Will O&A ever be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame

[BonnieMcFarlaneMe2]

Sirius tells him they can’t track ratings but also takes credit for every subscriber. I remember Sirius they hit I think 25 or 30 million “subscribers” (you know those numbers are all bullshit - probably counts every car that has it as a trial, etc) and Stern went on like it’s all because of him because when he came there they were new and didn’t have many subscribers.

Him suing over the XM numbers bump was absurd enough but to carry on like he was leaving on air because, “they won’t hold up their contract, why should I?” Threatening to leave or retire once he got there was fucking stupid.

 

[IGotATreeOnMyHouse85]

Hoo hoo , everyone’s uhhh talkin into a microphone from their home now Robin. No one was doing that until I did it during the pandemic. Hoo hoo

And he was all against the idea of remote working until Covid. Now he barely comes into the studio and makes guests come in to talk to a screen. He wouldn’t even let Artie take time off to film his movie because he did his movie while doing the show even though it was apples and oranges since the movie studio make all kinds of accommodations for Stern.

 

[IGotATreeOnMyHouse85]

Him suing over the XM numbers bump was absurd enough but to carry on like he was leaving on air because, “they won’t hold up their contract, why should I?” Threatening to leave or retire once he got there was fucking stupid.

They know he won’t go anywhere or stop - without radio he will have to face that he’s no longer the big star he still thinks he is. If stern retired tomorrow he would just fade into obscurity since he doesn’t even want people to hear what he said not even 10 years ago and has gone to great lengths to have everything that a “problem” today removed from the internet. I bet Taylor Swift refuses to interview with him and there’s nothing he can do about it.

 

[Sue Lightning]

I mean he said that like 15 or 20 years ago. I still think he’s convinced he has crazy good ratings.
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That’s his security guard in the back. The guy who barely comes up to his shoulder.

“I hate phone apps”

Hey uhhh Sal I need you to make more twitter accounts. We gotta get Gaga on the show somehow. Hoo hoo.

 

[Sue Lightning]

You know what was great about O&A? They were a bunch of stupid boomers who acted like monkeys with Rubiks cubes around technology (You’re telling me you can watch a fawwwkin movie on your phone??) but they were always aware of how the times were changing. When Youtube came around they took advantage of it, they didn’t claim it was stupid and useless. When podcasting came around they took advantage of it, they didn’t declare it stupid and useless. Same with twitter and etc etc

 

[BonnieMcFarlaneMe2]

They know he won’t go anywhere or stop - without radio he will have to face that he’s no longer the big star he still thinks he is. If stern retired tomorrow he would just fade into obscurity since he doesn’t even want people to hear what he said not even 10 years ago and has gone to great lengths to have everything that a “problem” today removed from the internet. I bet Taylor Swift refuses to interview with him and there’s nothing he can do about it.

Those podcast numbers would be pathetic. Richard and Sal could put up better numbers doing a show together.

 

[IGotATreeOnMyHouse85]

“I hate phone apps”

Hey uhhh Sal I need you to make more twitter accounts. We gotta get Gaga on the show somehow. Hoo hoo.

Him bitching about podcasting and all was like hearing some crusty old club DJ who actually had carry crates of records, mark them, be able to change to the next record seamlessly, etc. say todays club DJ’s that just need a laptop or phone and play huge clubs / casinos / festivals not “real DJ’s”

He would complain that he had to EARN ratings and these podcasts never had to pay their dues, Rogan was only big because he was already famous (Rogan was known - but not as well known until the podcast took off etc)

 

[Sue Lightning]

Those podcast numbers would be pathetic. Richard and Sal could put up better numbers doing a show together.

I want to know how many people listen to Howard. And not some bullshit metric like how many subs he has, but how many people actually tune in to his show, per day, and their retention rate. It genuinely could not crack more than 5 figures. More than that I cannot picture the type of person who would call themselves a Stern fan besides two demographics:

1. 40 year old mothers who remember Stern when they were younger, and feel edgy for now listening to his watered down pop culture show.

