Is Satellite the New Pirate Radio?
When most people think of the word “pirate” they think of bearded, dirty, rotten teeth, foul mouthed criminals. Others, especially those in radio, think of “freedom”. Pirates are notoriously associated with taking orders from no one, no government, and certainly not the FCC.
Radio is regulated by the government agency, and therefore there are rules and regulations they must follow and adhere to to ensure they are not fined, or worse, lose their license. Every terrestrial radio station on your dial must be registered and licensed. Ever since the telecommunications act of 1996, any company can purchase multiple licenses/stations in the same market, therefore removing any competition. This created oversaturation in certain markets, and media giants like iHeart, Entercom, and Cumulus began buying up stations like hoarders. Although this allowed professionals in radio to begin working at various stations simultaneously, these titans in media began implementing new “Corporate” regulations that began transforming radio from a freeing and vocal artform for truth into a corporate office where even wearing the wrong kind of tie could get you into trouble.
In any media business, cause and effect can be good or bad. In radio’s case, the telecommunications act began a new era where mega corporations bit off more than they can chew, therefore resulting in massive layoffs that have become a weekly tradition at some companies.
Before the telecommunications act, a new and different idea was proposed in 1990 to create a digital radio station in Washington DC. Eventually that company was known as Sirius radio and was founded by Martine Rothblatt, David Margolese, and Robert Briskman. The idea was to create a station that used satellites and complimentary radio transmitters to produce CD-like quality that could be listened to no matter what area you were in as long as you were in range of the satellites. Although the idea started off as just creating a higher quality radio, eventually, after merging with XM Sirius became known as its own unique art form. Made fun of by Howard Stern originally, the “King of All Media” eventually realized the advantage of Satellite that could take his show to what would become its final and most powerful home. The FCC does not actually consider Satellite, known as Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) a broadcast signal, so they are not subject to the same regulations that radio stations are such as indecent language. With almost no listeners in the beginning, eventually Sirius XM would be one of the most popular ways to consume media in the country. Sirius XM didn’t rely on many commercials to stay afloat like radio stations, instead, they treated it like a streaming service charging listeners a monthly fee. The listeners get tons of unique content hosted by celebrities, DJ’s, and now, one of the most popular radio jocks in history Howard Stern.
Without regulations from the FCC, Sirius XM was free to put out content that listeners truly liked and personalities were actually interested in producing. This created a new kind of radio, some would call “pirate radio” as many personalities got into the business for that very reason. With this new flock of top talent, 34.9 million subscribers, and a growing business model SiriusXM has truly become a new and unique form of content consumption in America.
