Several years ago I wrote about how I was preparing to start a Post-Master’s Certificate program in Curriculum Studies. I remember writing that entry and at the time the only phrase I kept hearing go through my head was Chris Rock on the Howard Stern Show saying, “You’re going back to Shawshank!?” after Stern announced he was getting married again. I had that same thought going through my head when I started the Post-Master’s Certificate a few years ago and, in some respects, I have the same thought now as I prepare for this doctoral program.

There is a slight difference between now and then, though. When I started the Post-Master’s Certificate I had that, “Here we go again,” feeling because I was putting myself back in the classroom setting as a student. This time around I don’t have that feeling because I’m going back to the classroom setting as a student, rather I have that feeling because I’m going back to using student loans to finance my education. If you haven’t read my student loan story, then you can get a full rundown of my life with student loans by clicking here. If you scroll through those posts, you’ll find the one where I announce that I’ve fully repaid my student loans.

Though I need to take out student loans to finance my doctoral education, I am in a much different personal and financial place than I was when I finished my Master’s Degree in 2006. For example, after I graduated in 2006 I began working at a company in an entry level-type position making an entry level-type salary. Now, almost 10 years later, I still work at the same company and I’ve obviously progressed in my career. Granted, I don’t have the regular financial capacity to make $2,500 per month payments like I was making at the end of the aggressive, self-imposed repayment plan for my previous student loans. However, I do have the capacity to make payments on my new student loans while I’m still enrolled as a student.

And that’s probably the biggest difference between me being a student in 2015 versus me being a college student from 1999 to 2003 or a graduate student from 2004 to 2006. Today, I can afford to pay down my student loans during the actual semesters when I take them out in the first place. Will I be able to pay down the entirety of each loan during the semester when I’m taking the classes that the loan paid for? Probably not, but I’m in a much better position to try to do that now than I was 10+ years ago.

There are two other differences that I think are worth mentioning outside of the student loan issue. First, this is the first time that I’ll be taking fully online classes. In the past, I’ve successfully completed hybrid courses that are partially online and partially in the classroom. And for the last several years I’ve actually instructed many fully online classes. However, this will be the first time that I am a student in such a class. Second, this is the first time since I completed my Master’s Degree in 2006 where I’ll be taking more than one class per semester. After I graduated with the Master’s Degree, I completed two additional graduate programs by taking one class each semester (outside of textbooks, I didn’t pay to take these classes or to earn these degrees as I was provided with tuition remission at the local college where I work as an Adjunct Professor). The last time I was enrolled in more than one class as a student was during the spring semester of 2006.

All of these comments aside, I’m really looking forward to being engaged in the classroom as a student again. I’m particularly interested in engaging with my new classmates in an all-online setting. And, of course, I’m excited at the prospects of completing the doctoral program and finishing up a lifetime of classroom activity.

Stern announced that while he has signed a deal with Sirius XM, his staff hasn’t signed new contracts yet. Robin Quivers specifically stated that she’s not signed to a new contract and that her deal expires at the end of December. Of course, one would have to assume that if Stern was able to sign a new contract with the company, then the rest of his gang would be able to sign follow-on deals.

The interwebs are going to be exploding with news about Stern’s contract so if you’re a Stern fan, then I suggest logging on to the internet every few hours to see what the latest update is with this process. This is a pretty big media deal and I expect that it will generate announcements all over the entertainment world, too. Stern’s show has been one of the big drivers of original, entertaining content since he moved to Sirius XM and Stern made it sound like the folks at Sirius XM liked what his show had become and want it to stay that way.

And Lord knows the folks at Sirius XM have to be breathing a sigh of relief after they signed their biggest name to another five year contract!

As a subscriber to Sirius XM, and now that this announcement has been made, I plan on renewing my subscription when it comes due in February 2011.

Ha ha! I love it! Talk about having some impact on the internet!

As for the topic itself, no Howard Stern is not on vacation this week. Granted, I can understand why some fans feel the need to have the internet confirm this for them – I mean the man and his crew seem to take off every other week. Show producer Gary Dell’Abate claims that the crew gets 10 weeks of vacation every year. I don’t know about that – it certainly seems like they take off a great deal more time than that each year, especially when you consider that they get off every Friday and holidays in addition to those 10 weeks.

