Re: Radio on Radio

[Mark <bostonradio@yahoo.com>]

--- Dan.Strassberg@att.net wrote:

> Wossname is XM Satellite Radio. Sirius was, until the 
> first of this year, CD Radio. One will use two birds; 
> the other three. I forget which will use how many. 

Sirius will use 3. It already launched its first one
in late spring. The second one is meant to be going up
in October...So far, Sirius looks to be the first one
out of the gate sometime in the first qtr of 2001. XM
will follow later in the spring of 2001.

So far, Wall Street has been very receptive to the concept
of pay radio. Sirius' stock price doubled in less than a
year....

> 
> Each company is planning 100 channels, of which 50 will 
> carry commercial-free music formats. The programs on the 
> other 50 channels on each system _will_ include 
> commercials.

Sirius will not run any commercials on its 100 channels. They
claim that they need to 2 million subsrcibers to break even. 
I think with so many people dissatisfied with the present
state of conventional radio, they'll easily find their customer base.
I travel 400 to 500 miles a week. I plan to be one of the 2 million
and pay 10 bucks with a smile.(heck, I am spending more than that
on buying audio CD-R's to burn and customize my own CD's every month...)

XM will run it on 50 of its talk/sports/news/business channels(the
music channels will run commercial-free).

> Several radio conglomerates are backing one or the other 
> of the satellite companies. I've heard that AMFM has a 
> large stake in one company--I think XM. Since the report 
> you heard was on WBZ, I assume that Wes..., err CB..., 
> err Inf..., err Viacom has a stake in the company 
> mentioned in the report you heard.

Clear Channel, Entercom, Viacom, Cumulus, Cox all
have invested heavily into XM....Sirius remains
free of corporate interests so far with funding coming
from its owner, self-made billionaire David Margolese,
selling of company stock to the public and large bank loans....

-Mark

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