Three Reasons to Install Satellite Radio In Your Pickup
Benjamin | Dec 03, 2010 | Comments 7
Satellite radio has emerged from its troubled financial status of just a few years ago to finally post solid quarterly gains in both revenue and subscribers. The high cost of acquiring subscribers combined with actually launching and maintaining a network of satellites broadcasting digital music from space took their toll on America’s only two satellite radio players – XM and Sirius – forcing them to merge in 2008 into the entity known as Sirius XM radio. The company broadcasts over 150 channels of music, news, talk and sports to subscribers who have added the service to their homes or vehicles.
Full disclosure: I am a former long-time XM subscriber who had multiple accounts with the service. I ended my subscription after the merger due to the fact that the Sirius XM channel list was largely homogenized and removed many of the stations that I had enjoyed listening to, particularly those that focused on non-mainstream genres such as electronic music.
That being said – satellite radio does have a lot to offer listeners who don’t mind the fact that some of its more eclectic content is missing in action. Let’s take a look at three reasons to install satellite radio in your Toyota Tundra:
1. You Love Sports. The thing I miss the most about having XM is the phenomenal sports coverage. Since the merger of the two providers, every single sports league or major event is covered by satellite radio broadcast. You can listen to all NHL hockey games, NFL football games, Major League Baseball games or even NASCAR and IndyCar races no matter where you might happen to be in the country. Satellite radio is a great way to stay in touch with your hometown faves if you happen to have moved far away, and it also offers decent college sports options as well.
2. You Are Tired of Your Music Collection. Let’s face it – no matter how many great tunes we have loaded into our iPods, at a certain point we all get bored with the music that we own. Satellite radio provides access to a deep well of cross-genre music that is put together by talented DJs who know what you want to hear. The ability to discover new artists through satellite radio is also great, as genre-specific channels let you listen to musical styles you enjoy while at the same time letting you hear bands that you might never have come across while browsing the racks at Best Buy.
3. You Drive All The Time. Nothing is worse than finding an amazing radio station on a road trip that fades into static once you’ve reached the edge of its broadcast area. Satellite radio never disappears from the dial – unless you happen to be stuck in a tunnel, or trapped on a heavily forested road. Signal repeaters in major urban areas keep you locked into your favorite music, and even in the middle of nowhere you can’t hide from the all-seeing satellites hovering above you in orbit. For anyone who is on the road day-in and day-out, satellite radio is a great way to stay sane while clicking off the miles down a lonely, deserted highway.
These are all the reasons I liked having satellite radio, but considering how popular this system is (something like 70% of new trucks have it), I’m sure there are some reasons I didn’t list.
What do you like about having satellite radio?
Filed Under: Toyota Tundra Accessories
#3 only. Partially #2. I have XM since 2006. SInce the merger I’ve been nothing but disgusted and did voive my concern to them and it seems that it goes un-noticed. XM is stuck by Sirius. XM had no commercials or DJ’s. Now that’s all I’m getting. I’m paying top dollar for commercials again. I’m ready to pick up my Ipod Nano and just listen commercial free.
Mickey – I didn’t know that XM was commercial free…that’s a pretty big difference. ESPECIALLY considering there’s a subscription fee.
Seems like double-dipping.
Mickey – I hear you. I had five accounts with XM, but was completely disheartened by the move away from a deep playlist and musical variety after the merger. I now am MP3-only in my vehicle as a result.
XM was commercial free, except on certain talk stations. Sirius has been chipping away at that over time. Sirius is also notorious for repeats – it was at the point where I was hearing the same song three times an hour after the merger, something I never had happen when I had XM.
I wrote a post about my decision to abandon XM a year or so back:
http://benjaminhunting.com/200.....of-an-era/
In fact – my current daily driver has factory XM – but I clipped the wiring in the back of the head unit and wired in my own custom AUX input so I can line-in my MP3 player through the factory satellite radio controls.
Third and final comment – I really do miss the NHL play-by-play that I would listen to on XM, especially on longer road trips. I also miss the new artists that I would discover on The System and the Rhyme – channels that no longer exist. I have managed to replace at least part of The System’s content via podcast, but it’s just not the same.
Benjamin the same with Nascar was free on XM and all the road trips on Sunday and being able to listen to the race while on the road was great. Now Sirius wants to charge extra for that. My contract is coming up next month so it looks like Benjamin I will be joing you using my Ipod Nano. My Samsung mp3 played led display quit working so I have no idea trying to navigate that thing.
Yet another expense not needed nor wanted. I keep getting XM/sirius mailings stating to come back for 5 months for 20 bucks. Even at 4 bucks per month, I wouldn’t do it since lets say I like country music, the free 3-6 months I did have it on my new 2010 tundra, I could only get like 4-5 country stations which is NO more than, in fact, less than I get now in my area. About the only way I would pay for listening to radio is if I travel over 30K miles per year very long distances in remote areas and the company I work for pays for it. It is just like directv I have now with pay per view and all the other channels that cost big bucks to get. I complained to directv and asked why I do not get the outdoor channel and one other hunting/fishing channel like I did with DishNetwork and they just brush me off saying you can get them for 3.99 per month and I say get rid of the other 50+ channels I never watch and give me the 2 I want instead. They could care less and after 2 year committment, I’m switching back to DishNetwork.