Satellite radio has really taken off in some parts of the world, predominantly in countries with a huge land mass. Places like America, Canada, Europe and Australia, places where it is difficult to realize national coverage with traditional land-based radio broadcasting without hundreds of expensive sub-stations to amplify the signal.
Yes, without a shadow of a doubt, satellite radio is here to stay for several reasons. First of all, satellite radio is digital and therefore is able to deliver sound of very high quality. Terrestrial digital radio can do that too, you might say.
Yes, that is true, but the coverage of terrestrial digital radio is rather small which means tht if you are driving a long distance, you will have to keep retuning your radio to a different station, whereas with satellite, the footprint can cover thousands of square miles.
Many new satellite radio channels are springing up all the time. It seems that everyone wants to get their hands on this new marvel of wide-area coverage at a cheaper price than it used to cost to cover a county. And why not? The advertising potential is quite incredible compared to the old fashioned local AM or FM radio stations. Radio has now gone countrywide.
Playboy Satellite radio is one of those companies that has realized the potential of satellite radio and set up its own channel with a large footprint. It was launched in March 2006 on the Sirius network by Christie Hefner and now boasts over one million subscribers, which is a truly remarkable figure. There have almost certainly never before been a million opt-in subscribers to any radio network channel ever in times gone by before.
What makes this number of one million subscribers even more impressive is that the Playboy satellite radio channel is not part of a package or a bundle of other channels. No, people have to willingly phone up or go to the Playboy website and request membership in person, that is to say that it costs time and effort to sign up and one million people thought that it was worth it.
Something else that is unusual is that the Playboy brand is associated with visual stuff - naked ladies, in fact - and radio is well-known for not being very good at visual representation. It is clear that no radio station is going to make much progress in the market place with nudity as a trump card.
So what is happening here? Well, the fact is that no-one is really quite certain. You have to subscribe, but it is free at the moment. It is also true that the Playboy brand is considered cool and distinctive among a certain echelon of society, but will that be enough to keep people listening in? Only time will tell.
The answer almost certainly lies in the fact that it is free and that it can be listened to over a considerable area, but they cannot be the only reasons. There is most likely a novelty value too and the quality of the programmes will have to be high as well.
Yes, without a shadow of a doubt, satellite radio is here to stay for several reasons. First of all, satellite radio is digital and therefore is able to deliver sound of very high quality. Terrestrial digital radio can do that too, you might say.
Yes, that is true, but the coverage of terrestrial digital radio is rather small which means tht if you are driving a long distance, you will have to keep retuning your radio to a different station, whereas with satellite, the footprint can cover thousands of square miles.
Many new satellite radio channels are springing up all the time. It seems that everyone wants to get their hands on this new marvel of wide-area coverage at a cheaper price than it used to cost to cover a county. And why not? The advertising potential is quite incredible compared to the old fashioned local AM or FM radio stations. Radio has now gone countrywide.
Playboy Satellite radio is one of those companies that has realized the potential of satellite radio and set up its own channel with a large footprint. It was launched in March 2006 on the Sirius network by Christie Hefner and now boasts over one million subscribers, which is a truly remarkable figure. There have almost certainly never before been a million opt-in subscribers to any radio network channel ever in times gone by before.
What makes this number of one million subscribers even more impressive is that the Playboy satellite radio channel is not part of a package or a bundle of other channels. No, people have to willingly phone up or go to the Playboy website and request membership in person, that is to say that it costs time and effort to sign up and one million people thought that it was worth it.
Something else that is unusual is that the Playboy brand is associated with visual stuff - naked ladies, in fact - and radio is well-known for not being very good at visual representation. It is clear that no radio station is going to make much progress in the market place with nudity as a trump card.
So what is happening here? Well, the fact is that no-one is really quite certain. You have to subscribe, but it is free at the moment. It is also true that the Playboy brand is considered cool and distinctive among a certain echelon of society, but will that be enough to keep people listening in? Only time will tell.
The answer almost certainly lies in the fact that it is free and that it can be listened to over a considerable area, but they cannot be the only reasons. There is most likely a novelty value too and the quality of the programmes will have to be high as well.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a range of topics, but is currently concerned with Bose alarm clocks. If you would like to kcurrently more, please go to our website at Bose Digital Radio.