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Satellite Radio Listeners?

Mike Sheridan

Mike Sheridan

Since this forum is titled "National Radio" I was wondering how many satellite radio subscribers we have here.....?
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Since this forum is titled "National Radio" I was wondering how many satellite radio subscribers we have here.....?
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I am, have been since 2003, but since your question has been moved from the National Radio forum to the SiriusXM Satellite forum, I'd expect you'll get a "yes" response from nearly everyone.
 
According to the comments I've read on numerous other threads on RD, I think there are a lot of people here who listen to Sirius/XM. Not a majority, probably, but a considerable number.
 
Provided that SXM keeps giving me the $25 for 5 months (plus taxes) deal I've had for the last few years I keep the subscriptions active in both of our cars.
 
Continuous from January 2, 2002, because the stereo shops were closed on New Year's Day.
Lifetime subscription for approximately eight years.
I check terrestrial radio for a few minutes each month to hear what stations are still there.
 
ai4i said:
Continuous from January 2, 2002, because the stereo shops were closed on New Year's Day.
Lifetime subscription for approximately eight years.
I check terrestrial radio for a few minutes each month to hear what stations are still there.
Click to expand...

I still listen to quite a bit of FM -- sports play-by-play for the sound quality, classical music on three noncommercial FMs for more interesting playlists than SXM's one classical channel, a classic hits station that plays '60s through '80s eliminating the need to keep switching among SXM's decades channels, and of course Connecticut news, traffic and weather, since Hartford might as well be in Mongolia for the attention it gets on SXM. Sometimes I tire of SXM's incessant, obnoxious promos with their whiz-bang-zoom sound effects and voice-distortion gimmickry and will listen to FM just to escape it even if the music isn't as good. I never expected to stop listening to FM completely when I became an XM subscriber and I don't expect to do so in the future.
 
CTListener said:
I never expected to stop listening to FM completely when I became an XM subscriber and I don't expect to do so in the future.
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Actually, I check some LPFM's in the area more often than I said plus a Pacifica-type station, but I know I would spend a lot more time with the non-coms if I lived in the Apple.
As an airport shuttle driver in a largely retirement community, my default channel is SPA for background ambience.
 
My wife bought a 2016 Kia Soul in almost mint condition. We noticed the satellite radio was active but didn't know why. The dealer doesn't turn the 3 month trial on for used cars. We were thinking maybe the previous owner didn't deactivate the subscription. Turns out we just happened on the free week or 2. We'll probably take the 3 month free trial and see where we go from there.
 
ai4i said:
Actually, I check some LPFM's in the area more often than I said plus a Pacifica-type station, but I know I would spend a lot more time with the non-coms if I lived in the Apple.
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Yeah, I'd imagine Southwest Florida isn't exactly brimming with high-quality college and/or community stations. I'm about 90 miles from NYC and don't get any of their FMs OTA normally, but being just off I-91 means easy reception of just about everything from Springfield, Mass., down to New Haven. I'm also at the northern edge of the usable signal of WPPB Southampton, NY, a community station with an interesting anything-goes-so-long-as-it-isn't-rap-or-hard-rock playlist. So why did I even look into satellite? Because I'm a radio, music and sports geek, and I can't get enough of any of them!
 
If it is a free trial for a new car, you might get all the channels but if it is a free promotion for everyone, you will at least not get the XL talk, rock, and hiphop channels.
 
I used to be an XM Radio subscriber. I subscribed for...a few years (not sure precisely how long). I had a 'walkman' type portable receiver. Stupidly, I supported the merger, after which the merged company instantly broke the 'promises' they made pre-merger.

Anyway, I liked the notion of XM Radio. I lived near a not-large city, and radio choices were very limited. I really liked the program variety, including jazz, old-time radio programs, the NHL coverage, IndyCar coverage, and even some MLB coverage (I'm not a baseball fan; it helped me fall asleep at night). The trouble was that the music was very difficult for me to listen to because the sound quality was so poor, I couldn't receive the signal at all at the office and at home I had to be upstairs and find a very specific spot for it to work (I couldn't move it more than a centimeter or the signal would be lost), and the external antenna option only helped me slightly in a couple places in my house (it didn't help at all at the office). Finally, it quickly became too expensive once the two companies merged and had total control of the market, with no competition.
 
bulwnkl said:
Finally, it quickly became too expensive once the two companies merged and had total control of the market, with no competition.
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FYI under the terms of the merger Sirius said the only price increases would be due to increases in music royalties, and music royalty fees have gone up quite a bit in the last 6 years. In fact there just was a huge publishing increase that hasn't been passed on to consumers yet because it's under appeal. Music royalties will continue to increase, and it will be a major factor in digital streaming in the future.
 
Been a subscriber off and on for a number over about seven years. When my next renewal comes up, I may not sign up again, or at best would look for an online only option, as I'm just not in the car regularly enough to warrant paying for that piece of a combo. If they can't offer something I'd accept, oh well, I enjoy it, but so it goes.
 
TheBigA said:
FYI under the terms of the merger Sirius said the only price increases would be due to increases in music royalties, and music royalty fees have gone up quite a bit in the last 6 years. In fact there just was a huge publishing increase that hasn't been passed on to consumers yet because it's under appeal. Music royalties will continue to increase, and it will be a major factor in digital streaming in the future.
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The merger happened over a decade ago now, so while I hear what you're saying, that has nothing to do with the price increases that happened immediately after the merger.
 
CTListener said:
...classical music on three noncommercial FMs for more interesting playlists than SXM's one classical channel...
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Off topic, but some interesting specialty classical formats are on HD subchannels in major markets.
_90.9.2 WETA, Washington DC's, "VivaLaVoce"
_98.1.2 KING, Seattle's, "Evergreen Channel"
_99.5.2 WCRB, Boston, used to have "The Boston Baroque Channel"
105.9.2 WQXR, NYC's "New Music Channel" used to be called Q2 Music, "living music by living composers"
All the stations above except maybe WETA stream unique extra classical formats.
Interestingly, all the above formats used to be financed commercially.
There also are or have been all Bach and all Mozart channels out there.
 
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