As if Sirius XM Radio didn’t have enough to worry about (like trying to figure out how to pay its debt and cope with the U.S. auto industry’s flameout) now its got to deal with customers grumbling about its radio stations. Some are threatening to quit the service.
That’s right, subscribers are ticked off about what they are hearing on their radios. Not the radios themselves or the quality of the signal or any of that techniclal stuff — we are talking about the actual radio content that subscribers pay $13 or more to hear each month.
Sirius this week unveiled a new channel lineup that combines XM and Sirius’ rock, pop, talk, punk, hip-hop, classical, country, jazz and sports stations. Together, it’s a robust offering of audio content, which may impress new customers. Long time listeners, familiar to particular channels playlists and on-air talent, are speaking up on blogs after the surprise shift.
Tech blogger Dave Zatz said this on his blog, Zatz Not Funny!:
“See ya, XM. I was on the fence and you pushed. Our time together has been mostly positive, but the massive lineup modifications yesterday without any advance notification isn’t the proper way to treat your customers. So I’m walking. “
The chatter is even hotter over at Ryan Saghir’s Orbitcast and the XMFan bulletin board, where thousands have weighed in. Some, for example, are pleased that the XM system that came installed in their new car now gives them access to Sirius channels they had heard before. Most of the comments however, sound like the Hatfields moved in with the McCoys and, as you would expect with rivals, hate each others taste in music.
A taste:
* “Last night, in the car, I did something I had not done in a long time…I listened to a cd. I will not keep my subscriptions if the formats remain “Sirius” ized. I’ve already purchased a car adapter for my ipod.”
* “My wife and daughter are peeved. They liked Kid Stuff on Sirius.”
* “Mel Karmazin is determined to boost iPod sales.”
I know how they feel: most of the preset stations on my satellite radio were shifted, and two of my favorite channels — a contemporary R&B and an old school hip hop station — are gone. But it’s still mostly commercial free, and I can still get my fill of funk on “70s on 7″.
What is your take on the programming changes on Satellite Radio? Are you happy? Or maybe thinking of playing your iPod in the car from now on?
Keep an eye on:
- Advertising group Havas kept its 2008 operating margin goal on Friday although its sales growth slowed in the third quarter amid a global economic crisis (Reuters)
- Have media shares hit rock bottom? (Reuters)
- Retailers have increased fourth-quarter cinema advertising spending by triple digits on a year-over-year basis – for a variety of reasons (AdAge)
(Photo: Reuters)
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Hey out there…If your Sirius Radio receiver and dock ever gets stolen out of your car don’t expect Sirius to stop the thieves from revving your radio back up. Sirius will continue to make money any way they can which is why they won’t flag your radio’s ID#. They don’t care where the radio came from or that yours was stolen, they just want the money. Seriously.
- Posted by BNicelyI am EXTREMELY disappointed in the XM / Sirius merger. I started out several years ago as a Sirius subscriber. LOVED Area 33 and a couple of the other techno / industrial channels. When they did their merger of channels and stations at the end of 2008 I lost almost ALL of my saved stations. The ONE channel I still listen to is Area and that’s now 38 in Sirius. I LOVE their hosted programs (like Robbie Riveria, Zoltar, Groove Radio, Tiesto’s Club Life, etc) but what they have on between the shows sucks now. Fortunately, I have found almost all of their hosted shows have free podcasts available every week for download. My solution is download the podcasts and play them. Sorry Sirius, you lost big time. Bye, bye.
- Posted by JCI don’t get it. XM and Sirius promised FCC that they’d retain existing service, in return for the FCC’s approval of the merger. Here’s what they promised:
“Current XM customers will continue to receive their existing XM service, and be able to obtain select Sirius programming. Likewise, current Sirius customers will continue to receive their existing Sirius service, and be able to obtain select XM programming.”
- Posted by William ThorntonI was SURPRISED when the merger happened. (Great notification XM Sirius) but tried to have an open mind. Insipid is the word that comes to mind. Elvis 24/7? Grateful Dead? Led Zepplin? Buffet? They took great channels like Fred, Lucy, Ethel and replaced them with channels that sound like they came off of the WWF. Holiday channels this year? Let’s see there’s Holly - where you can hear Ray Conniff. There’s Traditional - where you can hear Ray Conniff. There’s Bing - where you can hear Ray Conniff. Where’s the alternative Christmas channel? Vox is gone. It’s been replaced by the Met, which, quite frankly is limited by comparison. I have three, count’em three, Ipods and no less than 15,000 songs at the ready and it’s FREE. So Long XM you SIRIUSLY suck.
- Posted by MarieWhen the switch first happened, I had an open mind about Outlaw Country. However, I’ve been disappointed. I have heard Waylon Jennings everyday, usually more than once. This is not what I was used to hearing on X-Country, which played emerging alt-country artists and tons of live recordings. In my opinion, Outlaw Country is most similar to Willie’s Place, which did make the cut for some reason. If X-County doesn’t come back, I’m going to cancel my service.
- Posted by L.BelI couldn’t believe my ears! I tuned into my favorite XMCafe, or so I thought, and all I heard was NOT XMCAFE. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I finally tuned into the XM channels on my satellite TV. I have been a customer for 14 years with the TIVO and the “everything” package paying $ 100.00 plus every month, but I had CDs so I thought “who cares?”. When I finally got into it I was so thrilled I searched for a pair of vintage ADS speakers and was so looking forward to setting them up to listen to XMcafe. I thought it was such a great channel I was going to get a XM system for my husband’s law office and for my car. Finally, finally I was no longer at the mercy of the FM. I’m just stunned and disappointed.
