I can't talk to the "Roberto's" that you're putting into the mix because I don't know exactly what you mean by that. I don't think every case is the same. I just think there is a similarity between Roberto counting Howard's money and Howard counting Jay's money.
Basically, I'm just saying that some people feel like Roberto, who is annoyed with Howard for taking a shit on Jay because of what he does with his money. But they are doing the same thing by taking a shit on Howard for the same reason. There's a whole thread on it here.
I realize that everyone makes their own deal. Perhaps in Artie's case, his insecurity over his self worth, not just financial, is what holds him back from leaving. I think Artie is torn between wanting to retire from the show and not becoming persona not grata with Howard and his fans.
This is probably the case - his lifestyle just doesn't play into getting up at 4am. He does want to leave, but that means a bit hit to his income and a loss of a built-in audience/plug system.
But that's just on the Artie side of things. Roberto also touched on Howard not going to bat for Bubba. Howard countered back by saying something to the effect that Roberto doesn't know that he did or didn't go to bat for him. But I think that Roberto's point back to Howard that if he did go to bat for him, why was Bubba left with only a one year deal at Sirius and stuck having to work two jobs to make his show work? Roberto's point being, if Howard is the big shot at satellite, shouldn't he be able to dictate some of the parameters involved in filling out the roster of talent on his channel?
By the end of the Roberto fall out, Howard was mentioning that he helped to build satellite radio's current subscriber tally by bringing over 5 to 6 million of his fan base. With that kind of pull, Roberto's ideas of what Howard should be able to do for his channels doesn't seem that far fetched. The end result being that Roberto wants to have the best radio possible for the money. He wanted to ask his question directly to Howard.
It was a fair question.
But is it a fair question? Maybe its OK to question how Howard spends his money, or what he does with regards to his channels, but to then feel compelled to call him and bitch at him about it? That's a bit crazy. Howard is Howard, and does what Howard does. Howard got to be what he is today doing things his way. Just because they now have to pay $12.95, I think some folks have some sense of entitlement or feel that because they "invested", they should get some sort of return. I've been listening almost daily for 13 years, and have never felt that I don't get my money's worth. I enjoy listening and think that all of the armchair quarterbacks like Roberto should just let Howard do his thing. Apparently that was a good enough formula to get them to become fans, so it must be working. I guess that some folks may have lost some interest over the years, but that's natural. People change, but it seems that some people like Roberto have a hard time letting go. And if Roberto knows anything, he knows how geting paid when working with Howard works. The Fab 5 or whatever get what they get, and the rest get peanuts.
Also, as Howard said, no one knows exactly what Howard has done for Bubba. We already know that half of the time Howard is full of shit. Despite maybe making it sound like it, he doesn't run the company, and can't make the suits sign Bubba if they don't want to. He can make threats and such (like shutting down 101), but based on the way Sirius is being run at the moment, I'm not so sure anyone there is acting rationally. Just knowing that they can't be bothered to alert their subscribers to the recent channel changes, I don't hold much faith that they are capable of doing anything rationally.
Anyhow, thats just my 2 cents on the thing.
