The Broadcast Battle: Conventional Radio Versus Satellite Radio

History of Conventional Radio in the United States

Many will argue over who actually invented the first radio. While there are many claims, it is thought that it was invented in the 1890’s. The first radio audio broadcast was actually made from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. The date was Christmas Eve of 1906 and the two men responsible were Reginald Fessenden and Lee de Forest.

The first radio stations started appearing and broadcasting throughout the nation around 1919. In the 1940’s FM radio was first broadcasted with a much improved sound quality from the original AM radio. From this point on radios started popping up in every home and every car. The world has relied upon AM and FM radio for their broadcasts, that is until satellite radio came along.

History of Satellite Radio in the United States

Satellite radio is actually a digital radio signal that is broadcasted using a communications satellite. In 1992 the FCC created Digital Audio Radio Services (Dars) which established certain radio frequencies for satellite radio broadcasting. The rights to obtain a license to broadcast satellite radio were auctioned off and XM and Sirius were the high bidders. It is estimated that it cost over $1.5 billion just to launch satellite radio.

In November of 2001 XM launched their service nationwide. The next year in the summer of 2002 Sirius launched their nationwide broadcasting. Since then both of the companies have been gaining subscribers by the millions. As of January 2007 XM reported to have 7.6 million subscribers and Sirius a close second, with 6 million subscribers.

Pros and Cons of Conventional Radio

There are many good points to conventional radio. First off, it is completely free as long as you have a radio and an antenna. There are many wonderful stations that can be picked up with a conventional radio depending on the area. Also there is local news and weather on these stations.

The bad things about conventional radio add up pretty quickly. There are definitely a limited number of stations and many types of music and talk radio are completely left out. If you live in a rural area you may pick up just a few stations. Lots of times it is hard to get good reception, especially if you don’t have a good antenna. These stations are also funded by advertisements so you will hear lots of these between songs. Another bad thing about traditional radio is that it is highly regulated by the FCC for content.

Pros and Cons of Satellite Radio

Satellite radio is fairly new but already it is obvious that it has many wonderful features. The first is that you can get a vast number of stations anywhere in the United States. All different types of music and talk radio are represented here. Since this is a paid service, there are not as many regulations with the content of the service. Another great thing is that there is no static to be heard and if you have the antenna positioned correctly you will get flawless reception.

One of the worst things about satellite radio is that it is definitely not free. Each company does charge a monthly fee and there may be an initial sign-up fee as well. The equipment can be costly depending upon where you would like service. Depending on the company and the station, there may be a small amount of advertisements. The antenna does have to be visible to the satellites as well, so if you often drive under tunnels or have an office in the middle of the building this could be a problem.

The Winner

It is safe to say that I cannot choose the winner here. There are substantial lists of pros and cons for each and I must say that both will be around for years to come. I do believe that there will be more and more people converting over to satellite radio side, especially because it is factory installed in many vehicles now. While we don’t know what the future holds, an obvious choice would be to have conventional radio and satellite radio. That would truly be the best of both worlds.