Why people get xm radio

[rob1010]

The reason why people get xm radio is simple.They want to hear programming not available on local radio,such as big bands from the 20s and 30s,smooth jazz,all dance music,a commercial Gospel music station,adult standards like sinatra,Bennett,etc....Lets face it do we really need 5 top 40 stations in AC..and then we have a spanish sports station that no one even listens to..not even listed on the ratings..WFPG AM what a shame for a station that was popular in the past...they destroyed that station ...they would have more listeners with an adult standards format since we have so many retirees and senior citizens in this area....poor program directors at these stations

 

[magicjellybeans]

Im in my late 30s and I wouldnt mind a station that plays Tony Bennett.FM wont ever have a
statndards station in the NJ/NY area thats high power,their PPM meter doesnt say so..
Too many formats have fallen to Arbitron ratings or PPMs,so the damage is done.
Im actually surprised 70s,80s stations are all gone.Oh well ,back to Sirius/XM .
If FM doesnt listen to people they are going to loose the audience totally soon.
Make a webpage that people can give feedback to the programmers for god's sake!
;D

 

[magicjellybeans]

Yes but not everyone can afford unlimited data plans on their cellphones,then at that point is it with it cost wise?

 

[tommygraser]

Boost Mobile has a blackberry unlimited data plan for only 60 dollars a month. And with the Nobex radio APP and iheartradio APP there is no need for xm. music from the 50s, talk,news you name it its all there..

 

[MattParker]

Yes but not everyone can afford unlimited data plans on their cellphones,then at that point is it with it cost wise?

I pay $15.00 a month for unlimited data. Not much different from the cost for satellite and I get almost infinite choices. The main difference is I get drop-outs where satellite reception is more reliable (but that will change).

But, yes, the main reason for getting either one is not being able to get what I want from terrestrial radio.

 

[tom]

Unfortunately, it looks like the unlimited data plans are going to cost more
or be eliminated. The wireless carriers don't want to pay to improve the
bandwidth so everyone can watch TV and listen to the radio. They want
to be paid for it. Verizon is planning a tiered system now.

I have some cool apps on my Droid, but listening to tinny music on a 1/2"
speaker doesn't appeal to me. Yeah, I can connect the phone to the
system in the car, but it still sounds like crap compared to the radio, or
a CD or even MP3 device. It's also inconvenient to have to disconnect the
phone to use it as a phone. So for me, it's a novelty. Too many dropouts
as I travel, kills the battery fast, too. Of course, you can plug in a car charger
and make the phone really hard to place since it will have a fragile micro-USB
coming out the side and a 1/8" plug in the top. If you stop fast and the
thing falls on the floor the plugs get broken off and your phone becomes
a brick.

Not ready for prime time yet.

Now ... having said that ... an in-dash device with a cell-company SIM card
that uses bandwidth from Sprint or T-Mobile would be nice, but you'd have
to pay for an unlimited bandwidth plan for that. If you have two cars cars,
do you move it, or get two plans? We should see something soon.

As far as their being 100,000 Internet stations, yeah there are. How do you
know they are there and are they worth seeking out and listening to?

If they become popular, they need to make money to pay for their bandwidth
and music licensing and royalties, so the kids in the bedroom have to shutdown.
It has to be a business, like HyLitRadio.com where there are ads and
marketing and so forth, without that experience and expertise ... FAIL.

... tom

 

[MedianJ]

When AOL started they charged for the minutes you used, then went unlimited because of competition, now in some cases they are free. Same thing will happen to internet radio as it grows new companies will pop up and drive the prices down. For that reason alone you have to be a fool or stupid to buy any AM FM radio station. Everything will be online and the culture will be going there for their news, information, entertainment and content.

Sam Lit is already ahead of the pack and making money, that's a lot more than can be said about the current AM FM stations that are using last centuries technology and losing money with each passing day.

 

[KC2LDY]

I subscribed to XM for five years and finally dropped it in 2008. Part of the reason was personal - I refuse to do business with Mel Karmazin. But I also noticed that as soon as the merger with Sirius happened, XM's music playlists got narrower and shallower - more in line with the playlists on Sirius.

This was a bad move in my opinion. Sirius was the satellite service you used if you wanted perogramming to sound more like terrestrial radio (more personalities and all) - only without the commercials. XM, with its many format variants plus deep and wide playlists, was the one you went to if music was the most important thing.

