After CES I was all amped up and ready to blow a fuse over the satellite radio announcements. Look guys, I'm not going to lie to you, I was trying every angle and diplomatic channel - including magazine status - to get my hands on one of these units. Hey, I'm an enthusiast too, just like you! At times we all have to utilize all of our ammunition when a hot new toy like this comes along.
In Las Vegas I visited the booths for Sirius Satellite and XM Satellite. I listened to their pitches as they explained how things were still in the works. They said that they were working out all the test run details, and launching this summer for consumer use. My brain started turning, "It takes three months for the magazine to go to print, I need the unit a month prior for testing..." and so on.
Naturally I wanted to be the first to have it in my car. Aside from the glory of being first I wanted to hear the content that is being promised on satellite, because it almost sounds too good to be true. Moreover, it would be a welcome change from the generic formatted "music" we have in L.A. (for that matter, the rest of the country), supposedly the music capitol of the world. I used my most persuasive arguments on reps from the two companies and they looked at me with a nervous eye, thinking we would be brutal, and slam them hard if it didn't work! I told them this would not be the case, that I was very interested in seeing this work to the fullest and that they could consider me as a "beta tester," like in the computer industry.
Although I didn't score one of the new receivers I was able to satisfy my curiosity! Just after the show, we were able to hook up with Kenwood (Long Beach, CA), who just so happened to be running a series of tests in their lab on the Sirius receiver. We discussed witnessing some of these tests for the purposes of our readership. Working with both Kenwood and Sirius' Todd Goodnight, we were able to get some prime time in for our listening test using one of the new Kenwood "Sirius Ready" units which should be on the market as of this issue. My whole point was to "test" the content and see if they actually measured up to the sales hype in Vegas. They went one better than getting the actual unit for my car by bringing out two of the music programmers who live around the Los Angeles area! This is what I wanted, to get my chance to grill these guys on what they would be playing and what I would be paying for. Let's just cut to the chase - we are paying for music! I wanted to know if my excitement was justified or if I should save my monthly fee, and buy another CD instead. This is the big question.
We arrived early at the Kenwood USA headquarters and I was joined by staff members Ryan Hill (Internet geek and MP3 specialist) and Howie Liwanag (technical guru - just in case they try to pull a sly one) and we got our first listen to Sirius Satellite Radio. The first programmer to show up was Shawn Wilms. He gave us some background info on his musical past, and informed us that he would be programming the Christian channel, which will have a vast variety of music for listeners. The next programmer was Swedish Egil (pronounced "eagle"). It was exciting to finally meet him . He has been at the forefront of the electronic music scene in Los Angeles, and was at the helm of two major stations (MARS & Groove). Both were progressive electronic stations that, we feel, fell prey to the politics of the music industry. The drama that arises in the music companies' relations with FM radio is commonplace across the country.