http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/5912842.html

Discuss.

Interesting. There was no mention about it on the bit of the stern show I caught this morning and they always discuss updates. I'll have to catch it on the way home I guess.

I think its great. From what I have read it will drop the price a bit. Should also bring a ton of additional stations.

About time. Finally XM subscribers will have something to listen to! ;)

Never paid for radio, never will. Though, I think I smell an anti-trust case at some point down the road.

Originally posted by Fallen4ng31
Never paid for radio, never will. Though, I think I smell an anti-trust case at some point down the road.

Not so much. The truth of the matter is that satellite radio companies don't so much compete between each other, but with terrestrial radio, HD radio broadcasts, and streaming Internet radio. They've been bleeding cash btween the two of them, mainly because of this fact. Hopefully, after this merger, the final company can become profitable and we can retain our non-FCC-encumbered, able-to-say-fuck-at-will non-terrestrial radio for a long, long time.

Originally posted by DarkOne
Hopefully, after this merger, the final company can become profitable and we can retain our non-FCC-encumbered, able-to-say-fuck-at-will non-terrestrial radio for a long, long time.

Terrestrial radio sucks ass. It's all commercials for cars and jewelry and duh-duh-duhDUH-duh McDonalds. On top of that, they play the same goddamned music over and over again and the DJs are generally no talent tool bags. They play what the RIAA tells them to play.

Free radio is for people too poor to buy the album, so they keep calling in to request "What I've Done" by Linkin Park from the Transformers soundtrack.

Find me a terrestrial station that plays SYL, Dimmu, Behemoth, Cavelera Conspiracy, and Dethklok and I'll retract this statement.

Originally posted by DR1665
Find me a terrestrial station that plays SYL, Dimmu, Behemoth, Cavelera Conspiracy, and Dethklok and I'll retract this statement.

You won't, because they suck. :-o

Lynard Skynard FTW!

Originally posted by DR1665
Find me a terrestrial station that plays SYL, Dimmu, Behemoth, Cavelera Conspiracy, and Dethklok and I'll retract this statement.

http://fullmetaljackie.com/shows.php?c=indie103&cat=4
But only for two hours a week.

The rest of the station's DJ lineup is killer too-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDLD#Personalities_and_Shows

I don't think regular radio is dead just yet. Here in Portland we've got some great stations that play a rather surprising mix of things. Of them, my favorite is 94.7 FM. They play a fair mix of things and have good DJs, not to mention great specialty shows (Cuervo Cocktail Mix, Greasy Kids Stuff, etc). There's also Charlie FM (can't recall the dial #) that literally plays EVERYTHING. You'll hear Abba, then Linkin Park, then the Stones, so the ecclecticism is very standout. Then there's KUFO 101.1 which does do a decent job of playing some good alternative/classic rock plu sthey have Cort and Fatboy, which isn't too bad to listen to every now and again.

That said, I do like the absolute variety of XM and Sirius. When me and The Librarian were driving around OK/TX last year, our rental had XM and we were just astonished by what was out there. The dance channels were great and played a good mix of stuff. We're actually considering putting it into the Explorer.

Radio around here is the fail. It's all whiny emo crap. Hence why I take my media player with me wherever I go.

Originally posted by Fallen4ng31
Radio around here is the fail. It's all whiny emo crap. Hence why I take my media player with me wherever I go.

+1

My wife seems to love the stupid radio. It drives me up the wall when we're in the car, she'll keep hitting the preset buttons constantly trying to find a song she likes. I keep telling her to let me play the mp3 player so that we'll have something we like and variety to go with it. she keeps telling me she likes the surprise, "it's like gambling!" yeah, well how is it gambling when 3 out of the 5 presets are all playing the same damn song?! and the other 3 are on commercials!

I fucking hate terrestrial radio with a passion.

^agree above

plus why would i want to pay extra for a special radion transmitter when i can barely afford to keep my dsm running

Honestly if I could afford satellite radio (setup and monthly) I'd probably go for it, the channel selection is amazing. I need the money to go other places at the moment and the mp3 player was a gift.

ive known about the merger that was to happen sence i bought a serius subscription in april. I really cant go back to normal radio now.

