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I'm here to vent about Sirius XM Radio

Gooby

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Gooby

Gooby 640

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Specifically, Classic Vinyl.  

Lately, it seems that this station has softened up A LOT.  

I was on a driving vacation last week and heard more CSN&Y (who I cannot stand), America, Pure Prairie League, etc than I did Led Zeppelin and harder acts of the same genre.  I know that LZ radio during the month of June spoiled me, and maybe I'm just catching it a the wrong time of day, but I heard "Peaceful, Easy Feeling" more times last week than I can count...and I "hate the fucking Eagles (too), man".  Fuck all this shit and play "Heartbreaker/Livin' Lovin' Maid", gawddammit.

 

 

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Gooby

Gooby 640

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9 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

Are you sure that you didn't accidentally have it on that "Bridge" station?

Also- don't knock the "Yacht Rock" station or these old fuckers will be all over you...

I dig Yacht Rock, and generally I know what I'm going to get when I listen.  I was about to drive my fucking car off the road if I heard "Our House" on Classic Vinyl again.  And I know it fits the format, but fuck me that song is a beating.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 20931

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My credit card number changed since the last time I paid for Sirius XM and my umpteenth "special deal" lapsed in April. They can suck my dick, goddammit just price your fucking service don't make me spend 40 minutes on the phone with a callcenter in Kolkata to save 75% on satellite radio. 

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NOMAAA

NOMAAA 1696

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4 minutes ago, Gooby said:

All of this.  

"Don'tcha know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express"

Eff that shit.

 

this is interesting.  first time i have heard of anyone with this strong of opinion on CSNY.  carry on, ill see myself out.

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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

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I'll never understand the Roxanne part(s) of Rock the Bells. Goddamnit no one cares about you, woman, just play some old hip-hop.

The Tom Morello show on Lithium is so tedious, too. I can appreciate the interest people may have in what he likes musically, but that station is specifically for "90s grunge and alternative", which means that any amount of time dedicated to Morello's roots acts and influences is outside their strike zone. I mean, do it at 10 PM on Sunday night or whatever, fine.

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Liquor and Poker

Liquor and Poker 3659

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Posted (edited)

I used to listen to a lot of Sirius, then over the years less and less to the point of almost none now.  It’s not really that there are other car alternatives, because I hate the whole “Pandora” model of creating a “radio station” from likes and dislikes over time. It’s more that the SXM playlists are so tight and the categories are so loose.  Alt Nation and XMU and Octane and Lithium all seem to pick from the same bag of not very many songs and the only difference is frequency distribution among them-Alt Nation plays a little more of those 10 and a little less of those 10, etc.  But the majority of the playlist are the same core group of songs.

And that brings up the other problem - repeats. You hear the same songs over and over.  The list for each station seems to be about a billion songs, but only about 100 get played more than once a week.  You can even go to a wholly new genre of station, like Faction, and after about a week you’ve heard that stuff over and over as well. I get on Spotify and browse through playlists for the same genres and see 100s of songs I recognize but haven’t heard in ages, yet I’m sick of what’s on SXM for the 60th time this week. 
 

iI may drop it in December at the next renewal. 

Edited by Liquor and Poker
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South Austin

South Austin 52449

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I've been listening to SXM for about 15 years and cancelled last month.  It's just not worth the expense among the growing list of monthly charges for technology and entertainment.  They were nice enough and sent me a check for about $250 for a refund of the balance of my remaining annual subscription.

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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

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42 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I used to listen to a lot of Sirius, then over the years less and less to the point of almost none now.  It’s not really that there are other car alternatives, because I hate the whole “Pandora” model of creating a “radio station” from likes and dislikes over time. It’s more that the SXM playlists are so tight and the categories are so loose.  Alt Nation and XMU and Octane and Lithium all seem to pick from the same bag of not very many songs and the only difference is frequency distribution among them-Alt Nation plays a little more of those 10 and a little less of those 10, etc.  But the majority of the playlist are the same core group of songs.

And that brings up the other problem - repeats. You hear the same songs over and over.  

