Anyone else fed up with them increasing the volume of commercials nearly 50% louder than regular programming? I know they aren't under FCC regs against doing that but Jeezus give us a break! You about get knocked out of your chair every time they go to a commercial.

And is the obnoxious idiot hustling a snoring contraption ever going to go away? Every other commercial is either him or the cheesy 1-800-Cars For Kids sing-songy assault. Nothing like have that annoying jingle rattling around inside your dome for the rest of the day!

If baseball season wasn't upcoming I'd cancel my subscription.

wrote:

Anyone else fed up with them increasing the volume of
commercials nearly 50% louder than regular programming? I
know they aren't under FCC regs against doing that but
Jeezus give us a break! You about get knocked out of your
chair every time they go to a commercial.

And is the obnoxious idiot hustling a snoring contraption
ever going to go away? Every other commercial is either
him or the cheesy 1-800-Cars For Kids sing-songy assault.
Nothing like have that annoying jingle rattling around
inside your dome for the rest of the day!

If baseball season wasn't upcoming I'd cancel my
subscription.

I've got a lifetime subscription to Sirius radio. I avoided
the price increases and am now past the break-even point
based on what I paid versus what each of the past five+
years would have cost. So no annual charges. Too bad they
stopped offering it for new customers.

What's ****ed me off is that I bought the radio and subscription
for the NHL games. Now they only have *some* of the games on
Sirius but ALL of them are on XM. I've called and complained
to no avail. Their answer is that all the games are available
on Sirius Internet "Radio" at an additional charge. I'm on
dialup, so even if I were willing to pay extra for what I
should already be getting (I'm not), it wouldn't work. And I
can't haul my computer from one end of the house to the other
like I can my radio to listen while I'm working.

And if there is no RF involved, it isn't RADIO, dammit!

I accused them of treating their customers differently based
on whether they are Sirius or XM even though they're supposed
to be the same company. They didn't seem to care. No surprise.

I'll agree that some of the commercials they have are the
audio equivalent of late-night infomercials, especially on
the Radio Classics channel. And a lot of 'em. Luckily
the Symphony Hall channel is commercial-free if you don't
count the many cross-channel and program promotions.

And don't get me started on the channels that they've
dropped in favor of more Spanish-language channels and
crappy rock/pop/rap "music" channels. So long World Radio,
Book Radio, Classical Pops, Sports Express (a Canadian sports
channel, and Sports Extra (a French Canadian sports channel)
among others.

In spite of all that, Happy Valentine's Day to the rrs regulars.

Nyssa, who will be spending the afternoon baking Valentine's
Day cupcakes for the neighbors and listening to Sirius NHL
Network radio shows

On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 8:47:27 AM UTC-6, Nyssa wrote:

What's ****ed me off is that I bought the radio and subscription
for the NHL games. Now they only have *some* of the games on
Sirius but ALL of them are on XM. I've called and complained
to no avail. Their answer is that all the games are available
on Sirius Internet "Radio" at an additional charge. I'm on
dialup, so even if I were willing to pay extra for what I
should already be getting (I'm not), it wouldn't work. And I
can't haul my computer from one end of the house to the other
like I can my radio to listen while I'm working.

And if there is no RF involved, it isn't RADIO, dammit!

I accused them of treating their customers differently based
on whether they are Sirius or XM even though they're supposed
to be the same company. They didn't seem to care. No surprise.


And don't get me started on the channels that they've
dropped in favor of more Spanish-language channels and
crappy rock/pop/rap "music" channels. So long World Radio,
Book Radio, Classical Pops, Sports Express (a Canadian sports
channel, and Sports Extra (a French Canadian sports channel)
among others.

My subscription is XM. I do receive all the home feed hockey games but all the visiting team broadcasts are aired via the internet. I have the all access sub so I don't have to pay any extra for the internet feeds. I have never listened via the internet. Like you, I want my radio from the radio.

Yeah the seemingly constant channel shakeups is really annoying. Fortunately none of the channels I listen to have been eliminated. Agree with you on the crappy music they are constantly devoting entire channels to. Good grief. I'm a channel 69 (Escape) and 71 (Sinatra), 40's, 60's, 70's 80's channels listener when wanting to hear music and all have remained intact except they changed the location of the 40's channel once. No biggie. They can keep the rest of the crappy "music" channels.

Minnesota Wild over the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals. Series will go seven games. You heard it hear first.

On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 7:38:35 PM UTC-6, wrote:
On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 8:47:27 AM UTC-6, Nyssa wrote:

What's ****ed me off is that I bought the radio and subscription
for the NHL games. Now they only have *some* of the games on
Sirius but ALL of them are on XM. I've called and complained
to no avail. Their answer is that all the games are available
on Sirius Internet "Radio" at an additional charge. I'm on
dialup, so even if I were willing to pay extra for what I
should already be getting (I'm not), it wouldn't work. And I
can't haul my computer from one end of the house to the other
like I can my radio to listen while I'm working.

