Opinion: The demise of satellite radio (1 Viewer)

[mattCR]

I have to say, I'm still insanely happy with satellite radio. I may be the exception to the rule, I don't have a single "music" station programmed into my hotlist. If I want that, I've got CDs. But the access to constant news & live sports programming? No way I could go without it. The merger to me is the ultimate in positives. During the summer, I can follow full on baseball, and in the winter, football. Sine I'm a fan of a not-local team in the NFL, it makes it a snap to follow, and getting both calls (home/away) is a treat - I've often found that I'll turn down the volume on TV and listen to the home call of a game, and when an injury occurs, I'll flick over to the away call.

I admit, the only thing that would make me happier is if they would form some sort of agreement with Audible and do serialized books or allow their radios a memory card to "store" programming of the same, more then the 45 minute storage limit.

But nothing, and I mean nothing in my mind beats the ability to hear about something going on in North Korea, and then flick through five different news sources instantly and get the information. It's like a news junkies dream.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Count me in as a fan also. I have a Sirius in my car and 2 internet accounts (1 for my Sonos, 1 to record on the computer). The internet replaced my trusty old S50, it's much easier to get home reception from the internet.

As to the complaints, I understand the anguish XM fans are expressing, they are used to deep, deep, deep playlists and Sirius doesn't do that. I too would like deeper playlists, but since I was a Sirius customer first, I learned to enjoy the music because of a lack of commercials and the vast number of genres to choose from. My musical taste has expanded incredibly since owning Sirius.

As a result, I never, ever stay with a station for long and choose a particular channel by where my mood leads me. Old Rock, New Rock, New Wave, Alternative, Punk, Garage, Singer/Songwriter, Jazz, New Jazz, Standards, Classical, New Age, even Country - I've listened to each one at least once in the last month.

Plus, I'm a Stern fan for 20 years, and he's the number one reason I subscribe. He makes me laugh on a daily basis, and more laughter in the world is a good thing. As long as he's on the air, Sirius has me as a subscriber. I know others feel differently, and they are welcome to feel that way.

And as far as the O&A thing is concerned; they just lost every affiliate they had on FM, I'm sure giving them Stern sized accomodations is not high on the priority list for Sirius XM. Sucks for them and their fans, but them's the breaks.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Jeff,
As a O&A fan I just want to clarify what happened to them....
They lost all their affiliates because one, in souring economic conditions
the show was becoming too expensive to carry and two, once their
home station in NY changed formats, they dropped Opie and Anthony
despite that the show ratings were up. Once they were dropped from
their home station, there were no more affiliates.
Sirius has benefited from Opie and Anthony with increased subscriber
numbers since they left FM radio.
I used to be a huge Stern fan, but all he does is talk about himself
and the rest of the staff just kisses his ass. He is no longer edgy for me.
However, it's inevitable that some will love him some will hate O&A
(and vise-versa).

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Jeff,
As a O&A fan I just want to clarify what happened to them....
They lost all their affiliates because one, in souring economic conditions
the show was becoming too expensive to carry and two, once their
home station in NY changed formats, they dropped Opie and Anthony
despite that the show ratings were up. Once they were dropped from
their home station, there were no more affiliates.
Sirius has benefited from Opie and Anthony with increased subscriber
numbers since they left FM radio.
I used to be a huge Stern fan, but all he does is talk about himself
and the rest of the staff just kisses his ass. He is no longer edgy for me.
However, it's inevitable that some will love him some will hate O&A
(and vise-versa).

Whatever. They lost over 20 affiliates in 2 1/2 years, most of which preceded the financial crisis. They never broke the top 5 mornings 12+ in any affiliate, never mind their home town, where they never broke the top 10. Their terrestrial "experiment" was a complete and utter failure, no matter what excuses they give. But that's neither here nor there; I'm not here to argue Stern vs. O&A. It's like arguing the New York Yankees vs. the Toledo Mudhens.
And what "increased subscriber numbers" are you talking about? Sirius XM has been losing subs for at least 2 quarters now.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I have to dismiss comments that the O&A show
terrestrial experiment failed miserably -- especially
when there have been offers for their return.
They have also recently been discussing how Sirius
management has been patting them on the back for
bringing many listeners over to satellite since their
departure from FM.
I'll respect the fact you like Howard and I an certain
you will do the same for my preferences -- but some
of these stats are not true and discussed on the show
regularly.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Whatever, the ratings were what the ratings were. Never breaking the top 10 (actually hovering around 15-20) in your time slot in your own home town will not sustain 20 national affiliates, no matter who you are. They can spin the ratings however they want, but Arbitron is Arbitron, and that's what advertisers use.

