The difference between FM and satellite radio reception is dramatic, and in your car is where you’ll notice that difference the most. Listening to satellite radio in your car is easier (and cheaper) than you might think.
So, What’s So Great About Satellite Radio?
The quality of an FM signal can fluctuate, depending on how far away you are from your radio station’s ground transmitter and the terrain you’re traveling in. But satellite radio’s reception is always crystal clear, since its signal is transmitted from space -- and the more time you spend in your car, the more you’ll appreciate the difference. The really great thing about satellite radio, though, is the number of channels you have to choose from. Among the 100+ channels available through XM and Sirius (currently the only two satellite radio companies available in the U.S.), about 65% are music channels and the rest are sports, news and talk radio.
To get all these channels from XM and Sirius, however, you have to pay monthly subscriber fees. When you’re used to free radio this might seem objectionable, but with your subscriber fee you get a huge bonus: commercial-free radio. The cost to subscribers is comfortably below $15 per month, and it means that XM and Sirius don’t have to sell advertising airtime. It’s a win-win. And if you’re almost as tired of free radio’s homogenous programming as you are its commercials, then satellite is a terrific alternative -- with approximately 65 channels of music alone, and several channels in each genre, satellite radio’s variety is light years ahead of free radio’s.