The death of FM radio
Back in July, I bought a new minivan for our family. It's the first car I ever owned that had satellite radio (SiriusXM) capability. A nice feature so I thought, but not free like FM radio. Quite the contrary it carries a $13 (or higher) monthly subscription fee to keep it active.
But since every new car comes with a 3-month trial to SiriusXM, I thought I'd give it a try.
Want to know something interesting? I'm just finishing month two of my free trial and I have never once listened to FM radio since purchasing the new car. Not once.
Satellite radio is just too darn convenient. Yes, I can get the local FM edition of Radio Disney (my kids' favorite) here in Indianapolis. But I eventually lose the station on long car trips and have to scan the stations to find the next closest city's Radio Disney frequency.
But with SiriusXM, I just tune to channel 79 and enjoy uninterrupted Radio Disney for the entire trip.
And when the kids aren't in the car I can enjoy pop hits on The Blend (channel 16), new country on The Highway (channel 59) and non-stop sports coverage on ESPN Radio (channel 84). And don't even get me started on how awesome it is to have 24-hour uninterrupted fantasy football coverage on Fantasy Sports Radio (channel 87). Of course, there are about 100 other channels to choose from but these are my early favorites.
If you're wondering if I put my wallet where my mouth is, the answer is a resounding yes. In fact, a few weeks ago I already paid to extend my programming an additional 12 months.
So if paying to listen to the radio doesn't make you lose sleep at night, I highly recommend SiriusXM.
8 comments for this blog post so far...
September 20, 2011 at 6:06 am
Jeanette
Because we keep our cars for 10 years or longer (going on 11 years now for the second car) we purchased a lifetime subscription to the car we bought last year. It’s not advertised highly so you have to call and ask for details. Well worth it!
September 20, 2011 at 10:24 am
Joy
Agree completely.... I bought the year and enoy classical music (2 chennels) and the comedy channels… clean and 2 baudy.
Haven’t seen FM since
September 20, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Patric Welch
Wow! So far 100% agreement with me. Thought I’d have some people who would strongly disagree with what I said :)
September 20, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Mary Jane Frank
Got an offer from Sirius for 5 months for $25. Thought that was worthwhile with a trip coming up. Called the phone number and got an ad for what I think is phone sex. What’s with that????
September 21, 2011 at 1:02 am
Daniel
Check out this thread:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/355343/
September 21, 2011 at 3:06 am
John Fry
These people would pay for commercials.
September 21, 2011 at 7:53 am
Patric Welch
Sounds like there are some deals to be had. I love Fat Wallet. Use them frequently.
Mary Jane, I’m hoping the number had a typo in it or it was just a mis-dial. Otherwise, that is really weird.
September 23, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Tia Nielsen
Patric,
These are observations. I am not aiming to agree or disagree with you.
We had free SiriusXM radio for a year. And yes, it was really nice. I loved the classical music and my husband loved Major League Baseball. However, we still used local radio for local news, weather and traffic. The ads irritate me, but local means people who know what the heck is happening here. I get the national news from several other media outlets.
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