Not so Sirius

A few weeks ago now, Dee and I went car shopping as her 92 Jetta, Vicky, was finally on her way out. Something about not having brakes pushes a person towards a new car.

After some deliberation, Dee landed on a beautiful, brand-new VW Rabbit. It was the last 4-door on the lot and it had a bunch of extras that we didn't intend on getting, didn't need to get, but got. Some, like the heated seats and sunroof, have been rather enjoyable pluses to the car. One thing we definitely didn't need, nor want was a satellite radio. VW must have a deal with Sirius satellite rado, as the car came with three introductory months of it instead of XM. (Of course, at this point it's irrelevant anyway.)

Well, we have been using the Sirius radio, because it's free (for now) and we were very curious as to what was on and what the experience was like. I was fairly excited by the many sports stations, the score being displayed on the console, two NPR stations, comedy stations (uncensored), commercial-free, not losing reception… what's not to love? Well, how about the last two things.

It turns out that Sirius is not commercial-free and does lose reception. Hmmm. How can this be you say? Well, it turns out that Sirius needs an asterisk involved with their commercial-free claim, as it's only music stations that are commercial-free. Sports, comedy, and other talk stations have plenty of commercials. Why would I pay to hear commercials? Well, so far I'm not, nor will I.

The other thing is that almost every time we go under an overpass or an extensive series of overpasses, we lose reception, and we get a "Linking" message. Other times, the stations just skip like a scratched CD. It's rather annoying, and actually frustrates me more then standard radio fuzz, or white noise.

So, for all that is potentially cool about Sirius radio, it just falls short on some fairly critical claims. I've heard better things about XM and wonder if things would change in a merger. Anyone have XM or have a different Sirius experience?

Visualize This American Life

This American Life is a wonderfully quirky radio program (listen here) that I have enjoyed off and on for several years. By chance I found out that the now radio show is being turned into a television show, to be airing on Showtime.

Click here for a delightful video sample.

Ira Glass, the show's host, appears to be as nerdy as I imagine him when listening to his choppy, observational voice. The show's logo treatment is wonderfully simple and fresh. What intrigues me the most, however, is the way that the show is shot. Keeping the storyteller role and staying true to his radio roots, each story seems to be told with voice over beautifully composed images. It seems to be a really nice way to keep what radio fans love about the show (the quirky storytelling, mixed with odd music and a focus on the truth of American's oddball lives) with a visual surprise - National Geographic quality video that explores the subject matter, but not by dramatization.

I'm really looking forward to this new offering. Now, I only wish I was able to get Showtime :-(