XM Radio - Save me from Sucky Indy Radio Stations!

Posted: Tue, Jan 11, 2005

In a previous discussion we touched upon the subject of the general suckiness of Indianapolis radio stations. With the possible exception of high school stations and NPR, commercial radio stations have little to be desired. What's a geek-bling loving guy to do? In my case, it was XM Radio to the rescue.

I got my XM set-up as a holiday gift a few weeks ago. I have used it regularly since that time, even taking a couple small road trips with it. This is a comparison of my experience listening to XM vs. Indy FM stations.

For less than $10 bucks a month, XM will pipe tunes from across dozens of channels to your home or car via satellite. This programming is free of the mind-numbing drivel that so often plagues commercial radio (bad DJ's, commercials, ridiculous phone games...). With few interruptions, I get exactly what I want -lots and lots of music.

The great advantage XM has over FM is its variety in programming. You can find channels for 1940's swing, punk, world music, talk radio (right and left), 90's alt rock, a channel dedicated just to deep album tracks, unsigned artists... you get the idea. And these are only the channels that I have spent even a little time listening to. Whatever you want to listen to, they have a channel for it.

Beyond the variety of channels, what is played on each is such a relief from a monotonous top 10 list played on an hourly rotation. With XM I am able to hear songs that never make it into regular rotation on FM. Things like music too new for rotation, deep album cuts, and uncensored music (not that I need to hear the work 'fuck' in a song, but it is nice not to have to listen around the hack-job editing to bleep it out).

My listening really isn't radically outside mainstream, but you would never hear things like The Cramps, Interpol, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, The Ravonettes, or older stuff like The Sex Pistols or the Misfits on regular FM. This is the sort of play list I have become accustomed to via iTunes at work.

So there must be a catch, right? Sure there is. You have a cover charge to get into the party; you need equipment. For around a couple hundred bucks, you can outfit your home and car with a docking station to house a small XM receiver. This receiver works much like a regular receiver (it does have a few usability qualms that I won't belabor right now). Plus you have the monthly charge of about $10 bucks a month. To take this leap, you really need to ask yourself how much you like music and how much you hate to listen to crappy DJs and commercials.

Catch number two (you know there had to be more than one, right?), you loose out on all of your local programming. You don't hear the local weather, traffic reports, concert announcements, or local news. I'm sure that as XM gets bigger, larger metropolitan areas will start hosting more comprehensive "XM Local" stations that will fill in this gap (some cities -not Indy- already have local traffic and weather).

Despite the few above mentioned draw backs, I am listening to XM about 90% of the time in the car. The few times I am not, I'm on our local NPR station. As XM matures and options for local programming emerge, my guess is that I will switch over 100%.

Comments

1. Jan 12, 05 11:00 AM | Steph Mineart said:

Check out the website for a list of all the channels XM radio offers. I'd almost go out and buy one just to listen to The Golden Age of Radio" channel so I could hear The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger. And The Shadow. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

http://www.xmradio.com/programming/full_channel_listing.jsp?sort=number

2. Jan 12, 05 11:34 AM | Michael Packer said:

*cough*Usenet*cough*

It may not really be a secret, but alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.radio.oldtime is a gem of a group.

3. Jan 12, 05 08:57 PM | B Muldoon said:

XM sounds like a good deal but the problem with getting local programming is that the terrestrial radio stations have a monopoly on local content that they don't want to give up. Per FCC rules it's illegal for satellite radio to broadcast locally.

True, you'll find XM listings for traffic reports for NYC, Boston, Phoenix but notice how that must be broadcast globally. I've read that "Corporate Radio" is even trying to get that stopped.

I once read that FM radio was developed in the 1940's was kept out of the market for 30 years because the AM companies didn't want to lose out.

http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Radio/2004/07/01/507243?extID=10032&oliID=213

4. Dec 14, 05 01:02 AM | gaveas said:

wow. too bad you went and did all that when you could have just tuned into KEXP, independently owned and operated. in the last hour they played okkervil river, the long winters, rogue wave, nick cave and the bad seeds and joseph arthur to name a few. maybe more indie than you like though

5. Feb 3, 06 06:55 AM | Anne Geloran said:

Indianapolis is a poor excuse of a city. It offers absolutely NOTHING. This place can't even offer any good radio stations. There isn't one, count, not even one radio station that offers music from the 1940s and 1950s. Because the people are so "hoosier", whatever that means, all they demand is radio that will give them news about the colts and pacers. Indy grow up and join the real world; otherwise, please stop trying to think you can compete with world class cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, etc. Looking forward to the day I can leave here.

