Why I don't have satellite

[johnbasalla]

While in a restaurant, they had "The 2000'nds and Now" channel on. Except for one new tune, everything played can be regularly heard on any "Hot AC" station. I wouldn't be surprised if the new tune would appear on over-the-air radio anyway, maybe as Randy Jackson's Ipod "pick of the week" to start.
It was generic and unremarkable.

Over the course of the 40 minutes or so, the host only once gave song/artist credit and when on, usually talked about the latest upcoming movie (which might as well have been a paid spot for all it was worth), or who's dating whom. I can get all of this on over-the-air radio easily. The service it provided me was as a good reminder of why I haven't signed up. I say that with the realization that the "Deep Tracks" channel and some others would provide something only occasionally available on over-the-air radio. Still there's not enough to make it worth my while.

 

[Boss302]

OK but, what's your point?
Nobody told you that you have to "sign up"
I like FM and I like my Sirius. It seems that the last few years FM radio took too much away and replaced it with too little.

 

[Skynet74]

Regular radio has about 15 minutes of commercials every hour. Satellite radio actually provides channels with just music. Much more pleasant to listen to. Plus you get specialty programming like Howard Stern and other talk shows. CNN and FOX news channels also are simulcast. It's great if you don't have cable TV like me. Also where else can you get dedicated channels that air music from the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and Today? Satellite Radio has a special channel for each one!

Did you just base your decision on the 40 minutes you heard of one channel in a restaurant? I think that is the problem. If you actually had the service in your house and surfed through all the channels, you would probably find out that it's pretty damn cool!

 

[Bill_W]

While in a restaurant, they had "The 2000'nds and Now" channel on. Except for one new tune, everything played can be regularly heard on any "Hot AC" station. I wouldn't be surprised if the new tune would appear on over-the-air radio anyway, maybe as Randy Jackson's Ipod "pick of the week" to start.
It was generic and unremarkable.

Over the course of the 40 minutes or so, the host only once gave song/artist credit and when on, usually talked about the latest upcoming movie (which might as well have been a paid spot for all it was worth), or who's dating whom. I can get all of this on over-the-air radio easily. The service it provided me was as a good reminder of why I haven't signed up. I say that with the realization that the "Deep Tracks" channel and some others would provide something only occasionally available on over-the-air radio. Still there's not enough to make it worth my while.

That would be The Pulse, Sirius 12 / XM 26. One of many music stations. When is the last time you heard a live Jimmy Buffett concert on FM radio? Tune into Sirius 31 / XM 55.

 

[RunawayRadio]

Over the course of the 40 minutes or so, the host only once gave song/artist credit and when on, usually talked about the latest upcoming movie (which might as well have been a paid spot for all it was worth), or who's dating whom.

Typically, it isn't neccessary for a Sirius/XM air personality to announce "song/artist credit". The reason is that most, if not all, Satellite receivers display that information while the song is playing.

 

[OldNumber7]

Sat rad isn't for everyone. It all depends on how you use radio in the first place. If all you want to do is hear hit (past and present) songs and you don't mind commercials, then sat rad probably isn't worth it.
Here's why it works for me:
1) I have no patience for commercial clusters on traditional music radio anymore. None, nada, zero.
2) Yes, I like the hit stations, but I also like sampling the formats that are unavailable on old radio: Deep Tracks, Blues, Real Jazz, Coffee House, Outlaw Country and others.
3) I enjoy getting the audio from the cable news networks in my car (and now at home -- I have downgraded my cable service to the "poor people's tier" because I watched so few of the 35 extra channels I was getting).
To each his own.