And if there is no RF involved, it isn't RADIO, dammit!

I accused them of treating their customers differently based
on whether they are Sirius or XM even though they're supposed
to be the same company. They didn't seem to care. No surprise.


And don't get me started on the channels that they've
dropped in favor of more Spanish-language channels and
crappy rock/pop/rap "music" channels. So long World Radio,
Book Radio, Classical Pops, Sports Express (a Canadian sports
channel, and Sports Extra (a French Canadian sports channel)
among others.

My subscription is XM. I do receive all the home feed hockey games but all the visiting team broadcasts are aired via the internet. I have the all access sub so I don't have to pay any extra for the internet feeds. I have never listened via the internet. Like you, I want my radio from the radio.

Yeah the seemingly constant channel shakeups is really annoying. Fortunately none of the channels I listen to have been eliminated. Agree with you on the crappy music they are constantly devoting entire channels to. Good grief. I'm a channel 69 (Escape) and 71 (Sinatra), 40's, 60's, 70's 80's channels listener when wanting to hear music and all have remained intact except they changed the location of the 40's channel once. No biggie. They can keep the rest of the crappy "music" channels.

Minnesota Wild over the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals. Series will go seven games. You heard it hear first.

tunein.com The UK Oldies Radio Station. Music from the 1920's to the 1940's

wrote:

On Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 8:47:27 AM UTC-6, Nyssa
wrote:

What's ****ed me off is that I bought the radio and
subscription for the NHL games. Now they only have *some*
of the games on Sirius but ALL of them are on XM. I've
called and complained to no avail. Their answer is that
all the games are available on Sirius Internet "Radio" at
an additional charge. I'm on dialup, so even if I were
willing to pay extra for what I should already be getting
(I'm not), it wouldn't work. And I can't haul my computer
from one end of the house to the other like I can my
radio to listen while I'm working.

And if there is no RF involved, it isn't RADIO, dammit!

I accused them of treating their customers differently
based on whether they are Sirius or XM even though
they're supposed to be the same company. They didn't seem
to care. No surprise.


And don't get me started on the channels that they've
dropped in favor of more Spanish-language channels and
crappy rock/pop/rap "music" channels. So long World
Radio, Book Radio, Classical Pops, Sports Express (a
Canadian sports channel, and Sports Extra (a French
Canadian sports channel) among others.

My subscription is XM. I do receive all the home feed
hockey games but all the visiting team broadcasts are
aired via the internet. I have the all access sub so I
don't have to pay any extra for the internet feeds. I
have never listened via the internet. Like you, I want
my radio from the radio.

The World Radio channel would actually have been on-topic
for this group since it carried what used to be shortwave
shows from several countries such as Radio Netherlands and
RTE from Ireland. It was nice getting news and programming
via RADIO on my sat radio. But it went bye-bye for more
soul, rap, Spanish, and crap. (Esports? Really? Playing
video games is now considered a SPORT?)

My subscription is called "Family Friendly Premium" which
means I get everything on Sirius except Howard Stern, most
of the comedy channels, and any other channels that have
the unfiltered language. I did this specifically so my
subscription fee would NOT support Howard Stern in any way.
I can't stand the guy. As far as I can figure out the only
premium channels included in my subscription type is the
Met Opera channel (which I occasionally listen to when the
Symphony Hall channel is playing something I don't care for)
plus the hockey play by play channels...which they've cut
back on.

When I first got my radio and subscription all the NHL home
feeds for all the games were available on a range of channels.
Two years ago they started eliminating some teams' home feeds
on Sirius yet still having them on XM. When people started
complaining, the pat answer is "they are still available on
our Sirius Internet feed." That isn't an answer, especially
when they're treating one group of paying customers differently
than another.

For example, tonight there are only four games in the NHL, yet
only *two* of the games are on home feed, both on the same channel
(91) back-to-back. The others only on Internet "Radio" channels.
They can't even spare one other channel to carry another game.
I'll be pulling the plug on my Sirius radio and listening OTA
on regular old AM to KMOX out of St. Louis so I can listen to
the game I'm interested in. Unfortunately, most of the other
teams have moved their games to FM stations or lower powered AM
that don't reach outside their city limits, which is why I
ended up getting Sirius for the NHL to begin with.

And I can get those radio hockey feeds FOR NO CHARGE directly
streaming from each team's website without the need to pay
Sirius a penny! If I had something other than dialup.
I often wonder about the stupidity of the idiots in charge.


Yeah the seemingly constant channel shakeups is really
annoying. Fortunately none of the channels I listen to
have been eliminated. Agree with you on the crappy music
they are constantly devoting entire channels to. Good
grief. I'm a channel 69 (Escape) and 71 (Sinatra), 40's,
60's, 70's 80's channels listener when wanting to hear
music and all have remained intact except they changed
the location of the 40's channel once. No biggie. They
can keep the rest of the crappy "music" channels.

