REGARDLESS OF HOW lowbrow the hosts go, Sirius shows no signs of regretting Faction. Still, its success remains an open question. Satellite radio continues to lose tens of millions of dollars every month while signing up new subscribers—now a combined 17 million-plus (9 million for XM, 8.3 million for Sirius) paying $12.95 a month—many thanks to deals with automakers to outfit new cars with sat receivers. The advertising-light business model, meanwhile, means the companies don't have to release program-by-program listener numbers. Estimates from the ratings service Arbitron show that over the course of any given week last spring, about 99,000 people in major metro areas tuned in to Faction for at least five minutes. Howard Stern, by comparison, attracted 1.2 million listeners.

Whether or not 8 percent of Stern equals long-term viability, Faction has earned the respect of other action-sports profiteers. "They've gotten the most credible, authentic voices," says Bill Carter, a partner at Fuse, a youth-culture marketing agency with offices in New York City and Burlington, Vermont, that's advised Pepsi, Burton, and Quiksilver. "They've made a lot of very smart decisions around action sports that a lot of media and marketers haven't made."

Meanwhile, the unfiltered energy of the hosts affords Faction at least some appeal to listeners who otherwise evade talk of halfpipes and McTwists. Listening to these dudes go off, it's hard not to like them, even if you couldn't care less about what made them famous or feel obliged to hit mute when the kids wander in.

Which is no surprise to Sirius's Scott Greenstein, who insists that Faction is "working" when I meet with him in March at Sirius's posh headquarters, in Manhattan, just across from Rockefeller Center. A former showbiz player—he was an executive producer of The English Patient—Greenstein says he welcomes whatever ribald content the hosts might produce, because it's honest. "It's a reflection of what the people and the culture are involved in. If you go to the Summer X games or the BMX tour, they're covered in tattoos and edgy and raw. This is what they're into."

"And by the way," he adds, "in this day and age of the Internet and other things, if Faction is the only thing your kids are listening to, we're really happy."