 

[dsturdy5]

I concur with what a lot of other people have posted. First of all no one asked for you to purchase a satellite system, nor said you are required to have one. It seems to me that your post here was just to ruffle feathers. Secondly, if you have a niche interest (NFL, NASCAR, various political leanings, specialty talk, etc) then it is definitely worth it. Third, the music variety on the Sirius/XM hits is not very different from what you would hear on most AC or Top 40 terrestrial stations. However, I doubt most people purchase a sat system with that in mind. Rather, they purchase to listen to a certain genre and/or time period. I am 31, I grew up with 90's rock, I listen to Sirius 24 (Lithium) and several of the current alt. rock stations. JamOn and CoffeeHouse give me live and unaired (on other platforms) cuts of songs I could not find anywhere else. If I am jonesing for some NFL talk in mid June, I can find it. If I want to hear both sides of a political argument from several sources, it is at my finger tips. In other words, satellite will give you what you want, if what you want is more than terrestrial radio, then you will love it.

 

[scanman1]

To the originater of this thread: You're not missing anything. I've had the service since Jan 02 (had XM) and since the merger the playlist selection number has dwindled to the point of sounding like commercial FM radio minus the commercials. What you hear now is the Sirius programming philosophy of playing mainly well-tested songs and an occasional "oh wow" song (like commercial music radio). I really do hope playlists expand again before I decide to leave forever.

 

[OldNumber7]

To the originater of this thread: You're not missing anything. I've had the service since Jan 02 (had XM) and since the merger the playlist selection number has dwindled to the point of sounding like commercial FM radio minus the commercials. What you hear now is the Sirius programming philosophy of playing mainly well-tested songs and an occasional "oh wow" song (like commercial music radio). I really do hope playlists expand again before I decide to leave forever.

There are dozens of music formats on sat rad that are unavailable on FM. If all you are doing is listening to the oldies channels, or the contemporary music channels, then it's gonna sound like FM (minus the commercials). What else would those channels sound like? If you aren't looking to broaden your horizons a bit and try some of the other formats from time-to-time, then don't complain. I'm reminded of The Simpsons episode when Homer complains that he wants his favorite oldies station to play "new" oldies. I say again: Sat rad isn't for everybody.

 

[scanman1]

Yes, but the musical formats not available on traditional radio have become more repetitive in their song rotation as well.

 

[scanman1]

To the originater of this thread: You're not missing anything. I've had the service since Jan 02 (had XM) and since the merger the playlist selection number has dwindled to the point of sounding like commercial FM radio minus the commercials. What you hear now is the Sirius programming philosophy of playing mainly well-tested songs and an occasional "oh wow" song (like commercial music radio). I really do hope playlists expand again before I decide to leave forever.

There are dozens of music formats on sat rad that are unavailable on FM. If all you are doing is listening to the oldies channels, or the contemporary music channels, then it's gonna sound like FM (minus the commercials). What else would those channels sound like? If you aren't looking to broaden your horizons a bit and try some of the other formats from time-to-time, then don't complain. I'm reminded of The Simpsons episode when Homer complains that he wants his favorite oldies station to play "new" oldies. I say again: Sat rad isn't for everybody.

I've decided to back off my original critique after giving the service another chance. I haven't listened to satellite radio regularly for a while, but decided to give it a long listen a few days this week. The 60s channel was one station I flipped on during my listening session and noticed they have been adding more tracks to the playlist, including "oh wow" songs that haven't been played for a while. Other channels sound a little better as well as of late. So now, I would recommend at least trying it for a month to see if there are any formats available you might enjoy.

 

[Ai4i]

When is the last time you heard a live Jimmy Buffett concert on FM radio?

We drive a taxi near the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, FL, west of Fort Lauderdale. Early exiters from the concert were able to enjoy its conchlusion in our cab and later passengers sang along with the replay. Of course, with all that Landshark beer inside them, they did not sing very well ;D

The Florida Panthers NHL franchise plays at that stadium. As other drivers try to monitor the game's progress on the noisy local AM station, we crank up the full quieting satellite feed, often a few seconds ahead of terrestrial radio.

 

[markwooldridge]

It's all horses for courses I'm afraid. I'd like to have Sirius or XM in our vehicles. Regrettably I am under some severe budget constraints lately so badly that the satellite radio had to go. If you have pre-kindergarten to early grade children, Kids Place Like is addictive for them - it's real interactive radio with kids wanting to call in and chat either with the animals in the morning, or Mindy in the afternoon or the guy stuck in a real tall tree later on. That tended to be the ONLY channel on the radio when my son was in the vehicle.

