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What's so great about satellite radio?

O

OutOfTheBiz

You know, I have both Sirius and XM, and I can't say that any channel on either one is any less cookie-cutter or formulaic than any broadcast station. Yes, there's a wider variety of stations and more niche choices, but the programming itself is very vanilla and bland. Each station plays short lists with lots of repetition. There is no great imaging or innovative programming. The talent reminds me of the satellite formats of 15 years ago. All that's missing is the "localization bumps" at the end of their patter with obvious tape hiss.

The reality is that satellite doesn't sound any different to me than any terrestrial station. The only difference is the number of format choices.

Discuss.
 
I disagree on several points. The general depth of the playlists seems to be deeper on Sirius and XM. If one looks at a typical terrestrial oldies station, they have a playlist of 300-400 titles, and this covers music for a 20 year period basically. If you take just one decade channel on Sirius, say channel 5 Sirius Gold, it covers about 10 years and has a playlist of over 700 titles, throw in the 60s channel and you can add 600 more- thus a 20 year span on the two "oldies channels" on Sirius give us over 1300 songs, far more than your average terrestrial oldies formated station. And XM on the same hand has even deeper playlists than that. Classic rock coverage on both XM & Sirius go far beyond what local classic rock FM stations offer. You have formats on sat radio that simply are not offered in most markets- classical, reggae, classic soul, punk, standards, classic country, jazz standards, new age and many, many more.That in itself makes sat radio more attractive than terrestrial with its few formats. The coverage is superb, coast to coast reception, thus not having to turn your dial to pull in a new station when driving about this vast country. Sports coverage is great, the NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL, NASCAR and more are offered. If I live in Phoenix and want to listen to my fav football team, the Miami Dolphins, I can- with sta radio, not terrestrial.
The offerings are simply more and better to me in nearly every sector with sat radio. Yes, some formats do duplicate terrestrial- so what?. And then we get to the commercials/ads. With music lovers there is no comparison, 60 minutes of music per hour vs 40 on "free" radio. Yes, I am glad to pay a couple bucks a week to not be bothered by ad drivel and endless dj banter. Commerical free music is very much appreciated! The pluses far outweigh the negatives or sameness, IMHO. :)
 
DEEP TRACKS XM 40

'nuff said ;D
 
I have 2 XM radios & I really enjoy the programming. In addition to the music & sports mentioned in earlier posts, satellite radio also offers many talk formats & host that may not be available on terrestrial radio in some or many markets. Both services have talk hosts that are exclusive to that service. Both XM & Sirius have channels for traffic & weather information for selected cities, but the information on these channels is no substitute for that coming from local radio.

Here in Southern Wisconsin, I have only 2 terrestrial radio stations I regularly tune to...1 for local news & 1 I occassionally tune in for music. I've had a Walkman-style XM radio (Pioneer Inno) for a year now, so the terrestrial music station gets very little play now.

Just a note that most of XM's talk & sports channels, & 4 or 5 out of the 70 or so music channels do have short commercial breaks, but they're nowhere near the length of those on terrestrial radio. The programs on these channels are not entirely controlled by XM.

I wouldn't give up my XMs even if someone gave me a radio station.
 
I've been in radio for over 20 years. It took alot of mental back and forth before I decided to take the satellite plunge, after all, this is the equivelant of "sleeping with the enemy". That was close to five years ago, and I can honestly say that I dont think that I have given radio more than 20 hours listening time since I've gotten my Sat. receiver. I do agree that some of the stations seem to have shallow playlists, and certain songs run in cycles, being played almost daily for a week or 2 before being mothballed for a bit, but with so many options to choose from its hard not to find something to my liking. Many of the songs I hear are the songs that made radio so great years ago. I cannot remember the last time "Last Resort" from the Eagles or "Goodnight Saigon" from Billy Joel got any radio airplay, but on XM there they are. Deep tracks is a treasure trove of songs both forgotten and "what the hell is this??" . I tend to stick to the decades channels and the rock channels, but in the summer I have my choice of any baseball game I want, and in the winter every NHL game is carried. Sirius has the NFL and Nascar. Its amazing how many people working in radio at this moment finish thier air shifts get in the car and flip on the Satellite radios. At this time there is close to 17 million people that have subscribed to any of the 2 services. Not a large number comapred to radios total listenership, but when you realize that this is 17 million people willing to shell out $13.00 or more a month, the number seems impressive. Trust me, I could go on but dont want to turn this into a commercial for Satellite radio. It's been 5 years of great radio, and I wish I had done it sooner
 
^^^ what he said.

I've had Satellite radio for the past couple of years. From a music fan perspective, it's perfect. Exposure to new tunes, classic tunes, varying genres, stuff I might not normally listen to, deep cuts I haven't heard in a long time....and I'm not forced to listen to jocks who are shooting for good rating and more advertising. They provide what the listener wants to hear.

I used to think that paying for radio was silly when I can get it OTA for free. Then one day I realized (while listening to an XM feed at a local big box store) that I pay for cable TV. Cable TV and Satellite radio aren't that far removed from each other. You pay for the service...you have a sh**-ton of channels to choose from and even if there's a few channels you won't touch if your life depended on it, there's still several channels that you will enjoy and get your $$ worth. And the only commercials I hear are on the talk/news channels. Nice.
 
