The extraterrestrial made a comeback in 2006 thanks to the media-frenzy surrounding satellite radio, in great part because Disc Jockey Howard Stern decided to leave terrestrial radio so that he could swear up a storm. Now that he’s free to use the seven dirty words unhindered, I’m not sure who the fuck listens to him anymore.
While Stern may have driven my gumption for satellite radio, it wasn’t until I actually played with a Sirius unit that I was lured into the extraterrestrial embrace. That said, the warmth of this embrace has long worn off, and though songs are not interrupted by long commercial breaks, they are instead interrupted by annoying DJs or lost signals. It is the latter of these two problems that irk me to no end, thanks in great part to a limitation of the technology behind satellite radio. City buildings, overhead trees, tunnels, and the lack of terrestrial repeaters make for breaks in service, because in real-world conditions, we don’t all drive around on open desert roads. Add to this the confusing break in service during bad weather conditions, and satellite radio’s $10+ dollars a month may not be worth it.
With Internet access becoming more ubiquitous, particularly in urban areas, satellite radio may be nothing more than a footnote in music-listening history anyway. As cellular phone technologies become more integrated in the latest vehicles, and high-speed Internet access is tacked on top of cellular technology, services like FineTune and Pandora may eventually replace both terrestrial and extraterrestrial radio, particularly when such Internet services can be integrated with online music stores like iTunes.
For now, Sirius is still a decent alternative to commercial-infused terrestrial radio, but it’s days are numbered alongside those of XM, thanks to the ever-evolving Internet. All that’s really needed right now is a few more cell phones with a little more Internet bandwidth.
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