04-28-2006, 10:43 PM
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#14 (permalink)
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Channel Surfer
Join Date: Dec 31, 2005
Posts: 51
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I am confused re Clear Channel - Sunny vs Escape
I am a subscriber to both Sirius and XM. Although I generally prefer the music on XM, I do also keep my Sirius subs because my husband likes the college football games. I was going to drop one Sirius sub when they dumped Fox but now Fox is back on Sirius so both subs are staying on. . Also, I think Sirius has the definite edge in terms of classical music which is my second favorite genre after "Easy Listening."
Now, here is what is confusing me. I understand that XM partnered up with Clear Channel and I also understand that Clear Channel hosts commercials (and will require that XM to do so). Apparently XM's "Sunny" is one of the channels slated for said commericals. Here-to-fore I was, indeed, a "Sunny" listener. Since its introduction, I have checked out XM's new "Escape" channel. From my perspective, at least, they seem virtually indistinquishable. I can't detect any significant difference between the two - at least not for my purposes. The word clones comes to mind.
Accordingly, then, what I can't figure out is why anyone is going to listen to the "commercial version" of their favorite genre (in my case Easy Listening) when XM is providing the identical product as a commercial-free alternative. Like what am I missing here? This duality seems totally illogical to me. Perhaps I might have listened to Sunny (grudgingly) once it became commercialized, given that I had no other choice. Since XM is now providing a viable alternatives for their listeners (whose channels are about to be usurped), why, then, would anyone be choosing the commercial-carrying version of their favorite music genre?
Can someone help me out here? Surely, I must be missing something. because this notion seems completely irrational to me. Are we to assume that there are a set of people who actually *like* (annoying) commercials? If so, why, then, are they a paid radio customers in the first place. Wouldn't they do just as well to listen to terrestial radio? They could be bombarded with commercials for free and would not have to purchase a specialized radio or pay a monthly fee. What is the scoop on this "Clear Channel" anyway? I never heard of it before all this bruhaha on XM.
Sadly, (from my perspective, at least) Sirius does not carry the "easy listening" venue. I truly wish they did. The desire to listen to this music was how I became an XM customer, in the first place. I started out just with Sirius until I discovered "Sunny" on XM via a trial of their internet subscriber option. For some inexplicable reason, I could not get Live365 to stream at work and was shopping for an online alternative. I gave XM a try online. Once I heard "Sunny," however, I just *had* to get an XM radio radio and an actual sub. I loved the programming!
Shortly thereafter, I actually once wrote to Sirius programming to suggest that they offer this genre. Believe it or not, I got a *very* curt (borderline rude) letter back from Sirius. It was an incredible letter for a business to be sending to a (paying) customer who was writing with a request/suggestion but that is another whole story for another thread sometime. Meanwhile, someone please help me understand this Clear Channel thing and why paying customers are going to listen to these four channels, esp when XM is providing alternatives for them. Call me crazy but this seems nuts to me. Someone help me out on what I am missing, please.
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