I think that it’s for reasons like this that Sirius XM subscribers and Howard Stern fans get frustrated when Stern talks about how he’s exhausted and he wants to hang it up when his contract is up. Sure, as a stockholder I want to see Howard stick around because I think it helps the brand. However, as a fan of the show I don’t want to hear about how this guy is tired and exhausted all of the time. He is on air at most for 20 hours each week (not including commercial and not-live-content breaks). Some folks out there do that much work in 2 days. Stern and the on-air talent do it in 4. That’s not a bad gig.

Anyway, the point of the post is that while Howard and his team go on vacation way too much as it is, they are not on vacation this week. Labor Day seems to have fooled some people.

Sirius XM closed around 68 cents today. So…for those of us who bought it at 11 cents, that’s not a bad gain, huh?

One of my roommates and I are somewhat “new” to the investing game and while other people are talking about how bad they are losing money, we’re both up over 100% in our portfolios. In fact, as of today my stock portfolio is up over 150%. I think the reason why we’re up so much is – first and foremost – that we bought when the market was low and everyone thought that the world was going to end. When people are dropping the value of stocks based on fear and paranoia, you have to jump in and buy.

However, I think that one of the reasons why we’re both doing so well is that we’re purchasing stocks with which whose products we are familiar with on a personal level. For example, I invest in Sirius XM because I know that they have a quality product (unless you’re one of these people who have the service for Howard Stern alone, then you might be annoyed at the 10 weeks of vacation that he takes every year). But when it comes to commercial-free music and something to listen to during the work day, no one can deny that Sirius XM is a great product.

Anyway, the reason for writing this post is to tell the everyday people out there that they can invest in the stock market and find success.

Sometimes, though, I have to question the wisdom of the powers that be at Sirius XM of allowing him to take the vacation breaks. The case that I have in my mind is from the winter months (might have been December) when XM subscribers were given a free preview of the Howard Stern channels for a week. I thought that was a great promotion, except that the Stern crew was on vacation that week! Good grief!

Anyway, since I’ve been getting a lot of traffic on the blog in the last few days from people Googling what the deal is, I thought I’d add this entry. Howard Stern is on vacation, again, and I believe that he’ll be back on the radio live next Monday morning.

At some point last year this guy was on the Stern show singing his other hit song, “Low.” He was so horrible in that performance that I figured he would be both laughed off of the show and pretty much lose his rapping career. Not so! I guess that with the amount of electronically-stylized music that is out in the market today the masses don’t really care about entertainers who can’t really perform live.

It’s definitely a weird change for the music market where, at one point, you actually had to be able to sing and carry a performance on your own. Today, all you need is a sound mixer and you’re good to go! Weird.

All I know is that if you listen to Flo Rida’s live renditions of “Low” and “Right Round” from the Howard Stern show, you’ll think this guy is the biggest scam artists on the face of the earth…or at least in the music industry!

As the article linked above puts it:

The money-losing home of Howard Stern, Opie & Anthony and the NFL got a $530 million investment from John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. that will keep Sirius XM out of bankruptcy. Shares of the New York-based company are soaring.

Malone is demanding a steep price in exchange for bailing out Sirius XM. Liberty will provide a senior secured loan of $280 million which matures in 2012 at an interest rate of 15 percent. Sirius XM, though, may have had little choice but to accept such a high interest rate because it had $171.6 million of its maturing 2 1/2 percent notes due Feb 17. Even with today’s huge run up, Sirius shares are down more than 94 percent over the past year.

In the second phase of the investment, Liberty will provide a $150 million loan and to buy $100 million in loans issued to XM Satellite Radio. The company will then issue Liberty 12.5 million shares of preferred stock which is convertible into 40 percent of the common equity. Malone and Liberty CEO Greg Maffei will join the board of the satellite radio company.

I take issue with the article’s use of “money-losing” as an adjective to describe Sirius XM. If you look at the figures, Sirius was on the brink of making money before it acquired XM and their unbelievable debt load. At this point, though, that doesn’t mean much since there is only one company – Sirius XM.

Since the deal was finalized, many online media sources have commented on it with varying levels of support (or contention). The New York Times’ DealBook blog, for example, looked at the Form 8-K filed for the transaction and proceeded to tear into the particulars of the deal (which are admittedly not the greatest). After the Times posted their review of the 8-K, stock prices for the company began to sink. In terms of real dollars (cents?), the stock price was at 18 cents before the Times posted their review. The stock price is now at 12 cents.

