Strathlachlan

Satellite Radio Advice

Your [satellite radio] blog is great! You had a lot of info but you don't say which service is better. Spill the beans! Should I get XM or Sirius?

If I had dime for every time I have been asked this question I could cover my monthly subscription fee for a few years. The first question you have to ask yourself is how much you want to pay for satellite radio. XM is $9.99 per month with commercials, and if you pre-pay for a 5-year plan you it comes out to something like $7.48 per month. Sirius charges $12.95 per month without commercials, and for some people that makes it worth the extra cost.

In some cases the choice has already been made for you. On many '03 and '04 cars the satellite radio receiver is now standard equipment and all you need to do is activate it. XM has agreements with General Motors, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Nissan, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Audi, and Isuzu to install receivers in their vehicles. Sirius has agreements with manufacturers to install receivers on Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Volvo, Mazda, Land Rover, Dodge, Jeep, MINI, Volkswagen, Audi, Nissan, and Infiniti vehicles, along with trucks from Freightliner and Sterling.

For the most part, the content on both XM and Sirius are the same. Their PR folks will talk-up some of their exclusive channels but on the whole there are a lot of similarities. One big difference is that NPR is only available on Sirius. Both XM and Sirius also do some special programming from time to time, but in the end you are getting roughly the same breakdown in available channels.

Given the choice between the two, I recommend XM Satellite Radio if you don't mind commercials and want to take advantage of the latest peripheral devices. XM has really been on the cutting edge when it comes to portability of ther service and this will only continue in the future. If you are willing to shell out a few bucks more to eliminate all the commercials then Sirius might be for you. Sirius is still playing catch-up on the technology and marketing front although they appear to have solved their cash flow problems for the moment.

What's The Frequency, Hamish?

Doc Searls, a man who knows a thing or two about the radio biz, blogged a bit yesterday about the potential for Web radio in his entry, RouteAround Radio. Doc had been asked his opinion about the best way for a school to start a local radio station. He recommended using the Web over a local FM band station because "it's a lot cheaper and easier, and partly because the Net can easily be extended to the air in a clean and unlicensed way."

Over the years Doc Searls and I have traded blogs and emails about the state of radio, and in particular how satellite radio plays into the medium's evolution. For almost two years I've maintained a blog called SatRadio that covers all the various happenings in that new segment of the industry. I posted a comment on Doc's blog about how terrestrial radio has been freaking out over satellite radio, and that Web radio isn't even on their radar screens. One of the more insightful things Doc pointed out was:

"I should add that commercial radio has a split between its customers and its consumers. The customers of commercial radio, as you point out, are their advertisers, not their listeners. The consumers of commercial radio have approximately zero influence on what they hear. They have somewhat more influence over what they hear on noncommercial listener-supported stations, because in those cases they are customers as well as consumers." - Doc Searls

Bingo! That is exactly why satellite radio has radio execs in a panic and the on-air talent is largely barred from even discussing it. Try calling in to your local show and mention XM or Sirius and see how long your call lasts. While satellite radio eats into the listener base on one level the promise of Web radio eats into it on another. The big difference of course being the commercial implications to advertisers.

For the moment your local radio station(s) offers targeted advertising to its customers and local content to its consumers (listeners). In some instances they might offer syndicated content, from Tom Joyner to Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh, and have the opportunity to offer prime spots to local advertisers during those shows. This is typically how they can afford the syndication fees and it can be a cash cow if they pull in enough audience share. They then sell second-tier spots during the local content shows to fill out the remainder of their traffic schedule.

Satellite radio upsets this whole model because the customer is also the listener. People are willing to pay between $9.99 and $12.95 per month, plus the cost of the receiver, to have greater choice and variety over the content they receive. Sirius prides itself on offering 100% commercial free music, but XM offers limited commercials that put advertisers in a pay-to-play role. Advertisers get greater reach and focus to different audience segments, but the listener is still the customer.

