Sirius XM

[Bill, KD0HG]

My biggest issue with satellite is the 'automated jukebox" technology.
And lack of localism, news and weather.

[Blaine N1GTU]

If it was worth it, people would have hacked it by now...

they might have already but good luck, theres not much in the radio, i have pulled mine apart, I dont know much about the delivery method of the music but i am sure there is some kind of encryption going on in there, probably changes and would be on par with trying to hack an encrypted web site. Maybe Mike ZE has some input on this.

My biggest issue with satellite is the 'automated jukebox" technology.
And lack of localism, news and weather.

and thats what attracts me to it, just music, its like hitting random on an ipod filled with music.
news weather and traffic have always bothered me.
news is so available these days you can get it anywhere (plus they have dedicated news channels)
weather? blah thats as useless as reading the weather forecast on sunday in your local paper, most weathermen are wrong anyways
localism has been dead for years, even on terrestrial radio, but i kinda agree with you on this one.
it is kind of difficult to cater to a local community for satellite but not for FM/AM wich have all become simulcasts for the big media outlets, I remember consultants back in the 90's visiting our radio station flying in from across the country to tell our program director what the people wanted, so now what used to be a localized #1 FM station is now a sad little  broadcast booth in a building with probably 10 other stations

[W2ZE]

Hi Blaine, long time , no talk...

It is really hard to hack into a sat radio to try and steal programming. Its not like hotwiring a car, there is a lot of encryption going on at the DSP level. I am not sure, but I beleive Sirius/XM uses a company called NDS to do the encryption. They have offices in California and Isreal (they work with the IDF on a lot of thier stuff). Very complex stuff, and beyond my skill set fer sure. The radio is " addressable" via RF, so you would need a signal generator replicating thier signal, but transmitting on thier SDARS frequency, hard to do. Could it be done, sure, but thats a lot of time and $$$ for what, free tunes you can download off of sharing sites on the web and an iPod?

Bill,
 As far as your comments, spoken like a true broadcaster!
It all depends on the station and locale. Driving from Maryland back to NY, I drive through what I refer to as "Pennsyltucky", and there are  alot of small town stations on the air who it seems to me take great pride in thier localism. Some are nothing more than jukeboxes themselves, as the cost of running a station has become more and more of a burden (especially for AM's). As you get closer to any metro area, many of these small town stations were bought up and used as "move ins" to get them closer to the metro area and therefore make the station more valuable. The big conglomerates are only partly to blame. Many mom and pop's moved them in, for the sole purpose of making a big buck once the build was complete, and selling to someone else. Sure the FCC still beats the drum of providing a local service, but lets face it folks, a station license is nothing more than a license to make money, pure and simple. i think that fact is lost on alot people on this board because they want to remenisce of thier youth, about far away stations they heard on a crystal set or a halliscratchers s-38. The fact of the matter is a station is there to make money. That has always been the case, in one form or another. How that station does it, is a whole other story. for the small market station, its localism, and bringing a sense of pride to your community that they "serve".

Just my 2 pennies worth.

Mike

[k4kyv]

But satellite radio failed to win over many younger listeners, and competition from other sources slowed subscriber growth.

Is HD® Radio faring any better with the younger listeners?

Except for what comes with upscale automobiles, the public young and old alike expects a radio to be a little box that costs under $20. Audio quality is not a significant factor.

I get some good jazz, blues, folk and classical programs on the 3 NPR stations plus a couple more non-commercial independent university stations that I can pick up here. I regularly give a few bucks to one of the NPR stations, but when it comes fund-raising time, I just don't listen to much radio.  I still prefer 10 days of fund raising blabber 3 or 4 times a year to 5-minute long strings of commercials every 10 minutes.

The FCC should limit talk radio to slopbucket.  That would be a good use for both.

[ka3zlr]

"Talk Radio to Slopbucket"..LOL..good comment Don..LOL

[Pete, WA2CWA]

But satellite radio failed to win over many younger listeners, and competition from other sources slowed subscriber growth.

Is HD® Radio faring any better with the younger listeners?

