Posted on 07/03/2004 6:11:22 PM PDT by ovrtaxt
| Broadcast Lobby Fighting Satellite Radio | ||||
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Friday, July 02, 2004
By Radley Balko
I haven't listened to FM radio in years. With a few exceptions, the artists I enjoy don't get airplay. If your taste in music runs deeper than Fred Durst, Kid Rock, or Jessica Simpson, you've probably experienced the same thing.
Last Christmas, someone bought me a receiver and a subscription to XM satellite radio. I now listen to radio again.
XM offers about a hundred stations, covering every genre of music you can imagine. There's a station called "Hank's Place," which plays only authentic 1950s-era country music. There's also "Frank's Place," which plays only Sinatra-ish standards. There are several jazz channels, a live channel, an acoustic channel, and a channel for unsigned bands. There are two channels of soul, three channels of Christian rock, two channels of thrash-speed metal, and nearly everything in between.
There's a comedy channel that plays stand-up snippets from Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Richard Pryor; and another that plays more family-friendly bits. There are news, family and talk channels, and audio feeds from about a dozen cable television networks, including Fox News.
In short, XM is everything FM radio could be, but isn't. And so, predictably, FM radio interests are doing everything they can to keep XM at bay.
Traditional (sometimes called "terrestrial") FM radio stations are represented in Washington, D.C. by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), one of the oldest, most powerful, most entrenched lobbying organizations around. NAB has wielded that power at the expense of technology, innovation, and — ultimately — consumers.
NAB fought cable television through every stage of its development, meaning that if the NAB had its way, you'd have no FOX News, no Comedy Central, and no HBO. Just the big three networks. NAB failed there. But as Jesse Walker has documented in Reason magazine and in his book Rebels on the Air, the organization has for decades fought and succeeded in snuffing out similar efforts in radio. It's most notable victory came over the licensing of low-fi radio stations, which would have given thousands of amateurs, low-budget operators and undiscovered talent access to the airwaves.
More recently, traditional broadcasters were given huge swaths of spectrum (the invisible grid over which radio, TV, and cellular signals travel) for the development of High Definition TV — for free. Most everyone else who wants a slice of spectrum is required to pay for it. Yet broadcasters got theirs for free, leaving those interests pursuing similar technology (wi-fi and cellular providers, to name two) to fight for the scraps. It's hard to say exactly what innovations and technology that grant may have quashed. We'll never know because they were never given the chance to develop.
Which brings us to the NAB's latest fight — against satellite radio. About a decade ago, XM and Sirius approached the FCC to bid on satellite spectrum. Wary of the NAB and its Washington chest-thumping prowess, XM agreed that in exchange for a slice of spectrum, it would not offer the kind of localized programming that would put it in direct competition with terrestrial broadcasters.
Put another way, XM subscribers in Los Angeles would hear the same stuff as XM subscribers in Portland, Dallas, or Poughkeepsie. With a titan like NAB standing in the door, this gentleman's agreement was really the only way an upstart like XM could have gotten into the game.
Fast forward 10 years. Today, XM and Sirius have finally caught fire. Both have subscribers that number well into the millions, most of them disaffected refugees from FM radio. And both companies now want to offer localized content. XM wants to give customers in major metropolitan areas instant traffic and weather reports. Sirius is offering audio feeds of NFL games, and may delve into traffic and weather as well.
As you might guess, the National Association of Broadcasters will have none of it.
NAB's position is a precarious one. Satellite radio has taken off because traditional broadcast radio is so darned dreadful. That means the NAB is forced to argue that the government must prevent satellite providers from offering localized programming because allowing them to do so might drive local broadcasters out of business. But at the same time, NAB must argue that the service local broadcasters currently provide is of high enough quality to merit that kind of protection in the first place. It's an absurd case on its face. If FM and AM radio broadcasters were really giving consumers worthwhile local content, they wouldn't need government protection from XM and Sirius.
Even odder, just as NAB is fighting XM and Sirius over local content, many of the stations NAB represents are turning away from localized programming, running cheaper, syndicated content from parent companies like ClearChannel and Infinity.
I've asked representatives of NAB how using the power of the FCC to keep out competitors could possibly benefit radio consumers. They always respond the same way. "That's not the issue," they say, "the issue is that XM is backing down from its agreement." Perhaps. But it's awfully telling that they won't even address the real question.
The fight is a classic case of what economists call "regulatory capture" — when an industry that's regulated by a government agency attempts to use that very agency and those regulations to keep upstarts and competitors at bay. And it's almost always to the detriment of consumers.
The good news is that it looks likes NAB is going to lose this time. XM has already begun offering traffic and weather, pending action by Congress and/or the FCC. And more local programming may be on the way. That may drive a few traditional radio stations out of business. But it will also ensure that those that survive will do a better job of giving you the kind of programming you want.
Which is sort of the whole point of a free market.
Radley Balko publishes a weblog at: www.TheAgitator.com. |
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I remember hearing some CRAZY stuff on shortwave several years ago. Super far-out survivalist/armageddon stuff, bizarro ultra-right wing conspiracy theories.
Funny, Michael Moore is just as far out there, and he's in movie theatres. How bad is that?
I'm amazed at the recordings they dug up. Rudy Vallee, Eddy Duchin (war hero) Harry James, The Dorseys, Goodman, Artie Shaw, Bing before he was hot, Kate Smith, early, early Sinatra with Dorsey before he was hot, the war music, polkas, Welk , theme songs, Mills Brothers, Duke, Ella, Bob Hope singing his them from a 30's recording. It's all here. OMG this is fun.
