Radio responses.

CBS Radio reported its first-quarter financials last week for the first time since Howard Stem left the network. Revenues declined 6 percent. Although the announcement never mentioned Stem's name, a report from Lehman Bros. blamed the soft results on "muted industry trends and replacement programming investment for Howard Stern."

But maybe CBS should worry more about Stem's competition than about the shock jock himself. A new study by emarketer found that Stem, now heard on Sirius Satellite Radio, polarizes the listening public, while XM Satellite Radio Holdings has more general appeal.

On a six-point scale, ranging from "like a lot" to "dislike a lot," Stern alienated more people than he attracted. The study then polled respondents on 46 different attributes for a variety of radio personalities. For the characteristics "mean" and "rude," Stern. came in first place.

But that fits with Sirius' overall image. The study compared Sirius with XM and found "XM's talent has more universal appeal." On the six-point scale, Sirius listeners ranked their radio personalities highly in terms of both "like" or "dislike," while XM listeners found their hosts generally likeable with two-thirds of subscribers giving positive marks.

"In old-time radio terms, XM has a MOR (middle-of-the-road) station appeal, while Sirius is more of a niche station, appealing more strongly to selected targets," the study stated.

eMarketer estimated that at the end of 2005, XM had 6.1 million subscribers and Sirius had 3.2 million. A first-quarter announcement from XM put its subscriber base at 6.5 million. The emarketer study predicts that by the end of 2006, Sirius will surpass 5 million subscribers and XM will have nearly 9 million.

Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [phone], ext. 237, or at [e-mail].