random story
On january 10, i got rid of sirius satellite radio after four years. i originally signed up for sirius for howard stern, as i am not easily offended by sophomoric humor and he made my 40 mile morning commute quite amusing. after being harassed off the normal fm airwaves due to the confusing obscenity laws courtesy of the fcc (fining stern's parent company and others massive amounts for obscenity without ever defining what an obscenity actually is or in my opinion, creating a list of forbidden words provided to radio stations and updating it every ninety days to keep them honest). anyways, you could sign up for a year at $130 bucks and while i really had no interest in the radio stations they provided, i made the jump and paid for it. another big plus was their free internet stream, which also made my days in the cubicle much more amusing, especially when i discovered other coworkers also listening to stern in their cubicles. along the way, i discovered some other non-music stations i enjoyed - raw dog the uncensored comedy channel, and the alexis and jennifer show on the martha stewart channel, which surprisingly became my nightly forty mile commute home soundtrack. i even called up once or twice and made it on the air when a subject i knew something about came up. i even caught myself on the repeats they would occasionally air.
anyways, with each year their would be a slight increase in the yearly or monthly rate, which could be avoided if you would only sign up to extend you original agreement even further into the future. it seemed to be a mild form of blackmail but i dealt with it.
when the talk of consolidation with xm satellite radio started, i did get worried. i enjoyed the competition and knowing that if one company charged me too much, i had the option to go to the competition (not that i would, what did they have to offer, an weekly hourly show hosted by oprah, no thanks). after a year or so delay, the merger finally went through and basically, everything you have ever feared about monopolies (if you do indeed fear them) came true.
first, the monthly rate went up by a few bucks per month (but you can avoid this by committing to an even longer plan!). then, a music licensing fee of three dollars per month was added to your bills (which could also be avoided by simply extending your contract again!). then, the internet stream also became a three dollar a month addition (you guessed it- you could also avoid this by simply extending your contract!).
then one day, my four year old radio broke and stopped working. i continued for the last two months of my contract because i still had the internet streaming radio. until work adopted a new policy and blocked all streaming audio from the web. i finally had to admit defeat and called them to cancel the subscription. they cancelled it without any question, like they either were expecting me to call any day now or they had a never-ending line of people waiting to do the same thing.
i received an email a few weeks later asking me about my experience with sirius and why i left and what it would take to get me back. at the time, i said a replacement radio would have convinced me to keep my subscription but that was the last i heard of that offer.
anyways, a few more weeks after that, the offers through email and direct phonecalls started and have never stopped to get me to come back to sirius, each time sweetening the deal just a bit more. the offer i received this morning on my cell phone included a new radio, six months free, a reduced monthly cost, a yugo, forty acres and a mule.
but i am not budging. while i was kind of concerned at first about what my commute and work days would be like without stern's show but i actually adjusted without any major issues. i tried npr in the mornings but i really don't want to hear the national, international and political news while i am trying to choke down a hot coffee and get my bearings. plus, the monotone voices weren't really getting the blood flowing. i then tried sports radio from weei in boston. i was a huge fan of the 6pm wiener whiner line before i got sirius, so i figured i would try that out for my morning commute. unfortunately, the morning show was hosted by four really white right wing political guys, who within the first ten minutes of listening told me that obama loved terrorists in between telling me the sports news, which was what i actually wanted to hear. it pretty much continued like that for the next two weeks, picking and choosing when to tune in to avoid the political talk until i gave up and started listening to music cds, but i wasn't happy about that either. music in the morning just doesn't clear my head the way i need it cleared.
finally, through the advice of some trusted friends, i have found some great podcasts (these are basically talk show, interviews, music, and comedy shows lasting anywhere from ten minutes to three hours that can be downloaded for free and loaded onto an ipod and listened to at your leisure). i can play them as i shower and get ready for work, an adapter that allows me to listen to these through the ipod in my car, then i can also just take my ipod to my desk and continue to listen when i can throughout the day.
i have tried a lot of them but the podcasts i am now regularly listening to are:
the watt from pedro show - a three hour weekly show hosted by mike watt with always entertaining guests, tales from the old days and rare music.
the sound of young america - interviews with comics, actors and other somewhat interesting people.
jordan jesse go - comedy and interviews.
the best show with tom sharpling - absurd comedy, fake call-ins, way out there, original and hilarious.
smodcast hosted by chubby (his word, not mine) film director kevin smith.
also, the new jersey station wfmu has a large collection of podcasts that are good including night people, mystery abounds, weird worm, ricky gervais, jonathan katz and others.
crisis solved and best of all, totally free of charge.
m
@ 6:22 AM
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