# I think this article explains better than I can why I changed my mind about Sirius XM



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

The link http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle+articleid_2864576.html

If we lose Sirius XM no matter how unhappy we might be with it at the moment, it could be the end of Sat. Radio forever. Another less choice people would have about how they receive their music. And if the company can be saved may be programming changes can be made, but the company has to be saved first. I know Mel isn't good at PR and people don't like him--I don't like him. But forget Mel and try to save the company.


----------



## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

It was a stupid of Mel to make that statement publicly, but it is correct. SiriusXM has to become cash flow positive first and stabilize itself financially. They also have a potential problem facing them in two years. If Stern leaves at the end of his contract it could be devastating...they have to give Stern's audience a solid reason to hang on....and that means developing some new talent on their own.


----------



## DJConan (Sep 14, 2006)

Interesting read. All I can think to myself after reading that is "good for them." I am one of those who canceled due to the programming change. They weren't offering anything I wanted to listen to any longer. It does go both ways. It was in their best interest to lose customers like me and it was in my best interest to spend my money elsewhere. I'm happy with my choice and it worked out better for me. I hope it works out better for them as well, but I won't miss satrad if it fades away.


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

Ken S said:


> It was a stupid of Mel to make that statement publicly, but it is correct. SiriusXM has to become cash flow positive first and stabilize itself financially. They also have a potential problem facing them in two years. If Stern leaves at the end of his contract it could be devastating...they have to give Stern's audience a solid reason to hang on....and that means developing some new talent on their own.


Mel  I have no education, background experience, or anything in PR, but I could do a better job with it than Mel can. Yes the statement is correct, but people are already taking it the wrong way (that Sirius XM doesn't care about it customers) which is only going to hurt the company. If someone doesn't put a sock in Mel's mouth, they may not make it to have to worry about Stern leaving.
What a really bonehead thing to say to the public :bang And yet I'm sure someone else could get that correct statement made and yet not make it sound like Sirius XM doesn't care about its customers. In fact I think I could have handled that better and believe me if I can do something better than someone they really made a mess of things


----------



## thestaton (Aug 14, 2008)

40 Million to use Jammie Fox's name.
9 Million a year for Martha Stewart to do 1 30 minute radio show a week. 
x Million to use Oprah Winfreys name...

What do all of these have in common? They are not radio people. They appeal to a group of people who wouldn't even bother listening to sat radio if it wasn't in front of them.

Yet, it's the truly passionate fans problem that we get upset when they cancel the content we enjoyed with no warning. They continue to pay non-radio people money that would have easily covered the costs.


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

I now have 5 Sirius radios subscribed (just added a new one yesterday as a Christmas present for my parents). I pay for it not to listen to "personalities" but to music. I like having all the choices and no commercials. I could not care less about the DJ's. Our local FM channels are crap. For my money, they could save even more by getting rid of the DJ's and just turn the music collection over to a computer that randomizes everything based on that channel's format.

Having said that, there are a few DJ's that were axed in the merger that I miss, but I'm not willing to pay more (or lose the service to financial ruin) just to keep paying DJ's and "talent". Just keep giving me my commerical-free music choices and I'm happy to pay.


----------



## SDizzle (Jan 1, 2007)

I don't fault Mel for being brutally honest. In this day and age we fault people for not sugar coating. What does that get us? NOWHERE! I have Sirius and XM radios, and sub to best of Sirius on one XM radio to get NFL Radio and games. Bottom line is this, both companies could NOT make it as separate companies, so they had to merge to keep the hope of Sat Radio alive....and I hope they do. Mel had to streamline to save dollars....dollars that the loyal subs to those channels weren't covering.....good for Mel, I want Sirius XM to succeed!!! If, by some chance NFL Radio were to get dropped, I still like their commercial free music, and the ability to leave a station on as you drive long distances...


----------



## bkwest918 (Jul 11, 2007)

I find it funny how many people say things like "They weren't offering anything I wanted to listen to any longer.". Um out of about what 180 channels you can't find a single thing to listen to that you like? I call B. S.

