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Although I've been involved with radio almost all my life, I have ZERO interest in owning a satellite radio. It's a matter of principal as I see how many people (great talents and good friends) who have lost careers thanks to the corporate destruction of radio. All of these forces that destroyed a creative industry I loved are now trying to take control of digital broadcasting through ownership of the satellites and technology thus the formats. With little to no real competition, they arbitrarily decided what you hear and what you don't...or do so with strictly financial interests in mind. Sorry, no sale here.
This AAR situation is a case in point. This was strictly a money deal and listeners be damned. Neither AAR or XM appears to have reached out to Sirius users to encourage them to switch and Sirius is slow to find any suitable replacement. Again, another reason, I won't own a satellite radio...way too much control by others over what I hear...and I'm gonna pay for this??? I have troubles enough with 700 worthless cable TV channels.
My suggestion first is to support any and all local AAR stations. Let the station and advertisers you listen...a purchase at a local advertiser with the mention you heard it on that station goes a long way...and then encourage those stations to bring on local Progressive voices (if they haven't already).
If you're not in an area where there's an AAR signal, the internet offers great options. Besides listening on your PC or laptop, there's a new generation of Internet Radio that work off of local and wide area wi-fi devices...that will pick up the AAR stream without any congestion. I have a Linksys Studio link...it cost about $130 or so at CompUSA and listen to AAR 24/7 on a little radio on my desk as well as my favorite Pacifica stations, KGO, BBC and a dozen college and public stations. The great thing is all you need to "subscribe" is an existing internet account and an access point.
Expect more changes ahead. Financially radio is in bad shape and the debt on these satellite networks pile up higher than the subscriptions are rolling in. I'm glad I'm long retired from any of that insanity.
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