I don't know how many others are subscribers or use satellite radio when they rent cars, but another change that I just caught last night was that the traffic/weather stations were pared down so that San Diego/Phoenix are together, Philadelphia/Boston are together, etc. etc.
Here is the new channel list:
210 Boston/Philadelphia
211 New York
212 Atlanta/Miami
213 Dallas/Houston
214 Washington/Baltimore
215 Pittsburgh/Minneapolis
216 Detroit/Las Vegas
216 Chicago/St. Louis
217 Tampa/Orlando
219 Phoenix/San Diego
221 San Francisco/Seattle
222 Los Angeles
Thus far, the merger has resulted IMHO, in reduced playlists, less channels, and now ridiculous pairings of the traffic/weather cities. :-/
I wish my rental cars came with satellite radio more often. They hardly ever do, but that's likely because I rent an el cheapo a lot of the time.
I got sirius, as long as I have BBC radio 1 I'm happy
I have a Sirius XM radio in both of my cars.
Just it is too cold to use them.
The only radio I listen to is Rob, Arnie, and Dawn on KRXQ 98.5.
Meh, the radio is obsolete now. Just put my ipod in the dash tray and press play. The new ones have external speakers, and with my old one I just broadcast WDTP 90.1-FM from my car. :sombrero:
Or whenever they decide to actually play some music (recently the only rock station around here switched to talk programming from 6 AM to 7 PM), I do actually listen to WROX 96.1-FM. But I've always thought satellite radio was pointless. I prefer to still just listen to my local radio or my ipod when in my car.
XM in my car.
Corey (webmaster of delmarvahighways.com) got me into XM back in 2005 when we went to the State College, PA meet together. I got my own radio soon afterwards and I've been hooked ever since.
I loathe local radio and its commercials, dj's, promos, morning shows, and limited playlists. XM's merge with Sirius has caused things to weaken a bit IMO, but its still much better than shuffling for cd's all the time or dealing with the crap on FM radio. Granted there are some markets that have decent local stations (Dallas and San Diego did at one point), but when I lived in Tampa and Orlando, they were two of the worse markets ever (especially Orlando!).
I have XM in both my wife's car and mine, love it!
My new car has XM, so I am still learning what is available. I love it, especially in the mornings. There is only so much talk about the previous night's reality tv that I can take . . .
I have Sirius, and primarily have it for Howard Stern. If I ever get a rental car, I just hook it up in the car. :)
I don't have an Ipod, and my car only has AM/FM with no tape or CD player. Most local stations are all syndication, all the time, and I am not interested in most of the formats. I got XM about six years ago at a time when most oldies stations were dropping 1950s and early 1960s songs and adding songs from the 1980s. My standby stations on the service played such music, and I liked the station with old radio shows as well. I generally would work my way up and down the dial, stopping as I found music I liked or talk that was interesting.
Now they play less music on some channels (like the 60s), but local radio has become worse in the meantime. The Radio Classics channel sounds much like it has for years. Yes, XM is worse than it was in 2003, but it still beats local radio in this part of the country.
I have been thinking of getting sirius sattelite radio when I return to the states. I keep getting good offers in my email for them, and I am going to be moving to a smaller area with less regular radio stations anyway.
I'm glad they didn't axe the Pittsburgh Traffic and Weather selection outright, which is what Sirius did on their own service.
Ah yes, it gets better post-merge! :pan:
On March 11, 2009, the monthly rate for your discounted subscription will increase from $6.99 per month to $8.99 per month upon renewal.* You can lock in your current special discounted rate of $6.99 by choosing a longer-term plan at www.xmradio.com/lockin (http://www.xmradio.com/lockin) - but only if you act quickly.
And if you renew now, you can continue to listen online FREE for the entire length of your subscription. Effective March 11, 2009, the XM Radio Online listening platform will be upgraded to a higher quality digital audio and no longer included as part of a base subscription at no charge.
