Neither HD Or Sirius XM Gets It…

Tuesday, January, 13, 2009 by Mel Phillips.

There is a common thread connecting both HD Radio and Sirius XM.  They’re on a fast track to nowhere.  The latest announcement of Kia Motors joining the HD Radio bandwagon is a good example.  Both HD and Sirius are delighted when a new auto manufacturer cuts a deal to install their radios.  Have either HD or Sirius checked car sales lately?  Here’s a flash for both of them:  CARS ARE NOT SELLING!!!

Not only are cars not selling but both HD and Sirius have abandoned the two biggest factors keeping terrestrial radio in business: at-work listening and at-home listening.  Right now as bad as the numbers are for terrestrial radio, they own at-work and at-home listening.  Why?  Because HD and Sirius believe their only hope is in in-car listening.  All non-terrestrial radio would be able to compete at home and at work if they would use some common sense…

First of all, lower the cost of radios and subscription rates.  Remember you’re competing against a free service.  Do ’six or nine-month free’ deals to gain subscribers and extend the length of car packages as well.  Right now your subscriptions have stalled.  Splurge a little now in order to grow and gain when sales turn around.  You may never find a way to make your product local but you can do a better job in promoting it and don’t assume you’re only relevant in cars…           

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1957] Birth of the Frisbee: Wham-O begins producing “Pluto Platters”. You might know them better as Frisbees…
2. 1962] “Happy Trails“: Brilliant TV comic Ernie Kovacs dies in a car crash at 43…1978] Former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey dies from terminal cancer at 66…
3. 1966] Stork sighting: Elizabeth Montgomery’s character Samantha on “Bewitched” gives birth to Tabitha.  Here’s a clip from “Bewitched”…
4. 1979] Mysterious Death: Singer Donny Hathaway dies after either jumping or falling from the 15th floor of a Manhattan hotel. Hathaway was just 34…
5. 1982] This is a joke?: An Air Florida 737 crashes into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge in a blinding snowstorm. The plane goes down in the Potomac River killing 78. Howard Stern gets fired when asking, on the air, when the next flight was scheduled to arrive at the 14th Street Bridge…
6. 1982] Going to Hall: Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson are elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Congratulations to Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice, elected just yesterday…
7. 1989] Guilty as charged: Subway vigilante Bernhard H. Goetz is sentenced to one year in prison for gun possession but is freed the following September…
8. 1990] This I swear: L. Douglas Wilder takes office as the nation’s first elected black governor (Virginia)…
9. 2000] Musical Chairs: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes president Steve Ballmer to the position…
10. 2003] Busted: Pete Townshend of The Who is arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, which he denies. He will later be cleared of those charges…

Music Memories:

• 1959] Number One on this date: “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” - The Platters…
• 1968] Recorded on this date: Johnny Cash records a live album at Folsom Prison (CA)…
• 1979] So sue me: The Y.M.C.A. files a lawsuit against the Village People over their song “Y.M.C.A” but decides to drop the suit when they figure out that they’re getting free publicity…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“:

William Hung (26), Orlando Bloom (32), Patrick Dempsey (43), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (48), Richard (’Night Court’s’ “Bull”) Moll (66), Billy (”Father Knows Best’s “Bud”) Gray (71), Rip Taylor (75) and Frances Sternhagen (79)…

Timeline Countdown: 6 days until MLK Jr. Day, 7 days until the Inauguration, 19 days until the Super Bowl and 32 days until pitchers and catchers report voluntarily…

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