Satellite Radio XM and Sirius

[8mileshigher]

Saw some stuff on another thread and thought it might be interesting to share views on the general nature of satellite radio. XM and Sirius are the best known satellite radio operators in North America. Are there other satellite radio station operators in other countries -- or do these two dominate the international market too ?

Do Forumites have their preferences of stations, programs etc on these satellite broadcasters ?

What about the oft-discussed merger of XM and Sirius... how do RRF members see themselves as subscribers impacted.... less competition therefore prices go up ?

Myself, I have XM in my car and my wife's car came with Sirius. We do not have satellite radio in our home. We note that there are frequent "blackouts" or interrupted signals with Sirius, that we do not experience with XM. Am not sure if this has something to do with location of Sirius's satellite in orbit around the earth or other satellites getting in its way and blocking their signal ? Or do these frequent outages mean Sirius does not pay their bills on time to the aerospace company that put them in orbit ?

My favorite station is Deep Tracks 40 on XM... especially when they go digging into the vaults for obscure album tracks from my youth or old live broadcasts from King Biscuit flower hour.... or when they have special live performances of various artists on hand at XM studios. I think there is one DJ on Deep Tracks who starts off every one of his Saturday afternoon work shifts with the long version of Iron Butterfly's In-a-Gadda-da-Vida. Nice to know someone still bucks the system and plays the long version. I have listened to Tom Petty's Buried Treasure show a few times and the original celebrity guest DJ show, Bob Dylan's Theme Time radio.... the latter is not really a favorite of mine as Dylan gets into some pretty obscure themes for songs, from his vinyl collection acquired over the years, but he's a celebrity and can do what he pleases, right ? I also listen to Top Tracks 46, Big Tracks 49 and Bluesville 74 on the XM dial. The interesting thing about Deep Tracks is how deep they go into historical unearthing to bring some less then famous tunes to the airwaves.... how many other stations ever play the "Change of Address Jam" from the Blind Faith Deluxe edition ? Once in a while when switching back and forth on the XM band, you can hit both Deep Tracks and Top Tracks doing different cuts from Dark Side of the Moon at the same time.... like minds thinking alike with their DJs-Producers ?

On my wife's Sirius station, I listen often to Classic Vinyl and I think the other one is called Retread or something like that. Sirius has experimented in the past with certain stations formatted for just one band... like they once had a Who station, a Led Zep station and now a Stones station

The baby-boomer that I am, I must confess that I share the XM music airwaves listening with a dose of their news broadcasts too.... the XM Public Radio 133, BBC 131, Fox News 121 and CNN 122 stations and a Canadian news station too. Although in the last few weeks I have listened less and less to the news channels, as they are stuck in U.S. election-mania and I am sick of hearing the same politician’s voices making the same stump speeches and promising voters the world (with no explanation of whose taxes are going to pay for these grandiose give-away schemes !). Myself, I am not in favor of XM and Sirius merging, as prices will go up and choices will go down and I would hate to be stuck with Sirius's faulty satellite operation that has repeated outages, after experiencing the good strong signal from XM over the years.

In keeping with the idea of theme programs and dedicated format stations, I would like to see one of these satellite stations do recordings strictly featuring Rickenbacker artists... now that would be a great station !! Anyway, it would be interesting to learn other Forumites preferences and their views on the satellite radio phenomena’s impact on Rock and Roll. Any Forumites care to share favorite obscure tunes they have heard on XM or Sirius ?
Regards - Rich F.

[wmthor]

I've had a Pioneer Airware (portable XM pictured below) for about three and a half years now. It's about twice the size of an iPod. I've use in my truck, my old Jeep, in the house, and at the office. It also allows me to record up to six hours of programming, which is nice to listen on an airline flight.



Fast forward to last month when I bought a new Jeep that came with Sirius. I find myself still using the XM. As far as signals go, even going under an underpass at 70mph will cause my Sirius to lose it's signal for a second. Never experienced that with the XM.

I really like XM's 60's Sonic Sound Salutes (retro broadcasts) on Friday afternoons. Just the thing for the drive home from wherever (I'm in Dallas this week). They got clips of ads, station announcements, etc from the older AM stations and then broadcast it as if your listening to an AM broadcast in the 60s. I also like the XM's Bluesville (74) over Sirius' Blues Station and XM's Willie's Place (13) over Sirius' Roadhouse Country. Furthermore, I believe that XM's traffic reports are outshine Sirius'.

I'm approaching the merger with mixed feelings.

[winston]

Hmmm! I have experienced those dropouts you are talking about with Sirius just driving by tall trees. We have tall trees in abundance here in British Columbia.

Perhaps I should have bought XM? I listen to a whole pile of different channels on Sirius. I must say that apart from the comparison to what sounds like a much better satellite radio provider in XM that I am so relieved to be able to dial in whatever music that I am in the mood for without any fuss and almost zero chatter from dj's.

Having access to sports channels is great too.

