XM Bootcamp 4

Radio Disney

2005-10-27T03:10:00.000-07:00

Ugh, the worst station so far during the bootleg. Commercials, commercials, commercials. Endless promos. Annoying kid DJs, call ins, shout outs, every thing I hate about FM radio. The land of minivans is not for me.

I actually think I'd enjoy a station which played songs from Disney movies more than this station. I wonder if Cinemagic plays music like that?

MLB Home Plate

2005-10-26T03:07:00.000-07:00

An all baseball talk station! This is a good idea. I haven't spent as much time with the sports talk stations on XM because I've been too busy checking out the music. Still, it is nice to have this station. I'll love it during Spring Training. The NCAA tournament and the Masters tend to dominate most sports shows during March, so this will be a good place to get info on MLB 2006 I"ll also enjoy some of their classic games they reair. MLB home plate will be a preset on the C presets.

World Zone

2005-10-25T03:04:00.000-07:00

This station was another find. World Zone plays traditional music from all over the world. It is a very interesting, eclectic mix. I have enjoyed spending time with Ngoma in the World genre, so I'll add World Zone to my listening as well. I like the DJs on here as well. Since I know nothing about any of this music, it is nice to hear something about the artists and what country they're from. Not sure if it will make a preset, but I'll be back often.

Sonic Theatre

2005-10-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

Sonic Theatre has to get an imcomplete for right now. I've looked at their schedule and there are some programs I think I'd like. However, there are some which I don't and they tend to be on when I get in my car. Also, I don't tend to drive for extended periods of time. Unlike Radio Classics, they don't have variety shows in which I can catch ten minutes and not feel like I"m lost.
When I get the My Fi, I"ll spend some time with Sonic Theatre and I'll also print out their schedule when I make a longer driving trip.

Fungus

2005-10-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

What can I say about Fungus? It is a punk station. I liked it more than I thought I would. It reminds me of some college radio stations I used to listen to when I was younger. Also, I heard some ska and industrial music as well. I'll tune in every now and then for something completely different.

U Pop

2005-10-18T02:58:00.000-07:00

This has been an interesting station. They play popular music from all over the world. This station does tend to rely on European pop music. I enjoy it more than the US pop stations. There isn't nearly as much hip hop and I've heard some dance. This is a station that I"ll listen to more often and try to decide if it is worth a preset or not. Like most pop stations, there are some songs I like and so I very much do not.

Luna

2005-10-13T02:54:00.000-07:00

What an amazing station! I have never spent any time in the Latin category at all. This station plays upbeat Latin jazz, primarily instrumental. This station, combined with the other jazz offerings, is part of what makes XM so great. Sirius has no equivalent to this station. Luna is just a fun station to listen to, especially when driving. Luna has become a B preset

Hear Music

2005-10-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

An interesting station. The Voice of Music at Starbucks. This station leans towards Adult Album Contemporary which is about 60 percent of their music. It isn't completely mellow, but makes a good early AM station. I know many people would describe this as a Sunday paper station. I think that is a good description. They'll play a lot of artists I know, but certainly not their most popular songs.

I can easily see myself coming back to this station frequently. I haven't spent as much time with Fine Tuning, but I imagine one of them will end up with a preset. As they're right next to each other, it will be easy to switch back and forth.

90's on 9

2005-10-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

How I love this station! I just love the years of the 90s: The end of college and me having fun in my 20s. How I loved being young and dumb! How I loved the long roadtrips and the places I visited!

I didn't have a CD player in my car, so I spent a lot of time listening to the radio. This station brings it all back. They play the 90s dance which I so wish Chrome would as part of a classic dance format. They play so much of the music with the optimism of the Clinton administration. They play the music from my "alternative" phase. Where are those flannel shirts anyway? LOL
They do play hip hop and R and B. Still, these are the more mainstream songs that I'd hear on the radio as I wandered from city to city.

90's on 9 is my second favorite station and will have a preset always. I can't wait for IT to begin on the 90s.

Air America Radio

2005-10-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

What else can I say about Air America? As a liberal who lived in Ohio during the last election, I'm still licking my wounds after the defeat. So, I've avoided most politics this year. Still, the implosion of the Bush administration has given me hope. I will probably be spending more drive time with Air America. This station is far and above Sirius' Sirius Left. I like Al Franken and Jerry Springer.
Randi Rhodes just annoys me.

Air America will have a preset when the bootcamp is over.

XM Music Lab

2005-10-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

A strange combination of jam bands and progressive rock. I've always liked progressive rock, I've always disliked jam bands. The whole Deadhead/Phishhead slacker mentality has never appealed to my type A personality.

I heard some interesting prog rock on here. I'd say it was about 75% prog rock/25% jam band. This was an interesting very early AM drive station. I think I might return to this station if I'm up late at night and want something a bit more lively than my typical late night fare.

