Toastie Radio

The dynamics of media are changing drastically. TiVo has changed the way we watch TV and satellite radio has changed the dial on AM/FM, maybe for good. Regardless of what you believe or don't believe relative to the staying power of satellite radio, one thing is for sure. The power the consumer now has to tune out commercials and have access to hundreds of stations cannot be understated and will likely change radio forever. There are two giants in the satellite industry.

XM Radio and Sirius Satellite radio currently dominate the scene. Each boasts a steady stream of music and talk, but XM it would seem, tops out at having the most stations (including talk). Sirius has 125 while XM has 160 to their credit. Sirius is probably best known for their coup of luring Howard Stern away from traditional radio to the satellite world, but they also have Martha Stewart and several other talk programs. To compete, XM announced in 2005 that it had closed a $55 million dollar deal to get Oprah on their nationwide airwaves. "Oprah and Friends" is set to debut in September of 2006, and Good Morning America just launched the radio version of their morning show too, giving XM quite a bit of buzz.

When satellite radio first came on the scene it seemed like a novelty, something that would fade in time. But now, some three years into the satellite craze the listener base seems to be widening and with more and more new cars being sold with satellite radio already built in, the choice for many is clear. Most consumers will listen to a mix of traditional and satellite radio so pitching both makes sense. How do you pitch this type of radio? The same way you'd pitch traditional radio. Listen to their show, get a sense of their format and then contact the producer or host (depending on who takes pitches). If you're not a subscriber to satellite radio and wonder how you can listen to a show you might want to check their individual web sites. Often you can subscribe to their webcasting that will allow you to listen to programming via the Internet, this way you can listen to the shows a few times without incurring the cost of the sign up and equipment. You can visit their respective websites at: www.xmradio.com and www.sirius.com. Here is a sampling of the shows on both stations that welcome pitches from authors.

The XM Radio Lineup

The Bob Edwards Show 1500 Eckington Pl NE, Ste 2 Washington, DC 20002-2164 Phone: (202) 380-4800 Fax: (202) 380-4801 Bob Edwards provides listeners with insightful, entertaining and provocative programming produced by some of the most respected names in public broadcasting. Partners include Public Radio International (PRI) and its station partners Chicago Public Radio and WGBH Boston; American Public Media (the production and distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio); and Boston public radio station WBUR. This show airs daily at 8 a.m. EST and then rebroadcasts at 9 a.m. EST, 10 a.m. EST and 8 p.m. EST. Their target audience are listeners ages 18 through 34. Send your press releases, books or products to the following individual:

Ms. Andy Danyo, Producer Phone: (202) 380-4822 Fax: (202) 380-4801 Email: andy.danyo@xmradio.com Pitching tips: Danyo is responsible for booking guests, conducting preliminary interviews, screening listener calls, researching show topics and reviewing all press submissions as Producer.

Life Love & Health 741 Tehama St San Francisco, CA 94103-3822 Phone: (415) 663-8428 Email: info@lifeloveandhealth.com Homepage: www.lifeloveandhealth.com Life Love & Health provides health and wellness information with celebrity stories and human drama. Life Love & Health requests that those interested in the program first listen to samples at the website before submitting pitches. Their segments run 90 seconds on various channels at various times throughout the day. They do not like phone calls and strongly encourage authors to listen to the show first before pitching. Send your press releases, books or products to the following individual:

Mr. Christopher Springmann, Host/Producer Phone: (415) 663-8428 Fax: (202) 380-4500 Email: info@lifeloveandhealth.com

Mimi Geerges Show PO Box 267 Oakton, VA 22124-0267 Phone: (703) 251-3002 Email: info@mgshow.org Homepage: www.mgshow.org An independently produced talk radio program that features interviews with the country's leading experts, authors, scientists and entertainers. The program presents a diversity of views on a wide array of topics. It strives to provide listeners with the information and insight to form their own views and opinions. Note that their lead times for news items are often 30 days prior to the air date. The show airs on Sunday from 9 to 10 p.m. Send your press releases, books or products to the following people:

