As an XM Loyalist, I'm trying out Sirius

Original date: January 1, 2006 1:55 PM by sonnik

I'm an XM Radio Loyalist. Forced to take a choice, I'd definitely go with XM Satellite Radio and my morning boys Opie and Anthony. However, I am curious to find out just what Howard Stern can do for Sirius, and the content is pretty competitive. So, I thought I'd pick up a cheap Sirius receiver (via a Gift Card I received from my employer.) If you're interested, I have some semi-objective comparisons from what I've observed so far.

Setup on both XM Satellite Radio and Sirius are pretty easy. I will give a point to Sirius however for hardware activation. It is much less annoying than XM's option (note that I haven't activated any XM hardware in several months, 1 out of the five XM radios I activated were very quick - the others took up to an hour). I do have to give a reception point to XM however, XM has about a 10:1 ratio over Sirius on ground (terrestrial) repeaters, XM has three satellites to Sirius's one. It's noticeably easier to get a decent signal for XM, at least here in Phoenix.

Content always seems to be shaking up between the two. For example, if I'm not mistaken - Sirius just dropped Fox News content altogether recently - probably because of an agreement between XM and Fox. Nascar is jumping to Sirius for the 2007 season. As you've read elsewhere no doubt, it's all basically user preference. Though Sirius has apparently gotten the point for "talk" channels in the past, I think that's moving to XM. Each has all the basic conventional radio formats covered, and then some. XM Satellite Radio seems to give you a few more fringe formats (like Film Soundtracks or Bluegrass), Sirius gives you a couple more mainstream packagings in place of channels like this.

Both companies seem to be offering answers to each other's innovations and original ideas - so the packages are very competitive. I am going to give another point to XM for hardware options overall. XM Satellite Radio comes pre-installed in more GM cars and has more in-car tuning options. You seem to have more variety in portable (the XM2Go devices are bleedin' brilliant) and home options for XM. The quality of XM devices seem to of a better quality also, though the Sirius devices are nothing to be scoffed at.

I'm a longtime fan of Stern, but I'm a recent convert to Opie and Anthony. Whenever I listen to O&A, I tend to laugh my ass off. Working without bounds on Satellite isn't as easy as it sounds. I don't know if Stern wore on me because strippers just don't play to radio, he wasn't interesting, or I heard very little of him because of the 20 minutes of commercial breaks that the Infinity affiliates insisted upon. But in Satellite, there's no 20 minute breaks you can use to regroup - Opie and Anthony just take a couple of quick 5 minute bathroom breaks in their four hour morning show - and they can keep the flow of the show moving. They know how to have a show that plays to radio, they heavily feature talented comedians (also, comedy genius Jim Norton is the third-member of the O&A duo); the strippers and porn-stars on Howard's show don't seem to cut it for me anymore.

I'm not a dummy, I know that the Christmas/Howard sales for Sirius have given them a nice bump. I doubt it's let them capture more subscribers than XM. But Howard and Howard's fans will have to make an adjustment to the medium. It's not just jumping from FM to FM like most terrestrial talent is used to. Also, after Howard's fans follow him to Sirius - that's it. Howard's not going to be able to capture a new, younger audience to bring new subscribers to Sirius. On FM, tuners may slowly grow to be stuck on him - but with Satellite, you either already have it, or you'll get it and enjoy Howard as a nice side benefit. In other words, I find it highly unlikely that in July of this year there will be any Howard fans that haven't already switched that rush out and sign up for Sirius. I concede that XM doesn't have content that does this either. Both companies are in debt; with current numbers XM will become profitable earlier than Sirius. So, it's the addition of new content that will bring new subscribers to either.

Most importantly, terrestrial radio should be considered "dead". Aside from the few remaining local independent stations, do yourself a favor and don't bother. The "Jack" format is the best thing that FM radio seems to be able to offer; that's not saying much. They did it to themselves, trying to squeeze in a few more commercials per hour and not fighting for the right to let songs air in an unedited format or not letting on-air talent create compelling, albeit perhaps controversial, material. Trust me, either Satellite company is better than FM.