I thought I'd resurrect an old, sturdy thread with a list of my own presets, followed by a list of streams I wish I had presets for and some general observations.
I have 24 presets on my aging (?) Kenwood Plug-N-Play unit, divided into four banks of six streams apiece. Surprisingly enough, perhaps, that doesn't seem like enough. I could easily fill 30 or even 40 presets.
Naturally enough, then, the following list is subject to change.
I devoted each of the banks to one of four broad categories.
BANK ONE: News
1 - 141 BBC World Service News
2 - 140 World Radio Network
3 - 132 CNN
4 - 133 CNN Headline News
5 - 136 PRI - Public Radio World
6 - 137 CBC Radio One
BANK TWO: Rock
1 - 21 Alt Nation
2 - 22 First Wave
3 - 26 Left Of Center
4 - 18 The Spectrum
5 - 17 Jam On
6 - 95 Iceberg
BANK THREE: Dance and pop, etc.
1 - 11 BBC Radio 1
2 - 01 Sirius Hits 1
3 - 33 Area 33
4 - 36 The Beat
5 - 37 The Strobe
6 - 43 Backspin
BANK FOUR: Misc.
1 - 106 Sirius OutQ
2 - 105 Laugh Break
3 - 12 Super Shuffle
4 - 16 The Vault
5 - 24 Sirius Disorder
6 - 72 Pure Jazz
Truth be told, I listen to some of the above streams more than others, particularly where the second, third and fourth banks are concerned.
For example, I knew before I got Sirius that I'd like 22 First Wave and that has turned out to be true. But First Wave has lots of competition in my book. Among other streams towards the top of my heap would be 21 Alt Nation, 26 Left of Center, Area 33, 36 The Beat and 18 The Spectrum.
To me, the two streams that best distinguish Sirius from XM are World Radio Network and Sirius OutQ.
As I mentioned already, 24 streams doesn't seem like enough to me. Here's a list of some of the streams I wish I had presets for (some of these could "muscle in" on the above list sometime)
7 - The 70's
8 - Big 80's (also, I could mention 5 - The 50's and 6 - The 60's)
9 - The Pulse
10 - E Street Radio (a/k/a The Bridge, although I'm a bigger fan of Springsteen than of the soft rock format usually heard here)
23 - Hair Nation
31 - Radio Margaritaville
50 - Hot Jamz
51 - Heart & Soul
53 - Classic Soul
60 - New Country
62 - Classic Country
63 - Outlaw Country
70 - Planet Jazz
73 - New Age (True confession: I've given this a shot on occasion when it's time to chill out and sleep)
74 - Sirius Blues
75 - Standard Time (but I really wish Sirius would split apart standards and swing like it once did)
77 - Broadway's Best
80 - Symphony Hall
94 - CBC Radio 3
104 - Raw Dog Comedy
114 - Lime
130 - CNBC
131 - Bloomberg Radio
134 NPR Now -- (Actually, to me, NPR's news updates a minute past the top of the hour are as basic as anything currently in my news bank.)
... just to name some of the more obvious omissions.
FWIW, I intend to check out Cosmo Radio when Sirius gets around to adding it.
I could mention that 23 Hair Nation turned out to be surprisingly listenable. A pleasant surprise; not bad at all.
Looking over my above list, I noticed the omission of 32 Reggae Rhythms. Of late, I've been a bit put off by reports of some recent reggae artists being hatefully anti-gay. But, historically, I've liked reggae and this stream has sounded good to me when I've landed on it while channel surfing.
Here are some additional general observations I have:
1.) I'm a huge fan of Sirius, I'm happy I got it and (unlike some posters who show up on this board from time to time) I'm not about to dump it for XM or terrestrial radio.
2.) I bought Sirius to expand my horizons in both the areas of news and music (among other things), and I'm happy to say Sirius has done that.
3.) Additionally, some of Sirius's other programming (such as talk) can be engaging. Also, I recently added the comedy channel "Laugh Break" to my presets, as you can see. Simply put, I felt I needed the laughs.
4.) I LOVE the variety on Sirius. It's a channel-surfer's delight.
5.) As you might know if you've been reading my posts, I can come up with nitpicks about this or that (mostly that Sirius might do well to add this or that stream, that it got rid of good streams -- most recently including Swing Street and Folk Town -- and that the playlists of its music streams reportedly aren't as deep as XM's). However, of course, those nitpicks don't take away from the fact that I'm basically happy with Sirius.
6.) I find the fact that, on most music streams (BBC Radio One being one notable exception, something that renders it somewhat less useful in my book -- it's still a wonderful addition, though), the title and artist flashes on my screen as the song plays. I also make use of the song seek feature on my radio as well.
