Cancelled a radio today

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
168
Not that at all, Jon.

Personal choice is king. Yours is just as valid as everyone else's. You can't expect to walk into a football stadium, say that football sucks, and not expect people not to respond. My reply was very polite, I cited facts, and credited you for having made your own informed decisions. You are welcome to speak your mind, but it's going to have to be conversational.


And I respect that and try to keep it that way. I could go over more, but it won't fit here, I'll just post it in the feedback section when I get a chance.



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geosync

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2008
2,471
500
118
Portland, Or
My old ass Inno got dropped last week, a couple days before the yearly sub was about to renew. The audio started to go the next day. The vocals were forced way back into the mix. It came and went but I called anyway. I tried to change my girl's radio to be the main radio, she has xm select, I have xm with best of sirius. It took a while and a manager to do it. Turns out there wasn't much of a price difference so I just canceled my radio. We're sharing her radio now with BOS. I didn't want to cancel, but the struggling customer rep from a foreign land with a poor command of the intricacies of the english language broke my back. I'll save some bucks and when she takes the radio in her car a few days a week I will have to find something else to fill my ear holes with all day.
 

Ehilbert1

Ooh-Rah!!!!
Oct 13, 2008
4,480
1,220
113
Columbus, OH
I like Sirius XM Select. all my favorite music channels, music shows and college sports nation. plus the 2.0 latino channels Luna and Viva.


I have to ask... how do you deal with all the commercials and plugs on college sports nation? I used to love that channel. Bill King is the worst. His show is all plugs and commercials. It was way better when it was Rivals radio.

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MadisonRadio1

MadisonRadio
Oct 17, 2008
7,793
5,718
163
Madison, Wisconsin
I have to ask... how do you deal with all the commercials and plugs on college sports nation? I used to love that channel. Bill King is the worst. His show is all plugs and commercials. It was way better when it was Rivals radio.

Sent from my Galaxy S4

I'm usually listening in the car so I guess I probably just zone out on my own life while the commercials are going on. I have hit the preset to Alt Nation or something from time to time. I listen mostly to the afternoon shows: Jack Arute, Jason Horowitz and Mark Packer. And I guess I just haven't noticed that the commercials are that excessive. But sure commercials aren't good listening.

Here's what I really like to do: I'll go to Subway and get a sub meal, head over to the Target parking lot and just hang in the car listening to college sports nation.
 

Jimr

Member
Apr 12, 2013
223
7
18
Here's what I really like to do: I'll go to Subway and get a sub meal, head over to the Target parking lot and just hang in the car listening to college sports nation.

I do the same thing but it is a hospital parking lot. I thought I was the only one that did something like that. Sometimes it is a fish sandwich from McDonald's. That's my guilty pleasure.
 

MadisonRadio1

MadisonRadio
Oct 17, 2008
7,793
5,718
163
Madison, Wisconsin
I do the same thing but it is a hospital parking lot. I thought I was the only one that did something like that. Sometimes it is a fish sandwich from McDonald's. That's my guilty pleasure.

When I go I get the oven roasted chicken with tomatoes and a couple of cookies. Then eat apples for the rest of the day. I always go the counter pretending like I'm looking at the menu, then just order the chicken.
It's just good to have an exclusive college sports channel to listen to. Heck they even have a Big10 hockey game on Friday night.
 

Jimr

Member
Apr 12, 2013
223
7
18
When I go I get the oven roasted chicken with tomatoes and a couple of cookies. Then eat apples for the rest of the day. I always go the counter pretending like I'm looking at the menu, then just order the chicken.
It's just good to have an exclusive college sports channel to listen to. Heck they even have a Big10 hockey game on Friday night.

For me it is the chicken bacon ranch with hot sauce and a bag of Doritos. If they are out of hot sauce then I don't get it (that happened once).
 

Jimr

Member
Apr 12, 2013
223
7
18
I received an email today telling me that SiriusXM has requested a refund in the sum of $164.89. I checked my credit card statement and sure enough my card was charged that amount. My subscription ended yesterday so I guess one part of their system realized that and charged my card for a renewal even though I told them I did not want to renew. Another part of their system must have realized the mistake today and requested a refund to fix the issue.

One one hand I'm glad they caught their mistake but on the other hand the mistake should have never happened. I am glad that I'm done with such a horribly run company and hopefully I won't have to deal with them again.

