nothing left.
And it better be a helluva lot bigger than Beck taking over a station.
Side question: Who exactly is selling at this rate?
Siriushope,
Where did you read that about Blalock?
I spoke with IR earlier this week… It wasn’t with Blalock, but they didn’t say anything about a major announcement.
Seems my last post didn’t go through, so I’ll try again: Who exactly is selling at these levels?
WIN
…i read it on yahoo board
I’m pretty sure we got that big announcement today–Beck taking over a channel at Sirius.
Mel has been working exclusively on that deal for weeks. SUCCESS!
I cant believe I bought at 70 cents acouple of weeks ago, hahaah, that is already down 40%. This stock is the worst thing that has ever happened. What a slow painful fuckin death. I hope the Sirius building topples over and lands on Mels head.
.41 fucking cents. This is becoming obsurd. I just bought 500 shares for $200. Fuck it.
I could pick up quite a few shares by dumping the change out of the ash tray in my car.
I heard on cnbc today that GM has a market cap of 4 billion…anyone know what siri market cap is now?
The damn media is 80% of the problem. What i dont get is who is selling at these levels? Do we have a chance here guys? Wheres Mel with some confidence? He owns us that for God’s sakes.
Does anyone think we’ll start to see companies that are loaded up with cash buy up these other companies that are totally depressed in value?
It’s ridiculous, but Apple could buy GM and still have $16 billion left.
…start selling freaking iCars…
I bought again today at .4099 to average down to 1.25 on 8500 shares.
Why would a company buy another company with sh!tloads of debt when that company should go BK, reorganize and start over while the consequences of buying it could wipe the good company out as well. The name of the game right now is preservation. Capital preservation.
TOILET MOUTH STERN?
I SiriuslyHope you can get a sense of humor. If you are an investor, that “toilet humor” is going to make you a tidy profit if you hold long. I believe he still has millions of shares, so his own best interest happens to be ours as well.
Anyway, I first listened to O&A when Stern left terrestrial radio. While not as good, in my opinion, they are funny and a welcome addition to the morning lineup, especially when Stern is on vacation.
opie and anthony are the 2 biggest no talent asshole’s on radio, the solution is there was no problem, hello have you not been listening to bubba the love sponge for the past 3 years. he has more talent in his fat baby balls than O and A combined