Sirius: Elvis Has Left the Building

The cost cutting continues at Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), according to messages posted on a New York radio broadcasting Web forum. Sirius has eliminated live disc jockeys from its '50s channel and two other feeds, said a posting by Fred Richards. A consensus of comments was that Sirius has given up on listeners over the age of 50.

Richards said saving money by eliminating live talent on the channel was "making the grievous error of chasing people like me back to our FM sets." The Sirius Web site lists only one disc jockey on the '50s channel now, Norm N. Nite, who broadcasts weekend afternoons.

"If this is how Sirius is managing the cost of doing business, the essentially become a satellite-based iPod/MP3 player," commented Phil Seely. "It's such a pitifully small drop in the change bucket (cutting disc jockey staff) that even bean counters must wonder 'why bother' when the dog (Sirius' mascot) continues to give away large bounties to non-radio talent like Jamie Foxx," who was just hired to help produce an urban comedy/entertainment channel.

Another comment, from Pat Ryan, asked if dropping the '50s talent was a reflection of the retirement last week of Jay Clark, the Sirius' 63-year-old programming chief. "No one," said Ryan, "has a clue regarding the older crowd."

The cutback on the '50s channel (and reportedly others) could be a result of Howard Stern's prominence on the service. With his appeal to a younger demographic, the Sirius audience may not include many pre-boomers. It could also be that Sirius believes XM's (XMSR) won the '50s audience, what there is of it. "The 50s" channel has about a dozen oldies shows in addition to its jukebox programming.

Efforts to reach spokespeople at Sirius for comment were unsuccessful at the time of posting.

Update: A spokesman for Sirius got back to me about this story late Tuesday afternoon with this comment. "Any changes we are making on our channels are to continue creating the Best Radio on Radio. We are moving DJs off some channels but adding them to others. Our listeners span generations and genres, and we constantly work to create the best programming for them."