Ms. Mimi Geerges, Host/Executive Producer Phone: (703) 251-3002 Fax: (202) 380-4500 Email: info@mgshow.org (m) Homepage: www.mgshow.org

Ms. Doris Abdel Messieh, Producer Phone: (703) 251-3002 Fax: (202) 380-4500 Email: info@mgshow.org Homepage: www.mgshow.org

The Sirius Satellite Radio Lineup

The Business Shrink 999 Bayhill Dr, Ste 165 San Bruno, CA 94066-3069 www.allbusiness.com Join Peter Morris for sound advice to help your business be a success. He'll not only give you advice on business strategies, he'll offer his advice on the psychology of business. This show airs daily from 3 to 4 p.m. and covers anything related to business or finance. Send your press releases, books or products to the following individual:

Mr. Peter Laufer, Executive Producer Phone: (212) 584-5100 Fax: (212) 584-5300 Pitching Tips: Lauer oversees the entire production as Executive Producer. He is also host of National Geographic World Talk on PRI.

Whatever 1221 Avenue Of The Americas, Fl 26 New York, NY 10020-1001 Email: whatever@marthastewart.com While the Ask Martha show on Sirius does not accept pitches, Martha's daughter's show will. Join Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppleman Hutt for a woman's kind of talk show. They'll talk about anything and everything from books to music, from personal relationships to whatever's in the news today. Alexis' mother Martha Stewart may even join the discussion. This show airs daily from noon to 2 p.m. Send your press releases, books or products to the following individuals:

Ms. Jennifer Kopplemann Hutt, Host Phone: (212) 584-5100 Fax: (212) 584-5300 Email: whatever@marthastewart.com Pitching tips: Jennifer prefers to be contacted via US Mail.

Music video by The Cranberries performing Ode To My Family. (C) 1994 The Island Def Jam Music Group

One of the great advantages of satellite radio is the fact that the programs are not interrupted by commercials. This is because the providers income comes from listeners and not from advertisers. Satellite radio services offer around 70 programs of commercial fee music channels each and you have a great variety of choices, from mainstream rock, hip-hop and dance music to folk music, opera, blues and many more.

Another great thing is the absence of static. You can be driving from the West Coast to the East Coast in the United States of America and you will not get any static at all on the way. The radio signal is digital, which means that you will get crystal-clear sound wherever you go.

Satellite radio tuners receive, along with the actual radio programs, an influx of metadata that consists of information regarding song title, artist, radio program and radio channel. This means that your satellite radio receiver will display all the necessary information about what you are listening to. For instance, if you hear a great song and you want to know which artist sings it, you just look at the receivers display.

All radio programs are uncensored. This is one of the reasons why artists like Howard Stern chose to move their shows on satellite radio. You can also listen to your favorite hip-hop songs without the interruption of those annoying beeping sounds.

Satellite radio programs also offer information about local traffic and weather conditions. The information is very detailed especially for those who live in big cities. If there is a major national calamity and other terrestrial radio stations will not work, you can always count on getting accurate information from satellite radio program. You can also listen to it online on your computer.

If you still are not convinced on why you should pay money for something that you can get for free, think about how much time you have wasted listening to commercials and all kinds of other boring stuff on terrestrial radio programs.

Traditional radio is not free, despite the popular belief. It is time-consuming and irritating because you have to listen to five minutes or more of commercials so that you can finally hear a song you like. The satellite radio subscriptions are very affordable and, for around 13 dollars per month, you get exactly the programs you want, which you can listen to wherever you are, at the best sound quality.

Satellite radio is great for you especially if you travel a lot. If you are traveling across the United States of America, for example, you can listen to the channel or channels you want during your whole trip, without losing signal or getting static. If you have a traditional radio, you will have to keep changing channels every hundred miles, but if you are using satellite radio you do not have to do that because the geographically availability of programs is not a problem. Satellite radio subscribers will soon get the chance to watch video programs as well.

Both Sirius and XM services have announced their intention of introducing in the near future a variety of video satellite channels that will have some of the great advantages that are currently available to satellite radio: commercial free programs, great quality of sound and vast geographical availability.

