I'll Pay for Radio! Siriusly, I will.
Written: Aug 11 '06 (Updated Oct 07 '06)
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Unless you are one of those lucky few that live within range of a good radio station, chances are that you are well aware of just how terrible conventional radio can be. Since acquiring satellite radio, not a day goes by where I yearn for the weekend broadcasts from car dealerships or new Wal-Mart stores that plagued my ears for years. Nor do I miss the ads about an annoying, fat, and balding DJ who received cures for the latter two symptoms by going to some revolutionary clinic. I don’t even miss the traffic reports that were accurate two hours earlier, or the weather forecasts that clearly weren’t devised by anybody that’s taken a look outside. Admittedly, satellite radio isn’t perfect either, but it’s far, far above the traditional terrestrial crap.
Even though Sirius has been around since 1990, it has only been in the past few years that satellite radio has taken off - literally. It was in late 2000 that Sirius placed its third satellite in orbit, completing Sirius’s elliptical constellation, with XM following suit with its two satellites a few months later. The two providers of satellite radio, XM and Sirius, have been hitting it big recently, signing agreements with all of the automotive companies to offer some sort of promo for satellite radio in all of their new vehicles. Mazda just so happened to have an agreement with Sirius, so I was treated to an external receiver and a 1-year subscription with the purchase of my new Mazda3.
In Your Car
More and more vehicles are coming direct from the factory offering built-in satellite radio, but it’s still a ways away from becoming a standard feature. Until that day comes, you will need to purchase an external portable receiver, which tend to range in price from $50 up to $300. The more expensive units allow you to pause, rewind, and fast forward live radio.
The exact method of installation will vary between different receivers and different mounting packages, not to mention different vehicles. However, in general, it is as simple as mounting the receiver on your dash or windshield, plugging it in to the cigarette lighter, and placing the antenna in a place with a clear view of the sky. For a sloppy job, you can have the receiver installed in 5 minutes. Since I wanted a clean look with no visible wires, I took the time to hardwire the power source, route the antenna cable under paneling, and create a custom mount, which took me about 5 hours, since I’d never done anything like that before. Now that I know what I’m doing, it could be done in around an hour.
Once the receiver is installed, you can either call Sirius to set up a subscription, or you can go to their website and do so there. Since my subscription came through Mazda, I was forced to call Sirius to activate, who were polite and friendly to deal with and had my subscription activated after a 5-minute toll-free call. Had I not acquired the subscription through Mazda, I would have had to pay a $20 activation fee.
In Your House
Even though most of the promotions make it seem like satellite radio is for your car, it is every bit as practical in your house or even where you work. It can be a little tricky to find a place to mount the antenna that has a clear view of the sky, and you’ll need to purchase a few extras, such as a home docking kit, but it’s otherwise just as practical as running satellite radio in your vehicle. Better yet, most home audio systems are a little easier than vehicles for beginners that want to hook up the AUX output, which gives you improved sound quality.
Coverage & Quality
One of the biggest advantages of satellite radio is that you can be in the middle of nowhere (in North America) and still be getting a crystal clear signal. As long as the antenna has a clear view of the sky, you’re good to go. Some receivers will momentarily drop the signal by simply passing under an overpass, but my Sportster Replay doesn’t have that problem. If you’re in a garage, or if you’re driving downtown and surrounded by massive skyscrapers, you’ll temporarily lose the signal and be left with silence.
You will see claims that satellite radio gives you CD-like sound quality, but that’s not telling the full story. The only way you get sound quality that good is if you hardwire your receiver to your vehicle’s head unit, which generally isn’t an especially cheap or easy task. Normally, your receiver uses FM modulation, meaning that it picks up the signal from the satellites, and then broadcasts it within a small radius (15 meters or so) at an FM frequency of your choice (which you then tune to with your vehicle’s audio system). The sound quality suffers by having to broadcast at that FM frequency, giving you quality that isn’t far off from regular FM radio. It also means that other people running their satellite radio at the same frequency can interfere with your signal, giving you some Metallica in the middle of your Garth Brooks.
Channels
Sirius offers over 100 channels of music, news, talk shows, and sports, but after the first week, you’re down to about 10 to 20 channels that you regularly check out. I’m mainly into Rock music, and with over 20 Rock channels, I can usually find a good song on one of them at any given time. If not, the Pop channels fill the void. A full channel guide is available on Sirius’ website (siriuscanada.ca or sirius.com).