Moving the "Forties on 4" up higher in the channel list
means that it's no longer available on the "Sirius Select"
grouping that's included with many/most new car subscriptions
and is offered repeatedly to those with unsubscribed radios.
Which means they won't hear Big Band music and instead will
be inundated with the crap non-music on the offered channels.

Replacing Forties on 4 with that horrible Pit Bull creature
is insulting to the many *REAL* musicians that are represented
in Big Band music that was played on Forties on 4.

Minnesota Wild over the Washington Capitals in the
Stanley Cup Finals. Series will go seven games. You
heard it hear first.

In that case, I'll be rooting for the Wild. Can't stand
the Caps or Ovechkin...or the radio play by play guy for
the Caps either.

Nyssa, who takes both her hockey and her radio seriously

Wow Nyssa it does appear that you Sirius subscribers are being shortchanged.. For the last 2 years or so when it comes time to renew my sub (every six months) I am told that if I want the NFL, MLB and NHL broadcasts the only way to get them is to go the all access route. I am receiving such a reasonable rate that is no issue at all for me. I can honestly say I have never listened to Stern or any of the other foul mouthed garbage in all the years I've had access to them. That schtick is so passe I'm surprised anyone tunes into it any longer. But considering the mentality of the dumbed down public it shouldn't be surprising. Catering to the lowest common denominator is a formula for success in the USA nowadays.

Here is schedule of tomorrow's NHL broadcasts on XM. Just out of curiosity how does it compare to what you are getting on Sirius? If you can figure out the formatting that is....too many columns and not enough width...


Game Time Away Team Home Team Away Home National Spanish
7:00 PM ET New York Rangers New York Islanders XM Internet 939 XM 91 (Internet 938)
7:00 PM ET Winnipeg Jets Pittsburgh Penguins XM Internet 949 XM 221 (Internet 942)
7:00 PM ET Ottawa Senators New Jersey Devils XM Internet 940 XM 220 (Internet 937)
7:30 PM ET Colorado Avalanche Buffalo Sabres XM Internet 927 XM 219 (Internet 923)
7:35 PM ET Vancouver Canucks St. Louis Blues XM Internet 947 XM 222 (Internet 944)
8:00 PM ET Dallas Stars Minnesota Wild XM Internet 929 XM 223 (Internet 934)
9:00 PM ET Philadelphia Flyers Edmonton Oilers XM Internet 941 XM 211 (Internet 931)
10:30 PM ET Arizona Coyotes Los Angeles Kings XM Internet 921 XM 91 (Internet 933)

I remember back in the 70's I listened to the Bruins on WBZ and Penguins on KDKA on terrestrial radio located in Nebraska. How times have changed. I miss the good old days.

wrote:

Wow Nyssa it does appear that you Sirius subscribers are
being shortchanged. For the last 2 years or so when it
comes time to renew my sub (every six months) I am told
that if I want the NFL, MLB and NHL broadcasts the only
way to get them is to go the all access route. I am
receiving such a reasonable rate that is no issue at all
for me. I can honestly say I have never listened to Stern
or any of the other foul mouthed garbage in all the years
I've had access to them. That schtick is so passe I'm
surprised anyone tunes into it any longer. But considering
the mentality of the dumbed down public it shouldn't be
surprising. Catering to the lowest common denominator is a
formula for success in the USA nowadays.

Here is schedule of tomorrow's NHL broadcasts on XM. Just
out of curiosity how does it compare to what you are
getting on Sirius? If you can figure out the formatting
that is....too many columns and not enough width...


Game Time Away Team Home Team Away Home
National
Spanish
7:00 PM ET New York Rangers New York Islanders XM
Internet 939 XM 91 (Internet 938)
7:00 PM ET Winnipeg Jets Pittsburgh Penguins XM
Internet 949 XM 221 (Internet 942)
7:00 PM ET Ottawa Senators New Jersey Devils XM
Internet 940 XM 220 (Internet 937)
7:30 PM ET Colorado Avalanche Buffalo Sabres XM
Internet 927 XM 219 (Internet 923)
7:35 PM ET Vancouver Canucks St. Louis Blues XM
Internet 947 XM 222 (Internet 944)
8:00 PM ET Dallas Stars Minnesota Wild XM Internet 929
XM 223 (Internet 934)
9:00 PM ET Philadelphia Flyers Edmonton Oilers XM
Internet 941 XM 211 (Internet 931)
10:30 PM ET Arizona Coyotes Los Angeles Kings XM
Internet 921 XM 91 (Internet 933)

I remember back in the 70's I listened to the Bruins on
WBZ and Penguins on KDKA on terrestrial radio located in
Nebraska. How times have changed. I miss the good old
days.

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

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?