Terrestrial radio fears satellite radio enough that even Clear Channel has some coin invested in XM. Satellite radio threatens the cash cow of syndication on local stations and Web radio has the potential to take away even more listeners. One devours the top line and the other nibbles away at their foundation. Radio's only hope is to listen to their real customers before they turn the dial, flip the switch, or tune out forever. Listeners now have alternatives that in many cases offer more relevant and valuable content.

Confessions of a TypePad Convert

With the announcement that I am moving my blogging to TypePad out of the way I thought I would try and flesh out the future a bit more. First off, the whole TypePad service and interface has really impressed me from day one. I wanted to get a much greater set of features along with domain mapping, and thus far TypePad has exceeded my expectations. Hats off to Ben, Mena, and the whole TypePad team.

I guess this is the part where I explain how my new blog will solve world hunger, start a political revolution to topple governments, and introduce specifications for a better mouse trap. Alright, let's get real. The truth is that I finally figured out what I want to blog about: I am just going to write. No soliloquies on finding some deeper truth or crusades to elect someone president. I will leave that for some other folks.

I have always struggled with the right frequency of my blogging and I think I have finally settled on a formula that will work with my hectic life. So beginning this week you can expect to see posts three days a week at a bare minimum. One day each week will be some kind of column on a range of topics. I have given up trying to limit my focus because that's just not who I am.

For the time being the other two days each week will be answers to the many many many questions I have received from readers over the past two years. I would always respond via email in the past but I plan on republishing those responses on my new blog. My hope is that this will get a steady stream of new questions and I will publish my answers on a regular basis.

Kornheiser Sitcom Casts Jason Alexander

Back in January I blogged on Saltire about a new sitcom being produced based on Tony Kornheiser's former Style column in The Washington Post. The pilot for the show had been delayed because former NBC exec Lindy DeKoven, who will be the show's executive producer, ran into problems finding the right person to play Kornheiser. A variety of sources are now reporting that former Seinfeld actor, Jason Alexander, has agreed to play the part.

The show, tentatively titled Shut Up and Listen, will portrait the life of Tony Kleinman, a sports writer who has problems raising teenagers. Jason Alexander's current role as Max Bialystock in The Producers ends in January. The pilot is set to be filmed later this year and if it gets the greenlight expect to see it sometime next year.

Tony Kornheiser has been a sports columnist for decades and has recently made forays into television. Kornheiser also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program, The Tony Kornheiser Show, on ESPN Radio. The show has been on the air since 1998, and is heard on 243 stations and reaches 1.35 million listeners each week. Kornheiser is also the co-host of ESPN's television program Pardon the Interruption. PTI averages 370,000 viewers each day. Kornheiser began writing in the Style section on November 12, 1989, but ended its run on September 30, 2001 to keep his sanity while adding Pardon the Interruption to his weekly routine.

Having read Kornheiser in print for years, listened to his radio show daily, and been a fan of PTI from the start I think Jason Alexander is a perfect fit for the role of Mr. Tony. If you want to get an idea of what the show might be like just read The Post's archive of Kornheiser's Style column.

Rushing for Ratings

Let me see if I understand this correctly: ESPN hired Rush Limbaugh to be Rush Limbaugh and then told him to take one for the team for being Rush Limbaugh. Lex Alexander hits the bullseye when be blogged about ESPN and the scorpion.

For ESPN to come out all shocked and surprised is laugher. ESPN knew what they were getting into and they love it. The ratings were up 10% and Rush Limbaugh was just one of their little experiments to get some hype. How about their version of A Season on the Brink or the NFL Players Association smash hit, Playmakers? Their gambles aren't limited to "original programming" either. Does the name Jay Mohr ring a bell? How about the return of Jim Rome to ESPN? I guess it really is the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.

In a former life I did regular radio and TV appearances, and the two mediums are as different as night and day. I grew up on radio and have spent my fair share of time in a studio seeing how things work. Marshall McLuhan's belief that radio is a hot medium only scratches the surface. Radio is about personalities and a single sensory experience. Add to that the fact that what happens on most radio programs these days would never be allowed on television.

