Up until now, Sirius has been riding their heavyweight personalities, endless amounts of (mostly) commercial-free music, talk, sports, regional weather & traffic plus exclusive events to capture its sizable audience. Now they are about to offer personalized radio services - the same services available on Pandora, Slacker and Last.fm. Way back on June 19, 2008, Sirius filed a patent relating to "providing a broadcast radio service with the ability to generate a personalized radio channel play-list on a radio receiver from broadcast content as it is received and for generating a playback stream using buffered content that provides a multichannel listening experience to the user with preview, reverse, fast forward and other navigation functions for the buffered content." Patent filing information compliments of Seeking Alpha. The filing mentioned Slacker, Pandora and Last.fm as examples of what the purpose of the patent is geared towards...
Those wrinkles may be 2 years late in coming but according to word on the street, Sirius 2.0 is about to be launched. Mel Karmazin set the stage for the next generation of Sirius in the statement he made during the satcom's second quarter conference call: "Our next generation of satellite radios are expected to offer significantly more choices for the consumer and contain functionality that does not exist today in our radios." ...
In addition to capturing their own product, Sirius XM could possibly pull content from HD Radio, WiFi, Wireless and terrestrial radio too. As Seeking Alpha points out, the wording in the patent would allow for tiered services and possibly advertising supported streams as well. Satellite Radio 2.0 is about to be launched, giving Sirius XM an even stronger foothold on the market...
10 Timeline Memories:
1.1897] This subway had no sandwiches: The 1st subway system in the U.S. opens in Boston. Over 95% of the original subway tunnels remain in use today...
2.1932] Gotcha: New York City Mayor James "Gentleman Jimmy" Walker resigns following charges of graft and corruption in his administration...
3.1942] This is fair and impartial?: A federal judge in Sacramento (CA) upholds the wartime detention of Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals...
4.1969] Khadafi power: A coup in Libya brings Moammar Khadafi to power...
5.1970] The dream ends: The last episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" airs. The show premiered on September 18, 1965...
6.1972] Bobby beats Boris: Brooklyn-born Bobby Fischer wins the international chess crown in Iceland, defeating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union...
7.1983] Korean air tragedy: A Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner entered Soviet airspace, killing 269...
8.1985] The real Titanic: Is found by a joint U.S.-French expedition. The wreck site is located 963 miles northeast of New York and 453 miles southeast of Newfoundland...
9.1989] Fatal attack: Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti suffers a fatal, massive heart attack on Martha's Vineyard. Giamatti was 51...
10.2004] Chechen terrorism: More than 1,000 are taken hostage by heavily armed Chechen militants at a school in southern Russia. More than 330 people, most of them children, are killed during the three-day ordeal...
Music Memories":
•1956] Elvis Shares The Wealth: Elvis Presley buys his mom a pink Cadillac...
•1975] #1 on this date: "Rhinestone Cowboy" - Glen Campbell...
Commentary:
The Tampa Bay Radio Reunion is set for Saturday, November 6, 2010. Please RSVP to Sandy Hall at swoodworth@embargmail.com or call 813-205-5247. Sandy needs a headcount for the reunion. Tedd Webb adds that "if you missed it last year, you missed a good one, so pass along the info and come swap lies and have a few brews." Note: The reunion will start at 2 PM...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Kenny Mayne (51), Gloria Estefan (53), Bernie Wagenblast (54), Dr. Phil McGraw (60), Al Green (63), Barry Gibb (64), Archie Bell (66), Lily Tomlin (71), Alan Dershowitz (72) and George Maharis (82)...
Timeline Countdown: 1 day until the college football season begins, 5 days until Labor Day, 8 days until the NFL opener (Minn. @ New Orleans) and 22 days until autumn...
