Satellite killed the Radio Star

[werk]

HEAVY SIGH.

Yeah, the number one radio station in Madison is a talk radio channel. It is changing its format from talk radio to high school sports coverage. How does that make any sense?

I feel your pain.

 

[jaerdaph]

I saw a news story recently about how Sirius and XM have both failed to show a profit yet, and a merger between the two might be inevitable.

 

[grimwell]

Both companies continue to grow though, and show less loss per user each year. Those are good indicators for future profit and well made companies. If they can continue that trend (marginalize costs while expanding user base) they will reach a point of profit and from there it's about running a smart business.

As traditional radio continues to be marginalized the strengths of Satellite continue to show. Even with the roll out of HD Radio (wiki) you still have FCC regulations that will limit what can be played on the air. While we may see more great jazz, blues, and focused channels for mainstream music, things like Punk are very hard to play on conventional radio without the bleeps so there are niches that conventional radio can't fill that Satellite can dominate.

 

[werk]

I saw a news story recently about how Sirius and XM have both failed to show a profit yet, and a merger between the two might be inevitable.

I think satellite radio is a lot like the internet (a complex series of tubes), in that people that use and love the internet tend to forget that ~50% of americans have never surfed the interwebs. The fear that free broadcast radio is in danger of satellite radio stealing its lunch are a bit premature, but probably inevitable...much like cable 30 years ago.

 

[Jesus_marley]

Both companies continue to grow though, and show less loss per user each year. Those are good indicators for future profit and well made companies. If they can continue that trend (marginalize costs while expanding user base) they will reach a point of profit and from there it's about running a smart business.

As traditional radio continues to be marginalized the strengths of Satellite continue to show. Even with the roll out of HD Radio (wiki) you still have FCC regulations that will limit what can be played on the air. While we may see more great jazz, blues, and focused channels for mainstream music, things like Punk are very hard to play on conventional radio without the bleeps so there are niches that conventional radio can't fill that Satellite can dominate.

I don't know much about FCC regs but in Canada the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has somewhat looser rules with regard to language. The radio station I listen too has a lot of punk, hardcore, metal and new rock. 90% of the time the songs played are not radio edits and I have heard the S and F bombs dropped many times. Maybe it's because no one really cares up here anymore as long as the music is decent.

 

[megamania]

I saw a news story recently about how Sirius and XM have both failed to show a profit yet, and a merger between the two might be inevitable.

Heard the same thing.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Several local radio stations just totally changed around here in the past month.
At least one turned from alt/rock to country. And that isn't the first time I lost a good station to country/western.

But two new ones have popped up finally playing something I like.
They have no DJ's, some commercials, and are playing a wide variety of music that covers 70s/80s/90s/now/lite/alt/rock between the two of them.
Heck one of their slogans is "We've stolen your Ipod and are playing it on the radio." (not an exact quote).

So they have less commercials to play more music, and cut costs to make up for it by getting rid of their DJs.

I can't help but think they're breaking some kind of unwritten code in the radio world.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The only thing I use FM for now is to receive for my iPod FM tuner (soon to be dead when I install a stereo with a wired iPod interface). Otherwise, it's XM or iPod all the way.

The king is dead*. Long live the king.

(*Rumors of appearances in Vegas notwithstanding.)

 

[Agamon]

I don't know much about FCC regs but in Canada the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has somewhat looser rules with regard to language. The radio station I listen too has a lot of punk, hardcore, metal and new rock. 90% of the time the songs played are not radio edits and I have heard the S and F bombs dropped many times. Maybe it's because no one really cares up here anymore as long as the music is decent.

I live in a very, very conservative area of Canada, and that wouldn't fly around here, let me tell you. The only non-satilite stations I listen to are the sports and news stations out of Calgary, the local ones blow.

But, yeah, Sirius' Octane and Faction aren't kid's stations. Madison can get pretty raunchy when she DJ's Alt Nation, too. Those are my 3 favorite stations, I'm glad I don't have kids (though I change over to Hits 1 when my nephews are in the car).

 

[BOZ]

we haven't had a radio station that i've really liked in about 5 years, when the last classic rock station (CD 94.7) switched to 80's rock. i had very similar musical tastes to the girl i was dating at the time, and we both had a good near-cry over the phone when we heard about it.

(and for those of you in/near chicago, no, i don't consider the Drive 97.1 to be a classic rock station any more than i consider the LOOP to be a classic rock station.)

so, for 5 years i've been fine without a favorite station (i bounce around between DRV, LUP, XRT, Q101, LOVE-FM and a few others) and doing fine, so i don't need to pay to listen music in the car.

if the day comes where there is even less going on in the way of music on the radio, then it's time to hook the CD-player back in the car (which i've not done yet out of laziness) and crank up my MP3 collection.