Sirius XM could file bankruptcy as early as Tuesday

[Data Holmes]

500 Million?! Talk about wasting money...

He paid for his entire contract the first year, with the amount of subs he brought in.

 

[nx1701g]

That's what happens when you file an exclusive deal with the auto industry in this economy...

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

If I had some really disposable cash I'd purchase a subscription. I had some free XM for a week a number of years ago and I liked the diversity of the channels and selections they played. I'll admit I am an Opie and Anthony fan too and I feel a tad guilty about pirating their show. Just a tad though.

I mainly listen to the radio on my Walkman when I am out and about. I tend to flip through all my presets a lot. One thing you notice when you listen to a lot of different terrestrial radio stations is how formatted they all are even on stations that don't play current music. It is one thing to hear Stairway to Heaven or Light My Fire played on a station, but when you hear non-standards played in heavy rotation on different stations at the same time you realize these stations are all getting playlists from the same service. I swear I have switched from one classic rock station to another and heard the same song by Journey playing at the same time.

Sure people have their IPods and whatnot today, but I think people always like to hear something they haven't heard before and radio still provides that. Terrestrial radio has become very milquetoast these days and are terrified of presenting any new of controversial. Sattelite fills that gap.

 

[bryce]

c) Internet Radio and Podcasts.
Satelitte Radio came up just before Internet radio took the next leap delivered through stuff like iPhones, G1s, and future consumer smartphones and iPod Touches and other similar devices... kind of upended it.
Pandora is awesome and it's free. I have hours of free podcasts that I listen to on my iPod. ESPN's Bill Simmons, Adam Corolla, 2 WoW podcasts, unofficial LOST podcasts with jay and jack, ESPN's pardon the interruption. Seriously I actually have TOO MUCH good talk shows to listen to... and they are all free, and they are quality.

In addition to podcasts, you can use a Windows program called Screamer Radio to record the streaming contents of internet radio stations for use on your iPod or other music player. It's a great piece of software when coupled with a large capacity music player and several stations you like.

Not only are their internet radio, podcasts, iPods, iTunes, P2P, Pandora, cable/satellite TV service digital radio...

There's THIS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio

...digital HD (broadcast) radio which may have helped put a nail in XM's coffin.

Although, it's not exactly catchin' on like wildfire - indeed, I rarely meet anyone's who's aware it even exists! - probably thanks to all those other music delivery formats mentioned above.

But it does give everyone across the country (even in podunk towns like mine) a cool alternative broadcast station like this: http://www.xpn.org/

...but then again, since I can't afford a HD digital radio receiver (and there's only one station here locally that broadcasts in it) - and they don't sell 'em in my town anyway - I actually lister to this online...!!!

But I am really hoping in the next year to be able to buy a HD digital radio receiver for my car @ least - because the local stations *are* shit - and I miss being able to listen to a decent station in my car! (And a digital HD radio tuner is less $$$ than XM, *and* it's a one-time only expense =- no subscription fees!!!

 

[Sheep]

The big problem with HD radio is that for the most part, the stations are run by the same monkeys who run terrestrial radio stations (like ClearChannel), who are even less competent than the suits in charge at Sirius XM.

I have exactly zero faith that these dolts won't screw up HD radio with the very same problems that plague terrestrial radio--limited musical formats that consist of nothing but oldies, Top 40, rock, more Top 40, urban, and even more Top 40, limited playlists and excessive commercials if the format catches on. It might be good now since it's in its infancy, but if it catches on, you can bet money all of those things that killed regular radio will become issues with HD radio.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

I HATE THE SPICE GIRLS

The big problem with HD radio is that for the most part, the stations are run by the same monkeys who run terrestrial radio stations (like ClearChannel), who are even less competent than the suits in charge at Sirius XM.

I have exactly zero faith that these dolts won't screw up HD radio with the very same problems that plague terrestrial radio--limited musical formats that consist of nothing but oldies, Top 40, rock, more Top 40, urban, and even more Top 40, limited playlists and excessive commercials if the format catches on. It might be good now since it's in its infancy, but if it catches on, you can bet money all of those things that killed regular radio will become issues with HD radio.

Sometimes, I think that radio could be like this (if the government brought back all of the old rules the used to govern radio) :

I don't have a birth certificate, social-security number, driver's license, bank account or credit card. For that matter, I don't have an address. You won't find me in the phone book. I'll tell you right now: My name is not Patty Reuben. As far as the Federal Communications Commission is concerned, I don't exist.

What I do have is a guy named Rocky Manson playing the Go-Go's in my closet. I've also got an illegal 40-watt transmitter in my bedroom and a 50 foot antenna on my roof -- equipment that has allowed me to broadcast music to the greater San Francisco area (lie) for just over two years now. Sure, it's a federal offense. In theory, I could be fined up to $100,000 by the FCC and serve up to 10 years in prison for my supposed misdeeds, but someone's got to do this, and it may as well be me.

