| EasternPA |
Stern announced today that he signed a 5 year deal to run 3 channels at Sirius on his own with zero content filtering. He begins in 15 months.
Since Sirius now carries every NFL game, released their new portable boombox, and has always offered free Internet streaming for their subscribers, looks like Sirius is the way to go. Does anyone know if they are the ones with the removable tuner that can go from the car to the boombox, or is that XM? |
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| Gonzo |
I think it XM that offers that.
The company I fly for has begun using XM to receive weather displayed on a large LCD on the flight deck.... so very sweet to be flying with it.
(www.avidyne.com) |
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| hfelknor |
Howard Stern would lead me to XM.
Homer |
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| EasternPA |
quote:
Originally posted by hfelknor
Howard Stern would lead me to XM.
HA! I owe myself $20!! I had you pegged for this exact quote, Homer, or close approximation thereof. :2: |
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| hfelknor |
You are DA Winner!
Pick up your 20 bucks!
I am unalterably opposed to
1- Obscenities that are available to anyone, including children
2- The dumbing down of America.
SAT radio is a good place for Stern.
Homer |
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| msfiveiron |
I'm with Homer, 100%
I never understood the fascination with someone so intent on providing that kind of "entertainment" on the public airwaves. It's not even like his stuff is funny. I also agree that our society fosters enough dumbing down without the help of someone with a wide audience. I don't listen to his radio show and I don't watch his television show. Personally, I'm glad he's leaving the public airwaves - one less idiot to deal with. As odd as this sounds, I hope he's really successful at Serius, so that he has no incentive to return to free radio.
I personally still don't see the value of satellite radio yet, but if I did, XM would be my only choice. I would not subscribe to any service that supports that moron.
Sorry Steve, but I can't agree with your excitement. I'm certainly no prude, but the shock-jock thing totally escapes me. I know this is a polarizing topic, as there are those who will defend First Amendment and all that. Normally I do not even engage in conversation about it since it would acknowledge that I have spent time thinking about something so ridiculous. Throughout the years, I have simply exercised my right to not listen to that puerile pervert and all his spinoff minions. Moving that show to Serius means that in 15 months I can put KROCK on the radio presets in my Murano, provided they don't put another adolescent in the morning slot. |
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| Gonzo |
Perhaps this could be the end of Stern. Think about it... he has always been censored... his euphuisms are what really makes him funny. While be uncensored how entertaining can one be where every other word will probably be a body part or profanity?
My previous statement above correcton: both XM and Sirius have portable support. |
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| EasternPA |
Just to be clear, for everyone who would go to XM just because Stern is on Sirius, Opie & Anthony signed to XM the day before, and they've actually been thrown off broadcast radio for being so disgusting. Does that mean you won't buy satellite at all? I grew up listening to Stern over 20 years ago, but I agree that the content has degraded and I've barely listened to 20 episodes over the last 5 years. Just wanted to make it known about his decision since we are among the lucky few who can choose between Sirius and XM using OEM modules that aren't stapled onto the dashboard. Just like choosing between NASCAR and NFL and NBA, free Internet streaming or not, Opie & Anthony vs Howard Stern is now another decision point (for some, certainly not all).
Finally, a couple points. I am a huge proponent of free speech, and I think Stern has a point when he says that no one takes responsibility for raising their kids anymore. Instead they try to use government to regulate content instead of doing their parental duties. Second, there are dozens of channels to choose from on both services. Simply put, you don't have to listen. And now you can't call your congressman to complain because he'll be on a pay service the FCC can't regulate.
Satellite is going to be huge. XM has 4x as many subscribers as Sirius, but Stern is expected to bring 4x as many subscribers as XM has with him to Sirius. The new NFL package piqued my interest, but I didn't think it was as earth-shattering as the Stern news. This is a dicussion board, and we're discussing! |
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| msfiveiron |
I absolutely agree that we have the right to not listen to programming that we feel is inappropriate. The problem we have is that we cannot shield our children from it because it is on free radio. It is difficult to "take responsibility for your kids" when they could be listening to that crap right in front of you through their headphones. There are, unfortunately, no parental controls on the radio, satellite or free.
I also agree that many adults have the ability to dismiss certain forms of "entertainment" as adolescent and see it for what it is worth. The thing that concerns me is that some adults and many children accept what they hear as normal behavior and will emulate it. I already have enough challenges teaching my kids that it's okay to be a smart and respectful person.
Like I said in my previous post, this is a polarizing topic. The sheer popularity of these shows is proof that a thriving market exists for this kind of programming out there, whether I like it or not. But I would not expect people to make decisions based on my opinions. How you like to spend your time is completely up to you as long as you're not hurting others. And someone's choice to listen to things I may find objectionable would not change my respect for that person.
I didn't know about those two other jerks going to XM - they were truly the demise of what once was a great classic rock station in the New York area. All the more reason to not subscribe at all. I still don't see how sat radio would benefit me personally anyway. |
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| SIM |
The good thing is that most children do not listen to radio anyway. They want music, MP3, video games, etc...
So Stern and everything else on the radio is a slow dying breed anyway. |
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| EasternPA |
quote:
Originally posted by msfiveiron
[B][..]The problem we have is that we cannot shield our children from it because it is on free radio. It is difficult to "take responsibility for your kids" when they could be listening to that crap right in front of you through their headphones. There are, unfortunately, no parental controls on the radio, satellite or free.
