Reason no. 9,310 why I am buying XM/Sirius

Bubbler, you smokin that chronic again?

For me at least, Stern is great humor in the morning. Some think he's dated, and he was funny 10 years ago ... that's fine. I find the guy hilarious ... and there's a few million other people who have signed up for Sirius who tend to agree.

http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2006/06/02/study_thanks_to_stern_sirius_no/index.php

According to results released from Jacobs Media's technology poll conducted in February 2006, XM and Sirius are now equally popular, with current satellite radio subscribers selecting either XM or Sirius largely because of the programming and marketing strategies employed by each company, writes Billboard Radio Monitor.

Despite the tie, Sirius is gaining more momentum, thanks mainly to Howard Stern, as 32 percent of respondents who currently use Sirius' service citing the shock jock as the key factor in their decision.

 

Yet another reason I heart my XM something fierce: Waiting in the drive-thru at McDonalds for a strawberry shake in an effort to speed up my already inevitably early death. Listening to channel 45 (XM Cafe) and think to myself as I decide I don't like whatever song was playing "I haven't heard that Electric Blue song from back in the 80's in a long ass time." Flip through the channels, and what's wating for me on channel 54 (Lucy)? This thing rocks the party that rocks the body body body.

 

Well it's a good thing there are only 126 other channels you could listen to on there.
I'm not sure which group is more annoying. The ones bound and determined to convert america into a country of soccer lovers or the ones who take it upon themselves to make sure we all know, every single fucking time howard stern is mentioned, how much they disapprove.
we get it.
now shut the fuck up.

 

while I'm on the subject, they should be streaming stern's show on sirius' web site sometime soon, which should bump up sirius subscriptions even more. a little more than a month ago, they announced that howard 100 and 101 would be streaming by father's day. apparently that's not the case, but it should be soon.

I wonder what sirius looks like as a stock? the company's subscriber total is getting close to pulling even with xm and sirius has announced a very positive outlook for the upcoming year, while xm has had to scale back its expectations. funny that not long ago it was almost conventional wisdom that xm would wind up swallowing sirius. might still happen eventually, but it'll take a lot bigger gulp.

 

The thing that may take down Sirius is the ungodly shitpile of simoleons they're paying Stern. Even if they double their subscribership from this point, they're losing tens of millions a year. Take the subscriber fees and the amount they're paying Stern, and do the math.

 

As a stock, Sirius looks horrible --- at this writing, $4.07 per share, down 6 cents from its Friday open and just over half its highest selling price per share in the last year (a high the stock hit just before Christmas). In terms of earnings per share, it loses 82 cents per share annually.

 

Witness, brother Bubbler. That's pretty much what swung it in the direction of XM for me. From everything I've heard, the music between the two is pretty much a wash -- although I sure wouldn't want to be without one or the other. I like XM's two comedy stations; don't know what Sirius offers there.

Best recent discovery for me is a really good overnight sports-talk host -- David Stein on Sporting News Radio, starts at 2 a.m. Eastern. Great laid-back delivery, funny guy, it's clear that there's more to life than sports on his show.

A few times lately, I've put on the headphones and faded out with Stein on ... and when I wake up the next morning, some of the better moments have filtered into my brain, like those stop-smoking hypnosis tapes.

 

Which one has NFL?

And can you use either to download mp3s? (saw mp3 satellite radio receiver ad on tv other day)

 

No, but apparently there's a Samsung XM receiver which can play MP3s. It's called the Helix and runs $350 or so.

NFL=Sirius

Big-time college sports split fairly evenly among both.

 

Here's the sports breakdown, at least as far as I can tell:
SIRIUS
NFL
NBA
NASCAR (beginning next year)
BARCLAYS ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE SOCCER
WIMBLEDON (man, I can't wait to listen to that on the radio)
CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
ARENA FOOTBALL
COLLEGE SPORTS -- I'm not exactly sure how this breaks down. I know they had the SEC on Sirius, which is part of why I bought it. On their site, they advertise having basketball and football with "teams from storied conferences, including the Pac-10, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and Ivy League." They also play some college baseball.
HORSE RACING: AT THE RACES AND BEYOND
ESPN RADIO
ESPN NEWS
SIRIUS SPORTS ACTION NEWS (talk and live play-by-play)
SPORTS BYLINE USA (sports talk)
RIVALS RADIO

XM
MLB
NHL (I believe this becomes exclusive next year)
COLLEGE SPORTS (they advertise having ACC, Pac-10 and Big Ten, but again, I'm not sure how this all breaks down)
FIFA WORLD CUP
INDY CAR RACING
PGA TOUR NETWORK
FOX SPORTS
SPORTING NEWS RADIO
ESPN RADIO
ESPN NEWS

If sports were the deciding factor, I'd have probably gone with XM because of baseball (plus Kornheiser's radio show, when he's on the air -- and I believe he's on hiatus through football season?). Most surveys have shown that Sirius subscribers like the music offerings better than XM. I haven't really listened to Sirius NFL as much as I thought I would. Usually when I listen, it's to the Falcons game, which I could get on terrestrial radio.

My brother has XM and likes it all right, although he says he'd probably switch if he could do so for free. The deciding factor for me was that Sirius has SEC football, and I'll be able to listen to Auburn no matter where I am. Being able to hear Stern for the first time was also big. I've enjoyed what I heard, and am completely sold on keeping satellite radio. It's well worth the 43 cents a day.

Also, since I mentioned last night that Stern's two channels should be streaming soon, but weren't last night...Well I went to Sirius' online site today and they have beta sites up for both of his channels on sirius.com where you can listen to them online on streaming audio now.

 

Sirius is worth it just for Howard. His two channels are great, he just got the rights to 23,000 hours of his uncensored old shows from K-Rock (which could be used on a possible third channel) and he has been on fire since his start on 1-9.

Those who judge his show simply by the old  blurred out "E!" shows are sorely mistaken as to what his show is all about.

Stern rules!

 

Here's the deal on that. They have a band of 10 channels, 190-199, for these two conferences. So on football Saturdays, you get the home broadcast of just about anyone you want. You generally get the basketball broadcasts, too. But that is it. Only football and men's basketball.