I'll tell ya what's great about satellite radio:

1. XM 60's on 6!

2. Our local oldies station is starting to suck out loud with the amount of '70s songs they've been adding to the rotation.

3. Commercials. There are days when spots get on my nerves, that's when I turn on the XM and letitrip!

4. $12.95 a month is NOT a lot to pay for all the choices you get in music and talk programs.

5. I like HD Radio (mostly for NPR shows), but cannot get the quality of programming I get with XM on most terrestrial HD radio stations (chances are I never will).

6. Coast to coast coverage. It's nice to cruise for several hours on the road (going on vacation or seeing relatives) and have my favorite stations with me the whole way.

7. Sound quality has improved recently, and can equal, in most cases, HD Radio audio quality (a few HD radio stations do sound a little better).

8. Awesome personalities (again, check out 60's on 6 to see what I mean!).

9. Feature programming that can blow away most of what is on terrestrial radio.

10. Despite what the OP said, the channels on satellite are not clones of free radio formats (some are similar, but go a lot deeper into the music selections, as satellite is for "power listeners" such as myself and not for background sound or as a distraction, or for 15 minutes of listening to get your favorite song and then turning it off).

Well, there it is. My reasons why satellite radio is so great! 8)
 
On the music side, no commercials, less DJ chatter (dont have to plug that local gig or talk about the weather), and I've rediscovered a lot of music I had forgotten or only heard briefly and didn't remember. And if there's a song I like, I can just look at the screen and find out who performed it and what it's called. I can't tell you how many times FM radio has played something I like and I have no clue who it is or what it's called. Oh, and no commercials.

Over in talk and sports, I get to hear any game offered wherever I go. I follow several college sports teams on XM now thanks to the SEC addition. I can also hear a lot of syndicated talk shows that aren't available in Los Angeles, in addition to all the exclusive shows I listen to. Plus I have the Xpress RC, so I can pause or rewind the radio if need be for up to an hour.
 
I'm probably in the minority format wise, but as a sports fan I feel Sirius is far superior to any terrestrial radio. Being able to listen to all NFL broadcasts from each team as well as WW1, and do so without interruption during travel, etc. in invaluable. If I want local, I can read the paper. It is very rare that I even use regular radio anymore.
 
I had Sirius since Aug 2006. Just choice of channels it offers is why terrestrial radio cannot compete.

For example: How many cities have a blues station? I not talking about a Sunday Nite Blues Show on college radio. Sirius has a great Blues channel.

Other example: Buzzsaw on Sirius: Classic Hard Rock/Metal from 70s,80s & early 90s. When is the last time your local classic rock station played any of these songs: Beatin The Odds by Molly Hatchet, Empire by Queensryche, Stone Cold Crazy by Queen, You Could Be Mine by Guns & Roses, Snortin Whiskey by Pat Travers?
Buzzsaw plays them.

Finally being able to listen to Howard Stern. None of the stations in Atlanta had the guts to broadcast him when he was still on Infinity Broadcasting.

For real old school variety: There is Totally 70s on Sirius along with The Big 80s & 60s Vibrations.

What else? I could go on & on.
 
We have two SIRIUS receivers one in the house and one in the car. What my wife and I like about SIRIUS. First the depth of the play lists. Classic Rewind playes classic rock tracks that our local classic rock station doesn't play. Even SIRIUS hits one the top forty station has a wider play list than most top forty terrestrial stations I've heard. Also, where on terrestrial radio can you hear classic alternative, and good 80's music. SIRIUS 80's plays far more 80's songs than the local hot AC station.

Now I had to really talk my wife in to it. She could not see paying for radio. I told her that if we're paying for TV than she should have no problem paying for radio. What finally sold her on the idea was when Dish network added the SIRIUS music channels. Now she can't immagine what we ever did with out it

The NFL is another big plus. I like being able to listen to all the NFL games and have access to formats that you cannot get on Terrestrial radio.
 
Well for me with the death of the Smooth Jazz format going on in OTA radio, Watercolors is pure greatness. I thought XM and Sirius was the devil. Now I love it.
 
Where else can you get 'up to date' Beautiful Music then on XM78 ? The decades channels (XM4-XM9) on XM are priceless from the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's - they sound like the radio stations of the day with relatively huge playlists, AND you can usually get ahold of a REAL person to make song requests (60's and 70's) are great about this.
Well worth the coin
 
I think if the original poster is looking back at this thread, he now has his answer. Pretty obvious sat radio gets a positive view from its subscribers, can terrestrial radio say that? :D
 
The only thing I find odd here is this.

All of the radio pros and this board say that the way to save terrestrial radio is by making it personable again, and relating to the listener, giving them information. But you folks are saying that satellite kicks AM/FM a-- because of the absence of all of this. Terrestrial station listeners complian about non-stop music, and no personality, yet that very same concept makes satellite thrive?

So what gives (aside from deeper playlists - because you can tire of 700 songs just the same as 300 eventaully)

Cheers,
Jody Thornton
(Hamilton, Ontario)
 
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