XM gets "sirius"

[SteveOrdinetz]

>Paul Anderson wrote:
>
> > AM and FM radio has failed to provide anything other than
> > lowest-common-denominator entertainment.  The generality that it's fine
> > for most people might be true, but most people I talk to (neighbors,
> > friends and coworkers) have similarly given up on traditional radio for
> > music.


This "lowest common denominator" argument has been around for decades.  Who 
was the FCC commisioner who described tv as a "vast wasteland"?  This was 
in the 50s if I'm not mistaken.  So much for "golden era".  Maybe we're 
just getting harder to please...57 channels and nothing's on (what a great 
idea for a song!).  The real test of XM/Sirius is when the novelty wears off.

A. Joseph Ross wrote:
>
>If this is a real trend that can be tracked in ratings, one would think 
>that the owners of radio
>stations would notice, worry about it, and change their programming in 
>response.  But I
>suspect that (a) the effect hasn't impacted ratings enough for them to be 
>worried, and (b) the
>inertia of large corporations is great.


1 million +/- receivers sold.  What's the population of the U.S....270 
million or something like that?  Pretty small percentage of the 
population.  Will satellite radio eventually become a factor?  Probably, 
though as Ben Gore noted in his post, there is so much competiton for our 
time these days it's not likely -anything- will attain the critical mass 
radio had, and to a great degree still has.

My guess is that it will evolve in a way similar to tv...other than us on 
this list, how many people differentiate between a cable-only channel and a 
broadcast one?   I really don't see how the extremely "narrow but deep" 
formats of satellite radio can transfer to terrestrial.  The only way 
terrestrial radio can compete with that is even more consolidation where 
one company can "own" a large number of formats in a given market and pitch 
them to advertisers as a group.  And we know how popular -that- scenario is 
in certain circles.




>--
>A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
>  15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@attorneyross.com
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