MILES-HIGH FIDELITY SATELLITE RADIO'S SUBSCRIBERS AGREE THE SERVICE IS OUT OF THIS WORLD, BUT WILL OTHERS PAY FOR PLAY?Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer Ernie Hernandez gets a kick from carpool car·pool n. also car pool 1. An arrangement whereby several participants or their children travel together in one vehicle, the participants sharing the costs and often taking turns as the driver. 2. pals Ethel, Squizz and Lucy. Ever since hooking up his satellite radio receiver and its curiously named free-form music channels, the Hollywood hairstylist breezes through his commute, combing through 120 channels of music, talk, news and sports. Hernandez is one of the growing number of satellite subscribers shelling out for what one listener calls ``radio on steroids,'' a far-flung variety of talk and commercial-free music, from modern rock to classical, blues to hip-hop, and country to metal, programmed by genuine aficionados. On his daily drive, Hernandez alternates between CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. Headline News, arena-rock channel Boneyard bone·yard n. 1. A cemetery. 2. A place where the bones of wild animals accumulate. 3. A place where refuse, especially discarded cars, accumulates or is kept. , and Ethel, one of the network's alt-rock stations. And since he signed up for the XM satellite service about 18 months ago, he's had absolutely no desire to return to land-based radio. ``There's not a lot of talk on the music channels, and I like that,'' says Hernandez, 38, of South Pasadena South Pasadena (păs'ədē`nə), city (1990 pop. 23,936), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1888. Medical supplies, clothing, and transportation and electronic equipment are manufactured. . ``It's just a lot more interesting to listen to. You hear stuff you don't expect.'' Anybody with an ear to the ground knows a new day is dawning in the radio world. Mirroring the early years of pay TV's rise to its current reach of 73 million households, satellite radio is growing in increments to a chorus of rave reviews, word-of-mouth sales and enormous potential. And like pay TV, industry leader XM and its competitor Sirius are battling a familiar mantra: ``Pay? Who'd pay for something free?'' Actually, a lot of people. Today, as the terrestrial radio dial changes faster than listeners can keep track, some 4 million have signed up for XM or Sirius for the sort of specialty programming no longer audible elsewhere (land radio gets 175 million sets of ears each day). The wave of the future seems to be an iPod for the treadmill and satellite radio everywhere else. ``If anyone told us 20 years ago we'd be paying close to $100 a month for TV, we'd say they were totally insane,'' says XM fan Peter Asher Peter Asher (born on June 22, 1944 in Willesden, Middlesex, England) is a guitarist, singer and record producer. Asher is known as "Peter" of the 1960s Everly Brothers-derived duo Peter & Gordon, whose biggest hit was "World Without Love. , president of Sanctuary Artist Management, which handles Morrissey, Courtney Love Courtney Love Cobain[1] (born Courtney Michelle Harrison on July 9 1964) is an American rock musician and Golden Globe-nominated actress. Love is best known as lead singer for the now-defunct alternative rock band Hole, and for her two-year marriage to Nirvana and other rock acts. ``But like HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy , satellite radio feeds the eclectic taste a lot of people have in ways regular TV and radio no longer can. And as someone in the music business, I'm all for anything that provides more avenues for exposure.'' In the old days, radio inspired loyalty. Listeners were loyal to favorite stations that sounded like friends you wanted to hang out with. Outlets had distinctive personalities, song blends and formats. Top 40 was inclusive. Blues, jazz and soul were beamed in overnight. Classical wasn't a cult. The hard sell was still soft-core. All is different now. Today, for instance, former sports-talker KXTA-AM at 1150 becomes KTLK, broadcasting Air America's liberal gab lineup. The move is part of a three-way shuffle that is seeing adult standards Adult Standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult Standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those 50 and older, often considerably older. music station KLAC-AM, formerly at 570, migrate to a weaker signal at 690, while KXTA moves to 570. Undoubtedly, it was the bottom line that dictated the shift. ``So few companies control everything today,'' says Jack Crawford Jack Crawford may refer to:
Prices are hardly in the cable-TV range. Satellite subscribers must buy a special receiver ($70 to $350) and pay a fee of between $10 and $13 a month - not much more than three large cafe lattes. Yet, there's resistance. ``Enough is enough - I don't want any more electronic equipment,'' snapped Yvonne O'Connor, 45, of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. . ``I just put my cassettes in storage. I have a healthy CD collection. Yes, regular radio has some problems - I wish there was more variety in the talk stations. But no matter how good satellite radio is, I don't listen to radio for music - that's why I have a CD player in my car. And I don't want to listen to Howard Stern no matter where he goes.'' Stern, of course, made headlines last year by announcing his planned $500 million leap to censorship-free Sirius. With 1 million subscribers compared to XM's 3 million, Sirius is hoping to lure another million new customers