But like I said, I'm not here to argue Yankees vs. Mudhens. The facts are the facts, and you are entitled to your interpretation, as am I.

 

[Dave Gorman]

lack of commercials

My SO has XM/Sirius in his car which we drive on weekends. I've mentioned before how I have little use for it since their classical selection has gone from bad to worse. And while there may be no commercials, it seems the amount of mind-numbing idiotic chatter has more than compensated. For instance, on the alternative station, they do a top 18 on the weekends of the most requested songs of the week. It seems that between every song, they do the stupid "Alt 18" jingle ad nauseum (it reminds me of the radio jingle spoof on Family Guy!) and then sit and talk about the top 18 countdown for a while. And on top of that they have "guests" that merely take up more time talking about absolutely nothing.
So while it may be non-commercial, it feels like commercial FM in that one spends most of the time jumping from one station to another to another looking for one that's actually playing music, and hopefully a song you haven't already heard dozens of times in the last few days.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

My SO has XM/Sirius in his car which we drive on weekends. I've mentioned before how I have little use for it since their classical selection has gone from bad to worse. And while there may be no commercials, it seems the amount of mind-numbing idiotic chatter has more than compensated. For instance, on the alternative station, they do a top 18 on the weekends of the most requested songs of the week. It seems that between every song, they do the stupid "Alt 18" jingle ad nauseum (it reminds me of the radio jingle spoof on Family Guy!) and then sit and talk about the top 18 countdown for a while. And on top of that they have "guests" that merely take up more time talking about absolutely nothing.
So while it may be non-commercial, it feels like commercial FM in that one spends most of the time jumping from one station to another to another looking for one that's actually playing music, and hopefully a song you haven't already heard dozens of times in the last few days.

I'm sorry it doesn't work for you. I must be listening to different stations at different times, because the stations I listen to either have no DJ's (Bridge, Spa, Coffee House, etc.), or the DJ's are minimal and interesting (Sinatra, Underground Garage, Classics, etc). I stay away from the Decades over 50 and most of the "modern" stations. And I don't listen to any "special" programming like countdowns, except Marky Ramone's Punk Rock Blitzkrieg Extravaganza. Matter of fact, the only annoying DJ I can think of is Madison, so First Wave goes bye-bye when she's on.

 

[Dave Gorman]

the only annoying DJ I can think of is Madison, so First Wave goes bye-bye when she's on.

Funny you should mention her. I believe she's the one that when she started talking, I said to my SO "If they're paying her anything, she's overpaid"

 

[mattCR]

It proved invaluable to me again today. As all the local radio news stations were flipped over on Sundays to just prepaid ads, it's easy to find NEWS on SIRIUS on Sunday. Considering there was an APB in my city today over a shooting (nationwide attention, but let's not go there for political reasons) I was interested to keep on top of the news. This is one case where I flipped over to AM to see what was going on.
Let me add something to this: for years, I've had seven radio stations programmed into my car radio, all AM. I don't have a single FM station saved outside of SIRIUS.
Not a single local news station was doing live reporting - something I figured they would. But on SIRIUS.. wall to wall. 4 channels with everything from live reporting to talk back to call in. Genious. I was better served locally by a satellite company then I was any local outlet. Take that!

 

[Mark Leiter]

I find it compltely bizzare when on the Classical station (XM78). They've got the DJ rapping like he's on AltNation (XM47). I find that incredibly funny (not in a good way) and totally takes me out of my classical mood. They only time I want to hear the DJ on the classical station talking is when he is providing some sort of imput to the music I am listening to. Having a classical DJ cracking lame jokes between songs is really uncalled for.

What XM/Siris should be doing, now that they have merged, is breaking out the classical station into 6 or more seperate genres similar to what Pandora does. it would be so cool to have classical station like;

Violin Concertos

Piano Concertos

Vocal Music

Symphonic, Romantic era

Symphonic, Classical Era

Baroque

Gregorian Chant

Chamber Music

Pops

and so on...

 

[Dave Gorman]

breaking out the classical station into 6 or more seperate genres

I've always thought they should at least split it out into separate stations based on general eras/timeframes. I can only handle so much baroque and pre-baroque music before my head explodes. On the other hand, they hardly seem to care enough to provide one classical station, much less 5+.

