SiriusXM Kinda Sucks

Cafe Society
1

Waaaay too narrow of a focus. I like pretty much all music (that excludes “Country” and Rap) and have been changing up my stations on the old Dish box thingy. I used to listen to music in the 900- range, buy it got kind of stale. Same old stuff, day after day.

So, I try Sirius. Holy Fuck! Same old stuff, every fucking hour, it seems like! Been listening to Lithium, and I swear they play the same 5 bands near continuous: Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Bush. Over and Over. Over and Over. Repeat.

I shitcanned “Ozzy’s Boneyard” for the same thing a few months ago. Nothing but Black Sabbath, Ozzy and Judas Priest (not a bad thing, really), but Goddammit! Of all the available music on the face of the earth, can we get some variety ?

I’d like a channel that plays a little more diverse selection. Say maybe an,* "I grew up in the 80’s , but didn’t just bang my head, maybe a little pop or progressive, but Danm, some of that 90’s alternative and grunge was fucking awesome, throw in some to that. And my wife likes smooth jazz, so, theres that too…?*

Who the fuck am I kidding? I only pay nearly $80/month. :rolleyes:

2

I am with you on that. I used to subscribe to DirecTV, and they has Music Choice. Not a hint of commericals or even announcers. Then one day DTV decided they were going to replace it with XM. They are “commercial free”, but they talk all the damn time. And I’m sorry, but plugging your own channel (the one I am listening to, people. I KNOW what it is!) is still a commercial. I like to leave the classical on all night-a nice background music. Easy to sleep to.

That is, unless some damn jerk talks every three songs. It took one day, and I switched to Cox cable. They had then (and still do) Music Choice.

If I was a long haul trucker, I’d get Sirius. For listening all the time, my CDs would run out.

But in the home, it’s music choice.

Or. iTunes. The wonderful thing about iTunes, it NEVER plays a bad song! It’s impossible. :slight_smile:

3

Yeah. When I was trying to get back into my “metal” mindset, I was listing to “Boneyard” and the goddamn chatter was so inappropriate that I couldn’t let my kid listen to it! Now, I’m no prude and I cuss like a sailor, but when you got Jim Norton on the air talking about sucking tranny dick, you gotta draw a line!

Just play some music, please. And give me some range.

4

You might try the 80’s or 90’s stations to get your fill of 80’s and 90’s music. 1st Wave for New Wave-y Alternative-y 80’s stuff (Police/Cure/Pretenders) and Backspin for Old School Hip Hop and Rap (Dr Dre/Snoop, 2 Pac, Beastie Boys, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Early TLC)

I think there’s a station called Watercolors that’s just smooth jazz.

Also, I’m on XM so you’ll have to look up the station numbers.

5

I don’t know if Boneyard says it, but if the display says “XL”, it’s like they go out of their way to swear as much as possible. My daughter is too young to know swear words so one or two will fly over her head unnoticed, but when it’s constant I end up having to change the station.

6

Yeah, I hit these, too. I just wish there was something that did a little mix of all of it. The channels they have just seem waaay to narrow focused. Too much repeat, too much (Beer took my word, but it was a GOOD one!).

7

My recollection of listening to alt rock stations back in the 90’s was that they tended to play the same damn thing over and over again, which Lithium seems to have emulated quite well (albeit time-averaged for the entire decade). I think that makes sense with the oldies decade stations, but I do agree that with the “alt oldies” stations they’d do better to play a more eclectic and variable playlist than just playing the straight nostalgia angle.

If the scare quotes around “country” mean you’re amenable to some more Americana-type stuff (i.e. not horrible FM Radio Country), I think the Outlaw Country station is a really good example of what more of their stations should be like. They play a lot of old country and country-rock even veering into some old R&B type stuff, but also play a lot of new Americana/Alt-Country. Some of the specialty shows on the weekends are pretty good too and play some really eclectic stuff sometimes. I also like the Underground Garage one (which is run by the same people), which is another station that plays a really broad range of old and new stuff that fits under their very “big tent” definition of garage rock. I think there’s a few more good channels out there (they are few and far between) but those are the two that mesh with my genre interests the closest.

8

Jim Norton has a one hour show once a week.

9

I really like my SiriusXM… but I agree with all of these criticisms. Their depth is seriously lacking, and that’s so incredibly obvious even if you’re a casual listener of a channel. I like 90s on 9, for instance, but they play The Humpty Dance and Poison and songs like that so often, it’s maddening. Alt Nation is usually good, but it’s basically the top 30 songs played on repeat, and it takes weeks for a new song to break into the rotation. SiriusXMU is the only channel I regularly listen to that seems to have a truly diverse, changing playlist.

