Will Fans Pay To Hear Howard?

That's The Mega-Question Surrounding Stern's Move To Satellite Radio

(CBS)  Shock jock Howard Stern hangs up his over-the-air headphones Friday. But he won't be gone for long, returning next month on uncensored Sirius satellite radio.

The big question, says CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod, is whether Stern's fans will pay to hear his humor.

On Friday morning, Axelrod was outside Stern's radio station in New York, where fans gathered for a farewell party.

Axelrod says he doesn't know whether it's the end of one era or the beginning of another.

"I suppose it's both," he suggests, adding there's little doubt that the biggest name in radio moving from broadcast to satellite could change the way an entire industry does business.

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Hear Howard Stern's comments from his final broadcast Friday on "terrestrial radio."
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Stern, says Axelrod, is the self-proclaimed king of all media, from radio to books to television and movies. Now he's about to add a new medium to his kingdom, or at least try to add a new one.

Starting next month, his fans will have to pay $12.95 a month to hear him on Sirius.

Asked by Axelrod if he'd fork over the money, one young fan responds, "Yeah, I would, because it's Howard Stern … even though I don't like it. I'm not happy with his going from free to pay."

"I'm gonna pay," he shrugs.

Another young man tells Axelrod, "I'm not going to pay $12.95 to listen to free radio. Radio is supposed to be free. You ain't supposed to pay for radio."

He's going from more than 10 million listeners to Sirius and its 2 million subscribers.

He's the biggest name so far to go satellite, says Axelrod.

"Howard Stern has 12 million listeners and probably 4-5 million real core zealot fans," media analyst Craig Moffett says. "But I think, to satellite radio, he's really something more than that. He is the face of satellite radio."

For Stern, Axelrod says, the lure is obvious: a five-year contract that will pay him half a billion dollars — billion with a "b."

But, Axelrod adds, there's something more here. After numerous run-ins with the Federal Communications Commission over indecency charges, and millions of dollars in fines, Stern won't have to worry about any of that anymore — satellite radio is unregulated.

"I'm kind of up in the air (about listening to him)," another listener told Axelrod. "I like his stuff. But I'm kind of like, once he goes over there, he can do whatever he wants, like curse and stuff. I think it's going to get old fast."

In a recent 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley, Stern seemed to be one step ahead of his fans.

Asked if there'll be more profanity and explicit sexual content on his show, Stern replied: "I think so. I look forward to exploring that. I don't, you know — listen, I'm about being funny. If I can make a joke using profanity, I will. But for the most part, that can get awfully old and boring. You've got to know, you've got to draw your own personal line. This is a new frontier."