When i last went to the United States i really enjoyed your satellite radio, considering i went through vast areas with little pop it could have been a rather boring experience if it wasnt for them. We dont have a satellite radio system quite yet running here but one is half ready and being set up. I cant wait anymore for it. :-D
You know, the reduced quality of satellite is why I hate all mergers.
Around here (specifically in the New Orleans market), the radio selection tends to be garbage. There's like ten country stations, Goddess knows how many pop stations, and the local alt-rock station is a total disgrace. If my MP3 player isn't hooked in through the tape deck, then my radio's either set to an out-of market rock station (from the Biloxi market) or one of the local FM talkers.
it was pretty much a lifesaver driving through the middle of kansas and those dead areas of america.
Psssh, weaklings! Being forced to listen to bad radio stations is part of the fun of a long roadtrip! I did I-80 in Nebraska with NOTHING BUT NPR. Beat that!
driving 100 miles of PA turnpike with country and classic rock..ew (before the gift of Sirius)
QuoteSirius XM: What Price Bankruptcy?
Under Chapter 11, the satellite radio outfit could possibly revamp costly contracts. But it could also lose its top star and lots of listeners
By Olga Kharif
A bankruptcy filing by Sirius XM would have widespread implications not just for holders of the satellite radio company's debt and shares, but also for millions of listeners and for the celebrities like Howard Stern whose fat paychecks have made it harder for the company to pay its other bills.
The few poor souls who still hold Sirius XM (SIRI) stock may get poorer still. "I'll lose $1 million," says Michael Hartleib, a longtime activist shareholder. "They completely destroyed a perfectly viable company." Shares of the company closed at 11.39¢ on Feb. 10 after The New York Times said the company is preparing for a possible filing for Chapter 11 protection from creditors. Sirius declined to comment on the report.
EchoStar Takeover Is Rebuffed
While shareholders get wiped out when a company files for bankruptcy, debtholders typically sweat out a long and often complicated reorganization and are forced to accept pennies on the dollar in debt repayment. EchoStar (SATS), a maker of TV set-top boxes, has been buying up Sirius XM debt in a bid to take over the company, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
EchoStar might have used Sirius equipment and airwaves to deliver satellite Internet and video services, but Sirius XM has resisted overtures, the newspaper has said. Sirius XM Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin was unwilling to give up the company reins, says Standard & Poor's analyst Tuna Amobi. "It's shifted, ironically, from survival to a battle for control," Amobi says. "I don't think Mel is going to be willing to relinquish control." EchoStar did not return a request for comment.
Sirius XM is struggling to meet nearly $1 billion in debt obligations due this year, with the first installment due Feb. 17 and another in May. Analysts say part of the blame for the company's financial woes lies with expensive distribution deals with automakers and high-priced talent.
Will Howard Stern Walk?
Amid the reorganization, Sirius XM may get the chance to renegotiate agreements with Stern and his team, who are paid $80 million a year, as well as with brands like Major League Baseball. "Maybe both parties have the opportunity to walk away from their existing agreement," RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank says of the Stern deal. Perhaps Stern would settle for less pay. But he may also choose to switch employers or retire, as he's threatened to do on air–a move that could prove disastrous for Sirius, many of whose users pay up specifically to hear Stern.
Similarly, Sirius XM may be able to renegotiate contracts with automakers, which install its radios in cars and receive a portion of subscription fees. Some analysts believe those revenue-sharing deals could be halved, particularly since auto sales have plummeted. Worried about job losses and mortgage payments, many consumers eschew services like satellite radio. "It's going to be a lot more challenging to get people to invest in your products when you are in Chapter 11," says Larry Rosin, president of Edison Media Research.
Even more radical ideas may come to the fore. Sirius XM could change its business model to become a provider of audio content that's streamed over the Web, wireless, and all other types of networks–without owning its own network. Perhaps Sirius could even sell some of its programming, such as exclusive live concerts, as downloads, for an extra fee. "Sirius XM is a channel aggregator," says Susan Kevorkian, a program director at researcher IDC. "Satellite radio may be artificially limited in its scope by relying on satellite technology as a delivery vehicle."
