Siriusly Entertaining

This weekend I heard that E Street Radio was returning to Sirius, I was thrilled. Last time Bruce had a station on Sirius was in early 2006 and it was fantastic. Most of the stuff they played I had never heard before. Much of it was obscure concert recordings that could not be heard any place else. The station returns on September 27th through March 8th to coincide with the new tour (which incidentally I got tickets for today). It is one more reason to have a Sirius radio.

Somewhere around January 2006, I purchased a Sirius satellite receiver mostly to coincide with Howard Stern starting on Sirius. (Ok, it was solely to listen to Howard, but that is besides the point.) 2 stations devoted 24 hours a day to Howard Stern is great for the millions of Howard fans. Where else can you get Andy Dick's Shit Show or Jackie's Jokehunt? Want to listen to an hour broadcast of John the Stutterer talking Politics? It's right here. If not, there is always Howard 100 which plays his morning show 24 hours a day so you can always pick up pieces you missed on your morning commute. I love listening to Stern, it is like hanging out with friends on my morning commute, but when Howard retires in a few years Sirius will still be collecting subscription money from me.

Have you ever tried to listen to Air America? Don't bother answering that. Well in Boston, it no longer exists on terrestrial radio. On Sirius you have Sirius Left 146 which broadcasts the immortal Ed Schultz show. Big Ed is the best of the progressive talk shows.

Ever try listening to the Celtics on the radio? Up until this year who cares, but now you don't have to find the obscure station of the moment, just plug in the Celtics as your favorite team and your Sportster will remind you when to turn to Cornbread.

NFL, besides carrying every game (usually in both cities feed), the update show that runs on Sunday is better than listening to any one game.

Tonight on the ride home, I was listening to Barbara Walters weekly one hour show. She promoted the show last week on Stern and I've listened to it the past couple of weeks. There really is something for everyone.

Then there are the music stations. Radio Disney and Starz Hits one for the kids. All Elvis and country for my wife, and Little Steven's Underground Garage, Classic Rewind and now E Street for me. If that doesn't work for you there is always the 24 hour Frank Sinatra or Rolling Stone stations. Many, many, many more choices.

There are 2 limitations that I find on Sirius. One is that if I want to listen to the Red Sox, I have to remember what station carries it. Since I have not listened to terrestrial radio once in 18 months, I just don't know what station carries the Sox. If the merger with XM goes through, I should be able to buy a baseball package. The other thing Sirius should do is devote 10 stations to local sports in the 10 biggest markets. Think of how many Sox fans in Florida or California would love to listen to a Boston sports station on the way to work.

Maybe my favorite thing about Sirius is I haven't had the misfortune of listening to Dennis and Callahan once in the last 18 months. Are those two morons still on?