Goodbye Satellite Radio

My Sirius radio has given up the ghost. It was struggling to keep powered up for a few months now, the last weeks being agonizing, turning off whenever I hit a bump, but I hung in there until it wouldn't work at all before canceling my service, mostly because of my beloved Springsteen channel.

I swore I'd never subscribe to a radio service. My parents were in love with the XM that came with their car, but I remained very happy with the scan button on my car radio that was easy enough to hit when I was annoyed by a commercial. Then Howard Stern announced he was going to satellite and I succumbed. When I activated the cute little unit I got from my family for Christmas I discovered more than I could have wanted - Howard AND Bruce. At that time there was also a Rolling Stones channel. Bliss!

Bruce was short lived, ending 1/31 that year, but he did come back and seems now to be a fixture of Sirius. Believe me it was hard to give him up, but here is why I did. When XM merged with Sirius suddenly all these DJs appeared. I thought it was a feature of XM. It annoyed the hell out of me. I'm not paying to hear you talk, when I want talk I go to a talk station. I'm paying for uninterrupted music and you're not providing that any more. I'm hearing prattle and jingles between songs. I just want music.

A few weeks after the merger I asked my sister what she thought of it(like my parents, she has an XM in her car). Without hesitation she asked 'What's with all the DJs' and I had to laugh. 'My thoughts exactly' I told her.

Howard and Bruce were enough to keep me paying the subscription price indefinitely. The DJs are enough to keep me from spending the $100 to replace the radio.

So bye-bye, satellite. I will miss you.