There continues to be robust debate over the fate of David Lee Roth in the comments on these posts. I’ve tried to listen again and again and he remains an incredible bore. As one of the commenters said, even his sister can’t cut through the fake persona he has created that’s so impenetrable even he believes that’s his personality. The death pool continues….
Might want to check out a worthy (and entertaining) successor to Howard on 92.3 in NY (2pm)…
Penn Jillette
Unfortunately, I’ve got to work when he’s on in NY/NJ area, but the link includes a 5-8 minute podcast excerpt.
The other side of the coin to all this DLR train wreck is the fact that Stern and gang are currently playing to about a quarter million people at any given time. Obviously Stern knows he made a mistake. A mid-life freak out and bad decision. He overplayed how he was being ‘censored’. His show is better when he’s forced to be charming rather than all the 12-year-old level ‘comedy’. Like the majority of his listeners would have cared if he had less strippers in the studio. Wow, those were rivetting interviews. Or less of the gay sex audio and flatulence sound effects. No, we didn’t hear enough of that.
The unwritten story thus far is how dead Stern’s show is on Sirius. Same old, with no audience. And how depressed and shocked Stern is when he looks at where he is now.
A side issue: look how Artie Lang’s earning ability has fallen off a cliff. On real radio his name was worth millions. Now, I suspect, with the lack of exposure to the public, his name is worth thousands. Great career move.
as a former NYer now living in the UK I would love to get Stern’s current sirius broadcast. you might be right (and i suspect you are) about the current state of his show but that said I don’t know why they do not offer premium internet streaming and podcasts. howard has always said prior to his move to sirius that he was about content. i can’t imagine that sirius makes anything off of the sale of radios.
As to David Lee Roth’s phony persona…
I remember seeing him on the Tonight Show a few years back. He did a cheezy Vegas-ized version of “California Girls”. It was bad.
I remember his video for California Girls when he first covered it in the 80’s. This was Dave at his best. Fun, a bit silly, hanging out with sexy women, and not taking it all so seriously.
The dave I saw on with Leno was pure plastic. The performance seemed to be at first glance a parody of acts that have “gone Vegas”, as a parody of the lounge act, and himself. But after listening to him talk with Jay for a while it was clear this wasn’t a parody, he WAS that plastic. It was official: Dave had become a “has-been”.
(Heck even the girls dancing in his act were showgirl-plastic, nothing like the girls in the 80’s video. No subtlety to their sexuality at all, no playfulness, purely mechanichal. They weren’t even human enough to compare to strippers!)
Nothing will replace Howard. I am not his BIGGEST fan…I listen infrequently, but his ideas and the way he went at them, I dont htink anyone will touch.
With that said, I was really annoyed to hear that KRock went to an all talk station (liked on LI, but dont get it up here at Syracuse University).
CT- I think your analysis of Stern and his move to Sirius are amazingly offbase. He knew going in that his listener base would be smaller and that it would take years for the medium to penetrate the public enough to have audience numbers close to what he enjoyed on old radio. As for sounding depressed? Far from it, he sounds more energetic than I’ve heard in years. So far in the past three weeks I’ve heard some great interviews (Martha Stewart’s daughter and that gay football player in particular) and hysterical bits (George Takei with “Gov. Arnorld”- twice!).
I’ve been listening to Stern off and on through the years, and I definitely notice a difference in his satellite show. It has improved, and he doesn’t seem bored, much less boring in the least. His show is not for everyone. If you don’t like it, go listen to what ever stimulates your mind.
“Stern and gang are currently playing to about a quarter million people at any given time.”
You must be privy to some very exclusive data that no else has, CT. How about sharing with us how you know that? Heck, even such a mainline publication as “Radio Ink” reported that over 300,000 callers tried to make it through to Howard on his first day on Sirius, and 300K is more than a quarter of a million, right??
C’mon and ‘fess up, CT—-you’re just another sour-grapes, frustrated, and envious terrestrial radio drone/troll, right??
Stern had 20 million listening to him. Sirius increased from 1.5 to 3 million prior to his first day there. Not all those were Stern fans. Basically, his audience didn’t follow him. Stern knows this (the numbers can’t be denied). Anybody who didn’t sign up with Sirius prior to Stern’s debut likely doesn’t have the interest to ever sign up. Stern knows this. The press he and Sirius has received has been cheer-leading and spin (for whatever reason).
