Reviews
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Sirius Satellite Radio
By Michael Mess
Sirius Satellite Radio was one of the hot gifts this past Christmas season and there are more reasons for this than just Howard Stern’s switch to what’s being billed as the future of radio. As regular radio stations across the country are being swallowed by major corporations and playlists become more and more homogenized, satellite radio is swiftly becoming an attractive option for those actively interested in what we listen to at home or in our car. Sure, some of us are lucky enough to live in a market like New York, Boston, L.A., Seattle, Atlanta, etc. that are blessed with powerful college or non-commercial stations, but what about the rest of the country? I can also point out that most of these major “college stations” play more or less the same records (excluding local talent which is certainly important) anyway. Although it is a little pricy to buy the equipment, the service offers many advantages over contemporary radio. Satellite offers this and much more to people willing to pay the price of one record a month for their service.
The music selection itself is rather impressive consisting of decade and genre spanning channels as well as Top 40, college rock and spotlight channels. Speaking as someone who worked as a college station music director and an independent record promoter, I can vouch for the quality of the “Left of Center” channel having heard several new songs and bands that I haven’t heard on my local “college station” (which I’ll leave nameless except to say it’s in the Emerald City). There are still DJ’s that attempt to inform people about new music, but it’s comes off a little lame and “hipster” to me. After five months I am still randomly surprised by their playlist even though it does seem repetitive at times (remind you of your station?); but as an example I heard “Furniture” by Fugazi earlier today which really made my afternoon. I do wish the playlist was a little more experimental and less trendy though. I think it’d be better to just add another channel to provide nothing but music you can really hear nowhere else. There are quite a lot of options and fortunately it seems to be ever expanding. In fact, CBC3 was just added this December. For those in the know, it’s a great Canadian government sponsored station that lost funding this past year so Sirius picked them up right before expanding their coverage to the great white north. It appears that they are actively tweaking the music programming which is a promising sign. It’s certainly a better option than having one station dominate a market and feel it unnecessary to change.
The talk options, which the big buzz has been about lately, are as seemingly endless as the music channels. Everything from a live feed on CNN, NPR, and Fox News, to Howard Stern, TalkRight, TalkLeft, and Martha Stewart is available at all times. Unfortunately, it’s not live all the time, but that’s really asking a little much from 24 hour channels that hardly run any commercials. As for Howard Stern, the show is better than it’s been in years and it’s more infectious than I can remember it being than when I first started listening years ago. Those aren’t the only options though as there’s two comedy stations (one clean and one explicit) as well as three channels of religious programming.
Sirius also offers copiuos amounts of sports broadcasting - NCAA football and basketball, a plethora of professional sports including all NFL, NHL, NBA, Enlgish Premier League Soccer, horse racing and coming soon…NASCAR. Don’t ask me how broadcasting auto racing will translate over the radio, but with all the creative people over there I’m sure they’ll find a way to make it interesting. Sirius also hosts ESPN radio, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, an all NFL channel and NBA channels along with other channels to host other special events and programs.
Startup costs are quite daunting for such services for the under-employed but after the initial investment, the results makes up for the cost. Depending on how many places you want to make the radio available it can cost anywhere from $49 to $330 to start. In order to have it at home, work, and in the car it can cost $250 or more and the service costs $12.95 a month which is obviously well worth the cost.
With listenership topping 3.3 million listeners at the end of last year, Sirius is catching up to their terrestrial and satellite competition. With programming this diverse it won’t be long before the playing field is level. This is the future of radio as it offers a true alternative with more options in many different areas that most radio stations simply do not proffer. Despite not being able to offer truly local programming, Sirius has created a community of listeners all tuning in to hear their favorite talk radio, music, or sporting events.
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