I need HD or satellite radio (desperately)

[a Nick O!]

I am so sick of not hearing new and current music on my radio whenever I turn it on. I've reached my wit's end and, come Christmas, surely I'll have this problem fixed.

My primary Alternative station has officially grown un-f***ing-listenable when it's not the morning show with the entertaining DJ, prize opportunities, and significantly lesser-heard music. (Still obligated to play some regular programming, though.) It's basically become classic rock radio for my generation and I cannot f***ing stand hearing the same f***ing songs from the same f***ing bands every time I turn it on.

My secondary Alternative station is digital (no DJs), but ironically, since moving back to St. Louis 2 years ago, I can't get it in my home. Or even my car, unless I drive 10 miles in any direction.

My Pop station plays only the biggest songs, like most stations do. I really only listen to it on Sunday mornings with AT40, so I can hear everything at least once a week.

My Urban station (the one whose signal comes in) plays too much R&B that I don't care about or stuff I could be hearing on my Pop station anyway. And I hate DJ mix shows at noon and 5pm. I'd be much happier with a CHR/Rhythmic station.

My "Jack-FM" format station plays way too much stuff I have no clue what it is and therefore, don't wish to stick around to hear possibly identified.

My Hot AC station plays way too much dull stuff.

My Rhythmic-leaning Hot AC station flipped to Christmas on October f***ing 10th and will be ESPN radio when 2009 gets here. (I don't listen to talk or sports radio.)

My classic rock station bores me. Way too much guitar. Way too much stuff I have no idea what it is and don't care to stick around to hear possibly identified.

Since my Rhythmic-leaning Hot AC station went away, I've actually been splitting its time trying both my Hot AC station and the AC station. Admittedly, the AC station is a lot more listenable than I'd previously given it credit for. It's nice hearing soothing older songs that I know.

Other than the occasional oldies station song I recognize (less and less now that it's moving away from my mom & dad's era), there's nothing else in St. Louis for me.

Ironically, if I still lived with my parents in mid-Missouri, I'd still be perfectly happy with my radio options. I'd have my St. Louis Alternative station and crystal clear reception from my secondary one. But then I'd have Columbia/Jeff City's Active Rock and Rock stations, too. (I prefer that Rock station to the one in St. Louis which is far heavier on classic rock.)

I'd have St. Louis' Pop station well enough, but crystal clear reception for Columbia/Jeff City's better Pop station and their CHR/Rhythmic station. (Last July, I learned that they're now competing Pop stations, with the former being Hot AC leaning and the latter being Rhythmic-leaning.)

And Columbia/Jeff City has a Hot AC station that's perfectly adequate. They'd be the perfect radio towns, except they don't have an Alternative station. Just the Rock, Active Rock and a AAA.

So. I need to do some more research to figure out if HD radio will be worth springing for, or if it would be better to get satellite. Because let's face it: For as big a radio guy as I am, terrestrial just ain't cutting it anymore and enough is enough.

(If you bothered to read every word, hats off to you, but I realize, having typed this much, that this is more about me venting my bottled up frustration and getting it out on paper, primarily.)

[Pipa]

I just listen to my iPod. Problem solved.

The only stations we have here are rock and Hot AC stations. My friend puts it on the Hot AC one during my spare and it's literally the exact same songs each time. When it's not, it's Rick f***ing Astley or some other middle-of-the-road 80's shtick that no one ever wants to hear. Admittedly, the rock station does a better job adding currents than most others in the province, but it's still not perfect.

I think what our area desperately needs is a new rock station. Notice I said new rock, not alternative. I don't want to hear the same three Sublime and Beastie Boys songs all day. I want a station that's as current as the pop stations in Saskatoon, only with new rock and not played 60 times a week. Seriously, that would make a killing around here.

[a Nick O!]

Nov 9, 2008 11:07:16 GMT -4 Pipa said:

I just listen to my iPod. Problem solved.

But that ruins the element of complete surprise. Plus, it doesn't introduce you to new songs you haven't already heard.

(In my case, it would, since I've got 500 CDs I've yet to familiarize myself with, but I'm talking about just-released, brand new music. Not that whole former NBC slogan "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you" thing.)

[Pipa]

Why not try some online stations? I never know what the hell they're playing.

[WotUNeed]

The only thing that's confusing me is that, for some of the terrestrial stations, one of the problems is that they play too much stuff where you have no clue what it is. But you do seem to want to hear stuff you don't know already.

