DCI Sattelite radio I am totally Sirius about this!

[Liam]

The last few years traveling with Esperanza I would set my radio to broadcast (extends about 40 feet or so) and the other vehicles in our caravan could tune their radios to my satellite radio and enjoy it with me, even calling me to request new stations!

Wow, that's cool. I didn't know you could do that with Satellite radio.

[madscout96]

For those who feel that drum corps doesn't have a big enough following to have its own sattelite radio station, what if there was station that covered the more broad spectrum of marching music? College marching bands, drumlines, DCI, DCA? Maybe throw in some Canadian Brass, old Future Corps, Blast!, etc. This might greatly broaden the appeal of such a station, and expose more people to drum corps.

Oh, and if there will be such a station, I'm going on tour and I'm going to host my own drum corps call-in talk show.

[drumcat]

Let's add up some points here... not saying it couldn't work, but some thoughts...

First, DCI has only so much programming in its possession. By my basic estimation, about 6 days worth that would be worth putting on the air. We're talking finalists, a few semis... ok. I guess that could be ok. That really means that if you mixed it well by day, you wouldn't get tons of reruns.

Next, do all the fans want to hear stuff from 1974? Probably not. Not a dis, but there's always a bias towards more familiar stuff. Still, could get around it.

Now, the nasty. To create such a behemoth isn't out of the question, but imagine that you'd have to have one person dedicated to it. I could imagine that the loaded salary of said person would be $60k. Yes, you would have to have one full-timer on it, if it's going to meet the "professional" standards here. Pre-recorded voice intros, etc. etc.... no way around it. DJDCI in the hizzy.

Broadband costs would probably be in the thousands annually.

Then, you have commercials. Who creates them? Who advertises on the station? Local companies have little interest in internet/worldwide audiences. Who's left? Maybe NAMM, Pearl, Yamaha, etc... the usual bunch. Worth much? Probably not.

How about satellite radio then? No ads, right? Well, if you have no ads, then you'll be in the subscriber pool. In other words, the $12/mo people pay gets divvied up to content providers... i.e. howard stern, espn, mlb, for rights to broadcast. The channels that are left are designed to provide value to the service. That's a DCI channel.

AFAIK, it would require someone "spin" DCI 24/7. Cost? Three radio peeps, maybe 4. Plus engineering time, plus any remote location costs. Sirius or XM would have to fund that out of their kind hearts because there wouldn't be (significant) ad revenue or whatnot.

So if you went bargain-basement, i.e. put stuff on a loop, maybe you could get away with a voice talent introducing each show... again, that's close to one full-timer that knows what to do, plus broadband.

The absolute cheapest this could get off the ground would be with a volunteer effort, and you still have to pay for the pipe.... or no dj, just playback with no meta.

Either way, if I'm the BoD, I'd ask where the money will come from? In theory, you're reducing the need to buy product with CD/DVD media, and there is no real way to monetize it.

Follow the money, and you see a dead-end quickly.

[SF2K4]

By the way, as I'm sure is known... there is only ONE satellite radio service... XM and Sirius merged (or are in the process of merging).

[Tony Flores]

By the way, as I'm sure is known... there is only ONE satellite radio service... XM and Sirius merged (or are in the process of merging).

It is still pending...it has not gone through. And some investment analysts I know say it will not go through

[CoHmempho04]

I love my satellite radio. Here in Atlanta there are a LOT of radio stations out there but all of them talk talk talk toooooo much. I've been listening to XM for about a year now and I tried about 6 months ago to listen to regular radio and I couldn't stand more than 2 minutes of it! On the subject, they already have jazz, classical, and all kinds of stations that everyone would love. DCRadio would work very well on XM.

[flammaster]

I just wish you could buy drum corps stuff on iTunes.

[Chris Scott]

Instead of talking about it, why doesn't someone contact DCI, find out what they would need for it to operate, and e-mail someone At SIRUIS radio and find out what it would really take. I don't have SIRIUS, I have an iPod, so I would not be compelled to get the package. And I think I'm in the majority of non-owners - I don't think the drum corps would be enough to compel me to enroll.

Might not be the best link, or best POC (point of contact), but it is a hopping off point, yes?

[ChicagoFan]

Satellite and cable tv are in 86% of homes. Satellite and cable TV. That's still a lot of homes that, even with basic cable/satellite would have an ESPN2.

I have basic cable. The number of channels is quite limited (compared to satellite) but even so, there are still channels I never watch. For example, I don't watch the Golf Channel, Food Network, etc., because those are not my interests. Just because 86% of homes have the service doesn't guarntee an audience...it doens't guarantee 86% viewership of any particular channel or programming.

[MJN]

Since I got XM, I will not listen to FM radio --- I'm completely spoiled. It is kind of dangerous driving and checking out what is playing on other channels without having to change stations ---- what a great feature.