I did receive several more calls after 8:30pm asking me to renew. I originally wanted to renew but their offers were no more than 25% off the list price. I decided the hassle wasn't worth the entrance fee. I declined their offer and kindly asked to never be contacted by this company again. It must have worked because the calls stopped.
 

Andrew8468

Plans on freezing in the dark
Oct 26, 2008
4,309
551
113
Canada, eh?
Thankfully, I don't think I left a phone number on my acct. But I am getting lots of emails to a Yahoo acct I check a couple times a month, if that often. On Mar 4 I got an email from the "Account Resolution Team" saying my service had been turned off because they weren't able to process my payment.

On Mar 5, I got an email from Sirius saying how much they missed me and offering a huge discount for 6 months if I came back after I closed my account the month before.
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
168
I listened once and found him kind of boring. And he failed in Canada. But there is no question that he was immensely popular. And without Stern Sirius would have gone belly up and like it or not XM would have followed.

Jon given you were on the XM side and left shortly after the merger, is it safe to say you have never heard Stern on satrad?

Obviously he pulls in enough subscribers for SXM to keep him.


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Oldie, but I caught a bit of him on Terrestrial when he was on the old alternative station in Denver during the 90's (KXPK 96.5 For anyone from here). Tuned in for a few, and decided it wasn't worth listening to. It didn't help at the time that it replaced a morning show that ACTUALLY PLAYED MUSIC during that hour (go figure!), plus his comments on Columbine pretty much sealed the deal of him never returning to this market, which he hasn't, and nobody misses him. The older people who still listen to the radio aren't into it and the younger generation have moved on to iPhones and Internet radio, and wouldn't know who he was if he walked in the room. Same deal with O&A, although I did like it when they had guests on like Adam Ferrara (who is a funny guy!) and the Kevin Smith interview they had before Liquid Metal was brought back was pretty compelling stuff. If they had more of that and less antics geared toward twelve year-olds I would have been a more frequent listener. Beyond that, both Stern and O&A were lucky enough to be based on the east coast when Sirius and XM, respectively, got started.

I think satellite radio has hit its peak, and doesn't have much of a future. The technology is outdated as a method of delivery, and services like Pandora and Spotify are taking over (although I subscribe to neither, preferring Slacker and iTunes radio, and may give RDIO a try for the on-demand stuff unless this iTunes Spotify-like service comes sooner than I think). And as far as news gathering is concerned, everyone either has an app, or is affiliated with an app. I can get BBC World Service on the BBC News app, NPR has it's own app with ALL their stations, and as much as I dislike ESPN, some parts of their radio service isn't bad, and I can get the infinitely better local radio broadcasts (Michael Kay, the Sports Reporters in Washington and Kornheiser) on their app. The NPR app is free, as is BBC and ESPN. To pay $20-25 a month for stuff I can get for free elsewhere makes no sense.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,670
1,837
113
Stern is no morning zoo. He is far far from it. The guy didn't get lucky. He dominated radio. He went through all kinds of crap and people flocked to him. Going #1 in every market you have ever been in is not lucky. No way no how. No one does interviews like Howard. No one gets celebs to open up. That's not luck. That is talent. I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.

I'm sure most people that don't listen to the show or haven't really listened feel that way.

Heck, going to #1 in your own market and actually staying there takes skills, especially when you have program directors and station managers telling you what to do and how to do it.

"You will take a break at this time. You will say the call letters precisely using this method. You will play exactly these songs and exactly this number of times."

It's amazing FM radio is still hanging in there.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,670
1,837
113
It doesn't hurt that I wasn't that big into that type of show to begin with, and that the mass influx of these types of shows on terrestrial was what drew me to (and eventually away from, once Stern became big on that format) satellite to begin with. I gave O&A a chance when I subscribed to XM but never could get into it.

Since I didn't feel like paying Stern's salary and with the mere RUMOR of a merger, coupled with the lack of quality content on Sirius compared to XM at the time, and the hatchet job done to my favorite formats, while later finding those same formats on Slacker, that was enough. They're hanging their hat too much on the number of subscriptions brought in. Who's to say that won't be the same number of people that cancels when he retires?

But again it know that this is a satellite based board, whose bread is buttered with the revenues that satellite brings in, and any attempt to interject a dissenting opinion will be shot down, which is fine.


