"The Magic of Satellite Radio"

Those words are frequently spoken by one of my favorite hosts, Frank DeCaro, during his weekday talk show on Sirius OutQ, one of over 100 channels available on Sirius Satellite Radio. I've been a Sirius subscriber for the better part of three years now, and I must say, it's been a great three years. I don't spend an extremely large amount of time in the car, but when I am in there, I'm grateful I have the selection of entertainment that Sirius offers.

In my opinion, I equate satellite radio with cable television in that satellite radio channels are more targeted toward a certain audience, much in the same vein that a channel like Lifetime is targeted towards women, aged 18-49. Just like you have to pay a monthly fee for cable TV, you have to pay for Sirius, which currently goes for $12.95 a month. On the flipside, however, while you pay for cable TV, you still have to wade through the same amount of commercials as there are on over-the-air, free TV; Sirius features around 100 music channels that are around 100 percent commercial-free.

Channels like Sirius OutQ are the reason why satellite radio, while it has yet to turn a profit, will eventually succeed. OutQ is the only radio station in the country that targets its programming to gays and lesbians, all the while bringing in a sizable straight audience as well. Besides OutQ, Sirius also has several channels targeted toward women (Lime and Martha Stewart Living Radio) and even has a channel for truckers. Over on the music side, there are four channels dedicated to dance/electronic music, and around eight channels for fans of rock. (I have the dance channel sitting right next to the alternative rock channel in my presets.) Satellite radio is perhaps the only place outside of the Internet where you can find niche programming like this, and as readily accessible on a mobile platform.

As far as the Sirius-XM merger is concerned, it's about time the Federal Communications Commission went ahead and gave its final seal of approval. While I am an ardent Sirius fan, there is some content currently available exclusively on XM that I wouldn't mind having access to--namely Major League Baseball broadcasts. Plus, I've found the sound quality is slightly better on XM's music channels than Sirius', so that would be a definite plus.

I still find myself listening to terrestrial radio, mostly KCBS for traffic information as I find Sirius' traffic/weather channel pretty worthless when it comes to reporting stuff I need to know. I also routinely listen to Gary Radnich over on KNBR, a show that will forever have a home on terrestrial AM radio.