Full article: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090210_831883.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090210_831883.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories)
Quote from: AARoads on January 27, 2009, 02:08:58 PM
when I lived in Tampa and Orlando, they were two of the worse markets ever (especially Orlando!).
::shudder:: Tons of reggaeton, (c)rap, and the last alt-rock station turned "sunny" (which is okay). The pop stations started playing today's junky music, and subsequently went to hell. They just don't do, so it's XM 81 with bits of 9, 8 and others for road trips.
It's crap they merged and left a huge financial chasm, but on the bright side, an XM operator tried to sell a $500 one time payment for unlimited usage.
I refuse to get Sirius XM just because I'm a frugal person like that. For me, it's always the rock stations like 105.5 WDHA, Q104.3, 102.9 if I'm in PA, and 102.5 WDVE when I hit Pittsburgh up every year.
^I agree 100%. I will listen to the same stations or pop in a CD if I'm gonna be in the car for any length of time. It boils down to principle; I can't justify paying for something that always used to be free.
When I rent cars they've had satellite radio apart from the Grand Marquis' I've rented which have all had traditional FM/AM only. There are only two stations I listen to: The Joint and Backspin. Unfortunately only some of the cars I've rented have been able to pick up Backspin but are fine with the other stations. There's another station called Caliente where virtually every song sounds the same :sleep:
Do you know if there's something similar in Europe? I have never heard of satellite radio over here. Might be kinda interesting.
My Sirius radio has been great on my lighthouse trips. I wish I had taken it with me for use in the rental car on my last one; I didn't listen to anything the whole time.
Quote from: Chris on August 09, 2009, 03:34:40 PM
Do you know if there's something similar in Europe? I have never heard of satellite radio over here. Might be kinda interesting.
WorldSpace (http://www.1worldspace.com/) provides a satellite radio service in Europe.
I am planning on getting Sirius radio very soon,as i like classic country and we just lost our local station.I jockey cars where i work at a port and sometimes sneak a listen to satalight radio when im driving a car that has it.lol,I definitely want sirius as i enjoy the nascar channel and xm doesn't offer that.
I have XM via DirecTV, though I only get the ones that originate from XM. I plan on getting one for my car within the next couple of months or so.
I like the old school hip-hop, 90s alternative and 80s channels the most. I also like the love songs channel. It helps me fall asleep at night.
A heads up to all you XM Radio subscribers. They are going to be changing channels again on Wednesday. Just heard it mentioned on mine. At least they are giving a heads up unlike the last time.
Yup, got a notification in my email two days ago. Going to really mess up my presets, but what can you do? :-/
Here is the new list: http://www.siriusxm.com/pdf/11-1524_XM_WebLUs_5_4.pdf
Esentually, 95% of the channel numbers on SSR and XM will now be the same. Traffic channels are being reduced nine channels, most shared between three cities. Only NY and LA have their own channels now. Only a few legal issues remain for a full merger.
- Their Canadian subsideries have not merged (each original company has a different Canadian partner) and thus the "Canadian content" channels on each remain different. Both services toss their mandiated Canadian content in for US subscribers, but the Canadian government prevents them from airing US political talk channels to their subscribers.
- XM continues to air its "More" package. These are six commercial carrying music and five talk channels programmed by Clear Channel, which is allocated that much space under an old XM contract.
- XM continues to be the only home for play-by-play baseball.
- XM carries Fox Sports Radio while SSR carries Sporting News Radio.
- There a slight differences in each service's public radio offerings, due to an old SSR contract with NPR.
Unfortunatly, you still need the "Best of the other package" service. XM subs need it for the NFL, NASCAR, Playboy, Spice, Martha Stewart, Howard Stern, and certain college games, while SSR subs need it for Oprah, Opie & Anthony, NHL, PGA, MLB's talk channel (no games on SSR), the Fantasy Sports Channel, and certain college games.
