Terrestial radio vs. Satellite Radio + misc rants on radio down here in the South

Tobin just broke down and bought a new Sirius Radio.  If you read my blog at all, you probably now that I'm an XM Radio nut.  I bought my first SkiFi a few years ago when I was living in the boonies (just like now) and the reception on AM was terrible.  During the day it was fine, but at dusk the reception started to go out and then it would fade in and out which really drove me nuts.  Plus, living in Jackson, SC/ Augusta, GA, the radio is terrible.  FM and AM both suck equally bad.  When I moved to Spartanburg, it was slightly better but was still awful. I'm probably the world's biggest Phil Hendrie fan and he was on XM so that's all I needed.  But the programming overall is has been and still is, superb. 

Augusta was particularly terrible.  There, in the morning if you were listening to FM, you had two choices, John Boy and Billy's 'Big Show' and Lex and Terry (the world's suckiest morning show).  The Big Show is decent and I liked it, but it was nothing compared to http://www.monsters.fm.  Lex and Terry suck so bad that I want to go on a shooting rampage (figuratively) every time I listen to them.  But the worst part is that in Augusta, everyone there seems to think Lex and Terry (the world's suckiest morning show) are the second coming of the lord.  To be honest, if you haven't ever heard of Lex and Terry (the world's suckiest morning show) I recommend doing it once just so you can experience how sucky something can be.  I blogged about it and just when I thought I couldn't hate them any more than I already did, some Tool who I suspect works for their show writes me this crap:

"Lex and Terry, who are nationally syndicated have the best morning show. I've listened to the all. These guys are great frineds with Bill Murray and other celebs. You can listen on-line if you don't have them in your city - yet. FYI: They steal nothing. It's a well know fact the 'wannabies' steal from them. They do respect Howard's success, but think he could a litlle more upront about his so-called fairwell tour on FM. It was nothing more than a way to advertise Sirius. Just tell it the way it is. LEX AND TERRY indeed created DBF, that's DRUNK *** FRIDAY, also 'WHO'S MORE PATHETIC, and many other live bits. Nothing's pre-recorded like the BOB AND TOM (DECEASED) "

Honestly, nothing sucks worse than Lex and Terry (the world's suckiest morning show) , nothing, and nothing even comes close except maybe Michael Bolton but even that's a close call.  In Spartanburg, there's a show called "Russ and Lisa" and it really sucks too.  Russ is this complete self righteous dork (think Bill O'Reilly but much more of a blowhard and even less interesting) and Lisa is his sidekick.  They start off every bit with reading something from the Drudge and commenting on it.  Then the other one totally disagrees.  Then some caller will typically call in and accuse them of just arguing with each other for dramatic effect at which point Russ will launch into some boring Soliloquy to the effect that everything he says on the radio is genuine and that he would never say something just to try to get the audience to call in.  Russ also pretends to be Super Christian but is such a jacka55 that well, that he'd make any real Christian cringe.  Two of the 'best' dialogs they had were:

1-  When Alan Keyes disowned his daughter b/c she told him she was a ***, Russ went off praising the guy.  Mind you that Alan Keyes not only disowned his daughter but did it publicly and cut her off totally refusing to pay  for her education any longer.  The girl was  an honor student and he admitted that there was no other reason for disowning her.  Alan Keyes did this in the name of Christianity.  I used to think Alan Keyes was an impressive guy until this, but I found him pretty much repulsive afterward.  Russ was discussing this with Lisa and he was just going off in support of Alan Keyes.  Someone called in saying that Keyes' behavior was totally anti-Christian and that not only did he treat his daughter rather brutally, but he took it up a notch and dogged her out publicly.  Russ started saying that this is exactly what he should have done and 'sinners' like her deserve everything they get and as Christians, we should go out of our way to denounce homosexuality as vehemently as we can.   Another caller pointed out that parent's aren't obligated to pay for their children's education but if you're going to put your kid through college, cutting them off in the middle of it is pretty rough.  Sure, if they're screwing around or flunking out, that's one thing but when the kid is busting his/her butt to do well and the only thing they did 'wrong' was have a different sexual orientation, that this is horrendous.  He maintained that Keyes could at least have let his daughter finish off the year or give her some notice that he was going to cut her off.  Russ disagreed and said that if anything, Keyes wasn't rough enough on her.  I wanted to barf.