Here's their current channel line up:


SIR-2 The Bridge Pop Mellow Rock
SIR-1 NPR Public Radio NPR
1 SIRIUS Hits 1 Pop Top 40 Hits
2 Starlite Pop Lite Pop
3 SIRIUS Love Pop Love Songs
4 Movin' Easy Pop Easy Listening
5 SIRIUS Gold Pop The '50s
6 '60s Vibrations Pop The '60s
7 Totally '70s Pop '70s Pop
8 Big '80s Pop '80s Pop
9 The Pulse Pop '90s Hits & Now
10 E Street Radio Rock E Street Radio
11 BBC Radio 1 Pop New Music from the U.K.
12 Rolling Stones Radio Rock Rolling Stones music
13 Elvis Radio Pop Elvis Presley
14 Classic Vinyl Rock Early Classic Rock
15 Classic Rewind Rock Later Classic Rock
16 The Vault Rock Deeper Classic Rock
17 Jam_ON Rock Jam Bands
18 The Spectrum Rock Adult Album Rock
19 Buzzsaw Rock Classic Hard Rock
20 Octane Rock Pure Hard Rock
21 Alt Nation Rock Alternative Rock
22 First Wave Rock Classic Alternative
23 Hair Nation Rock '80s Hair Bands
24 Lithium Rock Grunge & '90s Alternative Rock
25 Underground Garage Rock Little Steven's Underground Garage
26 Left Of Center Rock Indie/College Rock
27 Hard Attack Rock Heavy Metal
28 Faction Rock Action Sports Music
29 Punk Rock New & Vintage Punk Rock
30 The Coffee House Rock Singer-Songwriters & Acoustic Rock
31 Radio Margaritaville Rock Escape to Margaritaville
32 The Grateful Dead Channel Rock Grateful Dead Channel
33 Area 33 Electronic/<br>Dance Trance & Progressive House
34 Boombox Electronic/<br>Dance ALT-ROCK REMIXED, BREAKBEATS & ELECTRONIC ROCK
35 Chill Electronic/<br>Dance Smooth Electronic
36 The Beat Electronic/<br>Dance Dance Hits
37 The Strobe Electronic/<br>Dance Disco/Classic Dance
40 Hip-Hop Nation Hip-Hop/R&B Hip-Hop Hits
43 BackSpin Hip-Hop/R&B Old Skool Rap
45 Shade 45 Hip-Hop/R&B Eminem's Uncut Hip-Hop Channel
50 Hot Jamz Hip-Hop/R&B R&B/Hip-Hop Hits
51 Heart & Soul Hip-Hop/R&B R&B Hits
53 Soul Town Hip-Hop/R&B Classic Soul
60 New Country Country Today's Country Hits
61 Prime Country Country '80s & '90s Country Hits
62 The Roadhouse Country Classic Country
63 Outlaw Country Country Outlaw Country
65 Bluegrass Country Bluegrass
66 Spirit Christian Christian Hits
68 Praise Christian Gospel
70 SIRIUS Disorder Rock Eclectic/Free Form
71 Jazz Cafe Jazz/Blues Smooth Jazz
72 Pure Jazz Jazz/Blues Classic Jazz
73 Spa 73 Jazz/Blues New Age
74 SIRIUS Blues Jazz/Blues Blues
75 Siriusly Sinatra Standards Frank Sinatra, Standards & Swing
77 Broadway's Best Standards Broadway Show Music
80 Symphony Hall Classical Symphonic & Chamber Music
85 Metropolitan Opera Radio Classical Metropolitan Opera Radio
86 SIRIUS Pops Classical Classical Pops
90 Universo Latino Latin/International Latin Pop Mix
92 Rumbon Latin/International Tropical/Reggaeton
93 bande a part Latin/International New French-language Music
94 CBC Radio 3 Rock Canadian Indie Music
95 Iceberg Radio Rock Canadian Adult Alternative Music
97 Reggae Rhythms Rock Reggae
100 Howard 100 Howard Stern Howard 100
101 Howard 101 Howard Stern Howard 101
102 SIRIUS Stars Entertainment The SIRIUS Difference
103 Blue Collar Comedy Comedy Blue Collar Comedy
104 Raw Dog Comedy Comedy Uncensored
105 Laugh Break Comedy Family Comedy
106 The Foxxhole Comedy Comedy, music, and more presented by Jamie Foxx
107 E! Entertainment Radio Entertainment E! Entertainment Radio
108 Maxim Radio Entertainment Maxim Radio
109 SIRIUS OutQ Entertainment Gay & Lesbian Radio
110 Indie Talk Entertainment Speak for Yourself
111 Cosmo Radio Entertainment Fun, Fearless, Female
112 Martha Stewart Living Radio Martha Stewart How-To For Living
114 Doctor Radio Family & Health Powered by NYU Medical Center
115 Radio Disney Family & Health Radio Disney
116 Kids Stuff Family & Health Kids' Music
118 RadioClassics Family & Health Classic Radio Shows
119 Sports Play-by-Play 4 More Sports Play-by-Play 4
120 ESPN Radio Sports Talk & News ESPN Radio
121 ESPNEWS Sports Talk & News ESPNEWS
122 Sports Play-by-Play 1 More Sports Play-by-Play 1
123 SIRIUS Sports Central Sports Talk & News SIRIUS Sports Talk and Play-by-Play
124 SIRIUS NFL Radio NFL Nonstop NFL Talk
125 Sports Play-by-Play 2 More Sports Play-by-Play 2
126 Sports Play-by-Play 3 More Sports Play-by-Play 3
127 Sports Play-by-Play 5 More Sports Play-by-Play 5
128 SIRIUS NASCAR Radio NASCAR SIRIUS NASCAR Radio
129 CNBC Financial News CNBC
130 Bloomberg Radio Financial News Bloomberg Radio
131 Fox News Channel US News Fair and Balanced News
132 CNN US News The Most Trusted Name in News
133 CNN Headline News US News CNN Headline News
134 NPR Now Public Radio NPR Now
135 NPR Talk Public Radio NPR Talk
137 CBC Radio One International News National/International News
138 Premiere Plus International News Canadian Current Affairs
140 World Radio Network International News News Around the World
141 BBC World Service News International News BBC World Service News
144 SIRIUS Patriot Political Talk Conservative Values
145 Fox News Talk Channel US News FOX News Talk
146 SIRIUS Left Political Talk Liberal Talk
147 Road Dog Trucking Entertainment Just for Truckers
148 New York Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
149 Boston / Philadelphia Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
150 Los Angeles Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
151 Chicago / St. Louis Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
152 Baltimore / Washington D.C. Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
153 Atlanta / Miami Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
154 Dallas-Ft. Worth / Houston Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
155 Detroit / Las Vegas Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
156 San Francisco / Seattle Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
157 San Diego / Phoenix Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
158 Orlando / Tampa-St. Petersburg Traffic & Weather Traffic & Weather
159 The Catholic Channel Religion The Catholic Channel
160 EWTN Global Catholic Network Religion EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network
161 FamilyNet Radio Religion Christian Talk
181 ESPN Deportes Sports Talk & News ESPN Deportes Radio
182 CNN En Espanol International News CNN en Español
183 The Korean Channel International News Korean Language Radio
184 SIRIUS Weather & Emergency Traffic & Weather SIRIUS Weather & Emergency
185 Canadian Weather Network Traffic & Weather Canada Weather
186 Hardcore Sports Radio Sports Talk & News Hardcore Sports Radio
187 Sports Extra Sports Talk & News Sports Radio French Language
188 RCI Plus International News International Talk French Language
192 Rock Velours Latin/International Canadian Soft Rock
193 Energie 2 Latin/International Canadian Pop, Rock & Urban Music
198 Playboy Radio Entertainment PLAYBOY RADIO