Satellites have lifespans, and one would assume that at some point they next generation of sats will be launched and they will go with one or the other system (the two systems are toally incompatable on a technical basis) and swap out the radios.
Quote from: Alex on May 01, 2011, 10:56:54 AM
Yup, got a notification in my email two days ago. Going to really mess up my presets, but what can you do? :-/
Here is the new list: http://www.siriusxm.com/pdf/11-1524_XM_WebLUs_5_4.pdf
A similar change is underway for Sirius subscribers: http://www.siriusxm.com/pdf/11-1524_SIR_WebLUs_5_4.pdf
One minus is that many of the traffic/local weather report channels will now squeeze three cities onto one channel, rather than the previous two. For example, the Baltimore and Washington D.C. reports will now share a channel and time with Atlanta. But Pittsburgh, which had long ago been dropped from the old lineup, will be restored to the new one.
On the plus side, some other channel arrangements will be in more logical order. For example, MSNBC will finally be grouped with all the other news channels.
My Acura has voice control for the radio. This change is gonna mess me up bigtime. While I'll adjust the presets appropriately, no doubt I'll forget all the changes every time I use the voice control.
According to the websites, presets are supposed to follow the channels, as long as you let the system run its full update on the 4th without changing channels. If you have a button set for ESPN it is going to remember ESPN, not the channel number. Don't know how that will effect the voice control deal, though.
What I'm personally waiting for is to get CBC Radio 1 on my XM. Believe it or not, there's some good stuff on it. I've listened to it a lot when going to Canada on 740AM (doesn't exist anymore) and 99.1 FM (out of Toronto). I've personally gotten 99.1 as far South as just outside of Erie, PA (no joke), and when it was 740, sometimes got it as far South as the North Hills of Pittsburgh.
I just wish SSR would be able to get the baseball games from the XM side.
Plus one of my car radios cant get the best of XM package period. I cant wait for a full merger which means just one set of radios, tuners/ receivers, etc.
Quote from: SP Cook on May 01, 2011, 05:38:17 PM
According to the websites, presets are supposed to follow the channels, as long as you let the system run its full update on the 4th without changing channels. If you have a button set for ESPN it is going to remember ESPN, not the channel number. Don't know how that will effect the voice control deal, though.
Interesting. Thanks. It won't affect the voice control because that works solely by channel number–if I say "XM channel 58" that's where it tunes, as the voice-control is part of the sat-nav and not anything to do with XM. But it'll be interesting to see if the presets do update.
I have XM in my Tahoe, and it's a great feature to have. For one thing, you can listen to the same station for a cross-country roadtrip. For another, there's an endless selection of channels.
In Seattle, my best bets on terrestrial radio are KISW and Warm 106.9, although my teenage daughter loves 106.1 Kiss FM. Thankfully, she now has her own car so I won't have to put up with the crappy pop music she likes!
I listen to XM radio via our Dish Network satelite package. Dish has been notifying us about the XM/Serius channel change since Thursday. Started to hear the radio promos for the change today. Not much I can do about reseting my favorites (via Dish) till after it happens.
Quote from: oscar on May 01, 2011, 12:46:01 PMOne minus is that many of the traffic/local weather report channels will now squeeze three cities onto one channel, rather than the previous two. For example, the Baltimore and Washington D.C. reports will now share a channel and time with Atlanta. But Pittsburgh, which had long ago been dropped from the old lineup, will be restored to the new one.
I'm glad to see Sirius has reinstated Pittsburgh, but I am not a fan of combining the cities.
When I was an XM subscriber, I liked that each city had their own channel. One of many things I was disappointed to see occur when Sirius took over, which is why I am an ex-XM subscriber, was that they combined the cities (except NYC and LA). I was also disappointed to hear that the main Weather Channel feed and the emergency channels are gone, which filled the coverage gap outside the cities covered by the Traffic/Weather channels.
