Why so, Sirius?

Channels with Peter Kafka

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Tv & Film, Business News, News

4.4 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2023

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

SiriusXM makes money by beaming music and talk radio - especially Howard Stern - to your car using satellites and selling monthly subscriptions. That turns out to be a surprisingly resilient business: The company has 34 million subscribers and $9 billion in annual revenue. But CEO Jennifer Witz knows she has to adapt to the streaming world, so she’s refreshing the company’s brand and app, with the hopes that you’ll keep listening when you’re not driving. Vox’s Peter Kafka talks to Witz about how she plans to position her company in a crowded field. Then, Peter catches up with one of his favorites, Rob Harvilla (@harvilla), about his new book. It’s an adaption of his excellent podcast, which goes by the same name: 60 Songs that Explain the ’90s. Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians, and more to get their take on today's media landscape. About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In today's fast-changing digital world, proving your company is trustworthy isn't just important for growth, it's essential.
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0:48.7	Vanta makes it automatic. Visit vanta.com slash Voxpod to sign up for a free demo today.
0:56.0	That's v-a-n-ta.com slash voxpod.
1:05.0	This is Recode Media with Peter Kafka. That is me, and today we've got another twofer for you. That means two interviews
1:12.1	for the price of none, which is $0.0.0. First up, we're talking to Jennifer Witts. She is the
1:17.3	CEO of Sirius XM. It's a real live streaming service that turns a profit, reaches 34 million
1:23.9	people, and for various reasons gets next to no attention for media people like me.
1:28.9	So we're going to fix that now.
1:31.3	And then, because it's my podcast and one of the benefits of doing my podcast is I can have on people I like,
1:36.8	it's the return of Rob Harvilla who makes the totally awesome 60 songs that define the 90s,
1:42.1	which is a ringer-produced podcast you can hear on Spotify for free. It's also a book. I'm going to go buy it right now. You should too. Rob is great. He is a voice I have in my head when I'm trying to write narrative podcasts like the Land of the Giant season we just finished. You should also listen to that. Anyway, I like Rob. I try to avoid doing the Chris Farley sketch when I talked to Rob.
2:01.6	I think I did that here. But anyway, it's enough about me. I like Rob. I hope you like him too.
2:06.6	Now here's me and Jennifer Witts. I'm talking to Jennifer Witt. She is the CEO of Sirius XM. Welcome, Jennifer.
2:13.6	Thank you, Peter. Nice to be here.
2:15.6	Thanks for chatting. I saw you on stage last week.
2:18.3	You did a very big tech and media presentation rolling out the new version of Sirius.
2:25.3	I'm guessing that some of our listeners are really familiar with Sirius.
	...

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