Mel Karmazin continues to talk tough on the newly merged Sirius XM Radio. In a new interview with the New York Post, the CEO boasts that, "We're going to be the most successful company in radio. We're going to be bigger than Clear Channel because we're growing and they're going the other way."

Karmazin says that making further inroads in the automotive world will entice subscribers to bring satellite radio with them everywhere else. "We think that as we roll out more subscribers in the [automotive channel], they are going to want to have a second radio and they are going to want to have it in other places like their home, on their boat, perhaps a wearable product." He also says that while satellite radio's future is bright, "There's nothing out there that's good news for [terrestrial radio]."

Karmazin also gives his take on other corners of the media world. Comparing the newspaper business to radio, he says, "I think that I would rather own a newspaper in New York than the maximum number of radio stations, which would be eight. There are so few newspapers that each brand is so strong as compared to the 100 or so radio stations in the market, so I feel better about that, but that doesn't mean [the newspaper business] is not without its challenges obviously."

Former Karmazin employees think that he can certainly push satellite radio to new heights. "Mel is a voracious competitor," Joel Hollander, former CBS Radio Chairman/CEO, told the Post. "When he has a prize in his sights he goes all out for it. He either wants to be the king of the hill or he wants to take his chips and go home." "Mel is singularly the smartest media operator out there, regardless of what kind of media we are talking about," said Citadel Broadcasting CEO Farid Suleman. "I wish he would go run a big media company instead of Sirius."

However, not everyone thinks the post-merger Sirius XM is a slam dunk. "We are completely confident that free local radio will continue to thrive," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton told the Post. "Given the stock-market crash of Sirius XM, the real question now is whether satellite radio can sustain a viable business."