I’m not on the technological cutting edge. I’m skeptical about change and feel that the technology companies are very successful at getting you to chase the technology like a greyhound chases a mechanical rabbit: non-stop and furiously. Of course, the greyhound has an advantage. He gets the excitement of the chase but, unlike the consumer, he doesn’t have to pay for it when he discovers the rabbit is really dead.
Though I was quick to recognize the absolute superiority of the computer to the typewriter (which requires no genius), I’ve always stalled other technological purchases until they’ve gone through three or four generations and I’m certain that particular technology is sticking around. I listened dully to a wild-eyed friend that, if I got Sirius radio, I’ve never go back to regular broadcast. Aside from my skepticism of the technology treadmill and resemblance to the stimuli provided to Pavlov’s salivating dogs, I wondered why anyone would want to pay for anything that could be obtained free of charges.
The fates intervened, however, saving me from a life of further am/fm torture. What happened was that I bought a used car that had a fitted base for a Sirius radio, something I discovered after some sleuthing. I went to a couple of places where they sold Sirius radios and got very irritated that everyone tried to sell me an entire package when all I needed was a radio and an activation code. Checking online, I found a company called Crutchfield’s (a very old-fashioned and appealing name) who sold the Sirius Sportster Replay Plug and Play Radio I’ve had for nearly two years. The people at Crutchfield’s seemed so normal, so little like the technology geeks who tried to make you feel ignorant if you hadn’t spent your lifetime in a video game parlor wearing a Goth trench coat. They were so nice I decided to put another radio base in my pickup truck. I ordered online from Crutchfield’s and got the antenna hookup and wires and a few pasty things. I am not good with delicate technologies and I really hammered the antenna connection. I can’t blame anyone but myself for screwing up the installation. They advised me to return the damaged one and replaced it with a new one without any hassles whatever.
My now good pals at Crutchfield’s treated me as if I were one of the family, albeit one who required ‘special needs’ assessment. I did a successful installation the second time around, proving once again that I am ‘educable’ in spite of the challenges posed by new technologies.
Truly, the Sirius Sportster radio is great and receives an astounding amount of programming. My own tastes are eclectic. I love Martha Stewart but I also like Shade 45 and another great hip-hop channel where the lyrics are often rude and crude and so un-Martha that I can only listen to it when I am alone in my truck (for family reasons). So far as music goes, the choices seem infinite. You can listen to opera from the Met, and hill-billy on a station called Outlaw Country or any of a number of other categories of ‘country’. I didn’t know that country had so many categories but it’s pretty much the same whatever your tastes in music. There’s ‘soul’, there’s ‘gold’ and hits from the sixties, the seventies, the eighties, etc. and there’s a channel devoted entirely to Elvis. There are two Sirius channels for Howard Stern, several for radio comedy, and there’s politics of the left and of the right and of the mainstream. There are channels aimed at the female audience while others are testosterone positive.
I’m disappointed that the sports programming does not include a boxing channel and I’m petitioning the company to establish a niche for boxing. Sports like football, basketball, and NASCAR are extensively covered and you won’t miss a game or race wherever you are if you buy the SIRIUS SP-B1 Boombox Portable audio system hookup. It runs on batteries or AC. You guessed it. I bought it from my family at Crutchfield’s. I use the boom box outside when I’m doing exciting things like painting the deck or windowsills, and I use it indoors moving it wherever I am stuck for a long time.
People have complained about ‘sound quality’. Perhaps I’m tone deaf, but the sound quality is excellent unless you are a studio chief at one of the major record labels. What’s more, you can set up your radio to play through whatever big-vibe monstrosity of a speaker/driver system you have by setting the frequencies in tandem. I’m a news junkie, and Sirius satellite radio is a major advantage over broadcast in terms of reception. There’ s nothing like being in your car and listening intently to coverage of a plane crash when you know your kid is flying out of the same airport and the radio fades to zero. That does happen once in a while with Sirius, but it’s rare, and the system has a memory backup which allows you to listen to a delayed broadcast so you won’t miss anything. Sirius is superb on long drives, whether you’re listening to the big game or an old time radio soap opera. It has some channels for the kids, and the old folks like the Old Standards. Compared to Sirius, listening to am/fm broadcast channels is like being water boarded. That’s a word and concept I learned on one of the Sirius news channels, by the way.