Stern, by the way, went from announcing he was creating a new medium that would make people “no longer watch television!” to saying (as the numbers came in) “I know the audience will have to be built and it will be low at first, da da da”…
He and cast are walking into a crypt every morning, talking into microphones that connect them to nobody, and they all know it and feel it. All the “you’re much more energised, Howard!” from Robin won’t change the dismal picture.
“Anybody who didn’t sign up with Sirius prior to Stern’s debut likely doesn’t have the interest to ever sign up. ”
Pure conjecture. There are plenty of reasons why Stern’s entire audience didn’t migrate to Sirius all at once; chief of these would be economics- Not everyone has the cash to layout for a receiver and associated equipment. How many people with cash in hand couldn’t buy a receiver because they had sold out? I think you can’t close the book on Stern just yet.
“Obviously Stern knows he made a mistake. A mid-life freak out and bad decision.” - ct
please tell us about the time that you made a mistake that earned you a half billion dollars over five years and no threat of being censored and fined.
why is it that i have a feeling that ct is really dlr?
Stern isn’t making half a billion. What he could’ve made if he’d stayed on terrestrial radio would have at least approached what he’s making now. Stern, anyway, is rich enough now - and old enough - that he’d take less money to be happy. Not being heard is the one thing that effects his happiness the most.
Anyway, it’s not even certain Sirius won’t be bankrupt in the near future.
And see my DLR critiques in other threads regarding whether I’m DLR or a DLR suck-up…
I’m mainly disappointed in Stern. He insists on thinking all he can do is what he’s been doing since the 80’s. He has no clue regarding his own unique talents. He’s also been disappointing regarding his *trademark* honesty. His political shifts have been solely self-serving, and the host ass-kissing he’s allowed to happen on his show and the fake atmosphere it creates is anything but ‘honest’.
“Sirius increased from 1.5 to 3 million prior to his first day there. Not all those were Stern fans. Basically, his audience didn’t follow him. Stern knows this (the numbers can’t be denied).”
CT, I asked where you got that 250K figure for Stern’s audience and you refused to answer my query.
In case you didn’t know, a strongly held opinion is not the same thing as a fact. Either state where you got that number from, or just admit that you made it up. It’s your right to state your opinions about Howard, but it’s not your right to pass off your wild guesses and hunches as facts. And you look like a weasel when you refuse to back up your claims when you get called on it. One more time, CT: where did you get that 250K figure from that you claim is Howrd’s Sirius listernship??? Either say where you got the figure from or just STFU.
I’m one person who bought a Sirius Xact receiver just to listen to Howard, and I also have XM (and actually like its music channels better).
Harry, Sirius is refusing to release numbers. That speaks volumes. (They say they “don’t have that technical ability”. Right.) And when the total potential audience is 3 million you don’t assume all of them are listening to the same thing at the same time. To assume 1 in 12 of that total potential audience is tuning in to Stern at any given time is not a promiscuous estimate.
CT Said “He has no clue regarding his own unique talents. He’s also been disappointing regarding his *trademark* honesty. His political shifts have been solely self-serving, and the host ass-kissing he’s allowed to happen on his show and the fake atmosphere it creates is anything but ‘honest’. ”
I would agree to that. I am a news junkie, but listened to him because I need little news in the morning beyond the traffic and weather report. Laughing wakes me up. Well his change on the WOT (supported Iraq until the FCC cracked down) an the non-stop self serving diatribes in his echo-chamber (although Kerry thought he deserved the fines, but never mind the facts!) were a bummer before coffee. I wanted to laugh. I think DLR is a bore to and I would have bought a Sirius in a second if I were guaranteed to never have to pay to listen to that crap again.
On my ride home I am enjoying the sophmoric silliness of booker as a way to let off some steam in traffic.
ct- If Sirius is refusing to release figures (and I’d like to know how you propose thet collect them) how did you get them? Just curious…
ct-
To assume 1 in 12 is just as valid as assuming 10 in 12. Completely unscientific, unrealistic, and totally based in the group of random numbers currently residing in you tuchus (from which the 250K was obviously pulled).
Nice try though! Why not just come out and admit you are jealous of his freedom, wealth, and gorgeous girlfriend (currently starring in a Mastercard commercial btw)?
Poor DLR. Another radio station chain has started running promos that say something like “…where we only play David Lee Roth’s *music*.”
SIRIUS… the only answer..I don’t even want to hear DLR sing anymore.. f-it. howard rules. tried the show for 2 weeks… can’t do it. even tried to tune in for the johnny damon interview this morning. roth has no clue on who or what he is talking about. bad interviewer
David Leave Radio