I also noticed that, as XM tried to cram more foreign-lanuage channels into its bandwidth, audio quality on talk channels dropped to intolerably bad levels for me.

So, in light of the merger, all of the other reasons stated above and XM's decision to drop the "On The Rocks" channel (you needed a sense of humor to appreciate it), I pulled the plug. I was mildly surprised that, after a few months passed, I realized I didn't miss satellite radio at all.

 

[SilverTonicFree]

that's a lot more than can be said about the current AM FM stations that are using last centuries technology and losing money with each passing day.

So why are you so eager to try to get your job back with an FM talk station?

 

[TheBigA]

When AOL started they charged for the minutes you used, then went unlimited because of competition, now in some cases they are free. Same thing will happen to internet radio as it grows new companies will pop up and drive the prices down.

Increased competition isn't good if you run an internet radio station. The more stations, the fewer listeners each one gets, and the less money they make. At some point, the fad wears off, and even stations with large playlists will become tired and repetitious. The consumers are in a power position now, but they don't want to pay. The costs for running these stations won't be going down, and the royalty structure penalizes success. So I think we'll see a lot of these internet radio stations shut down because of the cost.

Same thing with Sirius XM. I rented a car that had Sirius, and it wasn't long before I could predict the songs or they played something I hated. They're doing things on the cheap because of their debt, and you can hear it on every channel. I really expect that they will be forced to add commercials to the music channels at some point, perhaps in a limited way. Increased competition from the internet isn't going to make anyone lose money. If there are hard costs, and they're not going down, you have only so much leeway. I don't think the AOL analogy works. Even AOL had to get out of the internet radio business.

 

[d21ofnj]

As far as their being 100,000 Internet stations, yeah there are. How do you
know they are there and are they worth seeking out and listening to?

If they become popular, they need to make money to pay for their bandwidth
and music licensing and royalties, so the kids in the bedroom have to shutdown.
It has to be a business, like HyLitRadio.com where there are ads and
marketing and so forth, without that experience and expertise ... FAIL.

Companies like the .977 channel, 181.fm and Big R Radio, you tell me. Those guys operate multiple streams and can't understand how they arent shutting down or off the air, unless they are all doing relays only. It also depends on how far one broadcaster will go that extra mile to promote its product, and how often will that broadcaster networks with the artists and the DJ's of whichever format they are streaming, i.e. appear at clubs, venues, concerts, etc. Even with advertising, I believe ipartyradio.com did have advertisers and marketing on their page just like Sam Lit's site, but even as big as they were, they shut down this past May. The bigger the station is, the more expensive operations cost.

 

[joshzz]

Pandora is all the hype but it's merely a novelty station that a bunch of investors spent tons of money promoting.

Pandora picks a playlist based on your submission of one band. Well, that's easy to beat. How about a new service that bases your playlist on several bands that you choose?

Pandora is easy to replicate. Satellite radio is a fad also. It is also a status thing.

"Look at me and my satellite radio. Look I'm so rich I can spend $12.95 a month for something everyone else get for free. I'm so rich and you're not!"

The novelty, status bit will wear away. 8)

 

[SoulCrusher]

Pandora is all the hype but it's merely a novelty station that a bunch of investors spent tons of money promoting.

Pandora picks a playlist based on your submission of one band. Well, that's easy to beat. How about a new service that bases your playlist on several bands that you choose?

Pandora is easy to replicate. Satellite radio is a fad also. It is also a status thing.

"Look at me and my satellite radio. Look I'm so rich I can spend $12.95 a month for something everyone else get for free. I'm so rich and you're not!"

The novelty, status bit will wear away. 8)

There was something like that around 10 years ago. I believe it was called Imagine Radio (and found at http://www.imagineradio.com). It was a free service that allowed you to hand-pick your favorite recording artists, and then customized a station for your individual tastes, picking similar artists to the ones you listed. Unfortunately, it fell victim to the same legal wave that also took down Peer-To-Peer file-sharing networks like Napster and KaZaa. I never quite understood why Imagine Radio was forced to change, since what they were doing was completely different. Eventually, Imagine Radio became genre based rather than artist-based, and it didn't go nearly as in-depth as it did previously. When you chose "Alternative Rock" as a favorite genre", you basically heard a whole lot of Lilith Fair music ... so much so that I gave up on Imagine Radio shortly thereafter. It's a shame, but I guess the recoring industry saw them as a major threat to their sales in their first incarnation.