Still, I'm hoping XM can split this channel. At the very least, block program the prog rock and jam bands. I'm sure the jam band fans are just as annoyed with all the 20 minute long prog rock anthems.

X Country

2005-10-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

This is Cross Country. XM's progressive country station. Country music for people who don't like country music. I really liked this station. I know I won't hear that "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue" here!

This station plays a wide variety of contemporary Country music. Most of it I really liked. I got that..walking through Austin, stepping into live clubs kinda vibe from this station.

I'm not sure if this station will earn a preset, but I know I"ll be back from time to time.

Suite 62

2005-10-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Still, this is mellow makeout music. XM just has too many other choices in mellow music for me to come back to this station. I just know I have a hard time with the urban genre. Rap and R and B are just not my thing. I'd much rather surf on over to the jazz channels.

Highway 16

2005-10-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is today's country music. Unfortunately, I don't know much about country music, so it may be popular or not. It wasn't really my thing. I might listen if I keep going to this one country bar in Dallas with their cheap drinks.

I couldn't tell the difference between this and Sirius' Top Country.

I'm so not familiar with this genre. The only country I really know is the pop country of Shania Twain et al.

Won't make a preset. Maybe I'll be back from time to time

70's on 7

2005-10-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

This was a tough week for the bootcamp. The 70's on 7 was the highlight. I enjoy this station. Granted, I'm not always in the mood for the station, but there are time when I really like listening to the 70s. XM seems to program this station as kind of an AM Gold station. They leave most of the classic rock to their rock stations. I've put this station on later at night and have memories of the 70s.

Sirius Totally 70's isn't as deep and they'll play more classic rock.

Both stations are fun. 70's on 7 might make a preset. It is a good mellow station.

40's on 4 - Return Visit

2005-09-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

I'm spending most of this weekend with the 40s on 4. IT is back! On Friday, Sept 23 the 40's on 4 began playing music from 1930. As of right now, they're up to 1936. Most of the songs I've never heard before. I love IT and hope it won't distract too much during the bootcamp.

I'm guessing next week will have us visit the Country genre for the first time. Perhaps a station from the Latin or World genres as well.

I'll be driving a lot more starting next week. Hopefully that will give me time to check out the bootcamp stations while also leaving enough time for IT.

VOX

2005-09-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

This was a challenge to listen to. I do like some opera. However, I really have to be in the mood for it. It also doesn't seem to work as a "hop in the car, drive to the grocery" station for me. Vox tends to play complete operas or at least full acts from Operas. While this will please the Opera buffs, I often don't hear the plot summary. I also like to follow along with the lyrics and the translation.

I heard some of the choral music which I liked.

I'll probably be back to Vox a few times. I think I'd like it more on long trips as a change of pace. I'll also check in during Christmas for choral Christmas music.

However, this is a great station for XM to have. The person with enough money to attend the opera assuredly has enough money to pay for satellite radio. Even on FM classical channels, opera is rarely heard.

BPM

2005-09-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

My favorite station. What else can I say? I actually didn't spent too much time listening on the spotlight day Wednesday. I was trying to give more time to Mix and Vox since I hadn't listened to them before.

BPM does exactly what it should and it does it well. As a dance hits station, it does have a bit more repitition than I'd like. Still, most people don't listen to as much dance music as I do. Interesting to note that I probably know the lyrics to almost every major dance song since 1985.

Alan Freed does a great job with this station. I've never met him in person, but I am familiar with his work from Beat Radio and Grooveradio.com I wouldn't mind another DJ at other times. It would also be nice to have a few more mixes on the weekends.

I'll discuss XM's lack of a classic dance station when we get to Chrome.

Mix

2005-09-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Mix was interesting. Not at all what I expected. I haven't listened to a Clear Channel Mix station in a long time. I thought it would a typical boring music for boring people channel. I dreaded having to sit through Rod Stewart love ballads and the like.

Mix wasn't that at all. In fact, I was glad to see that they didn't play many ballads. I heard a lot of music which would fit with the 90s on 9. Goo Goo Dolls, Dave Matthews, Counting Crows, U2. They also play some current music: All the non-rap music and non country music. This isn't a problem as some of the music is good. However, there just isn't enough new music that fits the "mainstream" tastes. Thus, there is a lot of repitition.

I'm guessing the target demographic for this station is 25-35 years old females. They're also targeting a group of people who aren't very adventuresome musically.

So, this station can be OK for about an hour. However, this station reminds me of a chain restaurant. It will fill you up, but I won't remember it. Still, there are those who think the Olive Garden is a fine Italian restaurant. To each his own;

Week 3- Three Letters

2005-09-17T09:36:00.000-07:00

This week's stations should be fun.

