As part of our shopping spree I acquired something that I never thought I would get. The idea always seemed so stupid that I couldn't understand why anyone would use it. I'm referring to XM Radio. The idea of paying for radio seemed ridiculous until recently when I was listening to KKOH. I was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the programming, but one day I thought long and hard about why I hated KOH so much.

I realized that Rush Limbaugh is on during the day while I'm at work, as is Sean Hannity. Bill O'Reilly is on from 9p to 11p, which is not a very good time slot for me. I'm basically left with Reno's Morning News (aka The Breakfast Club) while I'm getting ready for work in the morning and Michael Savage when I'm coming home at night. I don't even want to talk about weekends. I like Ross Mitchell in the morning, but the whole format stinks. They do two or three minutes of news, then five minutes of commercials then a cheesy traffic/weather update, then five minutes of commercials. Ultimately, you get about 10 minutes of information per 50 minutes of advertising, at best. Michael Savage is a subject for another site. I'll just say that he is rude, obnoxious and full of himself. He talks constantly about how educated he is, but he sounds like he never finished grade school. His ideas are good, but his delivery is horrible. The radio gets turned off the second he comes on.

Assuming I wanted to listen to something else, what are my choices? Most of the stations don't play anything except for hip-hop and rap. The stations that aren't hip-hop and rap just play the same song over and over and over and over and over and OVER! You would think that after a few years they would quit playing a song so frequently, but that is just not the case. I like classic rock, which gives me two stations to choose from - KOZZ and KNHK (The Hawk). One plays some good classic rock (Rush, Yes, etc.), but they mix it with AC/DC and Bon Jovi, which is just evil. KOZZ has a hard time finding the right mix between it all and it ends up annoying. They play Rush, then they play Neil Young. They play Genesis, but then they play some new Aerosmith song that is just rotten. So, Reno radio stinks.

My frustrations led me to XM, which I just hooked up last night. I already love what I've heard. When I want news, I can listen to the Fox News channel. When I want to listen to music I can listen to whatever type I want, but without commercials. It even has a Discovery radio channel. I can listen to Bill O'Reilly's TV show on XM at the same time it's on the regular Fox News TV channel. I can listen to Hannity and Colmes. I can do whatever I want without the advertisers dictating my life! In a short time listening I've converted. XM is our friend. It's not the devil.

I've probably already said too much, but I'll have a more informed update once I get a chance to play with it a little more.