Right now, they have about 25.6 million subscribers. From the time Howard announced his move to satellite until January 2006 when he had his first show, Sirius gained about six million subscribers. These six million are probably the "hard core" audience. I'm sure a few more million signed up in the months after.

Let's say that nine million subscribers are "for Howard" or have Howard in their top two or three reasons for subscribing.

If all nine million left shortly after he left, they'd be down to about 16.6 million subscribers.

Could SiriusXM survive with only 16.6 million while not paying Howard's salary?

...and that doesn't even take into account the lifetime subs that are along for the free ride but are still factored into the above numbers.
 

Jon

Well-Known Member
Dec 16, 2008
15,259
5,279
168
Right now, they have about 25.6 million subscribers. From the time Howard announced his move to satellite until January 2006 when he had his first show, Sirius gained about six million subscribers. These six million are probably the "hard core" audience. I'm sure a few more million signed up in the months after.

Let's say that nine million subscribers are "for Howard" or have Howard in their top two or three reasons for subscribing.

If all nine million left shortly after he left, they'd be down to about 16.6 million subscribers.

Could SiriusXM survive with only 16.6 million while not paying Howard's salary?

...and that doesn't even take into account the lifetime subs that are along for the free ride but are still factored into the above numbers.

That's also assuming all 9 million are still listening/subscribing. If a service only has Howard Stern going for it, that's not much.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,670
1,837
113
My old ass Inno got dropped last week, a couple days before the yearly sub was about to renew. The audio started to go the next day. The vocals were forced way back into the mix. It came and went but I called anyway. I tried to change my girl's radio to be the main radio, she has xm select, I have xm with best of sirius. It took a while and a manager to do it. Turns out there wasn't much of a price difference so I just canceled my radio. We're sharing her radio now with BOS. I didn't want to cancel, but the struggling customer rep from a foreign land with a poor command of the intricacies of the english language broke my back. I'll save some bucks and when she takes the radio in her car a few days a week I will have to find something else to fill my ear holes with all day.


I'll admit that part is painful. I'll admit I'd rather go to the dentist...then again, I don't mind the dentist.

However, the people that run www.twitter.com/sxm_help -- if you get them to call you, then they'll offer all sorts of deals. I've had "half off for a year" on my one radio for several years now.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,670
1,837
113
I think satellite radio has hit its peak, and doesn't have much of a future. The technology is outdated as a method of delivery, and services like Pandora and Spotify are taking over (although I subscribe to neither, preferring Slacker and iTunes radio, and may give RDIO a try for the on-demand stuff unless this iTunes Spotify-like service comes sooner than I think). And as far as news gathering is concerned, everyone either has an app, or is affiliated with an app. I can get BBC World Service on the BBC News app, NPR has it's own app with ALL their stations, and as much as I dislike ESPN, some parts of their radio service isn't bad, and I can get the infinitely better local radio broadcasts (Michael Kay, the Sports Reporters in Washington and Kornheiser) on their app. The NPR app is free, as is BBC and ESPN. To pay $20-25 a month for stuff I can get for free elsewhere makes no sense.

Who is it on this forum??? Someone's dad(?) is a trucker. Given the way the phone companies are charging for data, I think SiriusXM has a bright future. You can get in your vehicle and just drive for hours without having to worry about dropouts (mostly) or data overages.

And for the old foagies like our trucker friend, they don't want to mess with having to download apps and passwords and all that...they just want to plug it in and go.


Here's the T-Mobile map. From what I've heard, T-Mobile is one of the worst in terms of coverage:
Screen-Shot-2012-10-05-at-11.41.25-AM-e1349451852155.png




Verizon map:
verizon-4g-map.jpg
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
11,670
1,837
113
That's also assuming all 9 million are still listening/subscribing. If a service only has Howard Stern going for it, that's not much.


If they're not listening, then the subscriber count wouldn't drop too much when he leaves, right?

I was assuming they were all still listening so that in a scenario of "Howard leaves and takes his subscribers with him", then the company would lose about as many subscribers as came for/with Howard.
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
49,832
17,485
168
Toledo, Ohio
That's also assuming all 9 million are still listening/subscribing. If a service only has Howard Stern going for it, that's not much.

Easily 3/4 of the people I know (that aren't members here) don't listen to SXM for Howard. With the exception of some folks around here, I don't know anybody that only listens to Howard. When he does decide to retire, sure, some folks will cancel, but the drop in subscribers won't be drastic.

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