You're right, Mike, it is hard to police what your kids are listening to, at least on free radio. My only argument with respect to sat is that your kids must be 18 to sign up for an account, or you must willingly give your kids access to satellite radio (or they must have a friend with a portable satellite radio). Perhaps my POV will change once kids come into the picture. Who knows, maybe sat radios will have V-chips of their own by the time that happens, and you will be able to voluntarily filter out content. Being all digital, it would be very easy to implement.
And you're right again, in that many people don't know how satellite benefits them if in a country of what, 225 million people, there are about 1.5 million subscribers in total. Someone on CNN said it best this morning in that satellite radio is now where cable tv was in 1977. Perhaps if nothing, it will make an excellent investment opportunity if it takes off in the same fashion. They are both testing mobile video by satellite right now, so perhaps DirecTV and Dish will have competitors soon. |
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| EasternPA |
quote:
Originally posted by SIM
So Stern and everything else on the radio is a slow dying breed anyway.
So long as millions of people will drive themselves to work, there will always be a need for entertainment and news via radio. Back when I had my Daytona, the stereo died and I replaced it with a cheapie tape deck from Radium Shackles. No radio, no CD, just an auto reverse tape deck and that's it. I went for years without radio. Now, 10 years later, I have a 55GB MP3 collection. But you know what? I still love radio. I can't stand most of today's music, so if I have the radio on, its either newsradio 880, NPR, or some college radio for the few minutes I'm passing the campus. While Stern's form of entertainment may be running long in the tooth, I seriously think radio is a long way from dying. What's that phrase again? "The reports of the death of radio were premature." We may very well be in agreement here, though, since you did say "slow dying" after all.
Not sure if anyone else reads Slashdot here, but they've been giving a lot of coverage to the concept of "podcasting" lately. People run scripts to capture radio shows (either over the Internet or with USB radios) and replicate them to their iPods so that as they head out the door, their iPod is already loaded up with the content they want to hear. Works great for the folks on the West Coast that like to listen to NPR's Morning Edition, but not so great for those of us out East who are commuting while Morning Edition is still making its first run. Its an interesting new era we are entering in entertainment, and there are many facets to it, that's for sure. |
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| SIM |
Eastern...
quote:
But you know what? I still love radio.
I do too, but we're not kids anymore... ;)
If your or my kids are coming along for a ride (and they are not usually in the traffic with us in the morning), try listening to news on the radio. You'll see those headphones quickly up and running with the best Rap in town... lol
We do love the radio but the vast majority of kids hate it. We were raised listening to radio, not our kids. When they will drive (which is a very scary thought if you look at how they drive in "Driver 3"!), they will probably not tune to news channels for the most of them. |
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| EasternPA |
quote:
Originally posted by SIM
they will probably not tune to news channels for the most of them.
That's true, too, in that by then, traffic incidents will probably appear in HUDs. A year ago, when driving in Scotland, my rental car knew about traffic jams or incidents on my planned route and would warn me before getting underway, and as I was approaching the trouble spots. She would say, "in 1 kilometre, traffic jam." and "this is your last chance to exit before..... traffic jam." Just an amazing "piece of kit" as they say over there.
By the time today's kids are driving, who knows what they're going to have at their disposal. |
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| msfiveiron |
I also listen to just news, NPR or the occasional classic rock station. Most of the time, I listen to the CDs I burn from my own music. I agree, Steve, that most of today's music does not appeal to me as much as music from the past, but I'm going to be nice and attribute that to the changing times as much as anything else. I keep thinking about my parents agonizing over me listening to Tom Waits tunes about whores and drunks, as well as George Carlin material. So I'll say it's subjective.
The other thing I don't like about FM radio is the way they equalize and compress the music they play. Most FM stations tend to emphasize the mid-lows, which makes a horribly boomy sound, and that's not just on the Bose systems in our Muranos. I find the equalization extremely different between the radio and the CDs; my thought is that the sound on the CD is more to what the artist intended. The other thing is the compression. Compression is an electronic technique where the dynamic range of a song is "compressed" so there is less difference between the softest and loudest sounds. If you listen to a song like Stairway to Heaven on FM, you'll notice that the front part of the song is almost as loud as the ending. If you listen to the same some off of CD, you'll notice a much softer beginning, almost to the point where you have to turn the volume up. Once again, my feeling is that if the artist wanted the whole song to be one dynamic level, that's how they would have recorded it.
So, maybe FM radio is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy by playing unappealing material with an overly artificial sound. People are turning away because it sounds so bad.
I've never heard satellite radio. Does it sound more like CDs or FM? |
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| EasternPA |
The one time I heard sat was on a 6-hour round-trip drive in California. Of course it was in a Hertz rental and they used an FM modulator, so I'm sure it reintroduced all the problems you find with the sound quality of FM radio. It sounded great and never cut out. It was strange in that, even though I'm used to driving for hours listening to MP3s, it was still a weird feeling when I realized that we had just driven for 3 hours, listening to the radio, and never had to change the channel. It was definitely a, "hey, cool!" moment. I'm sure the guys with sat right on the SAT port experience a much cleaner sound. At the time, it was more of a convenience thing than a knocked-my-socks-off kind of thing.
Oh, and in what may be an ironic answer to your question, Sirius is at http://www.cdradio.com |
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| jpburk |
quote:
Originally posted by msfiveiron
There are, unfortunately, no parental controls on the radio, satellite or free.
Not true. At least for XM (and I suspect for Sirius as well), you can call their Customer Support number and have specific channels blocked. In addition, Opie and Anthony are on a premium channel on XM, so you specifically have to sign up for the channel and pay, I think, $1.99/month to listen to them.
Jeff |
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| msfiveiron |
| Thanks, jp, for that valuable bit of information. I'm actually relieved that I'm wrong about it. |
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