Quote from: PAHighways on May 03, 2011, 01:35:56 PM
Quote from: oscar on May 01, 2011, 12:46:01 PMOne minus is that many of the traffic/local weather report channels will now squeeze three cities onto one channel, rather than the previous two. For example, the Baltimore and Washington D.C. reports will now share a channel and time with Atlanta. But Pittsburgh, which had long ago been dropped from the old lineup, will be restored to the new one.
I'm glad to see Sirius has reinstated Pittsburgh, but I am not a fan of combining the cities.
When I was an XM subscriber, I liked that each city had their own channel. One of many things I was disappointed to see occur when Sirius took over, which is why I am an ex-XM subscriber, was that they combined the cities (except NYC and LA). I was also disappointed to hear that the main Weather Channel feed and the emergency channels are gone, which filled the coverage gap outside the cities covered by the Traffic/Weather channels.
I don't mind combining certain cities if they're close to each other such that the traffic may reasonably be expected either to overlap or to flow heavily between the two. For example, when Sirius took over, they added Baltimore to the DC channel. That's never bothered me all that much because the two cities are about 40 miles apart and a fair number of people commute between them; the FM-based traffic reports will sometimes (though not always) mention major incidents around the other city. But with the new revision to the channel lineup they're adding Atlanta to the DC/Baltimore channel. That doesn't make much sense to me because there's no overlap there. If another city had to be added to the DC/Baltimore channel, it seems like Philadelphia would be the most logical one due to proximity. Put differently, if you're leaving the Baltimore-Washington area and driving north, news of a major incident in the Philadelphia area may well be relevant to which route you take because it's close enough that you might get up that way before a particularly bad wreck or overturned truck can be cleared. The same is NOT the case with respect to Atlanta.
Of course, I recognize that in most of the country you don't have major cities as close to each other as you do in the DC-to-Boston corridor.
Baltimore/DC make sense, but Pittsburgh/Minneapolis and Detroit/Las Vegas do not.
If SiriusXM covered the same cities that their provider Traffic.com does, there would be more cities and ones closer to each other to group together.
We used to have Orlando/Tampa here and Miami/Atlanta. It will be convenient to get all three cities on the same channel.
I am happy to have found that my presets did indeed update automatically today when I clicked through them in turn. I didn't know whether only XM-branded equipment would do that or whether a car's factory stereo with built-in XM would as well. The answer was the latter.
Also, an interesting update regarding traffic: They're now announcing what times the traffic will be announced. For the DC/Baltimore/Atlanta channel, it's DC "on the 1s" (eg, x:01, x:11, x:21, etc.), Baltimore a few minutes after, and then Atlanta "on the 8s." I suppose it's helpful to know this rather than waiting through the other reports, but it's also frustrating that now the reports will run only every 10 minutes because that's what our local FM station does ("traffic and weather together on the 8s"). While I've never developed the level of confidence with XM's reports that I have with WTOP's, it was nice to be able to tune in the XM report if I knew the WTOP report wouldn't air for another 5 minutes. That advantage is sort of gone now.
What isn't clear is whether they will update the traffic reports more often than they used to. They used to be recorded and looped until there was an update. It's unclear whether that's still going to be the case, but I suspect it will.
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 04, 2011, 04:20:57 PM
Also, an interesting update regarding traffic: They're now announcing what times the traffic will be announced. For the DC/Baltimore/Atlanta channel, it's DC "on the 1s" (eg, x:01, x:11, x:21, etc.), Baltimore a few minutes after, and then Atlanta "on the 8s." I suppose it's helpful to know this rather than waiting through the other reports, but it's also frustrating that now the reports will run only every 10 minutes because that's what our local FM station does ("traffic and weather together on the 8s"). While I've never developed the level of confidence with XM's reports that I have with WTOP's, it was nice to be able to tune in the XM report if I knew the WTOP report wouldn't air for another 5 minutes. That advantage is sort of gone now.