Face it. People with lots of cash and little if any taste are controlling America's airwaves, making traditional radio boring and repetitive. That's why I can sing songs in my sleep that I would normally never listen to. The pay-to-play scandals of the '80s (when radio programmers were bribed by independent promoters to add records to their playlists) have evolved into more subtle forms of pressure, but the effect is still the same: Talent doesn't always ensure multiplatinum success. Money does. This is not only sad but unfair when there are so many amazing but unknown artists in the world.

One of the bigger tragedies of 1997, in my opinion, is the success of prefab pop stars the Spice Girls. Yeah, they're great to look at but so were New Kids on the Block and Bananarama. If I'm remembered for anything, I hope its for proving that radio doesn't have to be about sex, money or
manipulation to succeed. It can be adventurous and experimental and about good music.

Saturday, 11:07 p.m. Wendy -- along with a half-dozen of her friends -- is at the controls, playing soul oldies and chatting about her love life in sometimes graphic detail. When they discover they've left the microphone on, there is an audible gasp.

To my neighbors, I must look like a call girl or a crack dealer. It just isn't normal to have visitors stopping by at precise two-hour intervals and to have music throbbing for 14 hours each day. My friends think I'm crazy for opening my house to a bunch of strangers and allowing them to play whatever records they want at a sometimes outrageous volume, especially when they bring in a few people and at least as many six-packs.

I've loved music for the greater part of my life -- shoot me, but I love Van Halen-- and I had worked at a couple of stations after college before I decided I wanted one of my own. I was working as a legal secretary when I met with a radio/First Amendment attorney to inquire about purchasing an FM frequency. The lawyer leaned back in his leather chair and, peering at me from behind wire-rimmed glasses, asked about my finances. It didn't take him long to realize I had none. He then quietly informed me that stations in San Francisco cost approximately $20 million. I had heard that this attorney worked with microradio operators, defending their constitutional right to broadcast. So l asked him about a hippie anarchist named Stephen Dunifer.

Dunifer is the only microradio operator I know of who actually wanted to get caught. Politically motivated, he has been challenging the FCC's regulatory authority in federal District Court for almost three years now -- and winning. I managed to contact him in Berkeley, Calif. He sold me a transmitter kit, and one of his assistants, Chris, helped me assemble it. All told, it would take Chris and me four months of soldering wires, sawing copper pipe and hauling coaxial cable to get the station together. I even ended up having to build an 11-legged table to put the equipment on. Don't laugh -- it's just about the only thing in the studio that hasn't broken in two-plus years.

Finally, on a cool June night we flipped the switch. Chris pressed PLAY on one of the CD players, and out came Jon Spencer's fabulous and most groovy "Bell Bottoms." The station's been on the air ever since, with the exception of intermittent technical blackouts. Expanding from our initial skeleton schedule of 8 to 10 p.m., we are now broadcasting from noon to 2 am., seven days a week. Why we haven't been busted is anyone's guess. I like to think it's because the FCC has tuned in and enjoyed what it heard.

I Hate The Spice Girls

 

[John Picard]

^^ Bravo. The FCC is a scourge that inhibits freedom and allowing the market to control the airwaves.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I still don't get the concept of people paying for radio.

Surprised it lasted THIS long!

Not sure what there is to 'get'.

I haven't listened to a single commercial or a political advert in 5 years.

I just listen to music. All music - all the time.

It is like heaven, and certainly worth $130 per year or whatever.

You know that whole 'election season' thing we went through last year? You know...that time we go through where it seems like it is impossible to escape politicians trash-talking either other and lying through their teeth at us? Well, between TiVo and Sirius XM, I did not listen to a SINGLE politican slogging on the other guy. No trash talk. No drama. Nothing. For me, it was like all those political adverts that annoy the shit out of us did not even exist. I never listened to a single ad. Not one.

I can't imagine anyone NOT being willing to pay to get away from that garbage.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I still don't get the concept of people paying for radio.

Surprised it lasted THIS long!

Because its awesome..I have it. And so do 20million others. They have far more variety than radio. And since most radio stations where I live are for mexicans (which is cool, no problem with that) I can listen to several different kinds of jazz stations, it has PLAYBOY channel, and the best channel of all...NFL!!!!

So...I hope something can be done becaus sirus has replaced my CD as my most 'heard' application in my car (well, next to my kids fighting)

Rob

 

[What's his face]

I have it too. I love being able to listen to the audio of CNN on my way to work.

When I have a six-hour drive through the country (with no radio stations except Rush Limbaugh) to my dad's, Sirius is a blessing.