For months I’ve been harping about how Sirius XM is a great niche product for those who have extra long commutes and those who want special content like Howard Stern. The company is also poised for success in the long-term as it has some 20 million subscribers paying generally $13 per month for their service. That’s approximately $260 million per month; over $3 billion per year. Of course there are costs that have to be deducted from that $3 billion figure each year, but over time that built-in revenue base is a gold mine.

I have to wonder, though, if Sirius XM will be able to succeed in the long run with the way the internet media continues to lambaste and destroy it. The Motley Fool has it out for the company and it would appear that the would revel in its failure. And with the way the New York Times’ DealBook blog is listened to by investors, you have to wonder how many more negative reports the company can withstand in the current market.

Some of you may remember when I blogged about CBS changing the format of 101.1 in New York City – the number one ranked oldies station. When CBS changed from the oldies format to some stupid “Jack-FM” concept (which was based on an iPod style – playing whatever they wanted to play), the station quickly tanked. Again, after realizing the error of their ways – and losing tons of advertising revenue – CBS Radio changed their minds and brought back the oldies format.

And now we have the latest blunder in the New Jersey/New York terrestrial radio meltdown. Press Communications, the owner of four stations in the Monmouth County/Ocean County area, have taken their G-Rock Radio Channel (106.3 FM) and changed it to now be called “Hit 106.” The name change isn’t the problem – it’s the format change. As described in the Asbury Park Press:

Less than a week after the Jersey Shore station WHTG (G-Rock) 106.3-FM switched from an alternative rock format to contemporary hits, a group calling itself “Bring Back G-Rock,” with a Facebook page, is planning a protest at noon Saturday outside the station’s studio at 2355 West Bangs Ave. in Neptune.

Press Communications, the owners of the station, made the switch at noon on Monday, to appeal to the 18 to 44 age range.

How stupid is this decision by Press Communications? If you live in the Jersey Shore area, you know that G-Rock was all over the place up and down the shore during the spring, summer, and fall seasons. They were a household name in terms of the radio world…and they’re rewarded for their excellent marketing and advertising by being taken off of the air? Who’s making these ridiculous decisions in the terrestrial radio world?!

I was glad to read that there is going to be a protest outside of the Press Communications building tomorrow. Though I can’t be there, I agree that G-Rock Radio should be brought back. Since I’ve picked up Sirius XM there have only been a few times that I’ve been forced to listen to old-fashioned, boring, censored radio. During those times the only stations that I listened to were G-Rock Radio and NJ 101.5-FM. This was a good channel and I guarantee that it’s a bigger money-maker (and crowd pleaser) than Hot 106.

Watch – taking G-Rock Radio off of the air will be one of the dumbest moves in Press Communications’ history.

As someone who spends a great deal of time in my car each week because of my job, I can tell you that the benefits of commercial-free music channels far outweigh the benefits of terrestrial radio (which is, essentially, the fact that it is free). I’m willing to spend $13 per month to listen to commercial free music for about two hours every day that I have to commute to and from work or travel around the state. Sure, some other commuters may not need this service and if I traveled a much shorter distance to work, then I might not have Sirius XM installed in my car.

But what bothers me in this situation is the rumor mongering that only takes into account what Stern said on one day. No one mentions that on the very next day he said that if he wasn’t on Sirius XM then he wouldn’t be in radio, period. So as a Sirius XM shareholder please forgive me if I want the full story out there and not just the negative sounding part.

One of the early draws for <Sirius and XM subscribers was the fact that they could not only get commercial free music, but they could also listen to some great uncensored content. For the adult crowd this means that you get to listen to guys like Howard Stern and Bubba the Love Sponge without constant bleeping or cuts to commercials. It’s pretty sweet.

The details on Bubba’s deal with Sirius XM are obviously being kept private, but it’s good to know that the company is listening to what their fans want. Hey – today is the last day before Christmas and I’m telling you that Sirius XM is a great gift for anyone with a long commute or who spends a lot of time traveling. It’s great for music in the office, too!

Shameless pre-Christmas promotion – success!

The point of this entry, really, though is to congratulate Sirius XM for keeping Bubba the Love Sponge on board and thus making their fans happy. Good work!