XM

[hypwr]

I recently purchased a new Chevy Cruze (I love that car!) with XM radio. I'm hooked! Of course, just as with Comcast, I will probably only use 12 or 15 channels most of the time. I look at it as a supplement to our local stations.

I must confess though, that I still have some anger directed toward XM. Prior to their coming on the scene I was working on a system to modulate the Sun to give us the ultimate daytime station.

Oh well.

 

[ScottyBman]

I bought a Ford Fusion this Spring with XM Radio and have not listened to terrestrial (sp) radio since I bought the car. Just extended my membership and bought Sirrus/XM stock. Live in Youngstown and the radio here makes awful a step up.

 

[pman44]

I had sirius for 2 years when we got our van. I enjoyed it but not enough to pay for it. It's a dream for those who travel a lot, but no comparision for local if you don't, imo.

 

[Talk_Dude]

I had sirius for 2 years when we got our van. I enjoyed it but not enough to pay for it. It's a dream for those who travel a lot, but no comparision for local if you don't, imo.

Could you, (or anyone else) please explain what's the big deal about "local" when 95% of the airtime is filled with songs recorded in some other city? What's the big deal about "local", when it's just some guy who's probably voice-tracked from out-of-town saying nothing of real importance?

Now, if some station had Joe Grushecky and Donnie Iris playing music live in the station's studio, then that would be LOCAL radio.

 

[pman44]

Re: local

Because I get pittsburgh news, pittsburgh weather, pittsburgh ads, pittsburgh sports and talk. I value that. I wish more of local pittsburgh radio was truly local, but it is what it is.

Sirius was nice and there were some things I really enjoyed (the Dylan show, the rebroadcast of American Top 40 on the 70's channel, etc.). If it was free, I'd listen to it. If I traveled a lot, I'd probably buy it. But for a 35 minute commute from the south hills to oakland, it's not worth it, especially since I lose the signal in the tubes, in a drive-thru and in my garage.

 

[hypwr]

I was surprised when I carried XM through the Fort Pitt Tunnels. I suppose the Liberty Tubes is not wired for this service. Anyone know about the Squirrel Hill Tunnels?

 

[Boss Radio]

I had XM for a few months, then cancelled. If I want music, I'll play my own. If I want news, XM doesn't have it.

 

[dB]

I had XM for a few months, then cancelled. If I want music, I'll play my own. If I want news, XM doesn't have it.

XM-120: MSNBC
XM-121: Fox News Channel
XM-122: CNN
XM-123: CNN Headline News
XM-127: CNBC
XM-129: Bloomberg
XM-130: POTUS Politics
XM-131: BBC World Service
XM-132: C-SPAN Radio
XM-215: Pittsburgh (and Minneapolis) Traffic & Weather

Now, if you meant local news, you're right, you have to get that from a terrestrial station.

 

[FreddyE1977]

If you let your subscription expire, after a few months they will be calling and sending you
junk mail absolutely begging you to come back. You can get them down to four bucks a month
if you negotiate hard.

 

[apostate]

I had XM for a few months, then cancelled. If I want music, I'll play my own. If I want news, XM doesn't have it.

XM-120: MSNBC
XM-121: Fox News Channel
XM-122: CNN
XM-123: CNN Headline News
XM-127: CNBC
XM-129: Bloomberg
XM-130: POTUS Politics
XM-131: BBC World Service
XM-132: C-SPAN Radio
XM-215: Pittsburgh (and Minneapolis) Traffic & Weather

Now, if you meant local news, you're right, you have to get that from a terrestrial station.

So many of the news offerings are simply the audio from Cable TV news channels. There is also NPR on two Sirius Channels.

I can't hold Sirius all the through any of the tunnels in town. Not that I spend significant time in any tunnel to make that a problem, but hypwr asked about that. I'm impressed that you can hold any satellite service all the way through a tunnel.

Sirius/XM still has a problem retaining customers after whatever initial free trial they get when they buy a vehicle. Yes, if you negotiate, you can really get the rate down.

The Pittsburgh traffic and weather channel does not appear to be on Sirius. I wonder why.

The Joe Grushecky/Donnie Iris example is valid, in that we used to have local personalities playing music for local audiences. Not many of them were notable local musicians, but they were local personalities, known locally for playing the music local people wanted to hear. The number of "local" hits in years gone by in various markets around the country bear witness to the phenomenon. We certainly had jocks who played well here who either didn't or wouldn't play well elsewhere, and some who washed out here either before or after success in other markets.

In some cases, they became notorious for pushing certain records in return for payola. That's probably for another thread, but there were decided differences in what radio offered from one market to the next, in terms of music, promotion and presentation. That local differentiation is all but gone now.

Without a local flavor, I'm not sure why anyone would prefer a local terrestrial station to a network feed or a satellite service. It is an audience-building advantage that local radio has pretty much ceded long ago, in favor of economies of scale.

 

[gimmus]

They do not have repeaters in the tunnels. Ft Pitt just happens to be in direct line though with the Spring Hill Crown Castle tower which does have a repeater. I've seen it. Truly the oddest transmitter I've ever seen. Looks like a prop from the 1960s version of Dr Who. Cheezy props but great writing.

Anyway, there is a code buffer in the radio. Mine would run 3 to 45 seconds before dropout in a tunnel. Ft Pitt traffic moves faster typically than Liberty so you stand to get a terrestrial repeater signal sooner because of the straight shot to the tower.

You tend to get stopped much further back in Liberty tunnel so no chance of pickup before the code buffer runs out.

