Sirius Reviewed

There are currently over 3 million Sirius subscribers. Cursing, commercial-free music, Howard Stern uncensored, and plenty of selection from bluegrass music to blue-collar comedy are all just a taste of what Sirius has to offer. What’s not to like?

If there is a downside to Sirius, it’s that there is too much content. I don’t think the average satellite radio subscriber is going to listen to sports, dance, country, christian, gay/lesbian, rock, and pop content. Essentially, you’re paying for services that you’ll never use. If Sirius had different packages for people that just want rock or Stern or rap, I think they would have a lot more subscribers, just like you have basic cable TV packages, and your extras like HBO and Showtime and Stars. Give people one-tenth the amount of the channels filled with content that is interesting and relevant to their life, and Sirius would be much more popular.

Of course, my review of Sirius would not be complete without mentioning the Howard Stern Show. Unlike many of the other channels on Sirius, the Stern show is NOT commercial-free (about 6 minutes an hour), just so everyone has time to get a quick breakfast or bathroom break, etc. Also, the acquisition of George Takei (Star Trek’s Captain Sulu) as the announcer of the Stern show is absolutely perfect. He fits into the show like a piece of an elaborate jigsaw puzzle, like he’s been in the studio with them for years. He’s a great addition to the show, even if he is only signed for the first week. A gay asian with a deep, soothing voice is pure entertainment (nh).

Something very smart that Stern has done for his west coast fans, and fans that aren’t able to catch his broadcast live the first time around (on Howard 100), is to pre-empt his show two hours later on his other channel (Howard 101). This means that for everyone that doesn’t wake up ungodly early, you can listen to the second playing and not miss out on anything. And if you still can’t catch either the live or pre-empted airing, there’s a replay at night.

Something that I find interesting about Sirius is the text that scrolls across the Sirius receiver. You get scores for sport events, the band name and title of the song that you’re listening to, and any message that the DJ wants to convey.

The verdict; Sirius is a very entertaining medium. No matter what kind of music I feel like listening to, I have an entire channel with nothing but that genre. Stern’s show is funny, especially with the new addition of vulgarity (I don’t care what anyone says, sometimes a joke is better with swearing), but it’s more or less a five minute bit then fifteen minutes of, “I can’t believe we just did/said that, we can do/say whatever we want here and no one can do anything about it!” Not to say that the show isn’t funny and entertaining, but I’m sure eventually Stern will find his groove.

Other things to consider; the cost of the receiver, cost of monthly subscription (or one time cost of the lifetime subscription), and possible poor reception if you live in the boonies or if it’s raining (at first I had very bad reception, but after putting the antennae outside it’s much better). All that being said, I give Sirius 4 / 5 stars!

It could be better if it didn’t have so much worthless content to me, and if I didn’t have to put the antennae outside to get a decent reception (better yet if the antennae was just like a cell phone antennae and could actually get reception inside a building). Also, the receiver I bought has no battery, so I can’t listen to it unless it’s plugged in. There are some receivers that have built-in batteries, but they are very expensive and you also have to buy either the home or the car kits.