2. 40-60 year old men who are hardcore Stern fans who have a parasocial relationship with the guy / show. (They want it to be the 90’s / 2000’s again so bad and Howie is the guy they talk to every morning)

 

[IGotATreeOnMyHouse85]

Those podcast numbers would be pathetic. Richard and Sal could put up better numbers doing a show together.

You know it drives stern nuts or he just refuses to read anything about how the Kelce brothers “New Heights” podcast is huge. Two football players that are just big meat heads (no broadcasting experience!) are much more relevant for their podcast than creepy old Stern’s show on Sirius.

 

[Sue Lightning]

He would complain that he had to EARN ratings and these podcasts never had to pay their dues, Rogan was only big because he was already famous (Rogan was known - but not as well known until the podcast took off etc)

Its more than that. I was listening to the O&A interview with one of the Hoarders guys. He had a podcast with 30k listeners and this was back in ~2009. And the Hoarders guy isn’t really famous. So what is it about.

Of course, it’s about the medium. I don’t have to get in my fucking car and turn it on to hear Rogan, or get a little transistor I put batteries in to hear Rogan. I turn on my phone, the thing I have on me 24/7, and press a button and I have it anywhere. You would have to be a complete backwards fucking retard to think thats not a net gain to your potential listening audience.

 

[IGotATreeOnMyHouse85]

I want to know how many people listen to Howard. And not some bullshit metric like how many subs he has, but how many people actually tune in to his show, per day, and their retention rate. It genuinely could not crack more than 5 figures. More than that I cannot picture the type of person who would call themselves a Stern fan besides two demographics:

1. 40 year old mothers who remember Stern when they were younger, and feel edgy for now listening to his watered down pop culture show.

2. 40-60 year old men who are hardcore Stern fans who have a parasocial relationship with the guy / show. (They want it to be the 90’s / 2000’s again so bad and Howie is the guy they talk to every morning)

His audience is 40-50 year old moms that think listening to him now makes them a “cool mom” because he says fuck sometimes. He complains about everything, repeats basic bitch liberal political talking points, is obsessed with reality shows for women like the bachelor etc.

What’s funny is they say they cant track ratings yet Stern you have a to a special premium subscription to hear him. They know how many people are actually paying to hear him and even then who knows if they actually even pay the premium since you can just call and threaten to cancel and they give you whatever you want for next to nothing.

 

[Sue Lightning]

What’s funny is they say they cant track ratings yet Stern you have a to a special premium subscription to hear him. They know how many people are actually paying to hear him and even then who knows if they actually even pay the premium since you can just call and threaten to cancel and they give you whatever you want for next to nothing.

Even then his subscription model relies on the same flaw Cumias has: You can track subscribers but not listeners. Say 1000 people are subbed. A good chunk of those will be a promotion (aka paid for by the company), buy it and never listen, buy it and don’t like it, or just buy it and forget / never cancel. The great thing about subscription based models (and why every industry is moving towards them now) is because its like a legal juicing of your numbers. So Sterns listening numbers are inflated by those artificial “subscribers” who are nonlisteners who he can CLAIM are listeners.

 

[BrotherMan1488]

There is not a single radio show more consequential for broadcasting culture than O&A.

Upvote if you agree, downvote if disagree, neutral no reaction.

There the Bible then there's Opie And Anthony in a close second in Popularity , child

 

[Sexual_Tyrannosaurus]

Artie will be in it before them, and his best bit was being comatose on air.

 

[IGotATreeOnMyHouse85]

Its more than that. I was listening to the O&A interview with one of the Hoarders guys. He had a podcast with 30k listeners and this was back in ~2009. And the Hoarders guy isn’t really famous. So what is it about.

Of course, it’s about the medium. I don’t have to get in my fucking car and turn it on to hear Rogan, or get a little transistor I put batteries in to hear Rogan. I turn on my phone, the thing I have on me 24/7, and press a button and I have it anywhere. You would have to be a complete backwards fucking retard to think thats not a net gain to your potential listening audience.

It’s like how I see FM music stations telling people to download their app so you can listen to them anywhere!

