I heard the Howard Stern interview with Steve Van Zandt a couple of weeks ago. Someone posted it on Youtube. It was great. Howard does great interviews.
There's a reason Sirius/XM pays Howard all that money. It was that interview that had me considering signing up for the satellite service. It'd been years since I'd done the free trial week so I signed up for the freebie which allowed me to listen on the internet as well as my iPhone.
The week spent with Sirius/XM as my go to source for music left me less than thrilled. As much as I enjoy Stern's interviews I cannot listen to the negativism that he spews each and every day. It is a horrible way to start your day.
I heard some good songs on the many channel choices but in the end I'm not a fan of narrowcasting. When I listen to the radio I don't want a strict diet of 60s or of electronica or indie rock. Variety is the spice of life. Yes, I could just change channels when I tire of a certain genre but there's something a bit stagnating about Sirius/XM which has something to do with the fact that most of the channels that have DJs arent actually live. The jocks do the wrap arounds and then they're inserted into the playlist. I did hear Cousin Brucie live and Vin Scelsa does a daily live show. One station floors me though, the Underground Garage.
I love Little Steven's (Steve Van Zandt)Underground Garage and to a lesser degree his Outlaw Country station. Great rock and roll is a narrowcast I'm ok with. And the DJs from Cleveland's own Kid Leo (who's also program director) to Handsome Dick Manitoba to Kim Fowley are fantastic. The music on the Underground Garage inspires me, energizes me and makes me feel alive.
I was nearly convinced to sign up. After all I have a car equipped with an XM tuner, my new AV receiver is Sirius-ready and I have the internet audio distributed through my home. So I sent a question to them. Would one subscription allow me access on all of those sources. The answer is no. I'd have to have a separate subscription for the car and AV receiver and then an add on charge for internet access. Now we're talking over $30 a month instead of $15 or so.
Sorry Sirius/XM you must be joking. Netflix allows a single account to be used on up to five devices. Perhaps that's a model you should consider.
Here's the good news though. When I got my used car with the XM radio built in the subscription wasn't active. After I discovered that, I never went to the XM band any more. But during that week I had the trial subscription, on a whim, I punched up the XM band. I was receiving the channels. A quick tune to channel 21 and the Underground Garage was rocking my car. Now I don't know if there's some sort of free promotion going on to entice old subscribers or if, for whatever reason, I simply have this subscription from the previous owner working again. For now though, Little Steven's riding shotgun with me.
