Para onde foram os ouvintes de HStern?

Este artigo tenta responder a uma pergunta que faz todo o sentido: as audiências de HStern, quando trabalhava herztianamente, eram superiores a 10 milhões de ouvintes. Agora na Sirius não terá mais do que dois milhões...

«Can millions of listeners just disappear?

That's a question plaguing Howard Stern and one with vital implications for radio itself in the wake of the shock jock's heralded and hyped switch from free to satellite broadcasting.

The self-proclaimed King of All Media once commanded a national audience of 12 million daily listeners before jumping to satellite in January. But since then, his kingdom has shrunk to a small fraction of that size. Meanwhile, the shock jock's main replacements thus far have failed to hold very much of the former flock. According to industry analysts, the new Stern math scans something like this: At best, he took between 1 million and 2 million listeners with him, and his replacements, spread across many of the country's major radio markets, are drawing numbers in a similar range. That leaves 8 million to 10 million nomadic listeners nationwide wandering the terrestrial radio dial in search of a new voice or sound to lead them out of the morning drive-time wilderness. Call them the Howard Stern diaspora, those legions unwilling to fork over satellite subscription fees and unimpressed by pretenders to the throne. (...)

With limited ratings data so far, it's hard to tell where the Stern herd is roaming and where big portions of it might ultimately settle, say analysts. But Arbitron ratings clearly demonstrate they aren't stampeding toward Stern's big-name replacements, former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth on the East Coast and comedian Adam Carolla on the West Coast. Although any head-to-head comparisons between the newcomers and the veteran Stern are unfair, say analysts, the pair's ratings are nevertheless widely regarded as disappointing and, in one case, possibly job threatening.

(...) In a recent interview, Stern attacked his ex-listeners who are still clinging to terrestrial radio and have refused to cheer him on on the other side. "You haven't come with me yet? How dare you?" Stern told Entertainment Weekly. "We're up to wild, crazy stuff; the show has never sounded better."

fonte: Trying to corral Stern's lost herd, Los Angeles Times, http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-stern11apr11,0,4823944.storyBy Martin Miller, Times Staff Writer, April 11, 2006