We have to have a cellphone though and cos it's a Blackberry, Sprint insist on a plan that has unlimited data. Pandora, Slacker, Moodio.fm and Nobex Radio Companion have filled a lot of the void. I'm able to cache some of the Slacker stations on the phone so I can get to listen to a few favourites without any cell phone drop-outs. Of course once you go out of the major urban areas the cell phone is useless as a replacement for sat radio.

But on long road trips, through rural areas, satellite radio is an enjoyable thing to have... you can only possess so many MP3's and hear the same old songs again and again for so long - and your MP3 player doesn't do live content.

 

[ctkatz]

perhaps i should have started a flame thread in a terrestrial radio forum of why i don't listen to terrestrial radio.

the biggest reason that people have satellite radio is because the radio in their local market sucks, or doesn't have any local stations with the format they want to listen to. i personally like stuff from the 60s-80 and hair metal and hockey talk and liberal talk. you can't find any of that near where i am.

if you want to complain about the music in the restaurant, well, that's society's fault for producing crap music and then turning around and telling us it was the greatest thing since mozart, and then complain that the restaurant chose a station of current "hits" that was set to appeal to the great unwashed masses. my advice is to not bash satellite radio and stop patronizing the restaurant again.

 

[Gatekeeper007]

Enjoy satellite radio while you can, althou chapter 11 almost took it out I don't think it's going anywhere. What I mean is that history will repeat it's self. In the early days of FM radio alot of FM stations went under trying to stay on the air much like the chapter 11 sitution with XM/Sirius. A lot of companies understand this and that is why they have been given the helping hand to keep going since in the long run they should come out on top. Mind you I said they will come out on top not the general listening public. How? Over the air broadcast radio is killing it's self by doing dumb and greedy things that kill off it's listening public a little at a time thereby giving satellite radio more listeners year by year. Once the off air broadcast industry is weak enough (local and small independent operators gone and big companies drained down or gone) then satellite radio will take over and the prices will go up and up and up. Can't happen you say yeah right, just like people would have told you 10 years ago that gas prices couldn't go up and up and up either. All satellite radio needs is control of the general public and you are well on your way so enjoy it while you can.

 

[ctkatz]

i hope prices do go up a little. it means i'm listening for free sooner. it is a purely selfish statement i know.

you talk about how fm radio is shooting itself in the foot, i think that the hd sidechannel choices of these fm stations kill them even more. i know that in some markets there is different styled content on the sidechannels. how many markets have pretty much the same thing on all of their sidechannels? one of the things that was a supposed benefit of hd radio was its diversity of content. and that's what has been advertised constantly. so what happens when people buy their expensive hd radio receiver and tune to the sidechannel and here the same thing on the main channel?

media consolodation was the worst thing that happened to broadcast media in this country.

 

[TheBigA]

so what happens when people buy their expensive hd radio receiver and tune to the sidechannel and here the same thing on the main channel?

Give me an example where this is happening.

 

[Skynet74]

Most markets only seem to have 5 or 6 HD channels. Compare this to over 100 satellite channels. There reallly is no comparison. satellite radio blows away HD.

 

[TheBigA]

Most markets only seem to have 5 or 6 HD channels. Compare this to over 100 satellite channels. There reallly is no comparison. satellite radio blows away HD.

The number of channels don't matter. I have hundreds of cable channels and only watch about a sozen. Same with radio. All people care about is getting a channel that plays what they want.

 

[Skynet74]

The number of channels don't matter. I have hundreds of cable channels and only watch about a sozen. Same with radio. All people care about is getting a channel that plays what they want.

Well the chances of you getting a station to play what you want is a lot better with a bigger channnel selection. Sirius gives you over 100 channels. The internet gives you thousands! HD radio gives you about 6.