Satellite Radio

NEW YORK — Perched on the 36th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper, SiriusXM Radio Inc.'s glass-walled lobby teemed with 52 buff bachelors, a diminutive Catholic nun and singer Chris Isaak strumming his guitar, a pint-sized white terrier at his heels. As Isaak crooned songs from his country album "Beyond the Sun," Billy Corgan was in an adjacent studio promoting the re-release of his indie rock band Smashing Pumpkin's first two albums. Minutes later, shock jock Howard Stern sauntered down the hallway from his recording studio to a private service elevator that leads to his ride.

Kim Fowley pulls DVDs, fliers, CDs, a hospital admission slip and more DVDs out of a jumble of media on the mixing board of a drab Hollywood strip-mall studio. Per usual, the infamous pop schlockmeister has a beautiful young woman by his side. Fowley wants to transform Snow Mercy, a scientist-turned-dominatrix/performance artist, into his latest star. But he's got a dozen other hustles going on too, and he hands a reporter one copy after another of B-minus movies. They all feature Kim Fowley.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SIRI US) fell 4.1 percent to $2.10. The satellite radio broadcaster reported fourth-quarter revenue was $784 million, falling short of the average analyst estimate of $790.9 million.

Looking to expand its foothold beyond the AM-FM dial, radio giant Clear Channel has tapped entertainment industry veteran John Sykes to lead a push into television, digital and live events. Clear Channel, the nation's biggest owner of stations with 850 outlets across the country including KIIS-FM, KOST-FM and KBIG-FM in Los Angeles, wants to leverage its strength in radio across a wide range of platforms. "We can use that horsepower to create new products," said Bob Pittman, chief executive of Clear Channel parent company CC Media Holdings Inc. The hiring of Sykes is the first major move by Pittman since becoming chief executive of CC Media last November.

In 2005, AirTran Airways became the first U.S. airline to offer passengers satellite radio among the in-flight entertainment options. But the XM satellite radio is about to be pulled out of AirTran planes as the airline gets swallowed up by its new parent company, Southwest Airlines, which acquired AirTran in May 2011. “The decision to remove XM satellite radio from the AirTran fleet was not taken lightly, and it's another step in the integration of offering a consistent product between Southwest and AirTran,” said Katie McDonald, a Southwest spokeswoman.

Looks like "America's Got Talent" is getting raunchy — Howard Stern will join the judges' table. The famed shock jock will replace CNN host Piers Morgan, alongside Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne. Shooting will start in February, and the talent contest will return in the summer to NBC's schedule, where it has typically sat atop the ratings. The producers — including Simon Cowell, who created the series — opened their bank vault to snag Stern, whose profile has dipped since he moved his radio program to satellite.

Sirius XM Radio Inc.'s subscriber growth received a cool reception on Wall Street as investors became worried that the satellite radio company might lose customers early next year when its 12% price hike takes effect. In announcing its third-quarter earnings Tuesday, the New York company reported 21.3 million subscribers as of Sept. 30. That's up 334,000 from July — mostly from consumers who bought new cars and began subscribing to the service — but below analysts' expectations of as many as 400,000 new subscribers.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. says it expects to raise its prices next year now that a federal mandate to freeze subscriber fees has been lifted. "We continue to believe it would be appropriate for us to increase our pricing to be able to continue investing in and delivering the best audio content in the world," said Sirius XM Chief Executive Mel Karmazin during a conference call with analysts Tuesday to discuss the New York company's second-quarter earnings....

If the Republican presidential nomination was awarded to the candidate with the most persistence, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum would surely emerge victorious. He first visited Iowa back in 2009 and has been out-touring the other candidates at a frenzied pace in the early primary states for months. Now he's going to be the first Republican candidate to go up on the air with a 60-second radio spot -- eight months before the New Hampshire primary -- beginning Monday on satellite radio nationwide and later on local stations in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina.

How happy was Sirius XM Radio Inc. Chief Executive Mel Karmazin last week after his biggest star, Howard Stern, agreed to a new five-year contract with the satellite radio broadcaster? "From what I remember it was a good celebration," Karmazin said wryly. Getting Stern to stick around removed one of the big question marks facing Sirius XM. The company, which has weathered a difficult two years of financial uncertainty, needed to keep Stern not only for his listeners but also to signal to the financial community that its momentum is continuing.