Re: Commercials on Sirius/XM

You have to be listening to a news/talk/sports/traffic/weather channels.
As long as you remain on satrad, change away.
BTW...you are changing channels, not stations.

ai4i said:

You have to be listening to a news/talk/sports/traffic/weather channels.
As long as you remain on satrad, change away.
BTW...you are changing channels, not stations.

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Well, you can change both at once if you're listening to the channels that carry the two FM stations (KIIS and WHTZ) SXM must carry under terms of the original deal Clear Channel made in return for the $$$ that helped XM launch back in 2001.

Really ? Station will do just fine. I am not geek. I am a paying customer!

Pay To Pay ? Sounds Like Payola.

TheBigA said:

I know a few programmers at Sirius. They like to do "pick it or flick it" on their currents-based stations to test new songs. Often they're done in conjunction with the labels, and then the labels use the results to try to get spins at OTA. Doesn't tend to work, since the audiences are different. They've managed to be on the front side of several hit songs in the last few years, but I imagine the percentage of hits-to-dogs is about what you'd expect.

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This sounds like a new version of the Payola of the 1950's. Pay to Play. Deja a vu all over again?

Huh? How do programmers making a choice to choose or dump a song have to do with pay for play? Other than your comment, where does Payola ever come up in this discussion?

Tilden said:

This sounds like a new version of the Payola of the 1950's. Pay to Play. Deja a vu all over again?

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Payola laws only apply to broadcast, not satellite. Those single artist channels are paid. Same with internet streaming. No payola laws apply.

CTListener said:

Well, you can change both at once if you're listening to the channels that carry the two FM stations (KIIS and WHTZ) SXM must carry under terms of the original deal Clear Channel made in return for the $$$ that helped XM launch back in 2001.

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And any channels that are carried because of Clear Channel have commercials, if I remember correctly. These two were not in the list that I remember. There was once one called Sunny.

vchimpanzee said:

And any channels that are carried because of Clear Channel have commercials, if I remember correctly. These two were not in the list that I remember. There was once one called Sunny.

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All the Clear Channel bandwidth has been turned back over to SXM except for the two channels set aside for the FMs. Yes, XM (pre-Sirius takeover) had a variety of channels created for it by Clear Channel: Sunny, Nashville, a couple of others I can't recall the names of. XM also was forced to carry FMs from Houston and Nashville and a notable AM from Cincinnati, WLW, for a time. IIRC, XM tried to sic its lawyers on Clear Channel to keep its music bandwidth commercial-free, but the ruling went against them (as usual). That said, I'm not sure if any actual commercials air on SXM's Z100 and Kiss feeds. The long local stopsets are replaced by another hit song from the ol' hard drive, heard only on SXM while terrestrial listeners hear ads. SXM also inserts promos for other channels, I believe. I'll have to listen more closely to see if they are running any iHeart-sold advertising at all.

I too have noticed ad spots on some stations, voice programming. Speaking of bandwidth I noticed the other day that my old 140-channel Sirius receiver is now decoding channel 47 "Fly" that it previously could not. Did they increase bandwidth due to the cancellation of the backseat television service on New Year's Eve?

Tilden said:

Am I the only who thinks the Sirius/XM commercials are extremely amateur sounding?
The production values sound like them came out a 1950's vintage AM day timer.

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Small-town ads on AM daytimers can be quite entertaining.
I recently heard one for a local bar, which was bragging that "soon we'll be getting our liquor license back!"

CTListener said:

Well, you can change both at once if you're listening to the channels that carry the two FM stations

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I believe that your receiver is locked onto one of two stations (which may or may not have call letters), that is either the Sirius system or the XM system, they are still two transmission platforms.
You cannot change that, it was established when your receiver was manufactured.
However, all is not lost because within each system, network, or station, you are given the opportunity to select from among a couple hundred channels.
It is like going from an HD1 to an HD2 and an HD3.
They are three channels on or within one station.