Getting Sirius and XM are easier than ever. Years ago, a radio for your car or home would cost about $200, plus the $12.95 monthly fee. Now you can get radios on-line at the company’s web-sites, or from stores as common as Wal~Mart or Radio Shack. I got one for me and one for my wife together for $120. They are plug and play, meaning that they hook up via your cigarette lighter, and broadcasts the content to your FM radio or through your tape deck.
I also purchased a home kit for $50 so I can listen in my house too.
Much like pay TV was a revolution decades ago, and the medium enhanced and altered the broadcast services, satellite radio is slowly doing much the same for old fashioned radio. Get on the bandwagon now, and see what I’m talking about.
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Article comments
1 - Craig Lyndall
Not to jump into content wars here or anything, but Stern isn't doing anything revolutionary. Opie and Anthony have been doing it on XM for a year and a half now. I got XM and was immediately converted from a longtime stern fan.
Plus, XM has far superior equipment. I don't think Sirius has a portable receiver that can truly receive live satellite signals, and XM has had that capability with their handhelds for over a year.
It should be interesting to see how it turns out in the long run, but even as a longtime Stern fan, I can't say that it is even close at this point between XM and Sirius from technology to content.
The ONLY thing that Sirius has going is Stern and that really is a big decision to be making over one radio show.
2 - Andy Marsh
I bought an XMRadio specifically because stern WAS NOT on it!
3 - Tom Bux
In regards to Opie and Anthony. Stern is the original true innovator. None of them would be anywhere, including the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh, had Stern not done what he did.
I agree with the equipment, though the gap will be reduced, much like the gap between Dish Network and Direct TV.
I actually prefer the content on Sirius. I had a 3 day test subscription to XM and didn't care as much for it, but that is all subjective and cannot possibly be measured quantitatively. But Sirius does have the NFL and Nascar.
I think if you sign up for XM, you'll like them better, if you sign up for Sirius, you'll like them better.
4 - Andy Marsh
Tom - do you know who Don Imus is? You shoulda heard that guy on AM radio in the late 60's early 70's. Way before stern and in the same market. He was nothing like he is now on msnbc or whatever station he's on. The right reverend Dr. Billy Soleharkus coming to you direct from the golden buckle of the bible belt! Stuff that used to crack me up and make my mom change the station!
XM also has NASCAR and MLB and NHL and ACC and PAC-10 and IndyCar and ESPN Radio and Sporting News and....
The only thing Sirius has is Stern.
5 - Tom Bux
Don Imus is, and always was lame.
Sirius has (or soon will have) exclusivity to Nascar and NFL.
It just comes down to that fact that People hate Stern so much, they hate Sirius, and that is closed minded and moronic. It would be like me hating with venom XM because they carry Air America.
6 - ElScorcho
1. NASCAR goes to SIRIUS in 2007, not this year.
2. NHL goes to XM in 2007, right now it's on both.
3. XM has MLB. IMHO, much better deal than the NFL. Hmm, $100 million for 10 years for games from February - October almost every day, or games for 24 Sundays.
SIRIUS has NFL and Stern. XM has MLB and much better music channels, IMHO. BBC1 is a nice idea, but not having a song display on it sucks. UPOP is better, IMHO, although it's more Americanized.
Fred + Ethel + Lucy > Alt Nation. Period.
7 - FilteringCraig
You are right that all those DJ's wouldn't exist without Stern. At the same time I think Howard passed his day. He can claim that it was the fault of the FCC, and we will certainly see now that he doesn't have to worry about them, but I am betting that I am right and he will never return to those days in the 80's and 90's when he was at the absolute height of his game.
8 - Andy Marsh
It's not a matter of hating stern that much, it's a matter of not giving a damn that he's been added to a line up. It's like finding out that CNN added Dan Rather...who gives a damn!
9 - El Bicho
"he will never return to those days in the 80's and 90's when he was at the absolute height of his game."
That's quite possible because he lost talent like Jackie and Billy West. Richard and Sal can't hold a candle to those guys; they are more stuntmen of shame rather than comedy writers. Once the show got on E, the sex was played up too much to get ratings and began too dominate. Also, other people started to revel in the sex so it was everywhere and not as unique.
10 - FilteringCraig
El Bicho, that is an interesting analysis. I thought about the losses of Jackie and Billy, but I never thought about the influence of the E! Show.
By the way, I do think Artie will probably benefit the most from satellite giving a free voice. Probably even more than Howard.
11 - voiceoverguy
RAMONNNNNNNNNNN.....
Ahh I cant do it.
I enjoyed your blog alot and its nice to see you writing something positive about sat. rad. in general.
To criticize you a bit though I think its a little far fetched to say what he is doing is revolutionary. Just to cite one specific example opie and anthony on xm and the radio chick on sirius were playing the uncensored pat O'brian tapes several months before today and they were also readily available on the internet.
12 - Mark Saleski
well, i do think that the fcc had a lot to do with the bleaching of radio. that and massive consolidation. there's almost nothing interesting on anywhere.
as far as the fcc 'rules' are concerned, the whole situation is pathetic, with enforcement varying between 'offenders'.
and lookee here folks, get your tickets to the hockey playoffs in hell: me and mr. bux agree on something. i enjoyed the hell out of the first stern show this morning.
and opie and anthony? sure, they were playing this stuff on xm before stern. but, they owe their very existence to him.
what's better, xm or sirius? it hardly matters. i'm in because of stern. still, there's a ton of great music on it. to say that there's nothing else on sirius except for stern is just an argument from ignorance.