I’ve yet to develop a favourite channel, but that’s mainly because I don’t pay much attention to what station I’m on since I’m constantly flipping it around. Unfortunately, that’s where the one slight disappointment comes in, as my Sportster Replay receiver is slow to tune to different channels, making it not the best receiver for me. However, it does provide a list of the artists (or songs) on the other channels without requiring you to change channels, which helps overcome this deficiency. Plus, when you do change the channel, the display immediately tells you the artist and title of what’s playing, so you can generally tell before the music even kicks in whether it’s a song you want to listen to or not.
Uncensored…kinda
To the delight of many, the FCC has no control over satellite radio, leaving talk show hosts free to use the F-bomb all they want. Similarly, you can essentially listen to porn, although I have to say it’s nowhere near as invigorating as a visual stimulant. Instead, it can beat the comedy channels when it comes to providing a good chuckle.
However, Canadian subscribers are not quite so fortunate, as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) does claim to have some control over the programming on satellite radio. On the bright side, the CRTC hasn’t officially interfered too much with Sirius or XM to date, although Sirius Canada opted not to air Howard Stern at first just to be safe, but relented under pressure from subscribers. The only real limits right now are that no localized content can be provided – meaning no weather forecasts or traffic reports.
Commercial-Free…kinda
The worst parts of AM/FM radio are unequivocally the advertisements, and in most cases, the DJs. Much to my disappointment, “commercial-free” music only removes one of those elements, leaving you with the occasional DJ that comes on and rambles on about nothing. The DJs are relatively good, but still, give me the music.
Once you get off of the commercial-free music channels, the advertisements are still quite restrained, with one or two being inserted here and there. On the few occasions that I listened to Howard Stern, there were times when it went over 2 hours without a single commercial, or at least none that I noticed. It’s far from the blab-fests you get on AM/FM radio, although at times Howard Stern could be considered a blab-fest...
How does it compare to XM?
The only real difference between Sirius and XM is the channel programming and the receivers they offer. Despite being a Sirius subscriber, I’ve actually spent far more time listening to XM’s airwaves, and I don’t even know if I could say the programming is all that different, at least as far as music goes. When it comes to sports and talk shows, Sirius does seem to have a slight upper hand, having signed on big names like Howard Stern. Plus, with XM recently increasing its monthly fee to match Sirius, the price has little bearing on the decision.
So really, my recommendation is to find the receiver you like the most, whether it be Sirius or XM, and go with it. Of those that I’ve used, Sirius’ Starmate Replay was my favourite, but I don’t mind the Sportster Replay that I own. Being comfortable with the receiver is what I’ve found really counts, with all of the other small variations between Sirius and XM being trivial.
Pay, eh?
With their growing popularity and increased programming, both Sirius and XM have recently increased their subscription fees. Even so, I don’t think I’ve ever met a person that didn’t think it was worth the cost or that regretted their decision. Currently, in Canada, Sirius charges C$14.99 per month, with pro-rated rates with the longer the subscription. A lifetime subscription costs C$550, which would pay itself off in a little over 3 years (assuming they don’t hike the monthly rate, which is bound to happen…). There is also a C$20 fee for activating your radio by phone, or C$15 online. XM has just increased its C$12.99 per month rate to match Sirius’ C$14.99, and still doesn’t offer a lifetime subscription option. In the US, the price is essentially identical at $12.95 per month for Sirius or XM. Don’t forget that there’s also the one-time cost of the receiver, which is about the same cost as a one-year subscription on average.
It’s Worth It
Get satellite radio. Whether it’s Sirius or XM is of little consequence at this point in time. Given Sirius’ better growth rate in recent months, it may be the better of the two in the long run. My main suggestion is to go with the receiver you are the most comfortable with, as that makes a huge difference.
Had I not obtained the receiver and the year-long subscription as a promo through Mazda, I probably would not have bothered to buy satellite radio. I just couldn’t get my head around paying for radio. However, now that I do have it, the accountants at Sirius will be happy to know they’ll be getting some money from me next year.
Recommended:
Yes
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tch7
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