Throw Out Your Radio. Well, Sort Of.

A quicker entry today. I will have more in the works.

In this blog, I’m sometimes not sure what to even call podcasting in certain contexts. I’ve also referred to it as “streaming audio entertainment,” because satellite radio has on-demand spoken word or talk-show programming. Of course, SiriusXM’s greater selling point is its music channels.

So, please indulge me today as I make a point about the music programming, because this can circle back to how its podcast-style programming is received. More and more, the selection a SiriusXM listener can get on an actual satellite radio (especially those installed in vehicles) is limited in comparison to what is offered over its web app.

This was highlighted recently (and got a lot of attention on Twitter) when SiriusXM pulled its adventurous Loft station off its actual radios in favor of a station devoted to the Eagles. Everybody has their tastes, and I love some of the artists I’m about to mention, but increasingly, the channel lineup is getting devoted to monoliths focused on only one artist. It started with Elvis, the Grateful Dead, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen, but that’s now proliferated to the Beatles (deserved), Tom Petty (like him, but doesn’t require a whole station), Neil Diamond (again, a whole station?), Jimmy Buffett and, yes, the Eagles. The Sinatra and Willie Nelson stations tend not to be as limited to only the work of their namesake artist, but play a lot of other artists with similar styles.

This would all be fine if there were endless bandwidth on the non-app version of the service, but there apparently isn’t. And that bandwidth actually excludes single-artist-focused stations some might want, like (George) Carlin’s Corner.

I don’t know how precise other satellite radio listeners are. I would bother to pick out on-demand interview programs from the SiriusXM app and play those, even in my car, rather than just hoping an interesting talk program is available on the dial. But I imagine many would not bother to do this.

Is this a problem that SiriusXM need even be concerned about sorting out? What might make the most sense, even though it seems drastic, is to stop making the satellite radio equipment, and do everything over the app, so one can have the full selection of channels and programming choices, wherever they are (as you already do on smartphones and computers), including vehicles.

Podcasts of the moment:

Criminal, Episode 51 “Money Tree,” September 23, 2016: A fascinating story about a very unexpected solution to a case of identity theft.

The Rewatchables, “The Fugitive,” November 2, 2017: Bill Simmons and colleagues break down the 1993 blockbuster action movie in the fun and entertaining manner they often do in this podcast series (one of numerous Ringer shows now). Also, this show’s episode about “Titanic,” from September, without Simmons but with a few Ringer staffers, is equally entertaining.