I used to be a cheerleader for Sirius Radio. As far as I was concerned, they did everything right. They had GREAT programming, variety, and interesting DJ's. They pulled from more satellites than XM - and generally seemed like they were the underdogs trying to win the battle for superiority in the market.
Then they started talking about bringing on Howard Stern. Now, I despise the guy's radio/tv schtick. It's the worst of what's out there - BUT I gave Sirius the benefit of the doubt. In a competitive market - it was a good move. And I figured, what benefitted Sirius, benefitted me. I don't have to listen to the guy - but if it keeps Sirius in money then MY favorite stations and programming will be around longer too.
Turns out I was wrong...
Howard Stern comes on.. so does Martha Stewarts.. and one of my favorite channels that played the old Swing music got cut. They merged it with the Standards channel. Ouch... ok that hurt, but I could handle it... I didn't listen that MUCH to the Swings channel, so.. sure ok. Then I noticed that Howard Stern didn't just get a channel when he was signed.. he got... TWO channels.
WHAT? Wait... let me do the math on this one. Musical programming that spanned DECADES and featured THOUSANDS of songs and artists (from the past AND today) gets cut from TWO channels to ONE.. but ONE GUY gets TWO? No wonder I hate math...
Wait, it gets worse...
Months pass, and I let it go. I still had my channel and enjoyed the programming. Then they start advertising that MY channel is being changed from "Standard Time" to ... "Siriusly Sinatra". Um... ok. I figure, it's just marketing and branding. A newbie to Sirius might not know at a glance what "Standard Time" means... but "Siriusly Sinatra" will be self explanatory. I need to go to Optimists Annonymous.
I wrote and asked about it - they assured me I would not be disappointed and I would still be able to enjoy all the same music I did before. Well... yes and no. Now that the change was made they are playing all the same songs I loved.. yes.. but only as much as they can between all the Sinatra songs. Sometimes, it's back to back.. other times it's every third song!
I called to complain about it and told them it was more Sinatra than even his MOM would want to listen to. It fell of deaf ears (probably from listening to 24/7 Sinatra). She said, "maybe they will consider adding another station in a year or so.. if the deal with the XM / Sirius Merge happens, I might be able to get more channels for the music I like".
That got me thinking, so I looked into XM radio a little more... They had SEVERAL channels that play the music I like!! I signed up for the free trial - and LOVED IT! I'm hearing old songs I haven't heard in YEARS - the programming is MUCH better than I got on Sirius! Thank you Sirius for having me switch companies. And it's cheaper!! I USED to hope the merger goes through... now I don't. I called to cancel my Sirius account a few minutes ago... they didn't ask why or seem to care.
My XM Radio is now installed and working great! Even less static from the FM transmitter than the Sirius unit - actually there is NONE. Oh, and the web-based radio doesn't crash all the time like the Sirius player does (very important at work).
Viva la XM Radio.
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