6. Feb 3, 06 01:07 PM | John Beeler said:

Sheesh. Someone's bitter. Did Indianapolis steal and eat your children?

I can't wait until we're a world class city like Etc. Indy will be awesome then. So...Etcy.

7. Feb 3, 06 02:36 PM | Steph Mineart said:

You said it, John. I think our radio stations bite, too, but I'm not going to trash the whole town about it. I don't think we get KEXP that gaveas mentions above; stations that begin with K are west of the Mississippi. Our radio station call letters begin with W. I personally plug in the iPod rather than listening to the radio, but XM Radio is an attractive idea.

8. Feb 4, 06 02:56 PM | John Beeler said:

I listen to KEXP over the web. But honestly, I think that XMU on XM radio does a better job of playing diverse and new music indie music. John in the Morning on KEXP is quite good, but the rest of the time it's hit and miss. I much prefer XMU's non-stop mix, and the occasional underground hip-hop DJs are more interesting than anything on FM.

Besides, if every city had perfect radio stations like Anne apparently wants, XMU, Sirrius, and Apple would go broke. Clearly, Indianapolis is not the only city with a craptastic radio dial.

I get XMU via DirecTV and pipe it through my home sound system, but I keep thinking about getting a portable player like Brent did.

9. Feb 9, 06 09:26 AM | bmundy said:

To keep the right mix, I rotate between XMU, Ethel, Lucy, Fred, and Fungus. Some days I'm tempted to just feed my iPod playlist into the car radio but I have this nagging feeling that I'm going to miss out on some new band or new song from a band I already know. At home, I listen to channel 414 from Comcast.

I'll have to check out KEXP via the web. However, I would be hard to live on an auditory diet of Indie music alone.

Something else to check out: www.pandora.com. I don't know how they do it, but with just a little feedback, they can figure out not only what you want to listen to but also what you *need* to listen to.

10. Jul 20, 06 05:20 AM | PAUL D. Archer said:

what happened to on the rocks on xm? when will it be back WTUX RADIO and that was all I Had! I LIVE ALONE AND THEY WERE THE PERFECT COMPANIONS!!!!

11. Jan 28, 07 03:53 PM | jim bridges said:

is it possible to use my XM radio once i subscribe to SIRRIUS? (without having to buy a new radio and accessessories). afterall, my XM recieves satellite stations as does SIRRIUS...please reply. thank you, in advance.

12. Oct 28, 08 08:11 AM | Paul Archer said:

AND i'M Not going to bring up sirius, You see the sediment is totally gone,nobody wants to hear anything that would bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye from the last time I heard them,with freddy Hubbard from<Hubbard's Cuppboard,and Joe Lacida a former musician!!! I was just hoping that when WMYS was on 1430, that satellite download would have been the SUPREME CHOICE to keep listeners,but WMYS had to pick a satellite station who only plays three time life discs all of the time, sure we as listeners were mad and still are from this bad choice!!! It makes me sick,sure the stations here are all devil worshipers because alcohol's targeted to all here and it gives nobody respect here I found too many hospitalized here than in most places you could ever dream of, satan has taken all of our community stations,including racial slurrs dealing with WTLC AM who wants to kill everyone but their own race,tell that to the FCC for me I can not reach anyone from this government agency to save the rest of us on our media here!!!

13. Oct 28, 08 08:15 AM | paul Archer said:

The network format that i did not enclose in the last wasFor the satellite download For The Late WMYS RADIO!!!

14. May 7, 11 02:32 AM | paul archer said:

remember it's the money doing this,just the money,and the ones that have it are immigrants,and they own everything!!!

XM Radio - Save me from Sucky Indy Radio Stations!

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