What isn't clear is whether they will update the traffic reports more often than they used to. They used to be recorded and looped until there was an update. It's unclear whether that's still going to be the case, but I suspect it will.
At least the Sirius/XM and WTOP reports for DC will never overlap (the former always on the 1s, the latter always on the 8s), so you know which one will come up next, if you're om a hurry for a traffic report and can't wait for the usuallly superior WTOP report (which I'll be listening to more often, with the new Sirius/XM setup).
I suspect the "on the 1s" announcement will be just temporary until listeners get used to the new arrangement. I'd bet it'll soon be replaced by an ad, rather than adding time to the traffic reports.
Quote from: oscar on May 04, 2011, 05:02:29 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 04, 2011, 04:20:57 PM
Also, an interesting update regarding traffic: They're now announcing what times the traffic will be announced. For the DC/Baltimore/Atlanta channel, it's DC "on the 1s" (eg, x:01, x:11, x:21, etc.), Baltimore a few minutes after, and then Atlanta "on the 8s." I suppose it's helpful to know this rather than waiting through the other reports, but it's also frustrating that now the reports will run only every 10 minutes because that's what our local FM station does ("traffic and weather together on the 8s"). While I've never developed the level of confidence with XM's reports that I have with WTOP's, it was nice to be able to tune in the XM report if I knew the WTOP report wouldn't air for another 5 minutes. That advantage is sort of gone now.
What isn't clear is whether they will update the traffic reports more often than they used to. They used to be recorded and looped until there was an update. It's unclear whether that's still going to be the case, but I suspect it will.
At least the Sirius/XM and WTOP reports for DC will never overlap (the former always on the 1s, the latter always on the 8s), so you know which one will come up next, if you're om a hurry for a traffic report and can't wait for the usuallly superior WTOP report (which I'll be listening to more often, with the new Sirius/XM setup).
I suspect the "on the 1s" announcement will be just temporary until listeners get used to the new arrangement. I'd bet it'll soon be replaced by an ad, rather than adding time to the traffic reports.
I agree with you on both parts. I especially figured the announcement about the report timing is temporary. What I think is too bad is that "on the 1s" is so soon after "on the 8s." In other words, what I was getting at before is that if I leave home at, say, 8:04 AM to go downtown, I'll have to decide which route to use prior to the 8:08 AM WTOP report because I'll hit the light at the exit from my neighborhood before then. Previously I could listen to the XM report as I was leaving if I knew the WTOP report wouldn't come on. Now, not so much. I suppose at home the easy solution is "listen to the radio while getting dressed," but that's less convenient elsewhere. Oh well, that's life! Obviously XM shouldn't be expected to try to figure out when local FM (or AM) stations in the different markets run their reports and then try to tailor around that. It's unrealistic. (BTW, does WMAL still air traffic "on the 6s"? I know they did about 10 years ago, but I almost never listen to WMAL nor to any other AM station unless I need to pull in 1500 around the Pentagon because 107.7-FM doesn't come in clearly there.)
I am a bit less confident in WTOP's morning reports since that new reporter (Reena Kessler? Rita Kessler?) took over from Lisa Baden, though I suspect it's more that I find her voice and some of the expressions she uses to be annoying. Either way, I still have greater confidence in WTOP than I do in XM's reports in part because I know WTOP's reporters know the area. Several of XM's reporters have not learned how to conceal that they're reading directly from a computer display–I've heard a lot of them omit articles where they should use them (eg, "I-95 is stopped at Occoquan River Bridge") and I've also heard them throw in articles where they should not (they frequently refer to the town of Triangle down in Prince William County as "the Triangle," which is the name of a region of North Carolina).
Another alternative is traffic info on your phone.
I use the traffic feature of Google maps and it is much more accurate than anything on the radio ever was.
Clear Channel's iHeartRadio app has traffic reports for certain cities.