13 - FilteringCraig
they do owe their existence, but as someone who has listened to both, I would argue that it is possible (I will have to give stern 6 months on satellite before I judge) that O&A have gotten better than the original master.
14 - Mark Saleski
i used to listen to o&a before they were booted. it was a funny show, but obviously different than stern. what i like about the stern show is that it's about the stern show, if you know what i mean.
15 - Steve S
We paid the 500 dollars for a lifetime membership to Sirius, so we don't have any monthly fee. Also, recently the music channels on Directv (satellite tv) switched over to XM, so now we get Sirius on the radio and XM on the tv. There is no competition, Sirius blows XM away in terms of 'types of' channels. Also Sirius has many big name DJ's in addition to Howard. They have most all of the MTV VJ's that we grew up with, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, and even Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong has his own channel there, as does some of the MTV Jackass's like Bam Margera.
We listen to Sirius in the house and take the portable receiver in the car, we haven't listened to commercial radio in over a year and do NOT miss it at all. Variety and commercial free, I think it's just a matter of time before commercial radio is no more.
16 - Steve S
Also, another thing we noticed between the two companies, a lot of the music is customized for each one. As an example the dance/techno channels will play Madonna's single but it's different on Sirius vs. XM. They are remastered/individualized for each, all the techno tracks are that way at least, and once again we find we prefer Sirius.
17 - Tom Bux
I agree Steve. I like the 70s station on Sirius, and listened to it's equilivant. Sirius is more my speed.
I have Sirius in my car (the starmate with homekit) and my Dishnetwork has Sirius music.
18 - PNess
O&A have their place as i listened for a while but they just did not have the talent that howard had.
as for originators, there were people before O&A on sat radio, so they were not "first" either. so get over it.
proof is that "revolutionary" is the fact that people PAY ATTENTION when howard stern moved to sat...there was hardly 2 articles and any tv reports on O&A moving. sorry what O&A did was move to sat, what Stern did for SAT was made it a revolution and a "in" thing to have.
you once again have to give him credit for making Sat radio a household name.
19 - Sean
El Bicho, your analysis is spot on. I also did not consider the impact that the E show had on his show. I would also point to the breakup of his marriage as part of his dmise. When he was married, his schtick was that he was this married guy who could not do anything with all of these hot girls who were coming on to him. It made for great comic tension. Once he split from his wife, that tension was gone.
20 - Dugan
To be frank, Stern's act is now tiresome. He was interesting to listen too in the late eighties and early nineties because he was the cutting edge. He defied the FCC and put on a show that was risqué and entertained us with his freak show that consisted of lesbians, dwarves, retards and just plain idiots. To say he walked a tightrope during his days on public radio was an understatement. I relate the experience of listening to Stern's broadcast to having sex before you got married. You KNEW you were doing something that was morally wrong but that's what made the whole thing exciting. When you finally got married and sex was no longer naughty, the excitement started to wane (Admit it, you KNOW I'm right).
This is pretty much what happened when Stern moved to Sirius and didn't have to look over his shoulder to see the FCC Gestapo behind him. Now he could legally use any four letter word he likes and get as raunchy as he wants but now you just don’t care anymore. He didn’t realize that WAS the appeal when he played the renegade. Now he’s just an everyday shock jock and besides, everyone else is doing the same thing (Opie& Andy on the other satellite radio). Really, hasn’t he gone far enough on the fart jokes, and ridiculing retards, lesbians, and dwarfs? 80% of his show now seems to be taken up on ranting about some political issue (earth warming, Bush, you name it). He’s become the know-it-all Hollywood celebrity who thinks everyone should listen to HIS views because he knows more than you do. He’s become the same celebrity that used to repulsive him. The Stern of the eighties would be ashamed of what he transformed too on Sirius. He’d call himself a sell out.
I think the other issue to Stern losing his 12 million audience has to do with his age. The baby boomers are growing up and losing interest to potty humor. Generation X look at him as some old guy and their "thing" is South Park. Without question, if the South Park crew would ever decide to have to have their own radio broadcast, they would blow Stern right out of the water. CARTMAN RULES!
21 - Tom Bux
People are flocking to satellite radio, especially Sirius which consistently beats XM in net subscribers. It is partly because of Stern, but mainly because commercial terrestrial radio has become so boring and uneventful. Satellite radio doesn't have the same limitations that terrestrial radio has, mainly the need to have 10 minutes of commercials and a 15 second dump because of the FCC.
22 - Mark Saleski
you're right tom, the numbers don't lie. it makes me wonder if these same "arguments" will get trotted out if sirius overtakes xm in subscriptions.
me, i love the music programming. totally addicted to Little Steven's Underground Garage.
23 - Clavos
I've had Sirius for almost two years. I not only don't listen to terrestrial radio anymore, my wife and I haven't even played one of our CDs in months!
For us, one major plus of Sirius over XM is Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville channel (#31). Besides Jimmy, there's reggae, a little calypso and a very eclectic mix of country, acoustic, and oldies.
We have Sirius at home (through Dish Network), in both cars, and on the boat.
Best innovation in entertainment since the Hi-Fi!
24 - kanrei
I get Sirius in my car and XM on DirectTV. I can tell you there is nothing on XM that has grabbed me. Sirius is by far superior. At least, for what I am looking for which is classic rock and jam bands.