/b


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

bkwest918 said:


> I find it funny how many people say things like "They weren't offering anything I wanted to listen to any longer.". Um out of about what 180 channels you can't find a single thing to listen to that you like? I call B. S.
> 
> /b


I made a comment in another thread that all people can talk about is what they "lost" (their favorite stations), but no one is talking about what is still there  And I'm not saying that to talk about anyone because I was the same way at first. You have to go find stations or be lucky enough like I was to have someone tell you about a station or stations. Mr. King told me about The Underground Garage. I hadn't known it existed. But once he told me about it I went there and I really love listening to that station.


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

thestaton said:


> 40 Million to use Jammie Fox's name.
> 9 Million a year for Martha Stewart to do 1 30 minute radio show a week.
> x Million to use Oprah Winfreys name...
> 
> ...


Those contracts were made when Sirius and XM were separate companies and were trying to out do each other. And now that they are one company they are stuck with the contracts that were made before the merger until those contracts are up. I read a story a few weeks ago that said they were thinking about dropping Oprah when her contract is up.


----------



## Ken S (Feb 13, 2007)

Dolly said:


> Those contracts were made when Sirius and XM were separate companies and were trying to out do each other. And now that they are one company they are stuck with the contracts that were made before the merger until those contracts are up. I read a story a few weeks ago that said they were thinking about dropping Oprah when her contract is up.


I think you'll see SiriusXM moving to a model that has pay based on the number of subscribers a "name" brings in.


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

Ken S said:


> I think you'll see SiriusXM moving to a model that has pay based on the number of subscribers a "name" brings in.


The only "name" I'm sure that brings in the subscribers is "Stern". Personally I don't care for him, but I know that lots of people do. And I think that is exactly the model SiriusXM should be moving to because what use is a "name" if it doesn't bring in enough subscribers.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Dolly said:


> I made a comment in another thread that all people can talk about is what they "lost" (their favorite stations), but no one is talking about what is still there  And I'm not saying that to talk about anyone because I was the same way at first. You have to go find stations or be lucky enough like I was to have someone tell you about a station or stations. Mr. King told me about The Underground Garage. I hadn't known it existed. But once he told me about it I went there and I really love listening to that station.


There's nothing there, that's the problem.

Classic Rewind - Way too much irrelevant DJ blabber
Liquid Metal - Neutered from what it once was
X Country - Gone
60s On 6 - The channel is lifeless compared to what it once was
The System - Gone

I could go through the whole list. As a dual subscriber for years, I've lost A LOT that I will never get back.

Between XM and Sirius I had 138 channels of commercial free music at my disposal, and anther ~80 unique talk and entertainment channels. I listened over 40 channels on a regular basis and always flipped around looking for something new, now a good portion of those channels have been removed, replaced or are there in name only. Much of what made satellite radio unique is gone on the music side. Watercolors, Enlighten and Octane are about all I listen to now. I CHOSE to listen to Big Tracks over Classic Rewind for a reason, I CHOSE Liquid Metal or Hard Attack for a reason, now I have no choice. XM and Sirius have merged, WorldSpace is all but history, perhaps the world is not ready for satellite delivered radio.


----------



## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

I have XM and my wife has Sirius.

I don't follow things very much, but other than the "commercials" letting us know that we can add the best of's, I haven't even noticed any changes.

Wait, I did notice today that I now get E Street Radio on XM. Sweet.


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

Steve "forever" is a very long time. If Sat. Radio makes it, how do you know what it will be like in say 5 years? After all you were the one that made me rethink how I felt about Sat. Radio. If you remember I was ready to kill Sirius and hang Mel by his...well you know what I mean.