But TV is a completely different animal. When I first did a TV appearance a few years ago I was blown away by how different the medium can be. The way you sound gets mixed in with how you look and how you respond when the bright lights are on. TV is a lot less forgiving and programming, not personalities dominate the realm. What you say is amplified and analyzed to no end, and viewers are much more focused on content than the talking heads.

Rush Limbaugh forgot he wasn't on his radio show, and ESPN are now pretending that they forgot who they hired. ESPN wanted the hype and controversy but not the potential side effects. They took the ratings but don't want to take the heat. In a sense it's a microcosm of the society that we live in today.

Getting Outfoxed

Various media outlets are reporting former Vice President Al Gore's intention to buy Vivendi Universal's cable news channel Newsworld International for $70 million. For many months it has been rumored that Gore was looking to start up a liberal news network of some sort. It would appear that everyone is gunning to take down Fox News these days.

What people don't understand about Fox News is that their format is nothing short of programming genius. It has nothing to do with left-wing vs. right-wing slants by the media. It's all about Rupert Murdoch knowing what sells and giving viewers and readers what they want. This is the same guy that brought viewers The Simpsons, Joe Millionaire, and Temptation Island, and gives readers plenty of gossip, those Page 3 girls in England, and TV Guide.

"If we could find a popular, amusing broadcaster to talk for an hour or two every day and he was a liberal, we'd have him on like a shot." - Rupert Murdoch, testifying before Congress

The 78-year old Murdoch is the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation Ltd., and the Aussie has built a media empire by knowing what's hot and what's not. News Corp.'s main holdings are the Fox broadcast network, Fox News, Fox Sports, FX, and other Fox cable channels, 20th Century Fox studios, thirty-five local TV stations, the New York Post, The Times and The Sun in the UK, The Weekly Standard, publishing house HarperCollins, the Sky satellite system in the UK, and the Star satellite system in Asia. News Corp. also owns several publications in Australia and is currently looking to sell the LA Dodgers.

Fox News leans to the right because at the moment there's a market for that niche. This is a business move and at the moment it makes business sense. You would have to be a fool to believe that Fox News only exists because Rupert Murdoch wanted a little pet project for his political views. While Murdoch is a self confessed conservative be didn't become a billionaire by dishing out conservative programming. Al Gore or anyone else who thinks the world needs a liberal news network are fools. If there was a market for it Rupert Murdoch would have already started one, and don't put it past him to do just that.

Lightening Rod

Two years ago I started a blog called Saltire that covered a range of topics from business to advertising to marketing to technology to education and just about everything in between. For the past eight months Saltire has covered the entire 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship.

In those two years Saltire got a lot of attention from other bloggers and a few well known publications. The blog managed to keep and grow its readership even when it was all F1 all the time. Along the way I got to know some great people, disagreed with a few, and managed to coexist with the rest of the blogosphere.

But now it's time to move on to new, more permanent, location to blog about the things on my mind. The interview I did with Frank Paynter made me actually realize that I'd been writing long before Saltire's first post. I suppose Frank was right when he said, "Steve MacLaughlin is a writer and Saltire is one of his vehicles." I guess that means that I am trading in my last vehicle in for a new one.

So what will be different about Strathlachlan? For starters, I think you are going to see a much more personal and candid approach to my writing than you've seen in the past. After nearly a year of blogging only on a single topic I am ready to throw the flood gates wide open. Some of my early posts here were to get the mind working again and to get the wit fired back up.

Another change you will notice is a lot more Q&A with readers. Over the past two years I've received a ton of email from readers with questions about some of my blogging. I would also reply privately with my responses, but now I plan on posting my answers to these questions online. Consider this perhaps the first blog-as-advice column.

The only question is whether I can get lightening to strike twice. The blogosphere is a much more diverse, crowded, and pulsating mass of dialogue than it was two years ago. My hope is that I can bring along old readers and add plenty of new ones to the mix. Things should get interesting. Stay tuned...

