I am a fan of what I call “traditional” music… blues, country, jazz, gospel, bluegrass and rock… in just about that order of preference. Until the advent of satellite radio, these idioms were just about impossible to find on commercial radio. Well, I’ll qualify that statement. You could find a station that played a very short song list constantly interrupted by commercials.
I’ve become a big fan of Sirius Radio. XM Satellite Radio has about 6 million subscribers, Sirius about 3.5 million. That’s close to 10 million subscribers!
And, of course, I’m very happy to be a subscriber to Sirius. I listen frequently to the blues channel, and I’m hearing new artists and songs I haven’t heard in 20 years, like “Hummingbird,” by B.B. King. The radio doesn’t fade out, even when I drive into the remote locations of the Catskills. So far, I’m listening only in the car, but I plan to buy a home kit so that I can listen in my house.
I’m hoping that Sirius and XM provide a marketplace for new music, and that they do not just become juke boxes for endless replay of the old hits… not that I’ve got anything against the old hits. So far, Sirius has been blessedly free of the political and racial obsessions so characteristic of FM and AM disk jockeys. Most of the DJs just try to be entertaining and funny.
What a great thing to be able to listen to a couple of hours of uninterrupted gospel music! This can only be a good thing for musicians and for audiences. Perhaps we are about to enter a new age in which ideas transcend marketing. That would be good for everybody.
Myrna, I wish you were here to experience this with me. Perhaps you are. I’m trying hard, honey, to have a positive attitude, trying hard to bring our dreams to reality.
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