Mix should be interesting. Let's see if it is more interesting that the typical Clear Channel office music station. I've never listened to Mix.

BPM is my favorite station. I've been following dance music for years now. I'll have a lot to say about on Wednesday.

Vox should be an interesting station. I do like classical music, but I haven't really listened to too much of it with my XM subscription. Vox might be a bit of a challenge since the lyrics aren't shown. I'm also not sure if they simply play arias from various operas or if they play complete works. I don't think I've listened to Vox before except during Christmas last year.

My final rankings from last week.

1. Fred
2. Fish
3. Rhyme

I just wish I could have enjoyed the Fish more. I returned several times last week and still heard too much cheesey music for my taste. The Rhyme is a station I won't probably listen to again. Fred stays as a preset. I'll still find myself jumping from Fred to Lucy to Ethel.

Fred

2005-09-16T02:38:00.000-07:00

Fred was an easy listen today. It is a preset and I'm very familiar with this type of music. I didn't listen to a lot of this music when it first came out, but I became familiar with it from about 1994. Most alternative stations would do a flashback hour or a Sunday morning show featuring this music. I don't tend to keep Fred on for more than an hour or so, however. I'll also tend to jump between Fred, Ethel, and Lucy when I'm in the mood for alternative music.

Fred will probably remain a preset after the bootcamp. I've noticed it isn't quite as deep as it was a few months ago. Still, it is far better than Sirius First Wave.

The Rhyme

2005-09-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

The Rhyme is XM's old school rap station. This station plays music from about 1978-2000. After listening to this station for several hours, I've come to believe this isn't a good thing. There is a tremendous difference from early rap which was more fun to the thug/gangsta stuff that emerged in the 1990s. I used to listen to some rap on WPOW in South Florida which played a combination of rap and dance music. Some of the early stuff is really pretty good. I can't say I care too much for the later rap music though. All the talk about bling and thugs and who's dissing whom just doesn't work for me

So, some of the songs I liked on the Rhyme, but most I didn't care for. I don't think I'll be tuning in very often. There is just too much good stuff on other XM stations.

Sirius does a bit better with this station. I listened to Sirius Backspin and they tend to stick from the late 80's and early 90s.

The Rhyme

2005-09-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

The Rhyme was interesting. They play old rap music from about 1980-1999. That is a fairly wide time span and rap music has gone through a lot of changes. Frankly, I found some of the song transitions to be a bit bone jarring. While growing up in South Florida, I used to listen to WPOW which would play a lot of this music in addition to the dance music I liked. I heard some songs I liked, but also too much recent stuff. Jay Z is probably better for RAW than the Rhyme.

I also compared this station to Sirius backspin. Sirius backspin has a much narrower focus and I think it works better for this format.

I don't think I'll come back to the Rhyme often. There is just too much on the XM service to enjoy.

The Fish

2005-09-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

Today felt like Sunday..I listened to the Fish. While I'm not a huge fan of Christian Pop, I tend to listen to the Fish during my 30 minute drive to church on Sunday morning. I'm far from an evangelical Christian, I'm about as liberal as a Christian can be. So today I put on the Fish on a Tuesday. It was ok. The music tends to be simple. You're not supposed to focus on the singer or the musicians, you're supposed to focus on the message. Many Christian pop songs don't tend to feature extended lyrics, they tend to repeat several lines over and over.

I'm glad XM has the Fish. This type of music sells a lot of CDs. There are several praise and worship songs that I like. Still, there were a lot of songs I didn't care for on the Fish. They play quite a few songs which just seem cheesey. I've heard a techno remix of How Great Thou Art. In addition, I've heard a song called, "Hosana" which is sung to Toto's Rosanna.

I love liturgical chuch music. I wish the Fish would play some of this. In addition, I wouldn't mind some gospel being added to the Fish. I know XM has a gospel station. But some of the mainstream gospel might be a good addition to the Fish as too much of this music is lacking soul.

Still, the Fish will probably remain more of a Sunday station. Perhaps during Lent, I might tune in more often.

One major advantage of the Fish is that they don't have the political commentary or Christian commercials which are so prevalant on FM radio. You're not going to heaven for voting for Bush.

I will also note that Sirius Spirit tends to do a better job with this format. Not quite so mellow and they don't play some of the very cheesey songs the Fish plays. I hope this doesn't change too much when Sirius adds their new Christian rock station.

Tomorrow, it is off to the Rhyme. Since this is a station I've never heard, I'm giving it some time. I'll return to the Fish a few times this week.

Week 2: R and F week

2005-09-12T13:31:00.000-07:00

I listened to about an hour of the Ron and Fez show on High Voltage. This isn't my type of show. This reminds me way too much of the typical morning zoo type radio show which has come to dominate FM radio in the morning. Inane chat about sex, sports..look how "extreme" we are.

