On Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 8:03:35 AM UTC-6, Nyssa wrote:

Back in the six team NHL, I could get all the games via AM
radio, usually 50,000 watt powerhouses. Now with 30 teams,
only three or four on a good night are out there.

Last night I tried listening to KMOX for the Blues/Red Wings
game, but the drift and conditions meant that one minute
I'd have KMOX from St. Louis, the next it would be some
college basketball game out of Charlotte, NC, and Bloomberg
radio out of NYC the next. Made following the game extremely
difficult.

The final straw for me was when the Boston Bruins moved
their games from WBZ-AM to WBZ-FM. After more than 40 years,
I could no longer hear the games. The Red Wings had long
ago moved to a low-wattage station from WJR as had the
Canadiens and Maple Leafs. I finally caved and got Sirius.

As for your question about the sked for tonight's games,
all are on Sirius, just a different channel range. The only
reason tonight and tomorrow night's games are all on Sirius
is simple: the NBA is having its All Star Weekend, hence
no regular season NBA basketball games are out there to
bump the hockey off the channels. Sirius obviously thinks
there are more basketball fans out there paying subscription
fees than hockey fans, so they get priority. Burns me up!

Until two years ago, they'd bump the weather and traffic
channels to carry the basketball games, so the 211-220
channels were available for hockey. Now they don't. Plus
they've dropped channel 220 entirely off the range, so
one less channel for either hockey or basketball. Odd
decision.

Next week, we'll be back to only *some* of the NHL games
being on Sirius while the NBA games take over the channels.

Why they don't a) open more channels to allow BOTH or
b) drop some of the really idiotic channels to make room
for the live play-by-play which would seem to be more of
a draw to their subscriber base. Or even better, drop the
ever-growing number of Spanish language channels. AFAIK
the satellite signals do NOT reach far into Mexico, so
it must be all those illegals getting the sat radio
subscriptions to listen, no?

As for your All Access package, next time you re-up, ask
if they have an XM equivalent of either the Family Friendly
Premium package I have or the regular XM Premium (no Internet,
but everything else) package. Since you're looking for
the baseball games, you might want to look at XM Select
that has the MLB games but not the NFL games (if you don't
care about football) or NASCAR or Howard Stern which should
save you a few dollars a month. Enough to buy some Made in
USA crackers, at least.

I'm glad I bought the lifetime sub when I did, so I'm not
paying out additional fees or price increases, but I am
****ed off that they dropped all of those NHL games while
XM still gets them. Considering how long I dithered about
whether to go Sirius or XM (it was getting a truck with
Sirius that finally made the decision for me), it looks
like I made the wrong choice...even though they are
*supposed* to be the same company now.

Nyssa, who thinks by now we're probably boring the snot
out of everyone else on the newsgroup

I learn something new every time I read your posts Nyssa. I had no idea that many teams have are now broadcasting their games via FM or low power AM. Talk about sacrilegious! From my location I believe I could receive the terrestrial broadcasts of all the Central division teams but none of the other 23 teams. That's unacceptable.

The NHL has lots of problems. Too many teams, too many games and don't get me started on the "shootout". Logos on the uniforms to come....geez can the suits screw things up anymore? Yes they can, just check out the atrocities that have befallen major league baseball. I better stop...cripes I need a drink.

Boring? Perish the thought. Hockey talk coupled with radio is NEVER boring to those who matter. And who cares what those who don't matter think. They can move on.

One day we will compare notes on who are the best and worst of the hockey broadcasters. We already agee that the late Dan Kelly of St. Louis Blues fame was the best don't we?