Since we got XM about a month ago it's been on 24/7 at the house and it's not only "old" music. Deep album cuts, disco, real jazz, smooth jazz, fusion, funk jazz, the blues, bluegrass, newgrass, classical, full symphonies, full operas and lots of symphonic pops, crooners, loungers, pop rock, everything, all for 10 bucks a month.
Who needs local programming except for weather and news?
I purchased a Sirius system for my husband's vehicle for Christmas last year. We usually drive to California to visit my family over the holidays. It was wonderful to have driving farom IA to CA as there are vast expanses in the lower Midwest and Southwest with bad reception. Plus I got my fix of FNC while alternating between the jazz and blues channels and sports channels. It made the long drive much more enjoyable.
I pay for the music I download, and I have paid for XM for almost two years.
I travel by car, to NM, AZ, NC, and live full-time near DC, in the panhandle of WV. I average driving more than 1000 miles per week. I got tired of turning off the radio due to losing stations...
In NM, you can get 2 or 3 radio stations nearby enough to listen. They love to play hispanic/country music. I like Rock and Roll, and love to listen to talkers...
With XM, I can even go into the Baltimore tunnels, and continue to listen, I can drive out I-40 to NM, or AZ, and listen, or I can go out into the Atlantic, off Morehead City, in my boat, and listen...even 40-50 miles out... to the same channels! I never have 'fade' any more, except when trying to get the local weather!
...the music never stops!
BTW, the cicadas are finally gone for the next 17 years, and now we DO have (relative) silence again, in the hills of WV, for a while!
I know that on XM, besides all the programs listed here, they have "America Right" and "America Left" right next to each other on the dial, which feature a variety of political talk programming -- I wasn't familiar with the hosts I was listening to. XM also has ESPN radio. I was so focused on the music aspect, though, that I didn't pay as much attention to the talk stuff as I should have.
Probably the closest thing right now is the recently introduced Delphi Roady 2, an iPod sized receiver that includes an FM transmitter. You would have to bundle it with a traditional Walkman-like product.
Internet radio is a valid point here. There is a great deal of interest from manufacturers in delivering Internet-On-The-Road.
Yeah, it was a lot more fun listening to the musical taste of individual DJs than to a computerized, inflexible list of songs (not only telling you what to play, but what order to play it in) coming down from the Program Director. Like you said about albums, back in the 60s the jock would sometimes even flip the single over just to hear what the B side sounded like. Or you could get a taste of local bands.
I know of King Biscuit Flour Hour, but never actually heard it. I do remember as a kid hearing the live broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry, which I enjoyed even though I was more interested in rock and roll. In those days, the lines between musical genres were more blurred anyway, so that some of the artists who you heard on regular rock radio would also be appearing on the Grand Ole Opry. People like Skeeter Davis or Sonny James or Bobby Bare or Conway Twitty were being played on the same station that was playing The Four Seasons or James Brown or Gene Pitney. Music was not as fragmented. It would not have been at all unusual to have "She Loves You" by The Beatles followed by "Hello Dolly" by Louis Armstrong. It certainly exposed us to lots of different music!!
And, of course, there'd be the problem of the required antenna. You'd problably wind up with something similar to the previously mentioned boombox.
Ever hear of a song called 'quaaludes again' by Bobby Bare? It ain't for the faint of heart...
If / When Howard Stern is forced off the air,
The satellite radio world will blossom overnight.
Good! I hope those broadcast stations go down the tube! They're all owned by one or two companies and they have cut-out any competition. They repeat their station names ceaselessly! I'm sure everyone around the county gets the same endless repeating, since "Clearchannel", etc, own everything.
You've got me on that one, ovrtaxt. My Bobby Bare knowledge is restricted to old chestnuts like "Detroit City" and "Miller's Cave" and "Five Hundred Miles." And of course the one he recorded under the name of Bill Parsons "All American Boy." But "Quaaludes Again" sounds like it's worth a spin. Remember "Six Days On The Road" by Dave Dudley?
I love Satrad. I own both stocks. Both have ESPN, XM has Nascar, Sirius has the NBA, NHL, and NFL. Apparently, there is no sole manipulator in the MLB who can strike a deal on behalf of the league.
Visit their websites for more info...it is well worth the price of one [Lawrence Welk:] CD per month.
Thanks for the info on the Delphi Roady2; I'll have to check that out.
If you can help it don't use the FM transmitter (Universal Audio adapter) it degrades the sound, the cassette adapter is a bit better but the best choice is a head unit with the XM reciever built in. Be aware that the voice channels are reduced bandwidth which is conserved for the music channels. The music varies in quality depending on the source of course and also when it was digitized, the newer codecs are better giving near CD or full MP3 quality to some not much better than a low bandwidth stream but for the most part it still sounds better than FM except possibly some stations in the college band using good broadcasting techniques and equipment. Sometimes you will hear compression artifacts.
They have all the manuals online for research here.
http://www.xmradio.com/manuals/manuals.html
As for reception at home which of course is different than a car I get full lock on both satellites and a terrestrial transmitter. I don't have it in my car but I understand there are some dropouts in cities with tall buildings and under bridges. It is an either or proposition it either drops out or you get it.
thanks for the further info.
I'd rather listen to silence, than pay for radio....
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