2-  In South Carolina, we probably have the worst Rubber Necking problems of anywhere I've lived.  I know it's bad everywhere but it's horrendous here.  So state legislators were discussing equipping vehicles with expandable walls that could be put around accident scenes in a really quick manner to minimize rubber necking.  Lisa seriously started arguing that Rubber necking is a good thing.  After all she said, the people in the accident might be someone you know and if you didn't see who it was, then you couldn't offer assistance or notify their families.  Other than calling for help, I don't know what exactly Lisa thought she was going to do if she saw someone she knew, but she was adamant.  I know that in 34 years here on earth, I have yet to drive by an accident where I actually knew anyone involved. Moreoever rubber necking occurs for tons of reasons other than accidents, like cops pulling people over for traffic tickets or people getting a flat tire.  To this Lisa responded that if it was someone you knew getting the speeding ticket, you could call in to their office and let their boss know that they would be late.  My writing skills aren't good enough to accurately describe how insipid her point was

I bring this up mainly to point out how friggin terrible the radio down here is.  It's beyond awful and the above two examples are the norm rather than the exception.

So basically, with satellite radio you get better reception, you don't get your favorite shows interrupted for Bulldog football (unless you want to listen to the games, in which case you have channels to accomodate that), you can listen to your favorite shows anywhere in the country and you get infinitely better quality.  But what's amazing is that terrestrial radio is fighting back, not by improving their product but by wasting airtime running really stupid and dishonest Anti Satellite commericals . Here's  a sampling of some of them.   Like the blog post I referred to a second ago points out, most everything the commercials claim is a crock of BS.  But my 'favorite' point that they make is "Why pay for something when you can get it for free?" Well, because it's better.  Lot's of things are free yet people are willing to pay extra for alternatives.  Ever used a public toilet? Hardly something we clamor for (and in this case, it's quite an apt metaphor) right?  What about Public transportation?  Were it not for parking and traffic benefits (and I guess the 'green' thing) I don't know too many folks that aren't willing to pay extra for something (namely their vehicle) when they can get the alternative for free.  What about schools?  Harvard, Yale, and a whole ton of other colleges are pretty pricey yet people are willing to pay the price when there are free or next to free alternatives.  I could go on and on but you get the point.

What really bugs me about this campaign though is that it's all based on crap.  "What am I going to do with the equipment when Satellite goes out of business?"  I've had my radios for a few years now and every year more and more people are subscribing.  Sure, they could go out of business but that's hardly a foregone conclusion which is precisely what those radio ads are pretending is the case. 

The real solution is to make terrestrial radio better.  How many times a day can I possibly listen to "Jenny on the block"?  Is it worth $12.95 a month of not have to listen to Backstreet boys?  It is to me.  Is it worth $12.95 a month to not have to listen to Lex and Terry or Russ and Lisa, it is to me.  (To be honest though, XM did in fact betray some of their loyal customers by offering Lex and Terry in the afternoons on Channel 152 - but I'm confident that won't last long.  I think they replaced the G. Gordon Liddy show b/c he moved to a new channel - and as bad as Liddy's show is, it's still better than Lex and Terry).  Is it worth $12.95 to be able to listen to whatever style of music you want? To listen to specific hosts?  To be able to listen to something other than Limbaugh from 12:00-3:00 (and if you like Limbaugh which I do, you can still listen to him).  To be able to 'TiVo' your favorite shows?  To be able to listen to something other than Smoke on the Water every night between 11:00 and Midnight?  To not have to deal with 2 Fer Tuesdays that lame DJ's have to play?  To be able to record something you were listening to when you get a call?  The fact people are willing to pay for radio when there's a free alternative, and an alternative that's been around forever, is testimony to how bad old school radio sucks.  Not only that, but how much cooler is it to go into your doctor's office and here something cool instead of Muzak?

So the real questions isn't if you should go with satellite or terrestrial radio, it's whether you should go with XM or Sirius.  For me it was a clear choice until recently, because I really miss listening to Howard Stern.  But that's a good dilemma to have because after all, there's nothing stopping you from getting both (Tobin already beat me to the punch with getting Sirius and XM both, he's been whopping me in a lot of gadgety areas these days) and even if I had to pay double to have them both, it's still a steal compared to having to listen to some lame a55 lex and Terry.  Did I make the point BTW that Lex and Terry really suck?