 

[radioguy39nj]

"Look at me and my satellite radio. Look I'm so rich I can spend $12.95 a month for something everyone else get for free. I'm so rich and you're not!"

The novelty, status bit will wear away. 8)

There is a lot of music on satellite radio you cannot get for free on FM. And no, I'm not rich! Perhaps satellite radio will not be around forever, but one thing is certain. People will seek alternatives to FM. If it's not Sirius/XM, it'll be something else. No one knows for sure what the future will bring.

Also, consider this: if the Performance Tax becomes law, there will be fewer FM stations playing music. Those stations will flock to spoken word formats, such news/talk and sports. It will mean fewer choices for those seeking music for free.

I have not listened to an FM music station since subscribing to satellite radio in 2003. I use terrestrial radio only for news, info and sports.

 

[TheBigA]

People will seek alternatives to FM.

Correction: SOME people will seek alternatives.

I think those who seek those alternatives already have. We calculate the figure at about 5% of the population. These are serious music fans of very distinct genres. But the vast majority of the public is still quite satisfied with what they get, and their personal music collections are shaped by what they hear.

Also, consider this: if the Performance Tax becomes law, there will be fewer FM stations playing music.

Maybe. That assumes there won't be lawsuits and other challenges that will delay implimentation for a generation. Even in the current RIAA proposal, there is a phase-in system that delays implimentation for a while. And the fact is that the major radio companies are already paying performance royalties on digital streaming, so it's likely they won't change because of increased costs. They'll simply pass those costs on to the consumer the way Sirius has.

 

[bturner]

I disagree FM stations will switch to talk if the Performance Tax becomes law. While I hate that money grabbing idea, it will be a TNY percentage based on revenue. If the government began charging a 2-5% sales tax on cars and trucks, would people stop driving? Anyway, ever heard of bumper music? Talk stations pay ASCAP/BMI/SESAC for a few seconds of music one hears on talk shows going into and out of breaks.

 

[TheBigA]

If the government began charging a 2-5% sales tax on cars and trucks, would people stop driving?

The general view is that if the Performance Act, as currently written, is enacted, the average cost to stations will be about 12% of revenue. Not profit. I think if an additional 12% highway tax based on income was imposed on drivers, we'd see a huge drop in car usage.

Anyway, ever heard of bumper music? Talk stations pay ASCAP/BMI/SESAC for a few seconds of music one hears on talk shows going into and out of breaks.

And under the Performance Act, they'd pay an additional fixed amount for "incidental music." But it wouldn't be a percentage of revenue.

The bottom line is that NO radio station, including non-profit, uses music for free. The idea that terrestrial radio steals music or is exempt is incorrect. Terrestrial radio has always paid the creators of the content, who are the songwriters.

 

[bturner]

For my station, it would be about 2% of gross. And I'll ask if they want the station to announce song title and artist...if they do, my rate card applies as I'll write it up as a commercial announcement.

 

[magicjellybeans]

ref :For my station, it would be about 2% of gross. And I'll ask if they want the station to announce song title and artist...if they do, my rate card applies as I'll write it up as a commercial announcement.

Then FM wont be playing music for too long,cause they cant afford it!

What ever happened to the good ol days when talents and personalities were on the radio?
You couldnt wait to hear the jingles and the DJs and the music?
Here in NYC ,theres one station that does it -101.1 WCBS FM!
Why cant they all be so fun?

As for the guy who thinks $12/mo is expensive and you have to be "rich" ,are you kidding?!!
You pay $150/mo for ads all over your TV and watermarks on EVERY channel!?HA.

 

[TheBigA]

What ever happened to the good ol days when talents and personalities were on the radio?
You couldnt wait to hear the jingles and the DJs and the music?
Here in NYC ,theres one station that does it -101.1 WCBS FM!
Why cant they all be so fun?

Huh? Just about every station in NYC has live personalities on the radio. In fact, in practically every town, there are lots of live radio personalities. They're still there.

Meanwhile, I rented a car that has Sirius XM in it, and depending on the channel, most has no DJs. Why pay for a service that basically duplicates FM?