7.) By the way, a word about hardware. I'm not convinced that my Kenwood is quite as high-quality as it could be. It's functional, to be sure. Eventually I hope to trade to a more up-to-date receiver. (And, by the way, I sure am happy I bought the extended warranty at Best Buy! Once upon a time, I never bought extended warranties, but for satellite radio, it seemed like a "no-brainer" to me. It still does.)
I have no doubt that other streams, such as 118 RadioClassics and 119 Discovery Channel Radio, have riches worth hearing whenever I have a chance to devote the time to them.
I'm a casual fan of sports, although I suspect I don't follow sports quite as closely as I once did. That said, I think Sirius is doing pretty well in this area and I do check out the sports streams on occasion when I'm channel surfing. One disappointment to me is that XM is swiping the NHL away from Sirius after next season. Also, I wish us American subscribers could hear Hardcore Sports Radio, as I figure it has more prominent hockey coverage than streams like 121 ESPNEWS.
I'm not a huge fan of Howard Stern but I don't dislike him either. I checked out his show for 20 minutes the first day it aired and pretty much liked what I heard; I'll probably tune in again on occasion in the future. Of course, as you already know, Howard has TONS of competition where I'm concerned. The thought has occurred to me that I'd be a big Sirius fan if Howard Stern had never even been born. And two Howard Stern channels may be excessive. But on reflection, it's fair to say I like Howard Stern and I'm happy he's on Sirius. (And, of course, I hope all the hype surrounding Howard Stern spurs lots of new listeners to subscribe, helping to push Sirius towards or into the black and ensuring its long-term survival.)
While I'm sure I'm wayyyy out of the demographics for these streams, I've noticed that 115 Radio Disney and 116 Kids Stuff (especially Radio Disney) can sneak up on me when I'm channel surfing.
I might also mention two of the things I'm LEAST interested in hearing on Sirius: right-wing Christian preaching and spoken-word foreign-language programming. (The latter could change when I get around to learning French and/or learning more than rudimentary Spanish. Until that time, though, I admit "I don't get it." Of course, I can say it's good that foreign-language programming is there for those who do "get it." ... And, of course, my comments about spoken-word foreign-language programming don't apply to MUSIC with lyrics in foreign languages; as they say, "music is the universal language.")
(Now, is there anything I missed? Probably...)
I have 24 presets on my aging (?) Kenwood Plug-N-Play unit, divided into four banks of six streams apiece. Surprisingly enough, perhaps, that doesn't seem like enough. I could easily fill 30 or even 40 presets.
Naturally enough, then, the following list is subject to change.
I devoted each of the banks to one of four broad categories.
BANK ONE: News
1 - 141 BBC World Service News
2 - 140 World Radio Network
3 - 132 CNN
4 - 133 CNN Headline News
5 - 136 PRI - Public Radio World
6 - 137 CBC Radio One
BANK TWO: Rock
1 - 21 Alt Nation
2 - 22 First Wave
3 - 26 Left Of Center
4 - 18 The Spectrum
5 - 17 Jam On
6 - 95 Iceberg
BANK THREE: Dance and pop, etc.
1 - 11 BBC Radio 1
2 - 01 Sirius Hits 1
3 - 33 Area 33
4 - 36 The Beat
5 - 37 The Strobe
6 - 43 Backspin
BANK FOUR: Misc.
1 - 106 Sirius OutQ
2 - 105 Laugh Break
3 - 12 Super Shuffle
4 - 16 The Vault
5 - 24 Sirius Disorder
6 - 72 Pure Jazz
Truth be told, I listen to some of the above streams more than others, particularly where the second, third and fourth banks are concerned.
For example, I knew before I got Sirius that I'd like 22 First Wave and that has turned out to be true. But First Wave has lots of competition in my book. Among other streams towards the top of my heap would be 21 Alt Nation, 26 Left of Center, Area 33, 36 The Beat and 18 The Spectrum.
To me, the two streams that best distinguish Sirius from XM are World Radio Network and Sirius OutQ.
