Feature Resources • XM Radio • Sixties On Six

Related Resources • XM & Sirius Programming Changes

From Other Guides • Oldies Internet Radio Stations • 60s Rockers

The subscriber response is more often on the extreme end of enthusiastic. The general comment sounds something like, "I just want to live in my car now that I have XM" or "I am addicted and will never go back to FM."  People are now being offered a world of music previously unavailable on radio. It's like being able to open and sample all the CDs in a record store for less than the price of ONE CD.

Corey: Right now, XM decides what channels subscribers receive.  Do you think XM will ever partner with Web radio in some form to allow the user to pick from thousands of channels?  

Cleveland I think that quality is paramount to the delivery of product and the web can not offer this kind of consistency in quality for the money. The products being produced by manufacturers like Sony, Pioneer and Alphine are specifically geared for receiving the signals from XM's satellites "Rock and Roll". They are the two most power communications satellites in the sky. One has to stop for a moment and think about the "rocket science" that went into making mobile satellite reception at this superior degree of quality possible only to determine where the most dynamic future is for radio. 

Corey: What are some advantages to XM Satellite Radio people may not be aware of? 

Cleveland: There are so many that would appear obvious but I think some people can be confused when it comes to "radio" offering anything extraordinary enough to warrant paying for. Listeners have become used to just pushing a knob in search of something that grabs them. They are pretty much used to predictability and rarely impressed by the discovery of anything new and different. On XM, Subscribers enjoy and get excited about things they haven't heard in years or things they never heard before and they immediately discern the difference in the no-hype no-bull presentation of XM's channel. Fresh air. Generally, the absolute finest advantages of XM is superior product, direct digital delivery anywhere in the United States and 100 channels at an extremely comfortable price.

Corey: You're a veteran of the Radio wars from a few decades.  How about some quick thoughts on Traditional Radio, Web Radio and the Future of Radio.

Cleveland: Traditional Radio - R.I.P. - dereg, consolidation, centralization, downsizing, real estate speculators, consultants killed the radio star  (still a few hang in.)

Web Radio - the open range - great vastness for development of ideas,  the only frontier for future  programmers and new radio talent. Lacking in a universal solid delivery assuring quality reception. Inherent problems withstanding, broadband, buffering, method of access, incompatible equipment.

Future of Radio - XM has given birth to the future of radio. It is the ultimate visionary mission. Hey Jude. Radio, in it's terrestrial form is challenged with the task of creating more compelling and entertaining programming and providing truly local and personalized market services in more than current abbreviated forms. Talent is dwindling with reduction of the numbers of on-air people and voice tracking centralizing more markets The development of new performers and ideas, the courage to take a leap and break it all and start over....this is a start in the healthy approach to competing  in the radio environment of the future. (which is increasingly more now than the day before)

- Corey Deitz

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