Sirius confirms shock jock aspirations

At yesterday's annual shareholders meeting, Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Joe Clayton confirmed that his company is talking to Opie & Anthony and a number of other radio shock jocks, who might be less inhibited on a radio service that's free of the FCC's indecency rule.

"Do we want Opie & Anthony? Do we want Mancow? Do we want Howard Stern? We're talking to all of them," Clayton told Sirius shareholders.

But while there's been much talk about prominent shock jocks moving to satellite radio, none has yet made the move. Both Stern and Mancow remain under contract, to Viacom and Emmis respectively, not to mention that they would be expensive talent for Sirius or rival XM to sign for a single one of the 100 channels that each has. Even Bubba the Love Sponge hasn't been able to cut a deal with either of the satellite companies since being fired by Clear Channel. (Opie & Anthony have apparently continued to be paid under their contract with Viacom, even though they haven't been on the air. But that contract apparently runs out next week.)

With Sirius' stock price more than doubling in the past year, shareholders were a pretty happy group at the company's gathering yesterday in New York. And while Sirius still trails market leader XM, Clayton said that doesn't spell doom for the company. He insisted that his company could be successful as #2, just as EchoStar is profitable in satellite TV, despite trailing DirecTV.