 

[Talk_Dude]

I had XM for a few months, then cancelled. If I want music, I'll play my own. If I want news, XM doesn't have it.

I bought a gadget that plays my MP3 player through an unused FM frequency. It also plays MP3's stored on a USB thumb drive. That's my new "music station". But I can still hit a station button to switch to a local station for news or a traffic report. The thing is, the music selection on XM is even bigger than what I've been able to copy to my MP3 player from my CD's, old vinyl, and paid downloads. For the few bucks that XM (or Sirius) costs, I can see how it would be appealing to have access to more songs.

 

[Parttimer]

I had XM for a few months, then cancelled. If I want music, I'll play my own. If I want news, XM doesn't have it.

I bought a gadget that plays my MP3 player through an unused FM frequency. It also plays MP3's stored on a USB thumb drive. That's my new "music station".

Maybe you can take you wit and wisdom to Modulated iPod-info.com

 

[Talk_Dude]

I had XM for a few months, then cancelled. If I want music, I'll play my own. If I want news, XM doesn't have it.

I bought a gadget that plays my MP3 player through an unused FM frequency. It also plays MP3's stored on a USB thumb drive. That's my new "music station".

Maybe you can take you wit and wisdom to Modulated iPod-info.com

What a witty, snappy come-back. I'll bet you're one of them there radio "personality" folks, ain't you? You're one of them folks what says all them funny knee-slappers between songs on the radio, right? I bet you're the "talent" on a major station, maybe even got you a syndication deal.

 

[cingram]

Just out of curiosity, Talk Dude, how many songs are on your MP3 player? I will be happy to reveal my
number, if anyone is interested.

C.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Just out of curiosity, Talk Dude, how many songs are on your MP3 player? I will be happy to reveal my
number, if anyone is interested.

C.

I have slightly over 300. I'd like to add more. That's why I'd also like to get XM or Sirius to discover more songs I'd like to get for my MP3 player.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Just out of curiosity, Talk Dude, how many songs are on your MP3 player? I will be happy to reveal my
number, if anyone is interested.

C.

I have slightly over 300. I'd like to add more. That's why I'd also like to get XM or Sirius to discover more songs I'd like to get for my MP3 player.

It's a few hours since I posted that, and I've been dealing with a little insomnia. I've just finished ripping five CD's to my hard drive that I'll be loading onto my MP3 player. I'm also working on extracting the audio tracks from a DVD I bought recently, Black Symphony by Within Temptation. That's a Dutch band, their music sounds like a cross between Metalica and Renaissance. People who only like bubblegum hits from the Top 40 era wouldn't like them at all, nor would they be likely to enjoy the music of any other bands in that genre of music.

Within Temptation is a big deal in Europe, but in Pittsburgh I doubt if more than a handful of people have even heard of them. Since I stumbled upon their music, I've also discovered European bands like Nightwish, Sirenia, and others. I'm also copying a CD by Ishtar Abinia. They're a European/Middle Eastern band composed of Spanish Gypsy musicians and a blond Morrocan/Egyptian Jew as their lead singer/frontwoman. Their instrumental sound is Spanish but the singer sings in Arabic, Hebrew, English, or whatever other language suits the songs.

If I were to get an XM or Sirius receiver, my guess is I'd discover even more such great music. I sure wouldn't discover anything new or exciting listening to broadcast radio. I never heard much different music when I lived in Pittsburgh, and here in Atlanta it's even worse.

 

[cingram]

Within Temptation is a big deal in Europe, but in Pittsburgh I doubt if more than a handful of people have even heard of them. Since I stumbled upon their music, I've also discovered European bands like Nightwish, Sirenia, and others. I'm also copying a CD by Ishtar Abinia.

You're right, at least in my case; I've never heard of them.

I just checked, and I have a little over 1800 songs loaded. Mostly oldies, but the library encompasses everything
from Fred Astaire singing "By Myself" (from 1953's The Band Wagon) to a punk band that covers bubblegum songs
(Oizone), which is very amusing.

C.

 

[Talk_Dude]

Within Temptation is a big deal in Europe, but in Pittsburgh I doubt if more than a handful of people have even heard of them. Since I stumbled upon their music, I've also discovered European bands like Nightwish, Sirenia, and others. I'm also copying a CD by Ishtar Abinia.

You're right, at least in my case; I've never heard of them.

I just checked, and I have a little over 1800 songs loaded. Mostly oldies, but the library encompasses everything
from Fred Astaire singing "By Myself" (from 1953's The Band Wagon) to a punk band that covers bubblegum songs
(Oizone), which is very amusing.

C.

By the time I finish copying all my CD's and old vinyl onto my hard drive, I think I might end up with a similar number of songs. I've only been working on acquiring my collection for a short period of time.

This is an excellent song for getting acquainted with Within Temptation. This is a good introduction to Nightwish.

I don't expect most people to like that sort of music, but for those of us who do, we have no choice but finding it places other than broadcast radio.

 

[xm41]

Just checked my mp3 player player. I got 3,659 songs loaded. On my hard drive I have over 90,000 songs

XM is a shadow of what it once was. I had it back in 2003 when it first started. The sound quality was excellent even Approaching CD quality. The playlists were incredible. You could listen for days without hearing many repeats. They played new music that broadcast radio never touched. It was pure nirvana.

Than came the Sirius merger. They blew out most of the XM programmers and DJ’s and they drastically cut the playlists. They decreased the sound quality of the music channels to get the bandwidth so they can add all the sports channels and upcoming video services. The sound quality today is worse than the most overprocessed FM stations and the music is nothing but repeats all day every day. I canceled last year and won’t be going back.