----------



## DJConan (Sep 14, 2006)

bkwest918 said:


> I find it funny how many people say things like "They weren't offering anything I wanted to listen to any longer.". Um out of about what 180 channels you can't find a single thing to listen to that you like? I call B. S.
> 
> /b


Okay, show me what station plays:

Michna, Kraak & Smaak, Tittsworth, Sonny J, Black Ghosts, Hot Chip, Portishhead, Santogold, Tobacco, Bomb the Bass, Fake Blood, Madvillain, Cut Copy, FM Belfast, Orbital, Massive Attack, Yello, MGMT, Moloko, Wagon Christ, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Thievery Corporation, Meat Beat Manifesto, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...

I could go on, but that is enough. A couple of those are played on Chill and a few were played on Boombox (now gone). Area might play a couple of those on occasion if I don't mind sitting and waiting through the majority of the "pop" stuff that I've heard enough already. Most of those, I've never heard on Sirius. So that's what I listen to; out of the "180 channels" tell me where I can find that music.

What I find funny is how people see things through their own eyes and just assume it must apply to everyone else...especially music. Why someone wants to debate over what someone else, who you don't know, likes to listen to is even more funny.


----------



## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

DJConan said:


> Okay, show me what station plays:
> 
> Michna, Kraak & Smaak, Tittsworth, Sonny J, Black Ghosts, Hot Chip, Portishhead, Santogold, Tobacco, Bomb the Bass, Fake Blood, Madvillain, Cut Copy, FM Belfast, Orbital, Massive Attack, Yello, MGMT, Moloko, Wagon Christ, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Thievery Corporation, Meat Beat Manifesto, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult....


Who?


----------



## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

DJConan said:


> Okay, show me what station plays:
> 
> Michna, Kraak & Smaak, Tittsworth, Sonny J, Black Ghosts, Hot Chip, Portishhead, Santogold, Tobacco, Bomb the Bass, Fake Blood, Madvillain, Cut Copy, FM Belfast, Orbital, Massive Attack, Yello, MGMT, Moloko, Wagon Christ, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Thievery Corporation, Meat Beat Manifesto, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...


Kids these days.


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

DJConan said:


> Okay, show me what station plays:
> 
> Michna, Kraak & Smaak, Tittsworth, Sonny J, Black Ghosts, Hot Chip, Portishhead, Santogold, Tobacco, Bomb the Bass, Fake Blood, Madvillain, Cut Copy, FM Belfast, Orbital, Massive Attack, Yello, MGMT, Moloko, Wagon Christ, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Thievery Corporation, Meat Beat Manifesto, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...
> 
> ...


There's not an all Al Yancovich all the time channel either.... let's face it, for some people, an Ipod and a subscription to Itunes in their best option.


----------



## thestaton (Aug 14, 2008)

DJConan said:


> Okay, show me what station plays:
> 
> Michna, Kraak & Smaak, Tittsworth, Sonny J, Black Ghosts, Hot Chip, Portishhead, Santogold, Tobacco, Bomb the Bass, Fake Blood, Madvillain, Cut Copy, FM Belfast, Orbital, Massive Attack, Yello, MGMT, Moloko, Wagon Christ, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Thievery Corporation, Meat Beat Manifesto, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...


Alt Nation (21), plays Ting Tings, MGMT, Santogold, and I think I heard Cut Copy today.


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

DJConan said:


> Okay, show me what station plays:
> 
> Michna, Kraak & Smaak, Tittsworth, Sonny J, Black Ghosts, Hot Chip, Portishhead, Santogold, Tobacco, Bomb the Bass, Fake Blood, Madvillain, Cut Copy, FM Belfast, Orbital, Massive Attack, Yello, MGMT, Moloko, Wagon Christ, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Thievery Corporation, Meat Beat Manifesto, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult...
> 
> ...


What station or stations played those groups before? I'm sure you are going to tell me a "lost" station/stations. But I confess I have never heard of any of those groups before anywhere.


----------



## DJConan (Sep 14, 2006)

I hadn't heard of half of them until two weeks ago myself. Some are from the 80's when I was growing up that I still like to hear on occasion. Some I heard on Sirius and grew to like and the majority of those I listed are new to me that I've never heard on Sirius on the XM stations that I get with DirecTV. I just "discovered" them on Slacker. 

