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Pirating Sirius Radio

blogs.mercurynews.com — Sirius Radio is being pirated onto FM frequencies. Surprise surprise!!

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 13, 2006

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  • MikeyC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"im sure stern doesnt care, but sirius will be pissed."

    Stern indirectly addressed this yesterday. A caller from Alaska said he had been downloading the show for 7 years because Stern wasn't carried there during his time on terrestrial radio and Sirius can't be picked up that far north. Stern's attitude was that Sirius lawyers should intervene immediately to stop his show from being distributed online.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Stern's attitude was that Sirius lawyers should intervene immediately to stop his show from being distributed online." - MikeyC

    "Howard shouldn't care, he is getting paid a ton of loot." - elrawtic

    And he is getting paid a ton of loot for his shows, which, when broadcast illegally are pretty much cutting into his overall value as an entertainer. If 100 people get his show free (just making these numbers up) that is 100 people that have no reason to pay for it. 100 less subscribers, 100 less points on some executive's bar graph, $100 less in Stern's pocket. Again, these are all made-up numbers, but you should get the drift.
  • SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Stern was amused on the show earlier about the pirate Brooklyn broadcast. He seemed to feel that it was evidence that the people of New York craved his show and would rather go through the trouble of pirating his station than listen to all the crappy imitators that have popped up to take his place on terrestrial radio (or as one caller this morning dubbed it and Howard now calls it, testicular radio).

    I never liked Stern before he got to Sirius but I've been loving this week's shows with George Takei as the announcer, it's been hilarious. They did a segment called "f, kill or marry" where they give Takei the names of three men and ask him which he'd *****, which he'd kill and which he'd marry. All through the show Takei didn't want to kill anyone, so they had to pressure him to answer. Then they did one with the cast of Star Trek and with hesitation he states that he'd kill William Shatner and marry Leonard Nimoy, it was classic.

    I must say, I've had Sirius for a year now and I can't stand listening to ordinary radio anymore. I can't even conceive of going back, it is so very worth the price.
  • dtm1017, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Im glad that americans will give the fcc hell forever.
  • h198x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So, the only thing the Creationist Knuckleheads on the Right have succeeded in doing is ensuring that only people with $12.95/month have freedom of speech. How very American of you.

    The fact that radio went the way of cable was inevitable. Radio simply SUCKS. I mean, really SUCKS. I have a Sirius, and I'll never listen to FM or AM again. Ever.

    Rock on, Howard!

  • RAT-Man, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The fans of Who and Who on XM radio are so sad.
  • deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@OBKenobi
    "What do you want him to say? "

    I expected him to be smarter about it than just doing what his new corporate overlords tell him to do. He could do something like Apple does with iPod... they put a warning in the packaging to 'not steal music' while not stopping any 'stolen' music from being played back on an iPod. That makes the boardroom and stockholders (i.e., those that believe behavior can be legislated/enforced) happy, while saavy users rub their hands with glee and buy more iPods, and maybe a little music, and pirate the rest.

    It's an old trick... Politicians do it, Sith Lords do it, CEO's do it... Tell the most obivous lie and most people's lie detectors will measure the lie to be so absurd as to discount it.. . Stern could hide in plain sight by having an official line that downloading his show undermines Sirius' brave new world of subscription radio, while sitting back and reaping the benefits of all the free distribution and publicity that comes from file trading for that 10 or 20 percent that will actually buy the product because they like it.
  • nu11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Howard 100 News reported that it is being broadcast on 92.5 FM in Brooklyn.
  • gh3tto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The FCC can track down a signal in 3 seconds using two people placed in different parts of the city. The only way this will continue is if the "broadcasters" put their transmitter inside of their car and drive around while they broadcast. Sorry guys, this won't last.
  • Superfluous, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1well written article. dont see many of those on the ol' internet.
  • macslut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"They need to make TIVO Radio for cars, so you can record certain shows (Mancow's Morning Madhouse, for example) or any song by certain artists, etc." -injekted

    It's called an iPod and the shows are called Podcasts.

    I'm not being sarcastic. I used to really want a TiVo Radio until I got an iPod and car adapter.
  • Sell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the title is ambiguos i thought it was an article on HOW TO PIRATE SIRIUS RADIO, whata bummer. NO DIGG
  • dynamx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1well considering sirus canada doesn't offer stern.....good. many people here just get the shows from torrentspy.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I don't understand how every single person in the USA doesn't subscribe to Sirius. It's such a good service, FM radio sucks so bad, and you get Howard Stern for ***** sake! Worth every cent.
  • Pogue_Mahone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"If 100 people get his show free (just making these numbers up) that is 100 people that have no reason to pay for it."

    You started off well.

