12.15.20 Hero of the Day: SiriusXM

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A SPECIAL HERO OF THE DAY!

Name: SiriusXM

Age: 30
Occupation: satellite radio broadcaster
Last Seen: New York, NY
Awarded For: giving me a Christmas gift

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It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that 2020 was a rough year for everybody, even me. 

Instead of using personal time off work for vacations, I had to stay home for six days because I was exposed to COVID-19, though I was not infected. I did buy a new Jeep, but I couldn't take it on any major road trips because of, yep, COVID-19. Simply put, most of us were homebodies this year, even if you wanted to go out and do stuff.

But on the lighter side of things, I gotta give SiriusXM kudos for making my holidays a little brighter. When Howard Stern announced his move to Sirius in 2004, I jumped on board the bandwagon. For years, having it was a must for me, especially since I was angry about how Matt Hanlon and Citadel Broadcasting were treating him in Grand Rapids. 

I was a happy Sirius subscriber for many years. But, a car accident and the lack of raises from my asshole ex-boss forced me to drop it in 2012. I figured that I can still listen to Howard online on pirate sites and get my music from Pandora (which is now a subsidiary of SiriusXM). Thankfully, my ex-boss retired and my new bosses realized how hard I worked and gave me several raises over the years. 

When I bought a new car in 2018, it had satellite radio functions. Since I had money again, I decided to give myself a Christmas gift and get Sirius again. Not only that, they gave me an Alexa device, which made listening easier. 

However, after a year, my rates would be jacked up to $25 per month. So, I decided to call SiriusXM and ask them if there was a way to lower my rate. They did, and I was paying the same money I paid them for the year before. Well, they did it again.

A few weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail stating that I was going to start paying $25 per month for Sirius. So once again, I called customer service. The recorded stated that there was a high volume, so they wanted me to text them instead. I gave them the permission and soon, I was texting with one of their reps. It turned out better than I thought, actually. I was thinking maybe $10 per month. In the end, it turned out to be $5!

That's right! $5 per month for unlimited channels, Stern, audio and video access from their website and so much more! And all I had to do was haggle. Not bad!

I'll admit, SiriusXM probably treats their listeners a helluva lot better than most of the big, oversized radio giants here in Grand Rapids or anywhere else. As a matter of fact, if Howard didn't renew his contract, I probably would have canceled and gone with Spotify full time. True, Spotify ain't bad, but the free version is littered with commercials. One commercial I heard was a political ad in support of Line 5! BARF! 

With 35 million subscribers, SiriusXM won't let their listeners down, and for good reason. As a matter of fact, I think a lot of their programming has improved since I came back to them two years ago. I fondly remembered when I got Sirius the first time, it was through their plug 'n play radio. I had three of 'em over the years and they were nice. However, it was difficult getting a signal in my apartment, so I had to tear off my window screen to aim the antenna towards the sky. One time, I had to replace the damn antenna because an asshole who was getting drugs from one of my then-neighbors tripped and cut the wire. Not fun. Another radio I had overheated while I was on the road, so I had to stop at a Radio Shack and replace it. 

Thankfully, the plug 'n play models SiriusXM had are now pretty much obsolete. The Sirius in my car is still a satellite model, but since I have streaming access on my computer and Alexa, the days of rigging an antenna outside in the bitter cold are long gone. 

In the world of digital media, it's a cutthroat world and SiriusXM knows what the hell they're doing. They're way better than terrestrial radio by too many leaps and bounds that it's not funny. Hell, today, I woke up to WGRD here in Grand Rapids playing the FCC-friendly version of Nine Inch Nails' "Closer". Ick. As I've mentioned in the past, the FCC has gotten worse over the years with their pro-censorship attitude and the fact that they've allowed companies like iHeartMedia and Sinclair to grow too big for their own good. SiriusXM, however, knows what people want. 

Yes, it's $5 per month. But, it's $5 "local" radio will never see.

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