I guess I don't really understand how the music industry operates. It seems to me that you could take Lithium and play non-single cuts off of albums by artists like Oasis or RATM or the Smashing Pumpkins and it would be like being back in the 90s listening to "new" music to anyone listening who wasn't into those bands enough to buy their records (e.g., me).

Obviously you have to play the hits to maintain interest, but I think they could make it more immersive if they did more deep cuts from top shelf artists and then more obscure artists from the same era-- to me, nostalgia is not just "oh, Wonderwall, gosh I haven't heard that song in almost two weeks" but "WOW, the Hazies/Letters to Cleo/Cool For August, I remember that band!" or "man, Brother Cane was an underrated 90s band" or even "you know, the Black Crowes weren't alternative per se but their third record does kind fit with the 90s vibe". 

Actually reading over that, it sounds like I want to either be in charge of the playlists or have my own curated station. One of those is pretty easily within reach. 

Edited by SwanderedTalent
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Tylerocks

Tylerocks 2553

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It just seems to me that every station has a playlist of maybe 150-200 songs and just shuffle it.

I've also noticed "Vinyl" and "rewind" inching closer to one another.  Keep that soft shit on Classic Rewind.

And yes, Roxanne sucks.  Rhyme Time it's rhyme time....GTFOH

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honolulu horn

honolulu horn 6158

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Liquid Metal is a great station that plays lots of new and otherwise obscure (at least obscure to me) metal. They do put a lot of newer stuff into heavy rotation (I'm pretty tired of hearing Tetrarach and Code Orange every hour or so), but it's only in the rotation for a couple of months before getting squeezed out by the next new release. It's helped me get into a lot of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise known about. I mean I don't love everything they play or anything, but overall I dig their approach. I also like having live DJs as opposed to a computerized setlist being played to me, because they bring in cool info about bands, tours, shows, interviews, etc. And their specialty shows are also good. Never heard Coroner's cover of Purple Haze until today, for example, thanks to the Corridor of Covers show. 

That being said, I only listen to other Sirius stations to break up the day or when kids are in the car so I can't say the above is true for other channels. DJs on the Boneyard generally make me want to veer off the road into a ditch. 

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Bartles

Bartles 769

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I kind of understand why they repeat stuff...a lot of listeners probably aren't on a station day & night so if there's a track they want to feature, they need to drop it in multiple times over a week or so in order to reach the widest audience. You could argue, who cares as long as the station is true to its format, just mix things up. For some reason they really pimp certain songs in a given time...can't count how many times I've heard the same song on 80s then First Wave on the same day.

I also think they are beholden to certain artists, presumably for some financial reason. Just like in the days of terrestrial radio, you gotta pay to get airtime. It frequently pisses me off when XMU pounds us with Grizzly Bear and Deerhunter. I've grown to dislike those acts just due to repetition. But I assume they have a deal with Sirius for bonus airings.

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SuperSport

SuperSport 1333

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On 8/17/2020 at 2:08 PM, Gooby said:

Specifically, Classic Vinyl.  

Lately, it seems that this station has softened up A LOT.  

I was on a driving vacation last week and heard more CSN&Y (who I cannot stand), America, Pure Prairie League, etc than I did Led Zeppelin and harder acts of the same genre.  I know that LZ radio during the month of June spoiled me, and maybe I'm just catching it a the wrong time of day, but I heard "Peaceful, Easy Feeling" more times last week than I can count...and I "hate the fucking Eagles (too), man".  Fuck all this shit and play "Heartbreaker/Livin' Lovin' Maid", gawddammit.

 

 

@Gooby plz.

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C-Man

C-Man 27187

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Still dig 1st Wave. Who doesn't want to hear "How Soon is Now" every hour?


Smiths are one of my all-time favorites and that song is a beating. XMU used to be The Clash every third or fourth song. I mean I like The Clash but don’t need that much of it. Drove me insane.
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zlavydra

zlavydra 2119

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On 8/22/2020 at 11:01 PM, honolulu horn said:

Liquid Metal is a great station that plays lots of new and otherwise obscure (at least obscure to me) metal. They do put a lot of newer stuff into heavy rotation (I'm pretty tired of hearing Tetrarach and Code Orange every hour or so), but it's only in the rotation for a couple of months before getting squeezed out by the next new release. It's helped me get into a lot of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise known about. I mean I don't love everything they play or anything, but overall I dig their approach. I also like having live DJs as opposed to a computerized setlist being played to me, because they bring in cool info about bands, tours, shows, interviews, etc. And their specialty shows are also good. Never heard Coroner's cover of Purple Haze until today, for example, thanks to the Corridor of Covers show. 

