In the interests of keeping this story on the web pages, this week will be devoted to the King of All Media and his great programming on Howard 100 and Howard 101. This morning as this goes to the site, Howard and his crew are returning from a 2 week break where we have been listening to the History of Howard Stern Act 3. Act 4 is in the works and it will be heard this coming December during what would be the Christmas vacation for the Stern crew, if Howard signs an extension with the company.

Howard has said that he has been entertaining offers to return to terrestrial radio. I would submit that this would be insanely stupid. Howard has to be enjoying the freedom that he fought tremendously hard for his entire career. Why go back to where the format would have to be toned down? I understand if money is an issue, so be it. I have also said a thousand times before that even with the financial position Sirius is in, they have shown incredible numbers when it comes to advertising revenue that Howard’s channels have produced.

The other thing Mel Karmazin has to keep in mind besides his long-standing positive relationship with the King of All Media is why jeopardize the most positive business relationship in radio history. Mel was Howard’s boss at Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio). They work well together and know how to bring in an audience.

If  Howard were to leave, it is certain he would take the majority of his audience with him. This is a risk Sirius cannot afford to take.

CFl Football has returned to Sirius. A complete programming schedule is available on the Sirius website. Opening day was a pair of games on Canada Day starting with a rematch of the Grey Cup final. The joke that arose from that game was Saskatchewan’s Pilsner Beer now comes in 13 packs…. Anyway head to Channel 98 for CFL coverage and may Saskatchewan actually win the big one this year.

The week of June 28 saw a repeat play of The History of Howard Stern Act 3. I have not found this one as funny or entertaining as the previous 2 Acts. Apparently Act 4 is in the works likely to be aired during what will either be the last full week of Howard being on Sirius or during the Christmas vacation if he re-signs. Head up to Howard 100 and Howard 101 for all the craziness and madness that is the King of All Media.

Sirius 61 Prime Country is continuing with Brooks and Dunn Mondays right through to the end of the Labour Day weekend. Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are sharing stories from their storied career and playing some of their favourite music, even if it is not country.

You may not be a fan of or even want to entertain anything related to Martha Stewart, but fact is her channel does contain some valuable information for everyone and anybody. I certainly appreciate the variety of material available through her site and the shows that are airing. From food to pet care, there is something up at Sirius Channel 112 Martha Stewart Living Radio.

The speculation continues to grow on whether or not The King of All Media will return to Studio 69 in 2011. Stern’s contract is up at the end of the year and Sirius will need to move soon in order to prevent a lucrative offer from taking Stern and his advertising power with him.

It was recently suggested that even with the financial troubles at SiriusXM, Stern is rumoured to have brought in a whopping total of a billion dollars in advertising revenue since the commencement of his contract. Meanwhile SiriusXM continues to review the contracts of other personalities and program formats searching for ways to save money. 

SiriusXM has the opportunity to re-sign someone who is arguably one of the biggest names it will ever host on the airwaves. While it would certainly be understandable should Howard elect to retire after a 30 plus year as a revolutionary radio host, it makes better sense for SiriusXM to give Howard another 5 year deal. This would be long enough for advertising sales to really give the boost the company needs and for better financial decisions to be made elsewhere in the company.

Stern has been approached by a handful of companies to return to Terrestrial Radio. I would personally hate to see this happen since the kind of formatting Howard is allowed to present on his channels is something he worked his entire career towards achieving.

Hopefully on these pages by the end of the year, I and other Stern fans will be toasting his staying with SiriusXM. The world needs more of his sense of humour and blunt honest precision in a world full of phonies and pathetic news broadcasts.

If your receiver has pre-set options, you probably have all or some set to certain stations for easy access. Perhaps there is a reason why you have the station at that particular spot or you are ranking your favourite stations in a particular order! I will enclose my list pre-set from my sportster. 

1. Liquid Metal – My life has become better because of my love of Heavy Metal Music. It is my favourite genre of music and I am proud to be a part of the Metal culture.

2. Hair Nation – My initial exposure to Heavy Metal was first through Glam Metal. Hair Nation plays the best and the worst music from that era. I am pleasantly surprised some days at what I hear.

3. The Boneyard – Classic Heavy Metal and Hard Rock at its absolute finest here. Often during the day when I flip to this station I will hear a lost classic from a band like Judas Priest or Rainbow.