Why the fuck would you want to stream an FM music station that plays the same 20-25 songs all day (songs with foul languages edited out, mind you) AND have to hear commercials in between. There’s FM rock stations in major markets that haven’t really changed their playlists much in 20 years. Seriously - I looked up from my area growing up and it’s probably 60% the same stuff in 2003. How many fucking times to you need to hear Smells Like Teen Spirt, Even Flow, Enter Sandman and Back in Black in a week?!?!

 

[Sue Lightning]

Its gonna get to a point where their metric is “listened.” If you have ever listened to Howard Stern you are counted as a subscriber. “Hoo hoo, I got uh 150 million subs Robin.” And then they’re gonna start counting how many individual times each one of his shows have been listened to. “Hoo hoo, they’re saying over my total career i’ve been listened to over 8 billion times Robin.”

 

[BonnieMcFarlaneMe2]

I want to know how many people listen to Howard. And not some bullshit metric like how many subs he has, but how many people actually tune in to his show, per day, and their retention rate. It genuinely could not crack more than 5 figures. More than that I cannot picture the type of person who would call themselves a Stern fan besides two demographics:

1. 40 year old mothers who remember Stern when they were younger, and feel edgy for now listening to his watered down pop culture show.

2. 40-60 year old men who are hardcore Stern fans who have a parasocial relationship with the guy / show. (They want it to be the 90’s / 2000’s again so bad and Howie is the guy they talk to every morning)

I’ve met two people in the last 10 years that listen to Stern. One fits #1 to a tee and the other one was my 50 or so year old boss who had been listening forever. Had Sirius in his truck and the commute lined up with the morning broadcast. Big Jay must have quoted Stern once because I recycled a Jay opinion then he asked me if I listened to Stern the other day. I almost laughed out of shock.

If it’s more than 25k average listeners then I’d be astonished and I think I’m being generous with that.

 

[IGotATreeOnMyHouse85]

Even then his subscription model relies on the same flaw Cumias has: You can track subscribers but not listeners. Say 1000 people are subbed. A good chunk of those will be a promotion (aka paid for by the company), buy it and never listen, buy it and don’t like it, or just buy it and forget / never cancel. The great thing about subscription based models (and why every industry is moving towards them now) is because its like a legal juicing of your numbers. So Sterns listening numbers are inflated by those artificial “subscribers” who are nonlisteners who he can CLAIM are listeners.

Plus Sirius can really pump the numbers with new cars having it in for a trial period (usually 3, 6 or 12 months free) and when I sold for Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram for their “Certified Pre-Owned” cars they would turn it back on for 3 month trials. More fudging the numbers!

 

[BonnieMcFarlaneMe2]

It’s like how I see FM music stations telling people to download their app so you can listen to them anywhere!

Why the fuck would you want to stream an FM music station that plays the same 20-25 songs all day (songs with foul languages edited out, mind you) AND have to hear commercials in between. There’s FM rock stations in major markets that haven’t really changed their playlists much in 20 years. Seriously - I looked up from my area growing up and it’s probably 60% the same stuff in 2003. How many fucking times to you need to hear Smells Like Teen Spirt, Even Flow, Enter Sandman and Back in Black in a week?!?!

Makes sense for local sports radio but FM station is laughable. I can’t even remember the last time I listened to one. “Up next we got Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N Roses coming at you on this Friday afternoon as we enter the weekend.”

 

[Nana Cumia]

I remember Stern had one of the former heads of Infinity about who they wanted to replace Stern when he went to Sirius and top of the list was Preston & Steve who were available since Y100 flipped formats and had a 6 month no-compete clause. They turned it down like pretty much everyone they asked because nobody wanted to follow him. People like Larry David and Chris Rock were also offered the spot and of course all said no. David Lee Roth was the only one dumb enough to think he could replace him. The DLR show was sooooo bad - it was just Roth telling stories about his Uncle and that was his only guest.

David Lee Roth was funny as a guest on O&A. The one time they were interviewing a baseball player who was a drug addict. David was answering the questions like he was bring interviewed and telling all the great times he had doing drugs.