    "100 less subscribers, 100 less points on some executive's bar graph, $100 less in Stern's pocket."

    OOPS! Logic flaw! Just because those 100 people have no reason to pay for it doesn't mean that Sirius is losing 100 subscribers. Consider all the listeners who can't get Sirius radio, can't get Stern on Sirius or just plain wouldn't get it anyway. I would guess that accounts for 90% of the people who "pirate" Stern off the radio, or more.

    Its the same logic hole that earns the **AA ire from the public when they claim damages of 10s to 100s of thousands of dollars for each file shared. One act of piracy doesn't not equal one loss of a real-world sale. Until there's a neutral 3rd party that performs an authoritative study on the real relationship between an item's piracy and actual lost sales of that item, no one can justifiably claim lost revenue from piracy.

    I'm not advocating piracy here, its just that blaming lost revenue on piracy without any data or reason (other than "common sense", which doesn't seem to be that common these days) just drives me nuts.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Stern cares about money first. if this starts to cost him, he will care.

    he is not a freedom type of person, he is a money person, freedom only happened to be wrapped up in that because it is linked to him making money." - tweekster

    Replace "Stern" with just about any media icon and you are still correct - well said.
  • ButchCivic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1pwandell wrote: Beyond AM, beyond FM, it's XM Satellite Radio! Hoo Hoo. tell'em Fred.

    Guess what, Beyond xm(in lower case) it's SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO!

    Of coarse anyone who isn't a complete inbred nascar loving redneck knew that.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0FCC you suck ass as well!!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Howard got paid 500 mil, he's not going to do jack-sh*t about the piracy. He doesn't need to care; his show was free before, and this piracy will not hurt him. If anything, Sirius will try to do something about the piracy, but I hope it doesn't work.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0SIRIUS KICKS XM ASS!!
  • dykesat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"SIRIUS SUCKS ASS!!"

    Digging deeply into your vernacular, I see. Well done.
  • dykesat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Oh yes, almost forgot...xm > sirius"

    Because we all know that more commercials and a smaller music library equals better.

    Right on, buddy. Glad you like it.
  • dykesat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0 "I think it would be cool if somebody figured out how to broadcast a pirate signal capable of being recieved by a sirius or xm reciever. Or better yet, figure out how to circumvent paying subscription fees to get stations"

    You would need access to a teleport with lots of wattage. Good luck with that one, pal. :)
  • foshizol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's funny I used to listen to Stern on 97.1 KLSX. I feel that Stern is actually missing the boat. A subscription podcast model would have been the best way to go, and eventually more lucrative He could have done this easily on Itunes. Another problem working against him is himself. Stern has virtually ignored the Internet accept when fan sites come along. Then he gets his lawyers on them. Because he thinks there stealing from him. I remember one fansite He had shut down; was just sort of a blog that gave a synopsis of the current days show. Yes, he does have a website, but that didn't really get going until the last presidential campaign.

    Stern is no revolutionary, he'll only sign-on to something if a paycheck is guaranteed. That works great for you and me, but we are not claiming to be revolutionaries and he is. I predict that five years from now Stern will retire, Sirius subscriptions will plummet until the company ceases to exist. Because we all want content wherever we actually want it. Another words not tied to one device (A Sirius radio). We want it on our laptops, Ipods,Iriver, home computer, work computer etc.
  • gReG0286, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0haha, fcc you suck....
  • PrometheuZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0you can read? Let alone an article bro?
  • ButchCivic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0morroq wrote: Can someone please pirate GOOD radio to FM frequencies?

    Stuff like, I dunno, Radio Free Colorado?


    Radio Free Colorado over Stern? Who the ***** are you, The Man From Snowy River. Next you'll ask for more Lake Woebegone. STERN RULES!
  • FarcicalFart, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"The airwaves are regulated by the FCC, the Federal Communications Agency"

    Uhhhh, FC...A?

    I believe it's the Federal Communications Commission.
  • UnknownUser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0From FMQB.com:

    95.1 FM in Brooklyn and 101.5 FM in North Jersey
  • droford, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0People can listen to XM (most of the time O&A) for free if they are around my car with the frequency on their radio tuned to 89.9. I've gotten a few strange looks from people the next car over. Its ashame because strange looks aren't what I want to see, with my WOW sticker on my bumper.



