After much back and forth, will they won’t they coverage of the Sirius XM vs. Stern saga, 5-years proved to be only the halfway point in their relationship, as Stern re-upped with the satellite radio provider for another 5-year deal, with details not disclosed. With Stern back in-tow, alongside new addition Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Oprah and more, Sirius boasts a lineup of prominent personalities who have defected from the FCC regulated airwaves of traditional radio. So what? There’s certainly nothing wrong with poaching the biggest names in broadcast, after all, radio success is built on nurturing a following of regular listeners. As loyalty develops, so do fame and ratings, thus it follows the easy way to gain listeners is to purchase their talent and, in turn, their listeners.In the early days of satellite radio, this strategy made sense. The promising technology boasted plenty of advantages over its FM/AM and network counterparts, through an abundance of channels and commercial free programming. What satellite companies needed was a big draw to make the subscription fees worth the consumer’s while. Once the audience became accustomed to the subscription fee and experienced firsthand the benefits of satellite radio, it would seem as if the top-paid talent in the world would no longer be necessary. However, while its on-air employees have had no problem building a loyal fan-base over the years, it seems as if fans of the service itself or more fickle. Having satellite for the benefits of Sirius XM itself, doesn’t appear to be a sticking point.The satellite radio conglomerate knows this, making it reasonable enough to pony up major cash to retain Stern, while still building on their lineup of exiles. At this point, one might think Sirius XM would have reached a juncture in their development at which they could breed their own superstar radio personalities. Still, we wonder, will there ever come a day in which a true satellite radio star is born out of satellite radio itself. Until then, the free agent market, seems to be the prevailing course of action for Sirius XM, for better or worse.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Radio News, Radio Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