I assume this is what the majority of their customers want, since it’s the same basic structure as regular FM radio (play the crap out of the top couple of songs). If that’s the case, I wish they offered a second version of some of their channels with all the depth listeners like me would prefer, and just hide them in the deeper channels if that’s what it takes. I’d listen to a Alt Nation Reloaded on channel 4578, if that’s what it took.

10

I can’t get over how many of their channels are taken up by sports. It’s like half of their entire line up. Is there really that much demand for the NFL-industrial complex?

11

The NFL draft just attracted 32 million viewers watching nothing happening and you ask that question?

12

I don’t know about football, but a few years ago they made a promise to broadcast every.single.baseball game. I can see that attracting subscribers. I’m sure a lot of people would pay to know that there’s pretty much always some kind of game on that they can listen to as long as they’re in the car.

13

I had SiriusXM for about eight years and I enjoyed it while I had it. However, it cost too much and for what I was receiving, it was just easier to use Pandora through my smartphone or stream a radio station (1010 WINS out of NYC is my personal favorite) than it was to pay Sirius the prices that they were/are charging.

I do miss the comedy channels, as me and my SO would laugh our butts off on road trips listening to the comedy routines that they broadcast. I also miss the Kasey Kasem Top 40 rebroadcasts from the 1970s on the weekend;but…life is an endless series of sacrifices.

14

As a baseball fan, I will say IT’S EVEN BETTER than that. They actually broadcast every single game…twice! You can hear one game on two different channels. One with each team’s home announcers. As an example, let’s say the Braves are playing the Cubs tonight, which they are. I can listen on the Chicago Cubs game and hear the game from the perspective of the Cub’s hometown announcers, OR I can listen to the Braves channel and hear the Braves announcers.

If you listen to the same music channel all the time, you will certainly hear some repetition, actually a lot. Still wouldn’t say it sucks though. Compared to local broadcast radio, it’s still way better. Love Celtic Crush on Spectrum.

15

Regarding the repetition, sure, there is, but that’s when I get away from my presets and start channel surfing. My current radio has some lag, which is annoying, but I’ve found a lot of new (or new to me) music that way. Keep in mind, that if you tried to channel surf in terrestrial radio, you’d go all the way around in, what, a minute or two. With XM, it would take you 20 minutes and I don’t think I’ve ever made it more then 20 or 30 stations without finding something to stop at.

And if you want something totally different, check out Radio Classics (XM 82?). Old Timey Radio Shows.

16

It’s definitely way better than regular FM. Although, can we all agree that Madison is the worst radio personality of all time?

17

My favorite weirdo channel surfing discovery is the French language country-western station which is hiding up by the CBC and the other Canadian channels (166 on Sirius, not sure about XM). Apart from just giggling at the concept every time I surf past it, some of it is pretty good.

18

They hid a Canadian Comedy station way up there as well (168). It started out with the regular comedy stations and it took me a while before I realized that it wasn’t just a couple of people talking funny, but an all out Canadian station. I was kinda bummed when they moved it since it was a really good station and I knew I was never gonna make it up that high. I don’t think I’ve listened to it since.

19

I will definitely second the recommendation of Outlaw Country. Very diverse and fun.

But my favorite station by a long shot is Deep Tracks. It definitely has a 60s/70s classic rock bias, but they play a very wide range of artists and songs within that genre.

Here’s a short list off the top of my head of artists I’ve heard within recent memory on Deep Tracks:

Mott the Hoople, T. Rex, Little Feat, Gentle Giant, Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Gram Parsons, Carole King, Beach Boys, Laura Nyro, Todd Rundgen, 10cc, Dixie Dregs, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Pink Floyd, Elephant’s Memory, War, Dylan, Neil Young, Harry Chapin, Grateful Dead, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, Renaissance, MC5, Procul Harem, ZZ Top, Kinks, Steely Dan, Bonnie Raitt, Be Bop Deluxe, Roxy Music, Crack The Sky . . .

And if you see some standard classic rock staple bands in that list, rest assured that the tunes of theirs played were not the typical ones that you hear over and over on regular classic rock radio.

Highly recommended!

20

And a plug for that one hour show after every third song! :smiley:

Deep Tracks is pretty good. I’ll check out the Outlaw thing. I like stuff like Drive-By Truckers, My Morning Jacket, Jayhawks etc.