XM has hired NPR s Martin Goldsmith to oversee three or more classical channels featuring everything from choral music to orchestral works. XM and Sirius subscribers will be able to choose from more than 20 models of car radios from brand-name manufacturers including Sony, Alpine and Pioneer that will receive a combination of AM, FM and satellite stations. New cars will come equipped with three-band radios beginning next year. Charles Robbins, an XM spokesman, says the company expects to break even in 2004. Sirius estimates it needs just 2 million car owners to sign up for its service to do so.
Investors are excited.
Both the satellite companies trade publicly. I am holding on to the stock and plan to put my kids through college with it even though the market is down right now, says Diana Pagnotta, the former producer of the popular syndicated talk show Don and Mike. Pagnotta says she first heard about satellite radio in 1992 and knew immediately that it was the way of the future. Terrestrial radio is in trouble, she says. It has become a bottom-line industry at the expense of content.