As I mentioned already, 24 streams doesn't seem like enough to me. Here's a list of some of the streams I wish I had presets for (some of these could "muscle in" on the above list sometime)
7 - The 70's
8 - Big 80's (also, I could mention 5 - The 50's and 6 - The 60's)
9 - The Pulse
10 - E Street Radio (a/k/a The Bridge, although I'm a bigger fan of Springsteen than of the soft rock format usually heard here)
23 - Hair Nation
31 - Radio Margaritaville
50 - Hot Jamz
51 - Heart & Soul
53 - Classic Soul
60 - New Country
62 - Classic Country
63 - Outlaw Country
70 - Planet Jazz
73 - New Age (True confession: I've given this a shot on occasion when it's time to chill out and sleep)
74 - Sirius Blues
75 - Standard Time (but I really wish Sirius would split apart standards and swing like it once did)
77 - Broadway's Best
80 - Symphony Hall
94 - CBC Radio 3
104 - Raw Dog Comedy
114 - Lime
130 - CNBC
131 - Bloomberg Radio
134 NPR Now -- (Actually, to me, NPR's news updates a minute past the top of the hour are as basic as anything currently in my news bank.)
... just to name some of the more obvious omissions.
FWIW, I intend to check out Cosmo Radio when Sirius gets around to adding it.
I could mention that 23 Hair Nation turned out to be surprisingly listenable. A pleasant surprise; not bad at all.
Looking over my above list, I noticed the omission of 32 Reggae Rhythms. Of late, I've been a bit put off by reports of some recent reggae artists being hatefully anti-gay. But, historically, I've liked reggae and this stream has sounded good to me when I've landed on it while channel surfing.
Here are some additional general observations I have:
1.) I'm a huge fan of Sirius, I'm happy I got it and (unlike some posters who show up on this board from time to time) I'm not about to dump it for XM or terrestrial radio.
2.) I bought Sirius to expand my horizons in both the areas of news and music (among other things), and I'm happy to say Sirius has done that.
3.) Additionally, some of Sirius's other programming (such as talk) can be engaging. Also, I recently added the comedy channel "Laugh Break" to my presets, as you can see. Simply put, I felt I needed the laughs.
4.) I LOVE the variety on Sirius. It's a channel-surfer's delight.
5.) As you might know if you've been reading my posts, I can come up with nitpicks about this or that (mostly that Sirius might do well to add this or that stream, that it got rid of good streams -- most recently including Swing Street and Folk Town -- and that the playlists of its music streams reportedly aren't as deep as XM's). However, of course, those nitpicks don't take away from the fact that I'm basically happy with Sirius.
6.) I find the fact that, on most music streams (BBC Radio One being one notable exception, something that renders it somewhat less useful in my book -- it's still a wonderful addition, though), the title and artist flashes on my screen as the song plays. I also make use of the song seek feature on my radio as well.
7.) By the way, a word about hardware. I'm not convinced that my Kenwood is quite as high-quality as it could be. It's functional, to be sure. Eventually I hope to trade to a more up-to-date receiver. (And, by the way, I sure am happy I bought the extended warranty at Best Buy! Once upon a time, I never bought extended warranties, but for satellite radio, it seemed like a "no-brainer" to me. It still does.)
I have no doubt that other streams, such as 118 RadioClassics and 119 Discovery Channel Radio, have riches worth hearing whenever I have a chance to devote the time to them.
I'm a casual fan of sports, although I suspect I don't follow sports quite as closely as I once did. That said, I think Sirius is doing pretty well in this area and I do check out the sports streams on occasion when I'm channel surfing. One disappointment to me is that XM is swiping the NHL away from Sirius after next season. Also, I wish us American subscribers could hear Hardcore Sports Radio, as I figure it has more prominent hockey coverage than streams like 121 ESPNEWS.
I'm not a huge fan of Howard Stern but I don't dislike him either. I checked out his show for 20 minutes the first day it aired and pretty much liked what I heard; I'll probably tune in again on occasion in the future. Of course, as you already know, Howard has TONS of competition where I'm concerned. The thought has occurred to me that I'd be a big Sirius fan if Howard Stern had never even been born. And two Howard Stern channels may be excessive. But on reflection, it's fair to say I like Howard Stern and I'm happy he's on Sirius. (And, of course, I hope all the hype surrounding Howard Stern spurs lots of new listeners to subscribe, helping to push Sirius towards or into the black and ensuring its long-term survival.)
While I'm sure I'm wayyyy out of the demographics for these streams, I've noticed that 115 Radio Disney and 116 Kids Stuff (especially Radio Disney) can sneak up on me when I'm channel surfing.
I might also mention two of the things I'm LEAST interested in hearing on Sirius: right-wing Christian preaching and spoken-word foreign-language programming. (The latter could change when I get around to learning French and/or learning more than rudimentary Spanish. Until that time, though, I admit "I don't get it." Of course, I can say it's good that foreign-language programming is there for those who do "get it." ... And, of course, my comments about spoken-word foreign-language programming don't apply to MUSIC with lyrics in foreign languages; as they say, "music is the universal language.")
(Now, is there anything I missed? Probably...)