I sat here today and went through channel after channel looking for something that sounded like the cafe - Spectrum doesn’t even come close and all that talking on the Loft! I turn these ADS beauties up LOUD and it’s so jolting to hear an insipid announcer yapping away at that volume. These people are crazy to alienate their customers - doesn’t sound like they can afford to lose ANY customers.
I’m going to find a way to stream Slacker to my tuner. I now use Sprint Mobile Broadband for our home computers. I just was made recently aware that this service must have built a new tower close to my house and service is superior to my satellite PC service. I was finally able to tell Hughesnet to take a hike. It cost me $ 400.00 to cancel but it was worth it. They are another example of a company that cares nothing about their customers. We were customers for about 10 years with a bill of about $ 70.00 per month. Finally the service got soooo bad, we had less than dialup speeds (8 kps). Calling customer service, which is outsourced, did absolutely no good at all. The techs are a joke through even the 3rd tier of support - I never got to 4. They just read their scripts and tell me how sorry they are. I finally moved to their new satellite and upgraded the service to $ 115.00 a month. Their was nothing else I could do, or so I thought. I only mention this to illustrate how people will vote with their feet if these companies pay no attention to them. XM/Sirius Can you say “Bye?”
Saintjay,
So sad in the midwest.
- Posted by SaintJayi am totally upset about the new lineup. i recently relocated from the east coast to Houston, TX and the FM hip-hop stations suck. XM was a great alternative. I loved Mzz Kitty. It was rather shocking to tune in and hear all new personalities. It appears all of the XM hip-hop channels were dropped and replaced with Sirius channels. The new radio personalities are boring!
Truly, I will not be renewing my subscription. I will simply shift the money I was paying to XM over to T-Mobile. I have found myself talking a lot more on my mobile phone while driving to avoid the dreadful FM and now XM channels.
- Posted by jaySimple explanation as to how NOT to do a merger. XM was a service mainly for the eclectic music fan. Sirius’ niche is talk radio and sports.
With the merger, Mel K. attempted to pigeonhole both camps in a ‘one size fits all’ bandwith. With limited space to work with, instead of courting the fringes of both services — those who’s interests are NOT being served on terrestrial radio — he kept those stations with the broadest appeal.
What he forgot was that those listeners who cared for ‘the broadest appeal’, could usually be served by terrestrial radio.
For us on the ‘fringe’, we feel jilted at first, get p.o.ed when we call to cancel, and rejoice as we take our subscription $$ and use them instead to fill our iPods.
(FWIW — I have a very good friend/bandmate who is in love with the whole 80’s Alt scene, and turned me on to FRED. In his living room, all four walls are covered with thousands of CDs — imports, rarities, obscurities. I felt like, the first time I heard the ‘equivalent replacement’ of FRED, ‘1st wave’, that someone burnt down his collection, handed him a single Wal-Mart ‘New Wave’ compilation CD from the bottom of the bargain bin, and said…’What you mean it’s not the same?’
It is my understanding that disco, classical, latino, alt-country, blues and punk lovers all got the same treatment. But we got Springsteen enemas 24/7!)
- Posted by RiroonI to was shocked and dismayed by the abrupt and callous manner in which the “changes” occured.Having been a huge xm fan for years,telling people don’t get sirius,it sucks compared to xm.Several of my favorite stations didn’t make the cut,x country, replaced by outlaw country, truly no comparison there as there is nothing outlaw about itexcept that maybe Dallass, Mojo and the rest of those clowns should be locked up for totally selling out to mainstream Nashville and calling it outlaw.I called to cancel my subscriptions but was given 3 months free to see if I could find somthing that I liked.I listened toX country ,beyond jazz ,xm cafe ,deep tracks (changed),bluesville (intact).So far I’m not to impressed with the new stuff, my i pod is warming in the wings.
- Posted by jamesI’ve already contacted SIRIUS twice about their huge mistake. I’ve been a subscriber for around 8 years now and am very peeved. My one and only favorite BOOMBOX was one of the casualties of this merger. Do we really need 23 rock only stations rehashing the same stuff under different programing and 4 stations dedicated solely to 1 artist????? That’s not counting the 40’s - 90’s music stations!!! They keep telling me they play Boombox music on Altnation but I have yet to hear a single one. I’m back to flipping through the channels with nothing that satisfies. Great going SIRIUS.
- Posted by DannyAs soon as I can find an online station I like it’s good bye SIRIUS. I have a hard drive with all my favorite Boombox songs on it in the mean time. Boombox was a TRUE ORIGINAL PROGRESSIVE station.
If they thought this was the answer to their financial problems they were idiots. All they’ve done is alienate and disappoint long time faithful subscribers like me SIRIUSLY.
You know the DJ’s said they weren’t even notified their shows were being cancelled. I contacted DJ Icey on myspace.
BAD WORK ETHICS YOU GUYS. BAD ALL THE WAY AROUND.
do not like the change a real let down bring back what was deleted…I am thinking about canceling because “The System” was removed…That new station is not the same and I liked Zoltar the brother from another planet…BRING BACK THE SYSTEM!!!
- Posted by uncle bob