I DJ'd for 8 years and got more than my share of Rock, Classic Rock, Country, Oldies, Hip Hop, Alternative, Pop, the popular club hits and everything in between. I like to listen to music that is less mainstream. It's been my experience that electronic music stations offer a wider variety of the lesser known stuff. 

Before they cancelled Boombox, I was getting tired of their play list. It was changing and I found myself listening to it less and less (rock on a breakbeat station?). I was left listening mostly only to Chill for the variety. Sometimes, I wasn't in the mood for that style of music and would change over to Boombox. Once Boombox was removed, that left me with one station and when I wasn't in the mood for that, I began pulling out CDs again. 

So I'm not going to tell you that some "lost" station played those. What I'm saying is, I just found many of them recently, after leaving Sirius. 

As Cartrivision stated above, iPod was probably my best option, but I didn't want to pay for each song and wasn't going to actively keep an MP3 player up to date. So the next best option was Sirius. They removed one station I listened to a few years ago. Now recently Boombox. Heh, my music choices have been shrinking, but not the subscription fee. 

I didn't quit Sirius until I found a better option over Sirius and an MP3 player. Someone here a few weeks ago recommended Slacker as an alternative and that was exactly what I was looking for. A much wider selection of music that I can skip when I don't like a song and it refreshes by itself. Perfect!

Don't get off track though. Someone else in this thread was trying to argue that I was B.Sing because there are "180" stations to pick from. I listed those artists to prove that I'm not making this stuff up as I go along. lol There are probably 40+ FM stations on my radio, but I don't listen to that either.


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

DJConan said:


> I hadn't heard of half of them until two weeks ago myself. Some are from the 80's when I was growing up that I still like to hear on occasion. Some I heard on Sirius and grew to like and the majority of those I listed are new to me that I've never heard on Sirius on the XM stations that I get with DirecTV. I just "discovered" them on Slacker.
> 
> I DJ'd for 8 years and got more than my share of Rock, Classic Rock, Country, Oldies, Hip Hop, Alternative, Pop, the popular club hits and everything in between. I like to listen to music that is less mainstream. It's been my experience that electronic music stations offer a wider variety of the lesser known stuff.
> 
> ...


Well good luck with Slacker. I have read in Forums that a lot of people like it and that some don't. It wouldn't work in my case because it isn't equiped to be used in a car.


----------



## DJConan (Sep 14, 2006)

Yeah, the issue with the car...I'm still trying to figure that one out. I have an FM adaptor that is horrible, but I intend on buying a new car in a few months, and most newer cars have the auxillary port to just plug any portable into the car stereo. Until than, I'm not sure I want to install that feature in a car I'm getting rid of. 

There's been a lot of talk in their forums requesting a car kit. I'm sure there will be one eventually.


----------



## ibooksrule (Feb 16, 2003)

I hate fm radio. I love sat radio. Sure some of my stations have gone but at least i still have some. At any time i can turn on 80s music or big band or oldies or 80s hair metal. 
Sure they repeat more often then i like but i love no commercials and i love having so much choice. 
I think they need to do away with some of the talk radio personalities that cost so much and focus on music 1st, comedy and other speciality stations 2nd like the old time radio show channel.

I am not an advertising person but i think i could do better then they do. YOu never seem them advertise on tv or anywhere. Shoot why not advertise on radio. Advertise on radio and say like how would you like to go anywhere in nation and never have to change your favorite channels, No commercials and more then 180 choices for music, comedy and news.

they could also do something like lower the monthly cost on the radios.


----------



## Rugged (Sep 16, 2006)

I used to be the biggest fan of Sirius. I've had it for 4 years and I have to say for the first time I am considering canceling. In my 45 minute commute I used to have at least 30 minutes of a song I loved playing on one of the stations. Now I'm lucky if I get 10 minutes of music I like. It seems that every station I used to enjoy has drastically altered their playlist. Furthermore, with the Artist Alert feature pretty much non-existent on my Starmate I have another reason to cancel.

