The worst thing on Radio

[vansmack]

Just when you thought commercial radio couldn't get any worse with labels pushing angst rock and hard-core emo, even bowing to radio edits of good songs, Live 105 here in SF now has a new brilliant idea:
 
 The ADD Hour.
 
 For your drive home you get an entire hour of 90 second snipets and edits of songs.  No Joke.  It's not limited to songs 90 seconds and under, you only get to hear 90 seconds of a song, regardless of how long the song really is!
 
 Oddly, a few months ago they started making fun of themselves for playing too much Linkin Park and not enough Shins.  Maybe they were kidding.
 
 So I heard "Run" by Snow Patrol, "All Because of You" by U2, "Boulevard..." by Green Day and "caring is Creepy" by the Shins before I had to turn it off becuase the 90 second edits were mostly lyric driven and ruined every song.  
 
 What will they do next?

[markie]

The U2 hour.

[sonickteam2]

an hour of dead air!
 
  or would that be better?
 
 
 do the artists approve of such song snippets? i cant believe they would?
 
   do people really only have a 90 second attn span?

[bbbsmith]

All I can say is XM XM XM...it is solid and will satisfy every tyoe of radio listener.  I bought the unit for Opie and Anthony (much more funny that Howard...Don and Mike or any other "shock" jock) and have been impressed with the content.  Not alot of commercials (some channels have commercials...others do not).  And they play the FULL song.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

An hour of future lawyers discussing their LSAT scores.

[eltee]

Originally posted by sonickteam2:
  an hour of dead air!  or would that be better?
 
 do people really only have a 90 second attn span?

it would be better.
 I thought it was 3 seconds.

[Venerable Bede]

such a shame. . .i grew up listening to live 105.  but things started going wrong once they dumped alex bennett in the mornings.  and now see what's happened.  so sad.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by bbbsmith:
  All I can say is XM XM XM...it is solid and will satisfy every tyoe of radio listener.  I bought the unit for Opie and Anthony (much more funny that Howard...Don and Mike or any other "shock" jock) and have been impressed with the content.  Not alot of commercials (some channels have commercials...others do not).  And they play the FULL song.

Odd story that I'm glad you reminded me of.  The reason why I am forced to listen to radio in the car is a broken CD player in Smackette's car.  So I go to Best Buy to buy a new radio - they offer a $169 in dash XM radio.  I think holy shit -that's the way to go!  As I begin to fill out the paperwork, it costs anywhere from $150-200 to install the XM radio in the car, depending on your car type.  Is this common?  And does XM think this will work?

[bbbsmith]

Not sure about the in dash stuff as I am carless and use it in my house and at work.  I think that there are car kits that would allow you to get XM and regular radio...
 
 The install fees are best buy not XM...but there is a monthly fee (but it is small...I pay it yearly).

[vansmack]

Originally posted by bbbsmith:
  Not sure about the in dash stuff as I am carless and use it in my house and at work.  I think that there are car kits that would allow you to get XM and regular radio...
 
 The install fees are best buy not XM...but there is a monthly fee (but it is small...I pay it yearly).

This was an in-dash unit, not an XM ready unit, but the actual receiver with XM/AM/FM/CD.  I didn't want a car kit (although when I asked how much the car kit was, the installation was the same).  I've called two other places and they have told me similar numbers and more if I didn't buy the unit from them (which makes sense).
 
 My point is this - who's going to pay more for the installation then they are for the unit?  Why doesn't XM supplement the installers with a small fee per unit to cut the cost to the consumer the way DirecTV does?  
 
 The first provider between XM and Sirius to supplement installation will take a lead in the war the way DirecTV smoked Dish Network by doing the same (and offering TiVo and the NFL helped too).

[markie]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  The install fees are best buy not XM...

Yeah, installation is always a con. But then direct TV installation is free. I guess their subscription price is much higher too.
 
 They were going to charge me $200 at the garage to install the aux cable to hook up external music devices. I did it myself in 10 seconds in the garage forecourt.

[bbbsmith]

Seriously a GREAT idea...you should email that to XM customer service...maybe they will hook you up for the idea.

[bellenseb]

How did you install it yourself?
 
 I needed a new stereo anyway, so I got an Aiwa with front auxiliary input for $99 installed @ Circuit City. A good move for those looking to use mp3 players in your car. Unless you can just install it for free... ?!

[markie]

Originally posted by bellenseb:
  I needed a new stereo anyway, so I got an Aiwa with front auxiliary input for $99 installed @ Circuit City. A good move for those looking to use mp3 players in your car. Unless you can just install it for free... ?!

It is just a lead that plugs into the back of the head unit. You can get to the back of the head unit on my car by just dropping down the panel under the steering wheel.
 
 Auxillary inputs should be standard on all radios. Its definitely a good way to go.

[sonickteam2]

Originally posted by bbbsmith:
  All I can say is XM XM XM...it is solid and will satisfy every tyoe of radio listener.  I bought the unit for Opie and Anthony (much more funny that Howard...Don and Mike or any other "shock" jock) and have been impressed with the content.  Not alot of commercials (some channels have commercials...others do not).  And they play the FULL song.

i cant find any station on XM that i can listen to for more than 20 minutes.