The entertainment industry is all about choices. Recent pop culture earthquakes such as the iPod and TiVo make sure consumers can listen to and watch what they want, when they want. Along those lines, the new satellite radio scene stands to change the face of the AM/FM system, a shift that has been years in coming and has the potential to shake all of pop culture.
Satellite radio may be the best thing to happen to music lovers and is nothing short of a communications revolution. Forget about the familiar system consisting of a small range of stations that all play the same top 40 songs and disappear after traveling to the next county. Rather, welcome yourself to a world where hundreds of radio stations, each with a different and distinct theme, never fade out, fuzz or repeat themselves.
Howstuffworks.com looks more closely at the inner workings of the system. Satellite radio began in 1992, when the FCC allocated a spectrum for use by Digital Audio Radio Services. Two companies, paying over $80 million each to use the space, launched parallel satellites into orbit. These satellites bounce signals back to a ground receiver, which translates them into clear sound.
Currently, two forces dominate the satellite radio industry: XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Each provides a similar service: hundreds of commercial free channels for music, sports, news, traffic, and weather. Also, both Sirius and XM have teamed up with popular broadcasting networks such as Fox, CNN, MTV and VH1 to provide channels specifically for their broadcasts. Overall, the music choices are endless, with channels ranging from "Top 40" to "Un-signed Artists." Satellite radio has the largest selection of music and, because it lacks advertisers and sponsors, answers to no one in its music choices.
Satellite Radio can come to you for a very low price: $9.99 per month for XM and $12.95 per month for Sirius. Sirius even offers the "On and On and On" plan, providing a lifetime of satellite radio for $499. However, in the pursuit of profit, each company has teamed up with electronics manufacturers to create their different receivers. Sirius uses products made by Audiovox and XACT for car and home. XM uses Delphi products. These gadgets are in the $100 range, and provide fairly good portability.
Perhaps the most exciting invention for satellite radio is one that costs around $300 and provides the ultimate free listening experience. Delphi has created a portable, wireless receiver that looks similar to an MP3 player and travels with you the same way. Is America reverting back to its Walkman radio days? Perhaps. At least this is the coolest, commercial-free way to do it.
Another way to enhance your listening experience may not require any work on your part, however. For example, XM Radio now comes standard in 50 of General Motors cars released in 2005, including all Saabs and Cadillacs.
While the satellite radio phenomenon may seem cut and dry, it has actually created some controversy in the media world. MSNBC reports that Howard Stern, the notorious "shock-jockey," is moving his program to satellite radio after the FCC presented his previous employer, Clear Channel Communications, with the heaviest fines in history. Will Stern's move draw a majority of listeners away from conventional radio waves and onto satellite? His $100 million contract may speak for itself.
Some fear satellite radio will replace the older radio stations we've grown up with. But with two million people already subscribing to the new phenomenon, satellite radio is showing up its commercialized competition.
While satellite radio is still reasonably new, students around Grounds have already discovered its massive potential. Third-year Commerce student Brendan Sorem said his XM Radio "is the greatest addition to my car
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