Sirius Channel 100
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Howard Stern's channels launched at 5 a.m. this morning on Sirius Satellite Radio to the sounds of silence and a simple scrolling message of: "We’re building towards Howard’s arrival in January." Those craving Howard Stern branded content on Sirius will have to wait a little longer. "Things will start happening when they are ready," explained Stern on his radio show this morning. By mid-show, Stern was lining up a troop of farters to provide the first sounds heard on his Sirius channels and the scroll changed to "Farters coming soon." The explosive sounds could come as early as tomorrow morning.
"This has got to be the shining beacon of the radio industry," Stern said earlier this week while discussing his new channels. "I will settle for nothing but the best. My plans and my thoughts for this are off the charts."
As energized as Stern has sounded about his channels, he faced down pressure over the last couple weeks
from Sirius President of Entertainment and Sports Scott Greenstein, VP Talk & Entertainment Programming Jeremy Coleman and other Sirius execs to add programming for the debut. Stern had met with a programming team at Sirius in late August, mentioning at the time that there would likely be an appearance by his parents and several Wack Pack members as the channel gears up for his official arrival on January 9. Stern also said he is looking for a program director for the channels. Meanwhile, a "soft launch" of Howard Stern On Demand is expected on November 18. Doug Goodstein has been named Executive Producer and will oversee the content being offered by the In Demand service. Goodstein is combing through the past 11 years of raw tapes from the E! shows. Howard Stern On Demand episodes will be even more explicit than the original E! airing as footage that was edited from the E! show will now be available.
