Podcasts threaten satellite radio
A funny thing's happened to me on the way to work this week. I've not been listening to CNBC or CNN on my XM Radio. Instead, I've been hearing Adam Curry's Source Notes and Web Talk Radio and MP3s from Bloggercon.com, which I downloaded to my IPod. I've not turned on XM in two days.
Now maybe it's because the election's old news, and Iraq no longer leads every hourly newscast. But it occurred to me that I'm listening to stuff I really want to hear. Is my XM subscription fated to lapse?
Tom Carhart, the chief executive officer at AudioFeast.com, calls satellite radio "a good first step" to helping people use radio the way they want. His company is trying to build a paid-Podcast kind of service. Hundreds of audio program suppliers, with big names and little names, license programming to AudioFeast, which sells subscriptions for access to download the shows to a portable player. He thinks satellite radio is already history. He faults it for not having great fidelity, costing too much, and not offering the kind of Tivo-like time shifting consumers want.
One idea Curry (the father of Podcasting) has is that XM Radio can be more Internet friendly. Instead of Podcasts being delivered via the Net, XM could devote a channel to either playing the home-made programs or, preferably, delivering them as digital files for download to your hard drive. XM may be listening. Just yesterday, we learned the satellite broadcaster has introduced Net-only channels featuring gospel, "retro-lounge" and hits.
Sirius from Kloss
Forbes' latest issue highlights "Gadgets We Love". Deep into praise for Henry Kloss's Tivoli Model One radio, a report of a Sirius-friendly model "in the coming months." The Tivoli satradio was news to me, but it's no secret. Here's more.
Baseball been bery bery good to XM
Reuters says XM Satellite Radio will announce a Walkman-like XM Radio next week. "There is a good shot this 'Walkman' type device, in the near term, will differentiate XM's hardware from Sirius," an investment analyst said.
Disclaimer: I own shares of XMSR.
Yesterday Stern, today baseball, tomorrow?
Major League Baseball's lucrative deal with XM Radio is another baby step in what could become a stampede of talent and programming to the new media. At a recent radio programmer's conference on the west coast, Sirius' deal with Stern was the buzz, but programming consultant Holland Cooke told me, "They still just don't get it."
Not so long ago, radio's future was seen as bleak. The medium may be rusty (don't look at analysts' ratings on radio stocks), but talent is always going to go to, and for, the gold. And there's lots of talent on the radio, for now. It's about the Benjamins, and right now the satellite guys are throwing lots of them around.
What's next? Look for some Internet-only programming to find a home on the bird radios. One bet, Margaritaville.com. Jimmy Buffet's brand name, huge archive of concerts and tracks. Parrot Heads are almost as rabid as Stern fans - and they have proven they will pay for product.
Any other suggestions?
The boom is back
In the old days, all an Internet company had to do to boost its stock price and market valuation by tens of millions of dollars was to announce an advertising deal with America Online.
AOL was so dominant, that getting visibility and a "partnership" with the firm did spectacular things for companies' stock prices - immediately.
The same has happened with Sirius Satellite Radio. Announcing it would pay $100 million a year to air the Howard Stern raunchy radio show, the company's market cap has risen by $750 million.
It's just like the old (dumb) days. (Those who forget history ...)
Now, what's the deal really mean? Sirius and its five-times larger competitor, XM Satellite Radio, are more likely to become lovers rather than fighters.
Sirius has grabbed the programming crown. XM's Opie and Anthony comeback tour doesn't stand a chance next to Stern. XM's couple of NCAA conference play-by-play lineups on Saturdays pales next to the NFL on Sirius. Even on its music channels, Sirius is adding big-market music programming talent. XM seems to have bet that simply playing the hits, without much showmanship, is enough.
UPDATE: Sirius readies Eminem channel
XM has millions more subscribers than Sirius, strong distribution in retail stores, sweetheart deals with auto companies and Clear Channel Broadcasting as an owner. XM's got clout! For programming, though, it's got Bob Edwards talking with Peter Paul & Mary.
They should both say "game over." Merge, rush out a universal receiver, create tiers of program offerings at different prices (like cable), slash duplicative tech and music-picking staffs, and put a tourniquet on the negative cash flow.
Then rock on!
If I had a hammer ...
and was listening to XM Satellite Radio, and heard an interview with Peter, Paul & Mary, I might smash my satellite receiver. Fortunately, when I did hear it, I was driving, and not near a toolbox. It was a teaser segment of an interview for the new Bob Edwards morning show, which debuts next Monday morning.
P,P&M??? This is one of the "compelling" interviews we were told to expect? When he was hired, Edwards said in a news release. "XM is the most exciting thing happening in radio."
Sounds like same old, same old to me. Same old '70s radio.
XM got a lot of publicity when it hired Edwards, fresh off a book tour and about to end a decades-long run with NPR. Publicity is the same as marketing, and so awareness for XM had to rise. Maybe
XM's already got its money's worth.
But I'll be personally disappointed if Edwards plows the oldies-but-goodies field of has beens, once weres, and coulda beens.
Stan Freberg was right
A long time ago, on a very old medium (33 1/3 LP), I heard a comedy album from Stan Freberg. It was the first, he said, of a series he'd produce of programs and skits. But since they wouldn't be broadcast, but would be heard on records, he called it Pay Radio.
Every time I think of satellite radio, I think of Freberg. It's happened!
Now, XM says it will let me listen to about 70 of its satellite-delivered music channels and talkers on the Internet. Sirius Satellite Radio's had this for some time. 
It's another headache for the National Association of Broadcasters.
Satellite radio has become a Trojan Horse for television.
TV (cable) can now reach my ever-consuming, gadget-loving, vacation-taking, dining-out ears in drive time. The XM receiver in my car lets me listen to CNBC and Bloomberg and Fox and CNN on the way to work in DC. Weekends, I catch Bulls and Bears on Fox while I'm doing errands. And if XM is running a special q-and-a with Jimmy Buffett or Bonnie Raitt, like they did last weekend, the radio comes into the house, with the antenna hung over a lamp near a window.
While I may have played an FM station (and its commercials!!) in my office at home, if I can hear the XM channels I love while working on my PC, I'm there. Next step, an Apple AirPort (remember 'gadget-loving') and darned XM is throughout the house.
This is not good for local radio, especially the voice-tracked minions of Big Radio Chains which have no local presence, identity, or involvement. Just lots of commercials.
This is also competition for America Online and Microsoft and Yahoo which have their own streaming music channels. XM and Sirius listeners who may have been using Web-only radio now have the option of staying tuned to their satellite channels at work.
Remember the TV spot of the guy in the BMW driving his car into his cubicle, just so he could keep listening to satellite.?
No car required, now.