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Howard Stern, who has a five-year, $500 million deal.
How can a radio station pay someone that much

sounds like he holds some responsibility

 

[John Picard]

I still don't get the concept of people paying for radio.

Surprised it lasted THIS long!

Because its awesome..I have it. And so do 20million others. They have far more variety than radio. And since most radio stations where I live are for mexicans (which is cool, no problem with that) I can listen to several different kinds of jazz stations, it has PLAYBOY channel, and the best channel of all...NFL!!!!

So...I hope something can be done because Sirus has replaced my CD as my most 'heard' application in my car (well, next to my kids fighting)

Rob

Here's another good reason, in addition to the lack of variety, and that is when station managers screw up the schedule. Sometimes I like to catch Dave Ramsey's show on my local AM station, but in the fall/winter months the station will pre-empt the show for a stupid high school football game. In the spring and summer, it gets pre-empted for the Texas Rangers farm team's baseball game. The one "decent" classic rock station I listen to, which is on FM, pre-empts for OU Football during football season Screw that!! I want better choices, and terrestrial radio doesn't provide them.

 

[sidious618]

I've been playing around with the idea of getting the sirius xm but I don't know if I'd use it often enough. I'd probably just be tuning in to Stern.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

If I had some really disposable cash I'd purchase a subscription. I had some free XM for a week a number of years ago and I liked the diversity of the channels and selections they played. I'll admit I am an Opie and Anthony fan too and I feel a tad guilty about pirating their show. Just a tad though.

I mainly listen to the radio on my Walkman when I am out and about. I tend to flip through all my presets a lot. One thing you notice when you listen to a lot of different terrestrial radio stations is how formatted they all are even on stations that don't play current music. It is one thing to hear Stairway to Heaven or Light My Fire played on a station, but when you hear non-standards played in heavy rotation on different stations at the same time you realize these stations are all getting playlists from the same service. I swear I have switched from one classic rock station to another and heard the same song by Journey playing at the same time.

Sure people have their IPods and whatnot today, but I think people always like to hear something they haven't heard before and radio still provides that. Terrestrial radio has become very milquetoast these days and are terrified of presenting any new of controversial. Satellite fills that gap.

This reminds me of an article about the scourge (and yes, I'm sorry, but it is a scourge) of Classic Rot in Toronto:

Do you know JACK? Sure you do. The ads for Toronto's newest radio station are all over the subway: "Playing what we want" goes the slogan, with the station's logo bursting out of a jack-in-the-box, implying that the station's programmers are out of control! The posters list off what kind of crazy musical combinations you can expect: Tom Petty! Springsteen! The Cars! Meat Loaf! Now, proudly advertising Meat Loaf as a selling point in 2003 may constitute a bold, revolutionary act, but really, JACK FM is just the latest addition to a radio dial littered with microscopically focused niche stations boasting unintentionally ironic slogans that only draw attention to how rigid, formulaic and safe their playlists truly are.

JACK joins the likes of MIX 99 (whose mainstream-rock mix rarely veers more than a centimeter or two from the middle of the road), Q107 (whose definition of "Classic Rock" is flexible enough to include a regular rotation of Saga records), to the worst offender, 102.1 The Edge, whose conception of edgy music begins with the first Our Lady Peace album, ends with the latest Evanescence single, and wedges every last fake brow-pierced, phony-angst nü-metal mook into the sliver between. The irony is that JACK's former incarnation, KISS 92.5, while adhering to a top 40 format, managed to achieve something resembling true variety, bouncing from Eminem to Destiny's Child to Coldplay.

Now, for those of us who routinely seek musical guidance from college radio or CBC's Brave New Waves, and who spend more at Rotate This and Soundscapes than on food and shelter, the relentlessly uninspiring state of commercial radio is a topic as tired as the insincerity of televangelists. But as much as we are loath to admit it, radio is still an important cultural arbiter. For the casual music fan -- someone who buys maybe 10 CDs a year, simply based on liking something they heard on the radio or Much Music -- radio airplay represents validation, in the same way hipsters rely on New York or London to tell them what's cool. And more often than not, radio assumes the masses are brain-dead automatons incapable of appreciating anything beyond whatever narrowly defined genre parameters the station's corporate bosses deem most profitable.

The troubled state of the music industry is often portrayed as a battle between greedy major labels and unscrupulous music fans stealing music online. While the former portrays the latter's actions as cold-hearted theft, the question is rarely asked: did radio make them do it? The keys to any industry's growth are brand (in this case, band) loyalty and regeneration through the introduction of new products. The music industry is unique in that it relies on radio (instead of traditional advertising methods) to broadcast new-product information to consumers. Radio is failing them. As a result, those consumers have had to seek alternative outlets -- e.g., Kazaa -- to get that information.

