The 70's Channel-70's on 7

[calguy]

Forgive me if this has been covered before.
I rented a car that has XM last week and was puzzled by the 70's Channel.
They were running jingles last night as I made a 400 mile drive to Southern California and all night I heard jingles for Eric Chase. Strange since I heard no Eric Chase, or for that matter any jocks at all. The music selection was decent at times, but I guess I was listening to Stylistics Day at XM. I heard literally all of their hits. Is this normal?

I found a lot of channels that I liked, but there is certainly a lack of personality, and the traffic updates had a poor audio quality to them. Actually it seemed as if the audio in general was poor. It sounded like and MP3. I was expecting more I suppose, but isn't that what we've been sold on their ads? I found the Blues Channel to be pretty good, but again, not much more than a juke box. I don't think a lot of talk would be right, but something more than what is there right now. I would have loved to have been told what songs I was listening to, as some of the channels play some rather obscure tunes. Are they planning to bring more personality to their channels?

 

[Kent]

> Forgive me if this has been covered before.
> I rented a car that has XM last week and was puzzled by the
> 70's Channel.
> They were running jingles last night as I made a 400 mile
> drive to Southern California and all night I heard jingles
> for Eric Chase. Strange since I heard no Eric Chase, or for
> that matter any jocks at all. The music selection was
> decent at times, but I guess I was listening to Stylistics
> Day at XM. I heard literally all of their hits. Is this
> normal?

The 70's on 7 has personalities at least part of the time. Since last night was a Sunday, they may have had some special programming or something of the like on. I usually don't listen to that channel on weekend nights. So, I don't know.

> I found a lot of channels that I liked, but there is
> certainly a lack of personality, and the traffic updates had
> a poor audio quality to them. Actually it seemed as if the
> audio in general was poor. It sounded like and MP3. I was
> expecting more I suppose, but isn't that what we've been
> sold on their ads?

I've never been a big fan of the audio quality of either satellite service. I've always thought FM radio sounds better than either satellite service. I do think, however, that XM has better sound quality than Sirius. What is really like is that I have more choices, and it's less than a dollar a day for each service. Most of us will probably waste $7 between now and Saturday, and, if I get the small soda instead of the large at lunch, I've got my satellite radio money. However, I still find myself flipping channels a lot, not only between satellite channels but terrestrial radio as well, and I probably wouldn't have bothered with satellite radio if I still lived in a large radio market. However, where I live now, my only terrestrial choices are Delilah and John Tesh when winding down for the evening, but, now, I can listen to The Heart, The Blend, or even Watercolors on XM, Starlite, Love, Movin' EZ, or Jazz Cafe on Sirius. I'd have any of those channels over Delilah or Tesh!

> I found the Blues Channel to be pretty
> good, but again, not much more than a juke box. I don't
> think a lot of talk would be right, but something more than
> what is there right now. I would have loved to have been
> told what songs I was listening to, as some of the channels
> play some rather obscure tunes. Are they planning to bring
> more personality to their channels?

My radios for both satellite services have scrolling marquees that tell the title and artist of each song. It's a neat feature, though the pitfalls of using it in traffic are obvious. I notice more automated jukeboxes on XM. Sirius seems to have more personality, though it, too, has its share of automated jukeboxes. Both satellite services are also heavily voicetracked.

 

[calguy]

> I've never been a big fan of the audio quality of either
> satellite service. I've always thought FM radio sounds
> better than either satellite service. I do think, however,
> that XM has better sound quality than Sirius.
> I still find myself flipping channels a lot, not only
> between satellite channels but terrestrial
> radio as well, and I probably wouldn't have bothered with
> satellite radio if I still lived in a large radio market.
> However, where I live now, my only terrestrial choices are
> Delilah and John Tesh when winding down for the evening,
> but, now, I can listen to The Heart, The Blend, or even
> Watercolors on XM, Starlite, Love, Movin' EZ, or Jazz Cafe
> on Sirius. I'd have any of those channels over Delilah or
> Tesh!

I flipped a lot too, and I can certainly agree about choices in smaller towns.
I'll take Tesh over Delilah any day, but I'm sure he gets old too.
Don't know if I'd buy XM or Sirius yet, but maybe someday.

> My radios for both satellite services have scrolling
> marquees that tell the title and artist of each song. It's
> a neat feature, though the pitfalls of using it in traffic
> are obvious.

Guess my rental Buick didn't have that feature, sounds neat...

> I notice more automated jukeboxes on XM.
> Sirius seems to have more personality, though it, too, has
> its share of automated jukeboxes. Both satellite services
> are also heavily voicetracked.

So they're not "that" different from terrestrial radio, they track just like the rest of them.

Well thanks for the info, it's appreciated!