That being said, I only listen to other Sirius stations to break up the day or when kids are in the car so I can't say the above is true for other channels. DJs on the Boneyard generally make me want to veer off the road into a ditch. 

The worst possible Coroner song. I know. See my avatar.

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Buzzrock

Buzzrock 14902

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I used to listen to a lot of Sirius, then over the years less and less to the point of almost none now.  It’s not really that there are other car alternatives, because I hate the whole “Pandora” model of creating a “radio station” from likes and dislikes over time. It’s more that the SXM playlists are so tight and the categories are so loose.  Alt Nation and XMU and Octane and Lithium all seem to pick from the same bag of not very many songs and the only difference is frequency distribution among them-Alt Nation plays a little more of those 10 and a little less of those 10, etc.  But the majority of the playlist are the same core group of songs.
And that brings up the other problem - repeats. You hear the same songs over and over.  The list for each station seems to be about a billion songs, but only about 100 get played more than once a week.  You can even go to a wholly new genre of station, like Faction, and after about a week you’ve heard that stuff over and over as well. I get on Spotify and browse through playlists for the same genres and see 100s of songs I recognize but haven’t heard in ages, yet I’m sick of what’s on SXM for the 60th time this week. 
 
iI may drop it in December at the next renewal. 


This befuddles me (the Pandora comment). How can someone not like curating their own music stations? There’s nothing better than having Pandora or Spotify really dialed in. My Spotify was epic until my kids got old enough to listen and ruined my algorithm with Hamilton and video game music.
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Liquor and Poker

Liquor and Poker 3659

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1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

 


This befuddles me (the Pandora comment). How can someone not like curating their own music stations? There’s nothing better than having Pandora or Spotify really dialed in. My Spotify was epic until my kids got old enough to listen and ruined my algorithm with Hamilton and video game music.

 

I despise everything about it. Deleted Pandora years ago.  

The process is cumbersome.  The product results in never really hearing anything older that you forgot about but still like or anything new that you might like.  It turns into Facebook news - here’s all the same people doing the same things over and over. Exactly what I don’t like about satellite radio. No “oh yeah - wow, I totally forgot about this song” or “never heard this before but it’s great” moments.  Just a playlist of the same 50, 100 or even 1000 songs on repeat.

If you like dialed-in playlists you might really like SiriusXM. 

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Llano Estacado

Llano Estacado 1257

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This befuddles me (the Pandora comment). How can someone not like curating their own music stations? There’s nothing better than having Pandora or Spotify really dialed in. My Spotify was epic until my kids got old enough to listen and ruined my algorithm with Hamilton and video game music.



I think his complaint is the same. Song lists are tight, but categories are loose.

If I have a station with CSNY, Allman Bro’s, and Pure Praire League, they’re more likely to throw in some Eagles and Stones than give me some deep cuts from Buffalo Springfield or The Band.

Similar problem across all genres. I think the algorithms get really skewed the more popular the song is. I don’t want “90s college rock” cluttering up a punk station because I liked “when I come around” on a Black Flag and NOFX channel. I’m trying to tell you to play deep punk cuts I haven’t heard in 15 years, but you’ll only play the same 3 Green Day songs off Dookie on thousands of pop, rock, and college FM channels.

A few years ago I saw an infographic, I can’t conger up from the google machine currently, that showed how bad having “Eye of the Tiger” liked or on a channel fucks with the algorithms. Thousands of people have that song on a “workout” station linking it to everything from DMX to Slayer. Then the algorithm tries to suggest Katy Perry - Roar which links it to Gaga et al and modern pop.

