Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Jacqueline Mitchell

Satellite options give in-car radio a new lease on life

By Jacqueline Mitchell / Special to The Detroit News

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For decades, radio has been the prime source of entertainment, news and information for drivers and their passengers.

Many of us followed the heated NBA championship games in the car.

We learned that Pope John Paul II had died and Michael Jackson had been acquitted.

But AM/FM radio, as we know it today, while sufficient, seems archaic.

Increasingly, in-car radios are being supplanted by in-car entertainment systems.

The pre-teens I typically chauffer have little interest in the limited programming local stations offer. They'd much rather load up their favorite DVD.

I've been known to switch over to a CD myself when I lose interest in what can be repetitious local talk and news.

Another problem with traditional radio is that, if you drive to certain parts of the United States, you may only have a few listening choices.

There are definitely times when you load into the car for a road trip only to miss the multitude of national programming choices offered by cable or satellite dish TV back home.

The traditional car-radio experience seems to be heading for extinction. A generation of Americans who grew up with more exotic technology is bored by the whole AM-FM concept.

That trend became clear to me when I recently had the opportunity to test a Buick LaCrosse CS equipped with XM Satellite radio.

For the first time, my preteen passengers actually expressed interest in listening to the radio instead of popping in a DVD.

And for the first time in years, I'm excited about radio again.

Satellite radio offers a wider range of choice -- anywhere you go, there are 150 or more channels to choose from.

Love NASCAR racing? There's a station devoted to it. Can't get enough international news? Try the BBC.

During a recent speech in Detroit, XM Satellite Chairman Gary Parsons said that, with 4 million customers, the "vision for XM is being exceeded today."

XM is exceeding expectations on two fronts -- with traditional listeners and with radio converts.

Both groups hunger for more than the conventional menu options of AM and FM. Both want expanded reach and more choices and they want it 24/7. So it's not surprising that XM's growth is equally distributed among all age groups 18 and older.

XM, however, may well be best positioned to capture the attention of a much younger audience that lives in a world surrounded by cable, internet and DVDs.

According to Road and Marketing Fact Book 2003, more than 75 percent of the U.S. population age 12 and older listens to radio daily and 94 percent tune in on a weekly basis.

Satellite radio offers hope that a generation raised on more modern means of getting their information won't completely abandon in-car radio. For the rest of us, it could spark a whole new interest in drive-time radio.

Jacqueline Mitchell is a Metro Detroit freelance writer. You can reach her at DetroitWriter@aol.com.