[mgauction]

I have had the same dropouts too, Brian, with Sirius. Always in the Los Angeles area. Damn! That was a job listing all the stations!!

[winston]

I have had the same dropouts too, Brian, with Sirius. Always in the Los Angeles area. Damn! That was a job listing all the stations!!

Yes, it took me for ever......................to figure out cut and paste. Hahahahaha.

[wmthor]

Here's XM's channel guide:

http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/channel_guide.pdf

(I'm too lazy to cut & paste)

[winston]

XM is so much more hip.

[mgauction]

Isn't XM just better for sports? I though Sirius had the better song stations?

[winston]

Sorry about being misleading Mike I was talking about the quality of the XM channel guide.

[alanz]

Saw some stuff on another thread and thought it might be interesting to share views on the general nature of satellite radio. XM and Sirius are the best known satellite radio operators in North America. Are there other satellite radio station operators in other countries -- or do these two dominate the international market too ?

XM is a single GEO satellite in orbit above North America. Sirius is a highly elliptical MEO constellation of 3 satellites that combined cover all of North America. Neither of these systems are available internationally except for a part of Canada and possibly Mexico and there are no other such systems in operation in the world. Other countries are using digital terrestrial radio broadcasting. The US also has such a system, called "HD radio" here in the states.

[winston]

Wow great info Alan. I had to dig a bit deeper into the info that you posted and I found this. Look at the graphic.

http://personal.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Persona ... rview.html

[alanz]

That's an old page. Both Spaceway and Astrolink are dead dead dead. I should know, I worked on both of them.

[winston]

That's an old page. Both Spaceway and Astrolink are dead dead dead. I should know, I worked on both of them.

Cool! For the unitiated like me, that is a great page to assist in understanding the terminology. I speculate that some people in your profession must have been sad when Arthur C Clarke died the other day.

[doctorwho]

If I were to create a satellite radio service, I'd call it Flippant, so that the ads could say, "Flippant Satellite Radio ... we're not Sirius."

[alanz]

I speculate that some people in your profession must have been sad when Arthur C Clarke died the other day.

Well, yes. I worked on the Black Monolith project as well but I'm not really supposed to talk about that.