  • hadak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0could care less about sirius or howard...but ***** awesome for the pirates. god i love my people :)
  • PrometheuZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Does Bubba suck or what?
  • Yellowstone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ramoone digg in my pants and find me the Hoo Hoo show!!!
    Ramoone you're fired!! Bring me Mr. Sulu!!
  • foshizol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0One more thing

    http://www.demonoid.com/torrents/?v=0&c=0&t=0&s=howard+stern
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0You've been duped!! Howared can handle his own!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Suckers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • dykesat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Does the "X" in XM stand for "X" band RF? i.e. 8-12 GHz Or is it possible that they just wanted it to be eXtreme radio?
  • PrometheuZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Howard...who's he? Oh, that *****? He can say '*****' now.......ohhh boyyyyyy!!!!!
  • joel2600, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i didn't read the whole article, so i don't know if it discussed how they are operating... i've heard that you can create a radio station and then use your local power grid as an antenna. assuming this is possible, if a lot of people did this over the whole city, you could cover a really large area.
  • PrometheuZ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0 on tha big sheowwwwwwwwwwwwww Friday afternoooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnn!!


  • imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0zelig.. i agree. As well, the MAJORITY of households in the U.S. don't have people computer savy enough to figure out how to find, or how to listen to these free radio broadcasts. In fact, most people are idiots when it comes to technology of any kind. I know plenty of people who have iPods and Sirius, but have no idea how to hook things up to a PC let along how to use bittorrent, etc... I even have TWO friends who after Xmas, called me and said, "hey, I need to hook this iPod player to my computer, right? How do I do that?"

    I think there's too much given to the thought that "everyone" is downloading everything for free now days. I just don't believe there's enough people who know how, or even want to know how.
  • imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0btw.. to add to my comment above, this is also why iTunes has sold close to a BILLION dollars in 'low quality', drm'd music and they've sold 45 million iPods. It's a simple system that just plain 'ol WORKS for a majority of people who aren't even close to being tech-savy.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm kind of disappointed with sirius stern so far, the show is alot slower and not as revolutionary as I thought it would be. He's already intentionly leaving bits/announcements for the next day because he knows he has alot more time to fill. He's starting to censor his own crew because they curse too much. Even if excessive cursing is unfunny, they should still be allowed to speak how they want to and not interupted by Stern. Isn't that why you moved to sirius in the first place?

    By the way, Stern doesn't actually net $100 million a year. That money is for the entire show (studio, contests,robin,artie,fred.. other crew-bababoey,christy etc.). So when all is said and done, stern probably makes about $10 million more than he used to on terrestrial radio.

    Oh yes, almost forgot...xm > sirius
  • dangerboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I do wish Stern went with XM.. XM is kicking Sirius's ass in the technology department.. I like their passport idea of creating a compact flash sized chip that you can put into radios and allow them to get XM content. If I had that I would just need one subscription that I can bring with me anywhere they had a radio that accepts the XM passport chip..
  • imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I don't understand how every single person in the USA doesn't subscribe to Sirius. It's such a good service, FM radio sucks so bad, and you get Howard Stern for ***** sake! Worth every cent. "

    Try getting an iPod. Having music you WANT to hear, as well as new-music podcasts and a HUGE selection of all genres of podcasts, beats the crap out of Sirius... which just like FM radio, feeds you the content that they want you to hear, on their schedule.. minus the ads of course.

    BTW, Howard Stern is an over-glorified *****. I can't believe he got the deal he did. He just got approved to cash his $225Million in stocks (2.3% of Sirius) and his agent got the green light on his $19Million share. Un-*****-believable. However, he did bring 1.1Million new subscribers to Sirius which gives them $14.2Million bucks a MONTH in subscriber fees just for those new accounts. Wow.
  • dangerboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Are you saying only 600k-1mil people listen to other channels except his? you do know that there are more station on right? serius is not going anywhere until they finish paying who who his money. its not all about who who. all you who who fans keep talking about how serius got 3.3mil well most of them are cause him which is why serius really cant do much ATM. Whats the use in trying when most of your subscribers listen to one station?"

    Can someone translate this for me?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah Howard can care less about piracy, lol
  • zelig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0


    This is a double-edged sword. Sirius can't afford to keep paying Howard $$$ if everybody is hearing it for free. Anyway, pirate radio geeks have been around for decades, and most of them are putting out around 20 watts into a ***** antenna, for a few hours a day (night), so hardly anyone can hear them anyway. Sirius shouldn't be losing any sleep.

  • imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"""Are you saying only 600k-1mil people listen to other channels except his? you do know that there are more station on right? serius is not going anywhere until they finish paying who who his money. its not all about who who. all you who who fans keep talking about how serius got 3.3mil well most of them are cause him which is why serius really cant do much ATM. Whats the use in trying when most of your subscribers listen to one station?"

    Can someone translate this for me?"""

    no *****... I can't EVEN understand the majority of broken 'english' on this site. It's not just spelling errors and grammar mistakes, it's more like WTF are you saying!!??? That paragraph makes NO sense at all, even if you know who "who who" is.
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