Finding a good radio engineering and mobile radio communications tool has been a difficult task for radio engineers, network planners and marketers for a long time. This article will try to throw some light on an excellent radio engineering and communications tool called “HerTZ Mapper”.

HerTZ Mapper is a point to point radio engineering and mobile radio communications planning tool. This state of the art radio engineering tool allows the computation of coverage from radio sites, the display of path profiles from any points on the terrain with the computation of associated path budget and the calculation of intermodulation products.

HerTZ Mapper provides field engineers, planners and marketers involved with mobile radio, point to point radio engineering and private mobile radio, broadcast or fixed link systems the benefits of a powerful software tool capable of operation on a modest hardware platform.

HerTZ Mapper allows the direct generation of path profiles. During clearance surveys, terrain profiles can be modified on screen and ground clutter can be added to improve the prediction accuracy. When sites are found to be unworkable, the field engineer has the tools at hand to re-configure his system. In the case where there is no digital terrain data available, path profiles can be entered manually, allowing the engineer to work anywhere in the world.

Broadcast engineers can search for the best transmitter site using HerTZ Mapper’s

intervisibility function and predict population covered by projection onto suitable map images. In live broadcast systems, outside broadcast planners can quickly deduce the signal to noise ratio or likely bit error rate for a radio car link.

This tool can also be used to measure signal data from test transmissions which can be compared with predicted data on screen to verify true performance against predicted. The engineer can also analyse co-sited transmitter systems and intermodulation products and so reduce the effects of interference.

Setting up a network is rapid. Stations can be replicated, moved, activated, deactivated and deleted quickly allowing locations and network configurations to be analyzed, modified and optimized efficiently.

HerTZ Mapper automatically calculates radio visibility from a transmitter, taking into account the topography of the terrain, the height of both transmitter and receiver, and earth curvature.

In short, HerTZ Mapper is a state-of-the-art point to point radio engineering and private mobile radio communications system planning tool designed to meet the needs of field engineers, planners and marketers in simulating network performance in the frequency range 30MHz to 60GHz - whatever the radio technology.

For more information on HerTZ Mapper and other advanced radio engineering tools, please log on to www.solutionsinradiocommunications.com

Gerald Celente on Glenn Beck 's Radio 19 Feb 2009 pt 1/2

A satellite radio is a special radio that receives signals broadcast by satellite. This allows the listener to follow a single channel no matter where they are because the signal's reach is not limited by station power and curvature of the Earth. Satellite radio, also called digital radio, offers commercial and distortion free, CD quality music beamed to your car radio or home stereo from space.

We all have our favorite radio stations that we preset into our car radios or home stereos, flipping between stations as we drive to and from work, on errands and around town. But when you travel too far away from the source station, the signal breaks up and fades into static. Most radio signals can only travel about 30 or 40 miles from their source. On long trips passing through different cities, you might have to change radio stations every hour or so as the signals fade in and out. Obviously, it's not much fun scanning through static trying to find something to listen to.

Imagine a radio station that can broadcast its signal from more than 22,000 miles away, and then come through on your car radio or home stereo with complete clarity. You could drive from Anchorage, Alaska to Miami, Florida, without ever having to change the radio station! Not only would you ever hear static interfering with your favorite tunes, but the music would be interrupted by no commercials. Welcome to the world of satellite radio....commercial and distortion free listening from coast to coast!

Car manufacturers have installed satellite radio receivers in some of the latest model automobiles, and electronics companies have launched several models of portable satellite radio receivers. Satellite radio is also available for the home for commercial and distortion free listening enjoyment!

What are the two types of satellite radio?

In the United States, there are XM and Sirius.

XM is a service in the United States that provides digital programming directly from two satellites (nicknamed "Rock" and "Roll") in geostationary orbit above the equator, and a network of ground-based repeaters. It is based in Washington, DC.