 

[Michael Harris]

I was an XM subscriber but had to cancel when I sold my BMW X-3. I used the Blitzsafe Adaptor in order to use XM in a Sirius pre-wired car. Alas, my new X-3 has navigation and the adaptor is not compatible. Now I have to buy the BMW Sirius radio for about $500. What upsets me is one of favorite stations is NOT on the Sirius lineup but still on XM and that is Cinemagic.

 

[Sky Captain]

Quote:
I am on the road 1.5 hours a day to and from work and the same old songs on my ipod are getting boring after 7 years.

The way to remedy that is to buy new music (either online or just by going to the record store), not by saying 'I'm bored by what I've got and I don't know what to do."

 

[Michael Harris]

Since my last posting, I sold my 2004 BMW X-3 and bought a 2008 model. Alas, that has meant the end of my XM experience. Since my 2008 has built in navigation, my XM Blitzsafe adapter is no longer compatible with my car. My car is Sirius ready BUT, for some reason no one can really explain, there is no BMW Sirius radio to be had. My BMW dealer told me the old radio was discontinued and a new one would be available in August 2009. Still waiting. I miss my satellite radio but don't want to break down and get one of those add-ons.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Though I still have a SiriusXM subscription
(thanks to the fact that they won't let me
cancel without a discount), I rarely listen
to it anymore.

The playlists have gotten so small and
there is more importance placed on the
DJs doing their own "schtick" rather than
shutting up and playing the music.

Just so bored with hearing the same 500
songs day in and day out.

So, what I am doing these days is listening
to online radio. It's amazing how different
Internet radio is than satellite. The playlists
are through the roof. You don't hear the same
tired stuff every day. In fact, I am hearing so
many new songs from the 70s era that I have
actually been downloading them for my iPod.

In addition, there are no DJs. So songs aren't
interrupted by corny jokes and sound effects.

It's the kind of thing satellite radio should have
been. In fact it was when XM was king in town,
but since the Sirius takeover, everything has
been downgraded to what you would hear on
FM radio.

If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone you should
download one of the Internet radio apps. The one
I use is Wunderadio. For the computer there are
all sorts of programs that give you access to
hundreds of online radio stations. You would be
amazed how much better your listening experience
will be.

Now, if we could only get Internet radio in the car.....

 

[Win Joy Jr]

Canceled my XMRadio subs last month. Playlist demise and too much DJ chatter on "Commercial Free" channels were the nails in the coffin for me. Was offered a reduced rate to keep the sub, if I paid for the year upfront. No thanks.

I have my iPod, and I have more than enough content to keep me entertained for my 2 hours in the car each day. And I can use the iPod in the office as well. Any of the "Talk Shows" I listen to I can get as podcasts.

All that is left is to pull the antennas and the Commander out of the truck. Will most likely sell the units to cover upgrading the truck's radio to something with an iPod interface.

IMHO, the merger killed Sat Radio.

 

[Sam Posten]

A year now without either Sirius or XM after having the XM Everything plus best of Sirius to get Stern, after having had Sirius alone for just Stern. I haven't missed it for a second. I tried to negotiate with them to get the Sirius stuff for a reasonable fee, they refused my offer, which others had successfully gotten, so I said no. No regrets. Their loss.

Ron the beauty of the Net radios is that you don't have to choose just one app, there's so many great ones. Not sure you realize it but the Net radio built right into iTunes pretty much rules already.

 

[Hanson]

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Now, if we could only get Internet radio in the car.....

If you have an iPhone or smartphone, don't you just need an adapter that will allow you to play your phone through your car speakers? I use one of those cassette adapters that plugs into the phone's 3.5mm jack. Alternately, there are adapters that tune to a radio frequency.

 

[drobbins]

I bought a new (used) car over the summer that XM built into it, so I called and activated the 3 month trial. The trial ended a week ago and I haven't subscribed. I think they would have done better just giving me a 1 month trail. While it was new, I enjoyed it greatly. I loved the non comercial stations and heard many songs that I hadn't heard in a while.

Then after 3 months I was sick of them. While they have a great selection music overall, each station has a very, very limited selection. They wanted $175 for a year, but even at 1/2 that I don't think it is worth the $$. Many stations even still had commercials - the very reason I don't listen to OTA stations. So I am rediscovering my favorite ipod songs that I haven't heard in 3 months. For $175 I think I will expand my mp3 library.