My father has XM radio in his car. He always keeps it on the same station, but there was one day when I got to switch it around a little. It's good for hearing a variety of stuff, and a pretty good mix of the familiar and the lesser-played. (I was mainly switching among the 80s, 70s, and 60s stations, so I can't speak specifically to current formats, but I'd assume it's the same way.) If you're really looking for a good, non-Internet radio option, satellite is probably cool for you; but, if too many songs you don't already know is a problem, then I'm not sure it wouldn't just be a waste of money.

I don't listen as much as I used to, but Picpak does have a good idea with Internet radio, though, if you're looking for options while you're connected. There are a lot of cool stations.

[crash46]

I wish I had any morning show as cool as Nick's. There is a gaping hole in the radio during my typical morning drive time, and with my iPod out of commission as I attempt to get my computer free of infection, it has been agonizing.

This after I just bought a new car stereo with direct connections to iPods. It cost me a pretty penny, but I'm glad I did. As often as I'm on the road, I simply could not handle another minute of FM transmitter-quality audio. I could take it straight to HD or Satellite, but I don't think I'll need to anytime soon. My playlists get it done for me. I must say I do miss the element of surprise, but radio hasn't really surprised me with much of what I'd want to listen to anyway, unless it's one of their all-request hours.

And boy, do I get riled up like a dog that overhears the word "outside" anytime somebody wastes precious all-request hour time on "Smells Like Teen Spirit"s.

[a Nick O!]

Nov 9, 2008 17:24:09 GMT -4 Pipa said:

Why not try some online stations? I never know what the hell they're playing.

I could and may look into that.

But whenever I'm online, that seems to be when I shuffle the music on my hard drive to familiarize myself with that stuff. (Mostly separate from the 500 CDs.)

Nov 9, 2008 18:30:41 GMT -4 WotUNeed said:

The only thing that's confusing me is that, for some of the terrestrial stations, one of the problems is that they play too much stuff where you have no clue what it is. But you do seem to want to hear stuff you don't know already.

Good observation. When I say I want to hear stuff I've never heard before, I mean the brand new music in my genres of choice: Alternative, Pop, Active Rock, Hip Hop/R&B, etc. I'd even listen to Country artists I care about, if I had a way to block out all the other artists I'm not interested in acknowledging.

The terrestrial radio I speak of that plays stuff I don't know is all older stuff from the '60s-'80s, a lot of which I don't care/need to know at this point. For older stuff I don't know, I've got plenty of it among my 500 unfamiliar CDs and dozens of gigs of music on my hard drive. That's the difference.

[Pipa]

Nov 10, 2008 3:34:27 GMT -4 crash46 said:

anytime somebody wastes precious all-request hour time on "Smells Like Teen Spirit"s.

I wouldn't know; my station doesn't have a request hour. Or a countdown, or a list of what's recently played, or even their top 101 of last year on their site. They couldn't be any further distanced about telling what music they play.

[crash46]

Both of my alternative stations have all-request hours; one at noon, and the other at 5pm. Here's a sample hour of each:

106.5 WRWK (Toledo):
Presidents of the USA - "Lump"
Harvey Danger - "Flagpole Sitta"
Papa Roach - "Last Resort"
Soul Asylum - "Runaway Train"
Linkin Park - "Given Up"
Fuel - "Shimmer"
Finch - "What It Is To Burn"
Tool - "Sober"
Killers - "When You Were Young"
Goldfinger - "Here In Your Bedroom"
Offspring - "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid"
Cake - "No Phone"
Counting Crows - "Mr. Jones"
Three Days Grace - "Pain"
Tonic - "If You Could Only See"

88.7 CIMX (Detroit)
Jimmy Eat World - "Always Be"
Tool - "The Pot"
Rise Against - "Re-Education (Through Labor)"
M.I.A. - "Paper Planes"
Nickelback - "Gotta Be Somebody"
Brand New - "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows"
Incubus - "Love Hurts"
Rage Against The Machine - "Killing In The Name"
Paramore - "Decode"
Soundgarden - "The Day I Tried To Live"
Taking Back Sunday - "Liar (It Takes One To Know One)"
Default - "Wasting My Time"
Violent Femmes - "Blister In The Sun"

Not many surprises today, but I will find myself listening that whole hour just to hear, in this case, that Brand New song. At least the only station-turning songs in either hour were Default and Femmes, and those were the last songs played anyway.

[friday]

Ah, satellite radio. Now you're in my wheelhouse.

I've had my Sirius radio for just under two years now. Ever since I got it, the amount of time I've listened to terrestrial radio has dropped dramatically. It has a tremendous variety of stations, especially if you're a rock fan. There really are a great deal of songs that I had never heard before or were marginally familiar with that I got exposed to as a direct result of satellite radio.