when the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of talk-radio comic splits his longtime home at Viacom in January 2006, finally free to verbalize his every fantasy. Like premium cable channels HBO and Showtime, satellite radio is free of federal restrictions on content, regardless of listener complaints. The f-word isn't the big draw. Instead, subscribers point to wide music choices that take in well-programmed classical, jazz, blues and bluegrass bluegrass, any species of the large and widely distributed genus Poa, chiefly range and pasture grasses of economic importance in temperate and cool regions. In general, bluegrasses are perennial with fine-leaved foliage that is bluish green in some species. stations, plus areas devoted to actual decades. The comedy channels are a hoot, and old-time radio  This article or section may deal primarily with the U.S. and may not present a worldwide view. theater - complete with period commercials - could be a reason to sign up all by itself. Then, there's a vast quantity of sports. Sirius has a deal with the National Football League to broadcast its entire season, while XM is doing the same with Major League Baseball "MLB" and "Major Leagues" redirect here. For other uses, see MLB (disambiguation) and Major Leagues (disambiguation). Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. . ``We're a mobile society, and we don't live in the same towns we grew up in,'' says Jay Clark, executive vice president of programming at Sirius. ``One of the things we're doing that's very popular is giving people their hometown teams with their hometown announcers.'' Both companies, which predict further growth since launching tiny portable units that might eventually give the iPod a run for its money, also have similar programming in news channels CNN, Fox, Bloomberg and CNBC CNBC Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (artificial intelligence) CNBC Consumer News and Business Channel CNBC Congress of National Black Churches, Inc. . (XM and Sirius are reportedly giving their joint OK to a receiver that picks up both signals). Lee Abrams During the past 40 years, Lee has brought unparalleled ratings and economic success to radio stations in over 200 markets, including 97 of the top 100 winning 318 programming battles, while losing only 11. Since 1998 he has worked as the Chief Creative Officer for XM Satellite Radio. , XM's chief programmer, notes shrinking terrestrial radio formats throughout the country: ``People are realizing that even in a large city like Los Angeles, there's not a lot of choice (on regular radio).'' That feeling of dashboard alienation is at the heart of dissatisfaction voiced by a range of local radio listeners. While there are some 80 stations on AM and FM in the area, about a quarter are Spanish language Spanish language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Spain and 19 Latin American nations, Spanish is spoken as a first language by about 330 million persons , with the remainder evenly split between talk and various subgenres of pop music, and two classical music stations. ``I might consider getting (satellite radio),'' says Burbank security guard Gary Williams, 52. ``I've seen the equipment and it looks easy to figure out. It would be worth it to me because I spend a lot of time in my car at work.'' Williams, who has eclectic tastes that include surf music and film scores, is the sort of specialty listener who'd normally be served by National Public Radio, which is itself in a period of ratings growth. But, he says, he's tired of the frequent fund drives and believes NPR NPR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Nepal Rupee. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. has become less compelling. XM, incidentally, recently launched a morning news show hosted by Bob Edwards, who was axed from NPR's ``Morning Edition'' last year. Pledge week is not a problem for satellite users like Hernandez, who takes his car unit to his job and plays it there. Last week, along with his regular favorites, Hernandez could hear classic rocker Tom Petty spin personal musical delights, sample a daylong tribute to Johnny Carson or enjoy a celebration of Mozart's birthday week on one of XM's classical channels. Sirius, for its part, offers all-gay and all-Elvis channels as well as shows hosted by Eminem, film producer Robert Evans and Springsteen sideman/``Sopranos'' gangster Steven Van Zandt. ``It annoys me that my favorite oldies Oldies is a generic term commonly used to describe a radio format that usually concentrates on Top 40 music from the '50s, '60s and '70s. Oldies are typically from R&B, pop and rock music genres. stations play the same songs over and over,'' says Glendale resident Russ Cinque Jr., 50. ``I remember when there was such variety, when you'd hear Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin on the same Top 40 station - along with instrumentals and novelty songs. I know all the music stations do song research and only play the few hundred that test well - but nobody asked me. So, yes, I can see getting satellite radio ... someday.'' Fred Shuster, (818) 713-3676 fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): drawing, 2 photos, box Drawing/Box: HOW SATELLITE RADIO WORKS Jon Gerung Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) In the air Satellite radio draws converts David Crane/Staff Photographer Photo illustration by Tom Gapen (2) no caption (radio) The New York Times |
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