National Advertising Hoopla To Accompany XM Satellite Radio Rollout
by Alan Sheckter, Smart TV & Sound news editor
Behind a $100 million media blitz touting the slogan “Radio to the Power of X,” XM Satellite Radio is set to spread its service nationwide.
The 100-channel service promises digital-quality sound and coast-to-coast coverage. Find a XM Satellite Radio station that strikes your fancy? Well, the service will allow you to stay in tune with that single station, even on a trip from New York to California.
There will be no shortage of audio content. XM Satellite Radio, featuring a highly-regarded combination of respected on-air talent and programmers, will offer 71 music channels, as well as 29 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels.
The service requires a special XM digital audio receiver, and a $9.99 per month service fee. Just as you currently choose AM and FM stations on your dial, XM channels will be tuned in via the radio display.
A Sept. 12 launch is scheduled for the Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego markets, followed by a mid-October expansion into the entire Southwest U.S. Nationwide service is planned for November.
Some of the biggest names in entertainment, BB King, David Bowie and Snoop Dogg will lead the multimedia advertising charge. One ad spot features musicians, instruments, a race car and more raining down across the U.S. from an XM satellite. A 3,000-theater blanket of movie spots are slated to begin Aug. 10.
It remains to be seen whether satellite radio will change radio the same way cable changed television, but XM Satellite Radio will certainly offer the highest-powered radio stations ever. The channels will originate from XM’s giant 150,000 square-foot broadcast facility and uplink to the companies two Boeing 702 satellites. These satellites will then transmit across the entire continental U.S. Each satellite will deliver 18kw of power making them the two most powerful commercial satellites ever built. They expect to provide strong coast-to-coast coverage, even to remote locations and to the concrete canyons of major metropolitan cities.