Comments on: Open Letter To Sirius XM – More Music, Less Talk

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:48:53 +0000

Could not agree more. For the first time since being a satellite subscriber I am now regularly listening to terrestrial radio.

The Highway in particular has SO much DJ talk, themed segments, little interruptions…it drives me crazy.
They have such an advantage over terrestrial radio…why are they trying so hard to be exactly like a terrestrial radio station?

People tune into satellite for commercial free AND uninterrupted music (as much as possible.) New Country played song after song and had the Nashville Minute every once in and while. That was it…98% music.

Now I get DJ talk and jokes at the height of drive time. I hear about local festivals that I will never attend – and my favorite: I get updates on Tenn. sports teams….. Do they know it is a national show?

Poor job…and it will cost them subscribers…mainly those from Sirius who know what they are missing. If I did not have my account set up to auto debit me at the beginning of the year I would have canceled my subscription. Hopefully they get better this year or I’m out.

By: Tominda

Tominda — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:10:48 +0000

I got a Sirius radio because I like music and it helps me while I’m working and writing, but I’m not a music-head. I.e, I love a smorgasbord of music, but I don’t care where it comes from most of the time, and I hate conversations about it. So I do find the increasing amount of DJ talk distracting and annoying. I positively love the music on the merged XM stations, especially The Loft, but to hell with the DJs. I don’t keep up with the music; I don’t care to. I just want to hear it. I don’t want to hear ABOUT it. So I hope that a web survey or something is conducted, yes.

By: 71chevyvan

71chevyvan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:36:18 +0000

i subscribed to hear commercial free music and no chatter like we sirius subscribers used to have on our old music stations.
I do like the content on our newer Sirius/XM oldie music stations. they seem to have tunes that the sirius oldies ch’s never played.
however i don’t like gabby DJ’s and i hate when they step on the beginning or end of a song.
if Sirius/XM is strapped for cash may i recommend doing away with the announcers?
after all they are as annoying as having commercials on terrestrial FM radio.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:22:28 +0000

I agree…way too much chatting djs. Before there was only music now it is extremely annoying!!!

By: Bill G

Bill G — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:00:56 +0000

I used to be a happy XM subscriber- content with my 16 channnels that I usually listened to- Glad to have the ability to step off into other areas of listening pleasure, if I chose to- the merger has kind of changed everything- of my 16 pleasures, I consider only one of the changes, an improvement- I like the new classical music station and maybe the acoustic jazz station- I have never found it necessary to have a DJ and the ones that exist now, talk to much and spend way to much time identifying their station- Perhaps if I develope alzheimers, I will appreciate it- The programming has gotten much worse- I have always been impressed with the the wide range of music that the genres had to pick from- I have heard songs that I hadn’t thought of for 30 years- I always enjoyed High Standards- The american song book from the Ink Spots to today and only the best of perfomances- The programing was obviously done by someone who knew and liked his genre- I think some of the new programing is done from a top 100 list by clock punchers- None of us will ever agree on music choices,but within a genre we all want the best of perfomances from the widest array of performers- Its questionable how long I will remain a customer- Even an old fart like me sees choices out there in the market

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:25:50 +0000

Thanks man, I really do appreciate it.

By: Steve O

Steve O — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:06:31 +0000

I don’t want to hear mindless chit chat from DJ’s. If I want that shit, I’ll turn on THE VIEW. Does Mel ever read any of these articles and comments? He’s got a virtual treasure trove of great advice sitting right in his lap!

He should have that BA BA BOOEY mug of his glued to Siriusbuzz and the few other reputable sat rad sites… all the time! Come on Mel, we’re giving you the answers and solutions to many of the problems. All you have to do is trust the subscribers, or at least the savvy, well intentioned ones who post great comments on a daily basis. We want to save this company; if you want to save it too, you might want to pay attention to the best consultants you could ever wish for – THE SUBSCRIBERS!!!

By: cos1000

cos1000 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:02:24 +0000

Charles I love the new format. Good Job! Thanks for your continued efforts…..

By: Recondo72

Recondo72 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:22:10 +0000

Well said.

I sincerely hope you have sent the blog post to Mr. Greenstein who is the chief programmer of XMSirius. I am a PROUD XM subscriber who was not in favor of the merger but hoped for the best. Now it seams that my concerns of decreasing quality due to the merger have been confirmed. In just about every instance a merger results in decreased quality of the product or service because no matter what is said one culture will prevail over the other. Actions speak louder than words and it is becoming apparent that the current management is bent on making SatRad “SatRad Lite” or even worse becoming basically terra FM. That dear people is EXACTLY why most people (myself included) subscribed to SatRad in the first place. Since the merger I too have noticed WAY too much chatter on the 70’s channel to the point of hardly listening anymore. The poster mentioned doing something he/she had never done before and that was to surf the channels. The chatter is SO banal.

Please let me know how I can request a survey.

The management MUST be made aware of how they are running such a great medium into the ground. These programmers don’t have a clue as to how bad a their choices were made in choosing one program over another and allowing such a great service to slide into mediocrity.
If they allow the quality to further errode, what is the point of subscribing? I still use a generation 1 SkyFi that I can move from car to office thus I do not listen to XMSirius solely in the car. I depend on SatRad for 90% of my radio listening.

Respectfully submitted,

A XM subscriber since 2002 (with 1 year left on my multi-year contract) & Sirius stockholder who voted for Mel’s & others ouster via proxy vote last week.

P.S.:I am seriously thinking about sending a certified letter expressing my sentiments to Mr. Karmazin & Mr. Greenstein. Would it make any difference?

By: Pinball Wizard

Pinball Wizard — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:21:16 +0000

I actually enjoy the talk on music channels……when the DJ has something interesting to say, Unfortunately that is NOT the case now. Current management should go to Lee Abrams’ blog and read all of the entries. This is something that they had right and lost it.