1. I’m a big radio listener, I’ve had a radio on in my room, my car, my ear while walking thanks to early walk-man radios & even a few small transistor radios since I was about 11 or 12.

2. When I first became aware of satellite radio I thought it was a crock. I mean really, why pay for radio? There’s plenty of free music coming off the airwaves. Even here in VA, where the ex & I used to joke in ‘93 & even in ‘97 & ‘98, that we had 18 presets on the car stereo & only 3 stations worth tuning to. It was enough.

3. Funny how cable & satellite tv didn’t seem odd, I guess it’s because it started early enough in my life that even growing up in MA where I had access, even before cable or satellite, to at least 11 different channels, plus, on the South Shore where I grew up, another 5 or 6 from RI, many more than people here in SW VA received or even now, receive without satellite.

4. When the DBS provider I work for entered into a partnership to bring some satellite radio stations in over a range of tv channels I was a little more interested, mostly because they gave cool t-shirt out to us. (At my job it’s all about the t-shirts)

5. You can’t read the t-shirt very well, it says:
Censorship = Off
Free Speech= On
Another nearby call center from my same company got a bunch which said:
Hate = Off
Love = On
I’ve tried over the years to get one of those too, I’ve also tried petitioning the Sirius folks to issue these shirts for sale, I heard there were others, though I’ve never seen them I’d buy one of all they had, espeically if they offered them in 3x, my 2x is, sad to say, a little small these days.

6. I was never going to actually have Sirius, (which is now merged with XM, the other company offering satellite radio. ) In an actual car though, I mean really, pay for radio? There’s enough radio stations around here now to fill my 12 presets. I don’t need any more than that.

7. And of course, my cell phone has an mp3 player, I’ve driven home many nights listening to songs on my phone through a single ear phone (I’m mostly deaf in the other ear, so it doesn’t matter about stereo or not to me) I know you’re not supposed to listen to headphones while driving, but it’s mostly just the deer & I out there after 1:30 when I get out of work & deer don’t make any noise so I don’t need to be listening for them.

8. The new car has Sirius XM for free for the first year. It is wonderful! I love it, I have the option of setting 12 presets for radio & the same 6 buttons twice again for satellite radio too. I’ve got all my favorites set up on there. First Wave Alternative, Hair Nation, Lithium & Octane are my favorites, but I had no trouble filling up all 12 presets.

9. Especially insidious for me is the 50’s on 5, 60’s on 6 up to the 90’s on 9. I run through them all on my way to work & then on the way home at night. I have a really wide ranging taste in music (as long as it’s rock/pop, no country or hip hop for me thanks) & so can listen to most anything from the 1950’s forward.

10. Then there’s the talk channels, I’m not a fan of talk radio & get enough news daily between local, national news & the Daily show when it’s on, so I stay away from the politics & pop culture leaves me cold, I don’t care in the least what Lindsey, Brittany or anyone else who doesn’t live in my house or call or text me regularly does so I don’t care about those.

11. However there are 4 comedy channels, I find myself often times tuning to these on the way home at night, just to take my mind off the awful, rude, slacking calls I’ve been taking all night long. Laughter really is the best medicine.

12. I keep feeling guilty & tuning back to the radio at least once a day, I run through the 12 stations I can pull & seldom find anything worth listening to.  Music changes rapidly & my listening to my insular, commercial free genre specific satellite radio means that I’m not hearing the new songs being played on the radio daily, I’m going to be 41 in just over a month, but I still listen to new music, giving that up is not something I feel ready to do, but I’m already slipping off the new music cycle. Often though, it’s the commercials that drive me back to the satellite radio.

13. I have 11 months & 1 week left with satellite radio, the salesman told me it’s $15 or $20 a month to keep it after the free year. I’m already debating with myself whether it’s worth keeping. I fear I may be so addicted by then, that I won’t be able to live without it!