(Sorry-the original article and the link to it is not available anymore.-Dusty)

Having an iPod or any other MP3 player provides one with the possibilities of listening to different music too, Dark Journey.

c) Internet Radio and Podcasts.
Satellite Radio came up just before Internet radio took the next leap delivered through stuff like iPhones, G1s, and future consumer smartphones and iPod Touches and other similar devices... kind of upended it.
Pandora is awesome and it's free. I have hours of free podcasts that I listen to on my iPod. ESPN's Bill Simmons, Adam Corolla, 2 WoW podcasts, unofficial LOST podcasts with jay and jack, ESPN's pardon the interruption. Seriously I actually have TOO MUCH good talk shows to listen to... and they are all free, and they are quality.

In addition to podcasts, you can use a Windows program called Screamer Radio to record the streaming contents of internet radio stations for use on your iPod or other music player. It's a great piece of software when coupled with a large capacity music player and several stations you like.

Great idea, except that most of those internet stations are just as crappy as the non-internet ones, with the same formats robotically programmed; the only stations I could stand listening to with this app are NME Radio & WFMU.

Not only are their internet radio, podcasts, iPods, iTunes, P2P, Pandora, cable/satellite TV service digital radio...

There's THIS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio

...digital HD (broadcast) radio which may have helped put a nail in XM's coffin.

Although, it's not exactly catchin' on like wildfire - indeed, I rarely meet anyone's who's aware it even exists! - probably thanks to all those other music delivery formats mentioned above.

But it does give everyone across the country (even in podunk towns like mine) a cool alternative broadcast station like this: http://www.xpn.org/

...but then again, since I can't afford a HD digital radio receiver (and there's only one station here locally that broadcasts in it) - and they don't sell 'em in my town anyway - I actually lister to this online...!!!

But I am really hoping in the next year to be able to buy a HD digital radio receiver for my car @ least - because the local stations *are* shit - and I miss being able to listen to a decent station in my car! (And a digital HD radio tuner is less $$$ than XM, *and* it's a one-time only expense =- no subscription fees!!!

The big problem with HD radio is that for the most part, the stations are run by the same monkeys who run terrestrial radio stations (like ClearChannel), who are even less competent than the suits in charge at Sirius XM.

I have exactly zero faith that these dolts won't screw up HD radio with the very same problems that plague terrestrial radio--limited musical formats that consist of nothing but oldies, Top 40, rock, more Top 40, urban, and even more Top 40, limited playlists and excessive commercials if the format catches on. It might be good now since it's in its infancy, but if it catches on, you can bet money all of those things that killed regular radio will become issues with HD radio.

Pretty much why it will die just like AM Stereo did.

^^ Bravo. The FCC is a scourge that inhibits freedom and allowing the market to control the airwaves.

Which is why you should get involved and kick their servile (to corporate America) asses and change the way they do things-American radio would be better for it. Voting in the Green Party might be one way to do it.

I still don't get the concept of people paying for radio.

Surprised it lasted THIS long!

For the same reason people pay for HBO/Cinemax, I guess, even though it sounds just like an MP3 player.

I have it too. I love being able to listen to the audio of CNN on my way to work.

When I have a six-hour drive through the country (with no radio stations except Rush Limbaugh) to my dad's, Sirius is a blessing.

Sorry, but hearing shitty corporate 'news' like CNN is not enough reason to get a subscription. Sirius should consider getting and distributing news programs like The Real News Network & Democracy Now!-you'll really be getting the news and not drivel about a lost girl or Brad & Angelina's love spats.

Howard Stern, who has a five-year, $500 million deal.
How can a radio station pay someone that much

Because they're idiots, as I said before, and now they're paying for that by having a cash-flow problem and by being bankrupt. Stern should really get his own internet radio station and spew his stupid shit on that instead of on Sirius XM.

I've been playing around with the idea of getting the sirius xm but I don't know if I'd use it often enough. I'd probably just be tuning in to Stern.

Then don't get it, or if you do decide to get it, make sure Stern isn't part of the package.

 

[Sheep]

Great idea, except that most of those internet stations are just as crappy as the non-internet ones, with the same formats robotically programmed; the only stations I could stand listening to with this app are NME Radio & WFMU.

I listen primarily to dance music which, while immensely popular pretty much everywhere else, is pretty much nonexistent on U.S. radio. For that type of music, the internet's pretty much the only option since Sirius saw fit to destroy BPM and dumb it down with Top 40 shit. There are many great internet stations to choose from (my personal favorite is energy981.com, which IMO is the most accessible dance music station).

As far as other types of music, KEXP is pretty enjoyable. I usually go through a binge of listening to their weekly podcasts every month or so. I assume the format of the station is the same as what they air on the podcast, primarily indie rock with some eclectic tracks tossed in.