Sirius' website gives you a pretty good idea of each station and what they play. The main stations I listen to are the Sirius Hits 1 (Top 40), Big 80's, The Pulse (90's pop + Hot AC), Octane (Active Rock), Alt Nation, First Wave (New wave-era alternative) and Lithium (90s alternative). Hits 1 is a great pop station; they play a wide range of music - hell, all you need to know is they're playing "Rock N Roll Train" by AC/DC. I doubt there's even five other pop stations on the panel playing that one. Their nostalgia channels are pretty good. My only complaint is that because The Pulse is "The 90's and Now," their roster of 90's songs isn't too much different than most Hot ACs. You're only real chance of hearing obscure 90's songs is on their weekly flashback countdown show, but even then, it's only a top 15, and you also have to put up with their top 15 current songs interspersed.

The rock stations do a great job of exposing new music. In addition to Alt Nation, there's Left of Center, which I believe is described as "college rock," but essentially it's just a super-alternative station. They also have a bunch of classics stations: three different classic rock channels, a classic hard rock channel, the aforementioned classic alternative stations, and even a station devoted to hair metal, if that's your bag.

They also have a few dance, hip-hop and country channels, but I can't really tell you too much about those. As far as receivers go, there are five different ones, to my knowledge, each more expensive as the number of features increase. I have the "Sportster" unit, whose main features are the ability to pause and rewind, and the ability to notify you if a particular song is playing on any channel. I forgot which unit my dad has, but I know it's the cheapest one and the one with fewest features. The subscription is $12.95/month, though I'm paying $6.95/month because my dad gets a discount as a subscriber for purchasing a new subscription. So, if you have $156 you can set aside each year, this might be up your alley.

I can't tell you much about XM beyond their website because the only chance I've had to listen to XM was on the two plane rides I took to come to New Jersey this summer. From what I could tell, and from what I've previously researched about them, the variety on their nostalgia channels was better (how often do you hear Zhane on the radio?). Their alternative channels confuse the hell out of me, though. They're named Fred, Ethel, and Lucy; Fred, I believe, is the classic channel, but Ethel and Lucy didn't seem much different than most terrestrial channels, except that there is more variety on each channel, I think. But I'm no expert on XM, so don't go by what I have to say. There's also an optional $4.04 you can tack on to your monthly payment if you want XM channels on Sirius (and, presumably, the reverse is true for XM). I forget which ones you get with that, but for the package offered to Sirius subscribers, the centerpieces include the NBA (which used to be on Sirius), Opie and Anthony's channel, and I think MLB when that comes back in season.

Edit: OK, strike out a lot of what I said. Apparently, Sirius and XM have started blending their channel lists this morning. So I gotta play around with it now to check out what some of the new channels are like. I know XM's nostalgia channels are now on Sirius, and so are their classic hard rock, college rock, and heavy metal channels. Conversely, some Sirius channels have replaced XM channels. Their websites should say all you need to know as far as that's concerned. Of course, I guessing most of you didn't bother reading this far down anyway.

[Mega248]

Nov 10, 2008 3:34:27 GMT -4 crash46 said:

And boy, do I get riled up like a dog that overhears the word "outside" anytime somebody wastes precious all-request hour time on "Smells Like Teen Spirit"s.

That reminds me of when people would request "Lady Marmalade" during my station's night time request hour. You know, that song that had over 12,000 R&R spins at the time.

[crash46]

I just found out that my local AM sports talk radio station is going to be flipping to FM and annexing the frequency currently occupied by Toledo's alternative station, which will take it like the French and just go online and HD exclusively, starting Monday. And even though the station has become excruciatingly, jaw-undroppedly routine as of late, and I don't think I've even listened to them for one full hour this year, it kinda sucks to lose an Alternative option (and the only option where I could listen to Out of Order if I wanted to, too).

So this has me starting to feel a little interested in this HD radio now. Just a little. I really have no idea of what else it has to offer in my area, though.

[a Nick O!]

Jun 20, 2009 0:37:06 GMT -4 crash46 said:

I really have no idea of what else it has to offer in my area, though.