I'm sure I can do a lot better with Pandora on an Ipod. Heck I'd be happy using the Genius playlist feature.


----------



## jwjensen356 (Apr 11, 2006)

Mine might be a minority opinion because of my choice of 6 push-button selections (classical, opera, Broadway, 40s music, and what is sometimes referred to as the Sinatra channel) but Sirius means for me a great selection in the car, a good selection for home, and opera for the wife. The quality of reception in the car is plenty good enough but not so much on a good audio system. Acceptable is the best I can suggest in the home system, so serious listening is by LPs or CDs. Otherwise good background music. No Stern for me.

Why did I first get it? Cool, yes. And I certainly warmed up to it paying the extra fare at $6.95 each month for the additional receivers (now a total of three) plus one for my daughter (she pays for that). And an employee incentive, no charge for the first receiver (we built the Sirius satellites). I wish them well and success (and we are building both Sirius and XM satellites).


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Rugged said:


> Furthermore, with the Artist Alert feature pretty much non-existent on my Starmate I have another reason to cancel.


PLEASE - PLEASE - PLEASE! Call Sirius and complain about this! Then, after you call, e-mail them! The problem is that the data they send to the radio has "tags" to indicate what is an artist, song title, or just information (like the DJ or 800 number)." Apparently, after the merger, they created a problem where some stations do not properly tag the artist and/or song title. For example, ch1 is fine, ch2 only recognizes the title, ch3 is fine, ch4 recognizes nothing, etc.

I believe the more people call and complain about this, the sooner they will correct it.


----------



## pigskins (Sep 8, 2007)

rudeney said:


> PLEASE - PLEASE - PLEASE! Call Sirius and complain about this! Then, after you call, e-mail them! The problem is that the data they send to the radio has "tags" to indicate what is an artist, song title, or just information (like the DJ or 800 number)." Apparently, after the merger, they created a problem where some stations do not properly tag the artist and/or song title. For example, ch1 is fine, ch2 only recognizes the title, ch3 is fine, ch4 recognizes nothing, etc.
> 
> I believe the more people call and complain about this, the sooner they will correct it.


Why do they have to be prodded to fix it??? Are they not aware of the problem? Do they not care? Either way, it's rediculous.


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

pigskins said:


> Why do they have to be prodded to fix it??? Are they not aware of the problem? Do they not care? Either way, it's rediculous.


Unless people are complaining about it, then it isn't going to be a priority. It's the old "squeaky hinge" situation. My guess is the solution is not as simple as replacing a burned-out fuse. I have e-mailed a few times to complain and they did tell me they are aware of the problem and are working on it.


----------



## Rugged (Sep 16, 2006)

rudeney said:


> Unless people are complaining about it, then it isn't going to be a priority. It's the old "squeaky hinge" situation. My guess is the solution is not as simple as replacing a burned-out fuse. I have e-mailed a few times to complain and they did tell me they are aware of the problem and are working on it.


I called today to complain...they claimed that it would be fixed by the end of the month.

I didn't ask which month but I'm giving them till Jan 1 and them I'm going to call one last time.

what email is best to contact them at?


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

Rugged said:


> I called today to complain...they claimed that it would be fixed by the end of the month.
> 
> I didn't ask which month but I'm giving them till Jan 1 and them I'm going to call one last time.
> 
> what email is best to contact them at?


Well they have been very slow with emails. The address is something like [email protected]. But don't quote me on that because I'm not 100% sure. You can go to the XM website and get the email address. Or even send them an email at the website. The only problem with that is then you don't have a copy of the email.


----------



## JMII (Jan 19, 2008)

DJConan said:


> I didn't quit Sirius until I found a better option over Sirius and an MP3 player. Someone here a few weeks ago recommended Slacker as an alternative and that was exactly what I was looking for. A much wider selection of music that I can skip when I don't like a song and it refreshes by itself. Perfect!


That might have been ME.