Not my thing at all. I'll give the show another chance when the bootcamp officially visits this station.

The rest of the week should be interesting. The Fish, Rhyme, and Fred.

The Fish I listen to on Sunday mornings. Don't tend to put it on at other times of the week
Never heard Rhyme. I'm not too optimistic, but I like some of the older rap stuff before it got into gangs and bling.
Fred is a preset. However, I tend to move between Fred, Lucy, and Ethel frequently when I'm in the mood for alternative music. Fred will probably get the most time this week

Radio Classics

2005-09-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is a unique channel. I grew up way after the age of the radio drama. I've seen older movies which show people listening to the radio the same way people now watch television.

Most of these shows are 30 minutes long. I'm rarely driving for 30 minutes straight and of course don't get in the car on the half hour. Obviously, a radio which can record for later playback would be helpful for this station

However, I had to drive quite a lot today so I heard several programs.

I heard The Jack Benny Show, The Great Gildersleeve, Red Ryder, and The Lone Ranger. These shows aren't bad although the "Injun talk" in the Westerns is a bit unnerving. I'm not going to be hyper politically correct, but I'm glad we've evolved past that stereotype. I'm not a huge fan of the Western genre anyway. Jack Benny and the Great Gildersleeve were more interesting. There are sometimes references which are obviously products of their time. Still, I"m sure someone watching a TV show from today wouldn't get some of the jokes 60 years from now.

I've also heard part of Suspense and I Love Lucy. I wish I knew how the Suspense episode ended! The guy finds a wallet in his cab and takes it home to his wife. His wife says kill the owner of the wallet and keep the money. If he doesn't, she'll leave him. He goes off to kill the owner and the wife finds out the owner know where he left the wallet...then my trip came to an end! Anyone know how this episode ends?

Radio Classics is a station I'll revisit from time to time. It will a perfect station on long drives and road trips. I may not like every individual show, but there is some good variety here. I've always enjoyed reading some of the pulp detective novels from this period, so I think I'll try to tune into some of the mystery shows.

Frank's Place

2005-09-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

This station has been a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting it to be a bit more upbeat. Instead, there are lots of slow ballads and sweeping strings. It isn't mellow enough to be background music, yet not lively enough for active listening. I've tuned in several times and I'm not really caring too much for this station.

I tuned in for the 30 minutes of Frank Sinatra and I did enjoy that. I'll have to remember that.

Sirius has 2 similar stations: Standard Time and Swing Street. However, they're going to be merged by the end of the month. Swing Street is more upbeat. I do think a combination of the two formats might work. Perhaps XM should look at doing something like that for Frank's Place.

The 40's on 4

2005-09-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

Channel 4 is a preset. I have 4 and 9 set as presets to enable me to quickly scan through all of the Decades channels. These stations are ones which I tend to put on for short drives. If I don't like what I hear on one, I can easily scroll to another. There is always bound to be something I like on one of the Decades stations.

The 40s on 4 is an amazing station. I was born in 1969 and have had very little exposure to this music before XM. I played in high school jazz band so I've learned some big band stuff. Also, I lived for a while in South Florida and I'd occasionally hear some of this music on AM stations.

I know many of the artists they play on the 40s: Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Harry James, Artie Shaw, Guy Lombardo, and Tommy Dorsey. However, I'm very unfamiliar with most of their actual catalog. Sure, I know In the Mood, Swing Swing Swing, and other standards. But, there is so much more.

I'd say about 75% of the music has vocals. Probably about right for this decade. I imagine the jazz stations will probably play more instrumentals.

The 40's isn't a station that I'm always "In the Mood" for. However, I've listened to it more this week than I ever have before. It does a very good job of recreating the feel of the decade with the news reports and the World War II songs.

None of my friends like this station. Their description was "Grandpa Music."

Week 1-Old School

2005-09-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

This week, the XM bootcamp looks at three channels: The 40's on 4, Frank's Place, and Radio Classics. I've listened to the 40's quite a lot, but haven't heard the other 2 stations yet.

The Feature days are:

Tuesday-40's
Wednesday-Frank's Place
Thursday-Radio Classics

This works out well for me. I always thought Radio Classics would be good for longer drives and I have to make a drive through most of Dallas during AM rush hour. It'll take about an hour. So, that should be enough time to hear two complete classic radio shows.

I'm going to listen to each station on the featured day. However, since there is time to listen to the week's stations during the week, I'll try to get a feel of the different stations during other parts of the week as well. In addition, I'll try to listen to some of the speciality shows as well.

Radio Classics doesn't stream online. This will limit my listening to this station. I have a Roady 2 in my car.