XM's business model is to provide pay-for-service radio, with commercial-free music channels, analogous to the business model for premium cable television channels. They also provide other data services such as weather information for pilots and weather spotters. In addition, they transmit coded traffic information directly to navigation systems using TMC technology. Their service includes music channels, news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, premium channels, regional traffic and weather channels. The XM signal uses 12.5 MHz of the S band: 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz. XM's competitor in the U.S. is Sirius.

Sirius is a (DARS) service in the United States that provides streams of music, sports, news and entertainment. The streams are broadcast from three satellites in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit above North America. Sirius is based in New York City. Its business model is to provide pay-for-service radio, free of commercials, analogous to the business model for cable television.

Sirius' spacecraft Sirius 1 through Sirius 4 was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral. The first three of the series were orbited in 2000 by Proton-K Block-DM3 launch vehicles. Sirius 4 is a ground spare, in storage at SS/Loral's facility in Palo Alto, California. Sirius was previously known as CD Radio. The dog in the Sirius logo is unofficially named "Mongo."

The satellite radio world is divided among the two major broadcasters, XM Radio and Sirius. Since they work on different frequencies and need specific equipment to broadcast, Sirius and XM Radio have divided the market into two groups. While some are fans of the Sirius channels others prefer XM Radio, and the debate regarding which of the two is the best could go on forever. Some however are subscribers to both services, since they love some of the Sirius programs but also enjoy XM Radio broadcasting. For them and for more people interested in satellite radio, there are some potential good news. Interoperable satellite radios are one of the things most of the major players in the satellite radio industry are talking about. What are they? Basically they are receivers that can work both with Sirius and XM Radio and everything is enclosed in a single unit.

Interoperable Technologies - when Sirius and XM work together

Interoperable Technologies is the name of a joint effort funded by both Sirius and XM Radio, with the declared purpose of bringing dual-subscription satellite radios to the general market. Founded in 2003, Interoperable Technologies has started developing the dual-mode satellite radios ever since and progress is being made with each passing month. Interoperable Technologies gets help from consultants from both XM and Sirius and their 2005 success of developing a singe unit that can receive both transmissions was a notable one. Today, Interoperable Technologies ha a deadline of bringing the developed receiver unit to the market. The monthly subscription price is estimated to be around $26 - for which you get over 300 channels from the combined broadcasting list of the two satellite radio operators.

What the people say...

The news of the interoperable satellite radio development has triggered interesting responses among XM and Sirius satellite radio subscribers. Here are some of the things people left on forums and discussion boards regarding this development:

"$26/month? A hell of a lot cheaper than cable TV." Says one of the forum posters. He is right, but, of course, many will question the need to pay $26 for over 300 radio channels out of which 80% will probably never get listened to.

"Oh man! As a dual subscriber, this would be SO cool to have. Where do I sign up?" - on the other hand, of course, there are those people that don't mind spending a little extra when they can get so much more.

"Cool idea if it ever comes to pass. Even though I only subscribe to Sirius, I would consider buying this with an eye on the future..." - for people such as this forum poster, the interoperable satellite radio system is the natural evolutionary step forward, so it is definitely worth looking into satellite http://www.review4.info.

Implications of the interoperable satellite radio system

As you can see from the response of the potential customers, the interoperable satellite radio system is an interesting development. While Sirius and XM are lucky enough to be the only major players in this field, for now, it seems they are also ready to work together in order to consolidate their future. Of course, offering twice the programs on a single unit is a major step forward, and from the early stages it seems that the target audience is ready to receive the single receiver unit with applause. On the other hand, is this an initial enthusiastic response or is it genuine interest?

Won't 300+ channels become too much and won't people start to feel like they are paying for something they are rarely using? There will also be some interesting things to follow as far as exclusivity rights go, because each of the two broadcasters have their own original approaches to common things. Another interesting aspect to follow will be how the sales for individual Sirius and XM units will go after the dual receiver hits the market. For many, the combined efforts of Sirius and XM tend to look like a first step towards a large scale joint venture that will lead to an absolute monopoly of the satellite radio market.

tinyurl.com Video of Dizzee Rascal performing Bonkers on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge Tour on the 17th of September. Gaming prodcut review: tinyurl.com