I too feel in love with Slacker's service. Its the perfect combination of stuff you already like with new material you might be interested in mixed in. I've got an iPod and its great, but limited to holding a bunch of "gotta have 'em" hits and my older ripped CDs, but to complete my collection I'd have to spend big bucks (even at .99 cents a song).

As stated by others... the only thing stopping me from owning a Slacker G2 this very second is the car adapter. I need something to hold the G2 Player, keep it charged and output the audio to my Pioneer car radio via either USB or lineout (aux-in). FM modulators suck big time so that route is unacceptable to me.

I hope Sirius stays around, there are times when I want to listen to music "live", I also like some of sports talk stuff. They just need to avoid becoming too mainstream with their programing choices, the main reason I got Sirius was the wide range of choices over FM and the lack of commercials. The artist only channels are stupid I want MORE choices and more diverse musical genres so we need MORE channels like Boombox & Chill.


----------



## Rugged (Sep 16, 2006)

rudeney said:


> PLEASE - PLEASE - PLEASE! Call Sirius and complain about this! Then, after you call, e-mail them! The problem is that the data they send to the radio has "tags" to indicate what is an artist, song title, or just information (like the DJ or 800 number)." Apparently, after the merger, they created a problem where some stations do not properly tag the artist and/or song title. For example, ch1 is fine, ch2 only recognizes the title, ch3 is fine, ch4 recognizes nothing, etc.
> 
> I believe the more people call and complain about this, the sooner they will correct it.


Is it me or does the alert feature seem to be working??


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Rugged, it's not just you! It looks like the memo/alert feature is working again for the most part. I tried everything from channels 1 to 89 (Sirius) and found most all were in order. All but the following worked:

3*, 4, 11, 28*, 36, 38, 40, 65, 67, 73, 74, 76, 79, 80, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89.

Stations noted with an * are currently showing a DJ or "show" name instead of artist/title info so I can't test them. I found some inconsistencies. Sometimes I could get it to work and other times I could not. For the list above, I tried at least three different times with never getting it to work before "failing" them. I did notice it either worked for both artist and title or neither. This is much better! Thanks Sirius!


----------



## mercator1 (Sep 11, 2008)

rudeney said:


> I now have 5 Sirius radios subscribed (just added a new one yesterday as a Christmas present for my parents). I pay for it not to listen to "personalities" but to music. I like having all the choices and no commercials. I could not care less about the DJ's. Our local FM channels are crap. For my money, they could save even more by getting rid of the DJ's and just turn the music collection over to a computer that randomizes everything based on that channel's format.
> 
> Having said that, there are a few DJ's that were axed in the merger that I miss, but I'm not willing to pay more (or lose the service to financial ruin) just to keep paying DJ's and "talent". Just keep giving me my commerical-free music choices and I'm happy to pay.


Adding DJ's to stations that were commercial and DJ free before makes no sense to me. We have the pad data to tell us the artist and song. Mel thinks that adding "talent" between songs makes it more palatable to the regular FM listener. In the meantime he's pissing off all of us who couldn't wait to get away from terrestrial radio.


----------



## mercator1 (Sep 11, 2008)

JMII said:


> That might have been ME.
> 
> I too feel in love with Slacker's service. Its the perfect combination of stuff you already like with new material you might be interested in mixed in. I've got an iPod and its great, but limited to holding a bunch of "gotta have 'em" hits and my older ripped CDs, but to complete my collection I'd have to spend big bucks (even at .99 cents a song).
> 
> ...


I may look at using Pandora on my soon to be bought iPhone.


----------



## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

I seldom listen, but my wife likes the 70s on 7, and we both think it is immeasurably improved with the new air talent.


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

paulman182 said:


> I seldom listen, but my wife likes the 70s on 7, and we both think it is immeasurably improved with the new air talent.


