Voices From the Heavens

The future of radio has arrived. But was it worth waiting for? And paying for?

Satellite pay radio, beamed straight from space to your car or home, marks the first major advance in radio signal delivery since the introduction of FM in the 1930s. Last month, after much hype and numerous delays, XM Satellite Radio began rolling out its 100-channel service for $9.99 a month (plus about $225 or moreand up for a receiver) to several cities, including Los Angeles.

Satellite radio promises a huge variety of music, news, sports, talk and comedy channels to subscribers in an uninterrupted stream that can be picked up, static-free, coast to coast. XM’s promotions suggest you can travel through all kinds of urban and remote terrains--even those where regular car radios orand mobilecell phones falter--and not lose the signal.

But enough of hype and promises. It was time for space radio to meet the Earth-bound freeways, city streets and back-country roads of Southern California. For 24 hours we took XM on a real-world trial over hundreds of miles of byways in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties to test reception and sample all 100 channels.

XM, which spent in excess of $1 billion to put its satellites in orbit, create programming for its original channels (others come from a variety of sources, including the BBC, ESPN and MTV) and launch its service, has the field to itself for the time being. Competitor Sirius Satellite Radio was supposed to be available by now but has run into stumbling blocks--its chief executive CEO resigned in October and the company has not announced its revised launch date.

Reception

XM gets an A-. The system performed admirably on a technical level in the vast majority of the tested locales, even where AM/FM radio reception and cell phone operation were problematic. Signal interruptions were generally minor.

The satellite service works on a line-of-sight basis. As long as the car-or home-installed antenna can “see” the signal from one of XM’s two satellites without being blocked by a building, tunnel, mountain or other obstacle, it should be received without problem. In several urban areas where skyscrapers and other structures can block the signal, the company has installed repeaters.

For the trial, we used a Pioneer GEX-FM903XM unit that retails for about $250. It operates in conjunction with the installed AM/FM radio and receives the satellite signals through a short, stubby antenna that attaches magnetically to the car roof.

Leaving Pioneer’s facility in Long Beach, we traveled down the 405 Ffreeway with Beethoven’s Fifth blasting from one of the XM’s four classical channels. The signal was not fazed by most overpasses until an especially wide one on the Lakewood exit. Then the radio went silent and a “NoO SignalIGNAL” warning came up on the receiver’s digital readout. tThe interruption lasted a few seconds.

More problematic was a tunnel near the Long Beach Airport where the signal quit about a quarter of the way in and stayed off almost until the car reemerged.

Heading into Orange County, XM worked flawlessly among the tall buildings in Costa Mesa, along mountainous Laguna Canyon Road and in the beach communities along Pacific Coast Highway where traditional radio and cell phone reception can beis spotty.

Other cell phone problem zones where XM had no trouble: oOn the 91 Ffreeway into Riverside County and on the 210 Ffreeway through the San Fernando Valley. Along Ventura Boulevard in the Valley the signal quit a couple of times very briefly when passing tall buildings in Encino.

Going over the hill to Hollywood on Laurel Canyon Boulevard was trouble-free, but on Hollywood Boulevard near famed the intersection at Vine Street there were a couple of quick outages.

Downtown is where XM really shined. Neither the skyscrapers nor the 2nd Street or 3rd Street tunnelss blocked the signal a bit. And it played continuously through the four tunnels of the northbound Pasadena Ffreeway except for one brief hiccup at the end of the first tunnel. tunnel #1. ??WHERE??

Programming

One major drawback of satellite radio is that it carries no local programming, so you’ll have to switch over to AM/FM for regional news, sports, weather and traffic.

And although you’ll be paying for XM, it’s not a haven from advertising. Nearly two-thirds of XM’s channels carry commercials.

Rock/Pop: In this era of corporate control of major broadcast stations and rigid playlists, satellite radio’s multi-channel approach offers the chance for iconoclastic rock radio announcers infused with a love of the music to reemerge. But there are few signs the door is open to this at XM, where some of the channels in this category are feeds from established radio stations such as KIIS-FM in L.A. and WLTW-FM in New York.

Among the XM original channels is one that continually plays the top 20 songs chosen by subscribers (or anyone who calls a toll-free number), a love song channel that should come with a warning for diabetics and a couple of selections featuring hard rock and metal. More adventurous are an all-reggae channel and one devoted to unsigned bands.

