OTHER TECH

It's not just the music that makes satellite radio more fun than its broadcast counterpart - it's the announcers. Browsing the dial at XM or Sirius, you're transported back to the days when every station had a different style and personality, before all those idiosyncratic DJs were replaced by computer voices and sound-alike morning teams. On XM's '50s channel, for instance, a manic DJ announces a "Nuuumber Oooonne!" with the proper flourish. And on its Unsigned channel, the Smithereens' genial frontman, Pat DiNizio, hosts a daily show of his favorite demos. Sirius's '60s channel serves up hits with authentic-sounding radio jingles. You hear Southern accents on both services' country channels, hipster jive on the blues stations, and echoed voices over sexy keyboard beds on the soul channels.

Satellite radio takes on the mission that commercial radio abandoned more than a decade ago - to satisfy the hunger for a wide variety of music, commercial and otherwise. When you browse the display dial on XM and watch the artists' names roll by - everyone from Amon Duul II to Slobberbone to Tommy Newsom - you know you've stumbled into a music nut's heaven.

XM is the more eclectic of the two services. The segues can be downright bizarre, and that's a plus. On its '60s channel, the Beatles go right into Engelbert Humperdinck - which, strange as that sounds, is exactly how it happened back in the day. On Bluesville, a vintage Guitar Slim track might be followed by one from the new Allman Brothers Band album. The Unsigned channel sent me running to the Internet for more info on Katie Todd, who blended wry Liz Phair-type vocals with kitchen-sink instrumentation.

The real payoff is hearing something to bring out that "Oh, wow - can't believe I'm hearing this" reaction. XM's Music Lab segued from Rick Wakeman's new, import-only album Out There into a 30-year-old Strawbs number that Wakeman played on. Over on the '70s channel, I heard Hurricane Smith's "Oh Babe, What Would You Say" - maybe the worst song to hit the charts during the entire decade, but how many commercial stations would dare unearth it?

Sirius lacks the unbridled music geekery found at XM. Too many channels - like Big Rock, Octane (metal), the Pulse (Adult Contemporary), Alt Nation, and Hot Jamz - just play the same top hits, commercial alternative, and Classic Rock you can hear anywhere. Sirius's "deeper" Classic Rock channel, The Vault, features tracks only slightly less obvious than those on its regular heritage-rock channel. (XM's Deep Tracks channel isn't quite deep enough either.) I also caught a few programming gaffes on Sirius. For instance, its '60s channel played Sugarloaf's "Green Eyed Lady," which is actually from 1970, and the '50s channel played the Essex's "Easier Said Than Done," which wasn't a hit until 1963.

If dance or hip-hop is your genre, Sirius has the edge, offering five hip-hop channels to XM's two and six dance channels (featuring everything from '70s disco to modern electronica) to XM's four. And Sirius devotes a channel to jam bands - one of the few major genres XM missed. Jam Central covers all the right bases, from Widespread Panic to George Clinton.

Still, my two favorite channels were both on XM. X Country had the most consistent mixes I heard anywhere, blending alt-country's big names (Lyle Lovett, Ryan Adams) with cult heroes (James Intveld, Amy Rigby) and worthy if less trendy choices, like post-reunion Lynyrd Skynyrd. XM's hidden gem is On the Rocks, which plays continuous bachelor-pad music. I thrilled to the space-age sounds of Alvino Rey and Ferrante & Teicher, and even the obvious choices held some surprises. When they played Frank Sinatra's "I Get a Kick out of You," it was the original version with the rarely sung line, "Some, they may go for cocaine." Even the Chairman of the Board can't go for that on commercial radio today.

- Brett Milano

IT'S A LIVIN' THING
Both Sirius and XM offer a steady flow of live programming throughout the day, from interviews with solo performances to full-blown band concerts. XM has recently featured live appearances by Wynton Marsalis, Ben Folds, Tony Bennett, Pete Yorn, and Willie Nelson, while Sirius has played host to Peter Gabriel, Shelby Lynne, Rob Zombie, Rosanne Cash, and the Allman Brothers Band, among others. Above left, Sheepy and Colin McIntyre of the Mull Historical Society at Sirius; right, Sister Hazel at XM. Photos by Michelle Hood