Toledo, OH 1230 WCWA-HD AM Sports Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 104.7 WIOT-HD FM Rock Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 104.7-2 WIOT-HD2 FM Rock "Nitro" Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 99.9 WKKO-HD FM Country Cumulus Media
Toledo, OH 93.5 WRQN-HD FM Oldies Cumulus Media
Toledo, OH 105.5 WWWM-HD FM Hot AC Cumulus Media
Toledo, OH 92.5 WVKS-HD FM CHR Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 92.5-2 WVKS-HD2 FM Top 40 Dance Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 1370 WSPD-HD AM Sprts/Talk Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 101.5 WRVF-HD FM AC Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 101.5-2 WRVF-HD2 FM "Aimee" Adult Contemporary Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 106.5 WRWK-HD FM Alternative Cumulus Media

So wait, does this mean that only 3 Toledo stations have an additional channel right now?

[crash46]

Jun 21, 2009 2:59:34 GMT -4 a Nick O! said:

Jun 20, 2009 0:37:06 GMT -4 crash46 said:

I really have no idea of what else it has to offer in my area, though.

Toledo, OH 1230 WCWA-HD AM Sports Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 104.7 WIOT-HD FM Rock Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 104.7-2 WIOT-HD2 FM Rock "Nitro" Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 99.9 WKKO-HD FM Country Cumulus Media
Toledo, OH 93.5 WRQN-HD FM Oldies Cumulus Media
Toledo, OH 105.5 WWWM-HD FM Hot AC Cumulus Media
Toledo, OH 92.5 WVKS-HD FM CHR Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 92.5-2 WVKS-HD2 FM Top 40 Dance Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 1370 WSPD-HD AM Sprts/Talk Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 101.5 WRVF-HD FM AC Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 101.5-2 WRVF-HD2 FM "Aimee" Adult Contemporary Clear Channel
Toledo, OH 106.5 WRWK-HD FM Alternative Cumulus Media

So wait, does this mean that only 3 Toledo stations have an additional channel right now?

That's what it looks like. I guess WRWK-HD2 will become the fourth tomorrow. So that's unusually low?

And does it pick up any distant stations? I just looked up Detroit's market and just about every station has additional options which covers just about everything I'd ever look for (although 89x is not even broadcasting in HD yet at all; either the 88.7 frequency is too low, or Canada's just slow). But that might make it worth my while.

[radical347]

I need HD too now. The only problem is that none of the HD receivers I've seen on amazon.com for under $100 look sightly enough. (Those things are hideous looking). I thought the price would have gone down by now.

But instead, the quality of SF radio went down. What I used to listen to:
92.7 Energy (Dance)
97.3 Alice (Hot AC)
99.7 Movin'
103.7 KKJZ (Smooth Jazz)
104.5 KFOG (AAA)

KFOG was just fine up until earlier this year. I don't know what happened, but it seems like they suddenly decided to stop adding new music. I think they've added like 3 songs in the past 3 months and one of them was that horrible new Gomez song that they've been playing once a week on their new music hour for the last six months. They just added it now. And the other day they tried to call "Come On Get Higher" new music when they added it in Feb. of 08. Now it seems whenever I tune in they just alternate between Steely Dan and "Crack the Shutters." The only times this station is listenable is on Sundays from 9-11 PM where they have the sideshow and random weekdays from 10-11 AM (Then repeated at 10-11 PM) when they have a 10 @ 10 from the 80's or 90's and lately I've been less inclined to go to the trouble of switching from my CD to see if the 10 @ 10 is a worthwhile one.

I go on vacation and when I come back KKJZ has flipped to Classic Rock!

Movin' decided to becme a generic urban-leaning pop station and still call themselves Movin'. Now instead of Timex Social Club, Ini Kamoze, InoJ, and all sorts of obscure 80s and 90s R&B and rhythmic (back when those classifications were still decent) hits that they used to play they play Flo Rida followed by Flo Rida and Flo Rida.

I didn't listen to Alice that much to begin with. After the demise of the other stations I listened to it more and now I see why I never listened to it that much to begin with. Absolute drivel.

The only listenable station left is Energy 92.7 but I'll go stir crazy if I listen to dance 24/7. All other stations are dead to me.

With HD, I'd get:
97.3-2 (Chill)
101.3-2 (80s Hits)
103.7-2 (Smooth Jazz moved over here)
104.5-2 (Endless 10 @ 10's)

[a Nick O!]

Jun 21, 2009 12:29:12 GMT -4 crash46 said:

So that's unusually low?

Well, I guess the bigger the market, the more HD stations. St. Louis has 18, it looks like.

I wouldn't know for certain about distant stations. It rarely picks up the old school hip hop channel and the Alternative station's HD channel from my own city. At least where I live. (In a brick and concrete building.) Yet, the Alternative station's flagship signal is usually crystal clear, so who knows. My guess would be whatever quality of signal you get from any Detroit stations would be comparable to the signal of their HD stations you'd be able to pick up.