The Aesthetic Age Speaks

After far too long of not doing a book review I decided to get back on track. But this time I decided to also do an interview with the author to push the book's ideas in some new directions. The fruits of my labor are two new articles at Boxes and Arrows:

Book Review: The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness

"The Substance of Style is more than a surface-level synopsis of the importance of style in today's culture. This is a serious and much needed book about the forces that are shaping today's culture and economy. Virginia Postrel masterfully explains how the evolution of mass markets helped produce personalized aesthetics for the masses. Instead of ignoring the critics of such a trend, the book faces them head-on to point out just how much substance there is to style. Postrel's examples are illuminating, her sources are well respected, and The Substance of Style offers a lot more than just a catchy title. Anyone who is serious about surviving in the age of aesthetics needs to read this book. The Substance of Style will not only show you what you might have been missing, but it also gives you some direction on what to do about it."

Interview: Talking with Virginia Postrel

"Aesthetics isn't a substitute for functionality, but functionality isn't a substitute for aesthetics either. Not adding aesthetics is taking the short cut, substituting the designer's idea of what's important for the customer's. Functionality, properly understood, means doing what the end customer needs and wants the product to do. Adding pleasure may be more important than adding performance attributes. To a programmer, additional computer speed may be a legitimate improvement while a pretty case isn't. But to many customers, the case adds value while the speed doesn't. That's not because speed is unimportant. It's because personal computers are already so fast that they can do what most people want them to do."

Many thanks to Virginia Postrel and the folks at Harper Collins for helping to set things up. I have some other book reviews and interviews slated for the future, and I think that format is going to be welcomed by readers at Boxes and Arrows.

Hushing the Critics

Growing up my favorite superhero was Batman. For my next door neighbor it was the Hulk. My enthusiasm for the dynamic duo was based on the Superfriends cartoon of the 1980s and from watching re-runs of the 1960s television show. All of my notions of the the caped crusader and his afable sidekick were based on Hollywood adaptations of the comic book.

Most of my youth was spent playing wiffleball in the spring, riding bikes in the summer, football in the fall, and ice hockey in the winter. I don't ever recall picking up a comic book until junior high school. My baseball card collecting hobby had run its course after finally realizing it was a long-term investment, and I was all about short-term gratification. During one of the weekly trips to the local hobby store with my friends I decided to browse through the comics instead of that week's must have cards. In life everything is about timing, and at that moment in time one of the comic books sitting on the rack was Frank Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns.

The Dark Knight Returns was not the Batman of my youth. Miller's four-part series in 1986 told the tale of an aging Bruce Wayne, now in his fifties, searching for a fitting death ten years after hanging up the cape and cowl. Gotham City is circling the toilet bowl and the US and Soviet Union are near the brink of nuclear annihilation. Batman returns to take on some old foes and a few new ones too, but this time his partner is a young girl named Carrie Kelly. The series concludes with a showdown between a renegade Batman and the government's "big blue schoolboy" Superman.

"You sold us out, Clark. You gave them the power that should have been ours. Just like your parents taught you to. My parents taught me a different lesson... lying on the street, shaking in deep shock, dying for no reason at all. They showed me that the world only makes sense when you force it to." - Batman, The Dark Knight Returns

The Dark Knight Returns was dark, gritty, and unlike any comic book ever made. Frank Miller set in motion the rebirth of Batman, including inspiring the 1989 movie, and is credited for giving the entire comic book industry a new lease on life. Other graphic novels like Alan Moore's Watchmen and Art Spiegelman's Maus would shape the medium even more. In 1987, Miller returned to retell Batman's origins in another four-part series called Batman: Year One. It was this storyline that forever hooked me on the continuing adventures of the world's greatest detective.

To this day my copy of The Complete Frank Miller Batman is one of my favorite books. The leather-bound edition contains The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One , and an early Batman story drawn by Miller called Wanted: Santa Claus Dead or Alive. Somewhere in a box are a bunch of other graphic novels and stacks of comic books that I've read over the years. But about halfway through college I stopped following the monthly exploits of the caped crusader. From time to time I would pick up an issue just to see what was going on, but for the most part I had tuned out to the happenings in Gotham City.