4. Classic Vinyl – Take Terrestrial Radio Classic Rock and give it steroids, you get Classic Vinyl. Broadcast from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this great station has variety and great commentary on some of the greatest music ever made.

5. Classic Rewind – The second generation of Classic Rock. Classic Rewind often plays great tracks from the more recent eras. Music that has been considered Classic Rock for a short period of time is spun here although occasionally Classic Vinyl material will make its way here.

The jump button on my receiver is set to Howard 100. If I am in the middle of a listen that goes sour I might jump to Howard 100 to hear part of the replay of the day. My day starts Monday-Thursday with the Howard Stern show, and goes from there. At the end of the evening, I make sure the channel is set back to 100.

6. Prime Country – I will flip to Prime Country in the hope of once in a while hearing a decent track from the end of the decent Country Music era in the 90’s. This is going to change soon as I am finding the programming becoming more poppy and catering to some acts that are too annoying for my taste.

7. Outlaw Country – I love the OC. The benefit to the death of decent country is the rebirth of Outlaw Country and the defined category of Americana Music. Many of the Outlaws who might occasionally appear on The Roadhouse or Willie’s Place have more of a home in the OC. Wonderful Music.

8. 80’s on 8 – I love some of the great popular music that was born in the 1980s. We have seen great developments in technology for music and we also saw growth in great genres.

9. Raw Dog – We all need to laugh and Raw Dog often plays great material from some of my favourite comics, every single day.

10. Deep Tracks – The forgotten b-sides and tracks from great acts are spun here.  Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour also offers a smile or two of insightful thinking.

What are your pre-sets and why? Are they your favourite stations? Post your comments.

After the Thanksgiving break for the Howard Stern show is an exciting time for fans as original Star Trek cast member George Takei should be appearing soon for a full week stint. The brilliantly funny guest announcer is still under contract to appear on the show for three full weeks out of each year. Should Howard re-sign with Sirius, hopefully he will increase George’s appearances as he did so this year. George adds serious hilarity and vulgarity to the show with his open discussions and takes on his private life. George and his partner recently purchased a place in New York. Since they now split time between both coasts, this is fueling speculation George may become a permanent fixture of the show on a regular basis if Howard stays with Sirius.

With the holidays approaching, George will debut new gay themed parody songs written by the madmen writers of the Stern show.

While many fans complain that Howard is on vacation way too much, the first few days after a vacation week are always phenomenal and contain laughter and great material from all cast!

6 a.m. Eastern on Howard 100 Monday morning!

After Orbitcast was able to confirm that news coming from Stern show’s Gary Dell’Abate’s (Baba Booey) Twitter account was, in fact, fake and that the real scoop on Stern’s absence was far less colourful than the rumours suggested.

Stern himself confirmed that his programming was left out due to nothing more than a legal snafu involving some red tape involving rights issues. The fact that Sirius XM still showed Howard 100 as an included channel to investors however makes many still wonder whether Stern’s programming is just delayed rather than ruled out entirely.

[Via Orbitcast]

Howard Stern fans are about to receive a wealth of new listening material from the venerable shock-jock as two brand new shows, masterminded by Stern himself, debut in the near future.

Laughing With the Stars is the first of the line-up, being hosted by Stern admirers, Jimmy Kimmel and Jerry O’Connell and consisting of “best-of” moments from The Howard Stern Show’s long radio history.

The second new show, entitled Dr. Stern: Celebrity Shrink, is hosted by Survivor frontman, Jeff Probst and features looks at confessions of famous stars from their appearances on The Howard Stern Show.

Listeners can check out the shows on May 25th and May 26th at 6am EST on Howard 100 and Howard 101 respectively.

[Via Orbitcast]

The popularity of Sirius’ acclaimed History of Howard Stern documentary is set to receive a sequel broadcast in the next few days. After receiving so many accolades for the production and writing of the first entry fans can expect continuing quality when Act II debuts.

The second act will pick up in Stern’s post-WNBC years and focus on his run at K-Rock. Celebrity guests for Act II include Jon Bon Jovi, William Shatner, Richard Simmons, Alec Baldwin and more.

The History of Howard Stern Act II will air on December 22nd (on Howard 100 and Howard 101) with encore presentations of the first act replaying all day today (December 19th).

[Via Orbitcast]