The MTV and VH1 channels deliver mostly continuous music with some features from their TV counterparts. But they are not always up to date. A news break on the MTV channel included an item about a beaded bra worn by Madonna on stage being auctioned for a record amount by Sotheby’s, an event that happened in March.

There are seven “uUrban” (read: African American-oriented) channels. In addition to the aforementioned oldie selections, there’s an uncensored rap selection and far more mellow choices (think Luther Vandross), including a channel programmed by Black Entertainment Television. There’s also a gospel channel.

The five Latin channels are divided among Mexican music, Tejano, Spanish-language rock, pop songs and Caribbean music.

And there are two children’s channels--one of them the “Radio Disney” feed--for parents who don’t mind their kids listening to pop music but object to the innuendo that passes for humor among many DJs.

Oldies: XM offers separate channels for each decade, from the 1940s through the 1990s, although purists may object to some of the song choices. The “40s channel played Louis Armstrong’s solo recording of the 1931 “Dream a Little Dream of Me” even though he didn’t record it until 1968. And tThe ‘50s channel played Bobby Vee’s 1963 hit, “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes.”

Recognizing that the bBaby bBoom generation has been largely ignored by mainstream radio could be potent;, there is nostalgia for almost every genre on XM. Country has Hank’s Place to showcase singers who ruled before country became nearly indistinguishable from white pop. Deep Tracks is devoted to what used to be known as alternative FM, featuring Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. There’s Classic Rap to remind the younger generation that Ice-T had a career before becoming a movie actor, two soul channels (one for the 1960s and the other for the 1970s and ‘1980s) and Frank’s Place, featuring the chairman plus singers such as Tony Bennett and Billy Eckstine.

Classical: Only four classical channels are offered, but that’s more than what’s available on broadcast radio in almost any part of the country.

Three of them would find favor with most any fan of the genre.

The Classics and all vocal music Vox channels are programmed by the highly respected Martin Goldsmith, who for years oversaw NPR’s Performance Today series. His personable, short talks before major pieces are a wonderful guide to the music. And the XM Pops selection does not, like many classical pops outlets, feature TV themes and other novelties, but sticks to timeworn standards such as Handel’s “Messiah.”.

The strange channel of the bunch is Fine Tuning, which is kind of a classical fusion spot where a bit of Haydn can be heard, but also the Rolling Stones’ “As Tears Go By” as well as Genesis and Gil Scott-Heron. If there’s a philosophy behind the choices, it’s hard to fathom.

News/Sports: The news channels are mostly audio feeds from TV, including CNN Headline News, Fox News and CNBC. A far more international perspective is provided by the BBC World Service channel, which that brings the world’s most esteemed short-wave news and information programming to the car radio.

The five sports channels are all pick ups from established sources: Sporting News Radio, ESPN Radio, CNN/Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports Radio and NASCAR Radio. The vast majority of this programming consists of talk and call-in shows, although ESPN Radio offers coverage of some sporting events such as the World Series.

Talk: XM has found a way to repackage talk radio to take much of the vitality out of the genre. Most of the shows on its original talk channels such as Buzz XM, Ask and “Open Road,” aimed at truckers, are rebroadcasts of live call-in programs that no longer sound fresh when re-warmed. Even the timing of these shows is disconcerting.

Take, for example, late-night announcer Art Bell, whose acceptance of all things paranormal and conspiratorial is not for the uninitiated. But it’s particularly weird to be stuck in afternoon traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway listening to Bell explain that it’s “logical” that Timothy McVeigh was an agent of the Iraqi government and that his execution was part of a plot to cover up this fact. Somehow, drive time and Art don’t mix, even when his voice truly comes down from the sky.

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David Colker covers personal technology. He can be reached at david.colker@latimes.com.

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The Skinny

XM Satellite Radio

* Price: $9.99 a month plus $225 or more for receiver

* The good: Reception of 100 channels of music, news and talk is mostly solid, even in areas where AM/FM radio reception is poor. Channels are varied enough to offer something for just about every taste.

* The bad: Programming of the original channels is largely uninspired. No local content. Nearly two-thirds of the channels carry commercials.

* Bottom line: XM will be welcomed mostly by people starving for an alternative to broadcast radio.