I don't know about younger listeners, but this old guy sure enjoys it. The HD radio runs all day in the office and when I'm down in the shack and not on the rig, I have HD tuner running into the 4 channel amplifier. The quality is superb and my choice of music is quite varied. From rock to country to jazz to classical to rap with all types of descriptors before each one. On the sub channels, commercials are minimal or almost non-existent.  And, no subscriptions to pay.

[WB2YGF]

I listen to jazz on on the pillow speaker (WWFM HD-2) when it's too early for the BBC on WHYY   Jazz puts me right to sleep.

[K3ZS]

I use the internet almost 100% for music listening.    There are many jazz stations.  There are none in this area that broadcast jazz when I want to hear it.   Got the computer connected to an FM stereo transmitter and receive it in the main house stereo.   I wanted to do a direct connection but it was not easy to do.   A local area net and a lap top on the stereo probably will be the next step.

[Bill, KD0HG]

There have been several radio stations around the country that have worked hard to offer decent live programming on both their main and HD multicast channels. West Virgina Public Radio comes to mind with their "Live From Mountain Stage" CDs and multicast channels.

Here in Denver, we've done live shows for years, I've had the pleasure of working with many performers. We burn a CD of our live shows and donate the proceeds to charity to the tune of nearly $500,000 a year. The performers have always been glad to donate their material to charitable causes.

Part of our past performer list: Dr. John, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Ben Harper, Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Bruce Hornsby, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, Widespread Panic, Lyle Lovett, Jim Messina, Jackson Browne, Boz Scaggs, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Susan Tedeschi, Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainright, Phish, Bob Weir, Steve Winwood, Jorma Kaukonen, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks (the most gorgeous 60-year-old woman I've ever seen)

All terrific people, the only one who was intimidating (to me) was Robert Plant, who still has the rock star vibe. Not a poseur. He'll jump on you with both feet demanding perfection. (Fortunately, he does leave his shirt on these days). Great story about riding a Harley up the staircase of the Hollywood Hyatt Hotel (called the Riot Hyatt- LOL).

Anyway, we were awarded the first Multicast Music Award from the NAB for our efforts.

When Satellite and the webcasters come even close to what we in humble terrestrial radio have done and accomplished, I'll have a lot more respect for them. It's terribly hard and demanding work, the promotions, the engineering, the interfacing with the bands and artists, and no one in the 'new media' have ever been able to cut it. Just a bunch of narrowcast channels playing off of a Windows computer. Us bunch of hicks in Denver, West Virginia and elsewhere are proud of what we deliver to the public...Including the tornado and flash flood warnings.

Of course, I could be wrong, maybe no one demands anything better in the 21st Century and we're wasting our efforts.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

About 10-12 years ago there was a station near Washington, DC that went to all live music. It lasted about six months. Most people want the songs to sound just like the ones on their CDs.

[WB2YGF]

FWIW, XM does live shows once-in-a-while. 

I don't listen to live music shows so I can't comment on the quality.

They also do things terrestrial radio can't. XM does more live baseball games simultaneously in multiple languages than you could ever get any other way. (Not that I'm interested.)

[WB2YGF]

Sirius To Ship iPhones App In Q2; Stock Rallies
Posted by Eric Savitz
Sirius XM shares are trading sharply higher, at least in part on investor hopes that the company can borrow some of the Apple  iPhone magic.

On a conference call with analysts this morning, Sirius President for Operations and Sales Jim Meyer said that the company expects a second-quarter launch for an application that will allow subscribers to stream Sirius XM programming to iPhone and iPod Touches. The company first announced plans for an iPhone application at the company’s shareholder meeting in December. Meyer says the application will be “a large and interesting opportunity that will maintain our subscription-based economics while providing customers easier access to our content through means other than our traditional satellite-based platform.”

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/03/12/sirius-to-ship-iphones-app-in-q2-stock-rallies/

[Bill, KD0HG]

Terrestrial radio stations have have been streaming to IPhones for some time now.

I Heart radio.

http://www.iheartmusic.com/national_radio_tuner/

Once again, satellite does a pale imitation. For money, not content.

[WB2YGF]

Terrestrial radio stations have have been streaming to IPhones for some time now.

Just what I want... streaming commercials.  There is a lot of free Internet radio I would listen to before I would bother with streaming terrestrial radio.