In March 2002, I caught wind of a special issue called Batman: The 10-Cent Adventure that was going to kickstart a whole new storyline in Batman's history. The special one-shot issue for a mere dime drew a lot of old and new fans to the comic, and stores couldn't keep copies on the shelves. This time around Bruce Wayne was wanted for murder after his ex-girlfriend Vesper Fairchild is found dead at Wayne Manor, and even those closest too him doubted his innocence. Bruce Wayne is eventually arrested and must break out of prison to find out who framed him. The resulting Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storylines saw the writers at DC carefully explaining recent event's in the Batman's history to get readers all on the same page. In the end, the real killer is revealed and Bruce Wayne is exonerated.

Shortly after the success of Bruce Wayne: Fugitive it was announced that writer Jeph Loeb and renowned penciler Jim Lee and inker Scott Williams would team up for a 12-part story arc called Hush. The announcement last year shot sales of comic to the top where they have remained ever since. The Hush storyline has Batman on the trail of a mysterious bandaged figure who is manipulating everyone to take down the bat. Along the way Batman comes to blows with Superman, nearly kills the Joker until a retired Jim Gordon stops him, reveals his feelings for Catwoman, renews his battle with Ra's al Ghul in a search for answers, and gets the shock of his life when returning to the emptied grave of Jason Todd (Robin II). The resurrected Robin turns out to be another rouse but it is clear that Hush knows all of Batman's secrets.

"If Clark wanted to, he could use his superspeed and squish me into the cement. But I know how he thinks. Even more than the kryptonite, he's got one big weakness. Deep down, Clark's essentially a good person...and deep down, I'm not." - Batman, Batman #612

The final issue of Hush hits the rack today in Batman #619 and anticipation has reached a feverish pitch. The true identity of Hush has every message board, chat room, and comic book store abuzz with a multitude of theories. For those of you who might have missed the series have no fear. The first five issues are now available in Batman: Hush Vol. 1 and the final seven issues will soon be available in Batman: Hush Vol. 2. And the true identity of Hush is...well you'll just have to read it for yourself.

The Calm and No Storm

We live in Charlotte these days which is about 333 miles west of Cape Lookout, NC, where Hurricane Isabel is expected to make landfall in just a few hours. It was a bit breezy throughout the night and today is more of the same with overcast skies. Although listening to the radio on the way to work this morning I would have thought the eye of the storm was actually over the Queen City. Nothing like a good storm to get the weather freaks out in force.

In other headlines, Richard Grasso resigned as chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange because he had the audacity to agree to a $188 million pay package from the board of the NYSE. Grasso might end up being the last fall guy for piss poor business practices, but the board members that approved the plan should also be out on their collective keesters.

This whole situation epitomizes most of the financial scandals we have had over the past three years. A company's board decides to pay an executive a ton of cash, obviously with a gun held to their head or because of incriminating photos, and when the company eventually goes belly-up because of other financial malfeasance we find out everyone was getting a sweetheart deal.

Bernie Ebbers (WorldCom), Stephen Hilbert (Conseco), Dennis Kozlowski (Tyco), Ken Lay (Enron), and John Rigas (Adelphia) got roughly $3.9 billion in sweetheart deals from their former companies. At the moment it looks like Rigas and his sons are the only bad apples in the bunch that will end up with an extended stay at the crossbar motel. Contrary to popular belief it appears that crime does pay after all.

Richard Grasso has always been known as one of the best people on Wall Street, and few would know that he started out at the NYSE as floor clerk in 1968. Grasso is living proof that you can start out at the bottom and come out on top. At this point his resignation appears to be more about saving face for the NYSE's board than about money. The 57-year old ex-chairman is still entitled to keep the $139.5 million in benefits and savings accumulated over his 30 years with the exchange, and Grasso's contract says that he could also get another $10 million in severance pay.

If the NYSE board was truly interested in reform, instead of just preening for the cameras, they would tell Grasso he had to keep working in order to keep the money. What a concept! Of course that won't happen because these are the same fools that approved the compensation plan in the first place. This is all just an attempt to deflect attention from their own failings as decision makers. Something I don't recall anyone could ever say about Richard Grasso.