Satellite Radio

My personal experience with satellite radio is in depth, an old friend of mine used to subscribe to Sirius satellite. During the time this person had satellite radio we went on many a road trip together, using this as our main source of entertainment while in the car. At first I was excited by the convenience it provided; you could find any type of music, not to mention news, comedy, and weather or traffic stations. I loved the easy programming methods that enabled us to install or favorite stations onto the device so at any dull moment we could just turn the radio on and push a single button to get our top five station selections out of the hundreds of options. Or text points out a few of satellite radio’s perks, such as the fact that the songs are uncensored, the device visually provides the artist’s name and song title, and they have absolutely no static (Rodman pp.246). But after some time of excitement over the instant gratification it provided I started to become less impressed with its technology and more critical of its ambiguity. A major part of why I listen to the radio is to support local stations. And I enjoy hearing the local news, and hearing about any fundraisers that are going on to support the station. I like the feeling of community that the regular FM/AM radio provides.
So now when I am driving, without the satellite radio, I don’t mind when my favorite radio station loses its signal and goes off the air, or when I am in a small town and the only stations I get are country, the local news and……..more country. I think this is not such a bad thing, its definitely not as convenient as satellite radio, but I do feel like I am engaging in community when I listen to the local radio stations.