Everyone keeps talking about all the talking DJs. I have yet to find a channel on Sirius XM where there is a lot of DJs talk. And believe me I know all about DJs talking. There is an FM station in my area where about all the morning DJs do is talk to each other :eek2: I mean the talk has NOTHING to do with the music. They are just having conversation with each other. I don't know how they manage to get in any music at all


----------



## WERA689 (Oct 15, 2006)

I'm still up in the air about the changes. I have had XM since '02, and made that choice over Sirius because I liked their mix of music and comedy channels over Sirius'. I was addicted to XM Comedy150, and I have noticed a significant dilution of that channel since the changes. On the other hand, I'm excited to have E Street Radio, because I'm a huge Springsteen fan, and they play LOTS of live 'bootlegs'. I feel that XM40 DeepTracks has also been diluted through the loss of 2 of their best personalities AND more foolish jabbering than it had before. On balance, I can still find plenty to listen to, but nothing that I'll just leave on for hours any more.
Personally, I think Stern, Opie & Anthony, Rush, etc are the embodiment of everything that is WRONG with terrestrial radio; and their presence on satellite would NEVER sway me to adopt the service. I sincerely hope that Sirius' previous willingness to spend ludicrous money for them hasn't doomed satellite radio forever! The concept is great, but making it more like terrestrial broadcasting is the WRONG way to go...KILL ALL THE JOCKS...that's what I say! And, yes, Dolly, they are there, in spades! The first time I tuned in 150 after the changes, I found myself listening to some idiot blathering on about...well...I don't even know what. But it went on for so long that I had to start searching for something else to listen to. That had NEVER happened before on 150. I tuned in to hear stand-up comedy, but that is NOT what I got that day. Then, when I switched to DeepTracks, I found more chatter than I had ever heard previously there as well. And I have noticed that their playlists do not go as deep as they used to, and that they now repeat songs much more often. I mean that I used to be able to listen to DT for hours on end without hearing duplications. That is no longer the case, and I'm disappointed about that. 
I'll hang in 'til my current quarterly is over. And, honestly, I'll probably stay if for no other reason than I simply can't bear the thought of going back to terrestrial radio and its' ever narrowing 'variety', lousy sound quality, moronic chatter, incessant advertising, etc. I mean, Atlanta radio has only 2 rock stations left of any consequence, and neither of them is very good at all. All the rest is either country garbage or urban/hip-hop; neither of which I have even the least bit of interest in! In any event, I don't think the satrad product has been improved by the merger in any way. But it still beats hell out of the alternative(s).


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Dolly said:


> Everyone keeps talking about all the talking DJs. I have yet to find a channel on Sirius XM where there is a lot of DJs talk. And believe me I know all about DJs talking. There is an FM station in my area where about all the morning DJs do is talk to each other :eek2: I mean the talk has NOTHING to do with the music. They are just having conversation with each other. I don't know how they manage to get in any music at all


Sirius Hits 1 has a typical "morning drive" show that's about 50% talk and 50% music. It's not bad if that's the sort of thing you like. The Big 80's (now 80's on 8 ) has always used the original MTV VJ's as DJ's to announce the songs, throw in tidbits about the artists, groups on tour, etc. Other stations also have DJ's that do similar things. It's not talk, just info. Most of the time I say they add to my listening enjoyment. I even like the "station jingles" they play. it reminds me that it's "radio" and not "Muzak".


----------



## Dolly (Jan 30, 2007)

rudeney said:


> Sirius Hits 1 has a typical "morning drive" show that's about 50% talk and 50% music. It's not bad if that's the sort of thing you like. The Big 80's (now 80's on 8 ) has always used the original MTV VJ's as DJ's to announce the songs, throw in tidbits about the artists, groups on tour, etc. Other stations also have DJ's that do similar things. It's not talk, just info. Most of the time I say they add to my listening enjoyment. I even like the "station jingles" they play. it reminds me that it's "radio" and not "Muzak".


I guess it comes down to what is a person's personal defination of what is meant by "talking DJs". I'm like you as long as it is information that is music related I don't consider that as just "talking DJs". It is informational and that is all I have personally heard on Sirius XM. But I guess even that to some people would be defined as "talking DJs". I also like the "station jingles". Obviously we think alike on this issue


----------

