Satellite Radio Salvation?

I'm feeling particularly creative today. I'm just back from a weekend in Kitchener/Waterloo and on my drive I listened to Michael Enright's Sunday Edition.

I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm always much calmer afterwards, and I always feel smarter. Perhaps it's his soothing voice, his "play dumb" (and I emphasize play) routine, his natural and relaxed interview style or the intellectually stimulating subject matter, but I always feel like a better person for listening.

I was also very interested to hear that CBC Radio One is now on Sirius Satellite Radio. I am wondering if satellite radio might be my salvation. Over the past few months, I've been doing some investigating and I am enticed by the possibility of actually being able to listen to decent radio in my car.

I'd like to be able to tune into the BBC World Service at any time of the day. I'd like to be able to listen to music without mindnumbing advertisements. I'd like to be able to get my dose of Canadian indie artists from across the country.

Still, I'm hesitant. I like the idea of mainstream radio getting it's come uppins, and I like the idea that I can listen to my favourite stations anywhere in the country. What concerns me about it right now is the shockingly small amount of Canadian content. I don't want to listen to MSNBC, or American rock classics. I want to hear Canadian programming from across the country. If I want to hear the CBC Saskatchewan morning show with Sheila Coles, then I'd like to be able to tune into it. That way I can tune in and hear local issues in communities across Canada. If I want to hear conspiracy theorists pontificating on their call-in shows from Sebastian County Arkansas, then I can tune in and listen.

Something about a station called "AltNation" that plays "The latest alternative rock releases and the best alt-rock of the '90s" just sounds a little to packaged for me.

I think that satellite radio might be an amazing thing, but the service makes me a little unsure. Right now it seems terribly bush-league. It seems as though there may be great possibilities in satellite radio, but I just don't get the impression that it's there just yet. In the same way that I can listen to hundreds of thousands of shows through online streaming on the Internet, I'd like to do the same thing with satellite radio.

As it stands, I'm sure that I would really only listen to three or four stations offered through satellite radio and ignore the rest. That doesn't appeal to me since I know that I'm paying a monthly fee for a bunch of crap that I don't listen to. When I can cater my stations to my own tastes from thousands of legitimate options, I'll be in. Until then, I don't want to be caught with satellite radio without service in the same way others have been caught with Minidiscs, Laserdiscs, and Compact Discs with their dreaded jewel cases.