I am – Hercules!!
Radio ratings phenom Howard Stern airs his last Infinity broadcast Friday (he re-emerges on Sirius satellite radio Jan. 9), and this week has seen a strange parade of old friends and enemies swing by his studio to bid him bon voyage. Recent visitors have included former producer K.C. Armstrong and former CBS/Infinity CEO (now Sirius CEO) Mel Karmazin (making only his second Stern Show appearance ever). Estranged Stern sidekick and master impressionist Billy West, who went on to star in “Ren and Stimpy” and “Futurama,” apparently recorded some new taped segments for Stern’s final Infinity broadcasts.
Slow-thinking Infinity Broadcasting CEO Joel Hollander made a surprising appearance on Stern’s show Wednesday morning. Hollander ordered Stern suspended Nov. 8 because the shock-jock spoke too much of his new home on Sirius (Hollander long ago forbade Stern to ever mention the word “Sirius” on his Infinity show). The one-day suspension made headlines around the world, and brought Sirius a zillion dollars worth of free publicity.
If that didn’t make former radio-ad salesman Hollander – who has been Infinity’s CEO for less than a year - look stupid enough, Hollander had to listen Wednesday morning as Hollander’s boss, CBS chief Les Moonves, repeatedly spoke of Sirius by name on Stern’s show. Moonves also confided that he had already signed up for his own Sirius subscription.
Things may get even better today. Thursday morning is expected to see the momentary return of longtime Stern sidekick Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, who departed the show more than five years ago following Infinity’s failure to meet his salary demands. Martling never said an on-air goodbye, nor did he guest on the show subsequent to his departure.
In other Stern news, Howard may or may not appear in the opening of this weekend’s Jack Black-hosted edition of “Saturday Night Live.”
If, like me, you’ve been wondering which Sirius device you want to buy to hear Stern’s new programming in January, you might want to have a gander at the pricey but supercool Sirius S50 Satellite Radio Receiver
. (It’s the one Stern was waving at Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” the other night.)
What makes this teensy version cooler than its bulkier cousins is it stores up to 50 hours of Sirius programming. Which means, I guess, that if you want to listen to Adam Corolla on the way to work and Stern on the way home, this thing can make it happen – even if Stern decides not to repeat his morning show around the clock.
The memory also allows listeners to store loads of songs from Sirius’s many commercial-free music channels, or songs from your computer.
It’s insanely portable (the player fits in the coin-pocket of a pair of Levi’s, with room left over for coins), so if you buy enough cradles you can use the same device at home, at work and in the car - which saves you from having to buy multiple Sirius subscriptions.