I love it. We have it in every vehicle we own, including our boat. What I think is weird is what led up to the merger. These two companies were competing with eachother there is no doubt about that. I believe thats why XM couldn't hack it and Sirius still has loads of debt. They both tried to outdo eachother in hiring talent and sponsoring shit like sports and the such to attract more marketshare. It just kept adding up until one had to tap out. Isn't capitalism a bitch? As for the anti-trust lawsuits, I guess I can't see that happening. Microsoft and Sirius are too very different things.



"And I say, 'Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.' And he says, 'Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.' So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

Seriously...satelite radio is great....that's why both companies stock charts look like the tech stocks in the late 90's.

The masses are just unwilling to pay for something that they can get for free.

I'll be the first to admit that terrestrial radio can be tedious at times. Especially in smaller markets...like I'm in. But I'm not going to pay for something that I can just turn a knob or press play for.

But hey...it's worked put great for stern's ratings. :rolleyes

Originally posted by micyek
But I'm not going to pay for something that I can just turn a knob or press play for.

That's just the thing. You *can't* get the quality nor volume of variety satellite offers on terrestrial radio, in *any* market. You get the exact same watered-down, homogenized crap ClearChannel feeds everyone else, everywhere else. It's sickening.

Originally posted by DarkOne

Originally posted by micyek But I'm not going to pay for something that I can just turn a knob or press play for.

That's just the thing. You *can't* get the quality nor volume of variety satellite offers on terrestrial radio, in *any* market. You get the exact same watered-down, homogenized crap ClearChannel feeds everyone else, everywhere else. It's sickening.

exactly. I'd never been a big radio fan. Never paid for music. Never really been into music big time, and yet I think it would be hard for me to go back to terrestrial. The clarity/quality/features etc. make it sooo much better. I never thought I'd pay for radio, but now 6 months later, I don't even care that I pay for it.

Originally posted by DarkOne

Originally posted by micyek But I'm not going to pay for something that I can just turn a knob or press play for.

That's just the thing. You *can't* get the quality nor volume of variety satellite offers on terrestrial radio, in *any* market. You get the exact same watered-down, homogenized crap ClearChannel feeds everyone else, everywhere else. It's sickening.

Well, Dino, you truly are a 100% individual, and not many 100% individuals exist. You few need/will use, something like satellite radio. The rest of us, who do drink the kool-Aid, will just hit a preset for a terrestrial radio station for 25 min. commute to work, and that works just fine for us. :)

Brian: ... You've got to think for yourselves! You're ALL individuals!
Crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!
Brian: You're all different!
Crowd: Yes, we ARE all different!
Man in crowd: I'm not...
Crowd: Sch!

I blame the suckage of radio on the Unholy Trinity of the fsckers @ ClearChannel, the bigger fsckers @ RIAA, and, uh, Rick fscking Dees...

I find the while listening to Sirius, I channel flip even more now than I ever did on the little shit box radio. Sirius plays the same shit over and over, i dont care how many stations there are. DJ's are extremely lame. I regret paying the money for it.

Not that FM is much better, DJ's are very lame, music is so so. I find myself hunting for a CD if I am listening to either radio for more than 35 mins.

that aside:
If both comapnies are not profitable, how is merging going to make it more profitable without raising the rates? You still pay the employees, you still service the....um..service. Unless your going to wack jobs, your not doing shit. With a merger I see rates going up because you cut out the competition. And hello to more commercials, XM seems to like the concept.

i've had sirius for several years now... bought it right before howard stern got on the air..

500$ got me a lifetime subscription.......

p.s. i agree that xm users finally have something to listen to...

lol @ the Rick Dees comment.. I get that fool even all the way here in WI!
Been thinking about Sat radio for a while now, but just can't get myself to fork over the $ when every month there is a house/car bill or something else that comes up.
So for now.. the 3 crappy stations I get will have to suffice.

3 crappy stations? ouch.

I get like 30+ here in denver, and they still ALL suck.

Yeah the others are so bad I don't even bother tuning them in...
so i get top 40, a hip hop station that works only when I'm in or near the ghetto. and Charly FM which plays everything, but just can't get myself to listen to "It must have been Love" after some linkin park