Song lists are tight categorization is loose. People like college radio because they hear songs Clear Channel doesn’t have in the “it fits this genre and these same 300 ‘safe’ songs we play every damn day”
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Napoleon

Napoleon 8661

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On 8/18/2020 at 7:31 AM, Al_4_ISU said:

I was forced to listen to a lot of Sirius XM on a recent vacation where we didn't have LTE for about 50% of the drive (mostly in rural Wyoming or the Black Hills).

I was shocked at how quickly the stations repeated themselves.

 I don’t normally have SiriusXm, but bought it for my road trip. I have been listening to the Beatles Channel and sports. I have heard “Norwegian Wood” more times than than in my entire life before the trip. 

They mostly play about 30-40 songs, but did hear one about threatening femicide (killing your ex because if you can’t have her, no one could) and was a little shocked that that song existed and that it was actually played. Of course it was a John song. 

The channels get old fast. 

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12451

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2 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

 I don’t normally have SiriusXm, but bought it for my road trip. I have been listening to the Beatles Channel and sports. I have heard “Norwegian Wood” more times than than in my entire life before the trip. 

They mostly play about 30-40 songs, but did hear one about threatening femicide (killing your ex because if you can’t have her, no one could) and was a little shocked that that song existed and that it was actually played. Of course it was a John song. 

The channels get old fast. 

John Lennon was a wife beating sociopath who somehow became the poster child for "peace and love, man".

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Buzzrock

Buzzrock 14902

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2 hours ago, Llano Estacado said:

 

 


I think his complaint is the same. Song lists are tight, but categories are loose.

If I have a station with CSNY, Allman Bro’s, and Pure Praire League, they’re more likely to throw in some Eagles and Stones than give me some deep cuts from Buffalo Springfield or The Band.

Similar problem across all genres. I think the algorithms get really skewed the more popular the song is. I don’t want “90s college rock” cluttering up a punk station because I liked “when I come around” on a Black Flag and NOFX channel. I’m trying to tell you to play deep punk cuts I haven’t heard in 15 years, but you’ll only play the same 3 Green Day songs off Dookie on thousands of pop, rock, and college FM channels.

A few years ago I saw an infographic, I can’t conger up from the google machine currently, that showed how bad having “Eye of the Tiger” liked or on a channel fucks with the algorithms. Thousands of people have that song on a “workout” station linking it to everything from DMX to Slayer. Then the algorithm tries to suggest Katy Perry - Roar which links it to Gaga et al and modern pop.

Song lists are tight categorization is loose. People like college radio because they hear songs Clear Channel doesn’t have in the “it fits this genre and these same 300 ‘safe’ songs we play every damn day”

 

 

Why would you like When I Come Around on a punk deep cuts station?

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tbone_

tbone_ 14110

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I despise everything about it. Deleted Pandora years ago.   The process is cumbersome.  The product results in never really hearing anything older that you forgot about but still like or anything new that you might like.  It turns into Facebook news - here’s all the same people doing the same things over and over. Exactly what I don’t like about satellite radio. No “oh yeah - wow, I totally forgot about this song” or “never heard this before but it’s great” moments.  Just a playlist of the same 50, 100 or even 1000 songs on repeat.

If you like dialed-in playlists you might really like SiriusXM. 

 

I like Pandora but maybe it’s just because I’m old. I have a station that I seeded with only “American Girl” on the theory that I think that’s kind of the perfect rock and roll song and contains elements of so much good music from different times. It always amazes me what that station plays. All over the place but always good.

 

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Llano Estacado

Llano Estacado 1257

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Why would you like When I Come Around on a punk deep cuts station?

 

I didn’t, because I know better.

 

But my contention is there’s no way to get a “deep cut playlist” on Pandora or Spotify without adding shit in yourself, and then how would I know what I’m missing?

 

I could make 1000 different punk playlists including b sides of 90s/00s pop punk and I don’t think the algorithm would ever play something off Kerplunk. *checks notes* She was the 5th single off Dookie and hit #5 in the US. If I like /up vote it there’s no way I’m getting “Burn out” or “Christie Road” and not “Basket Case”. But I’m never going to hear the former on an algorithm curated station to up vote.

 

ETA: sorry for derailing Sirius thread with algorithm talk.

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