Anyone still listen to OTA radio?

[RunningBum]

OTA for me. I keep thinking about satellite radio, especially since OTA reception can be bad some places on the mountain, but I have about 20GB on a USB thumb drive so I can play most any of my music I'm really interested in hearing on my car. And I don't want to pay that high of a monthly/yearly fee.

 

[Another Reader]

I like Sirius/XM, although I agree the play lists are too short. Although I do think they play every Jimmy Buffet song ever recorded, including a lot of live versions. However, I'm on the "call every 5 or 6 months and talk to customer retention" $6.00 a month plan. No way would I pay any more than that for radio.

I also listen to the OTA news stations. If I have to go anywhere near Los Angeles, it's KNX for the traffic reports starting around Bakersfield...

 

[audreyh1]

We dropped satellite radio over a year ago. It's way too expensive.

 

[John Galt III]

Yes. I just turn of the commercials. Might wear out the on/off switch! No way I'm paying for radio. Heck, I'm already paying too much for crap TV.

 

[M Paquette]

Yes. Mostly 40M SSB, and in the car 2M FM on the local repeaters.

Wait, what?

Hey, it's over the air...

I do occasionally listen to AM broadcast, primarily news when weather turns bad, and in the car DW likes to listen to sports broadcasts. I sometimes tune in the local NPR affiliate on weekends.

Almost all music is from local gadget content, or a streaming service with a very heavily trained feed (that is, I've rejected lots of stuff, added what I could by hand, and tweaked til it's acceptable).

 

[Ronstar]

OTA radio almost exclusively while I'm driving. Listen to iTunes only when I'm in an area with no radio stations. Sometimes listen to OTA in my workshop. No satellite radio.


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[target2019]

I still listen in my car to OTA. I have seen what satellite radio has to offer. It is really good. But am I gonna go out and get it? No. I do not want another bill and while IMO the cost is worth it I am not going to do it. At home I listen to online radio and I can get any radio station I want from almost anywhere. In my car I suffer with local stations but I am not in my car all that much. I am just curious how everyone else feels about this and what do you do about it.

In the car I switch between listener supported radio (Home drive) and sports radio (work drive). I could plug in my iwhatever (phone or ipod), or play a cd, but those choices require more effort...

I have a USB connection. Should see if that will play music or is just charging slot. Some day I'll pair my phone. Lol.

 

[donheff]

I listen to NPR OTA in the car and streaming at the gym.

 

[folivier]

Sirius teaser just canceled in my NTM 2014 Mustang. And I still haven't programmed the OTA channels. I loaded all of my CDs to the cars hard drive and have a usb stick with more music. And can always stream Prime music through my phone. With over a thousand songs randomly playing I rarely hear the same song. Don't miss the commercials on OTA. Really don't miss the yoyo on 60s on 6. I mean seriously dude why would I pay for commercial free music to listen to you and your call-in buddies? Just play music....

 

[Gumby]

If I had a long regular commute or had to travel a lot in my car, I'd probably splurge for satellite radio, but I don't drive enough miles a year to justify the cost.

I still commute slightly over two hours everyday. I listen to OTA radio so I can hear the traffic reports and adjust my route accordingly. I listen to only two stations and I switch about halfway through the drive because a) the traffic reporter on each covers a different geographical area and b) their respective signals are not strong enough to cover the entire distance.

 

[Walt34]

Only in the car, and if there is more than one commercial, or even one, I turn the radio off or hit the mute button. More often than not I forget to turn it back on.

 

[swakyaby]

Wake up to OTA NPR radio to hear some news, play OTA classical radio when getting ready in the bathroom. In the car, I play Slacker radio because the service is being provided for the first 8 years of owning my car. At work, I stream Pandora radio (I pay the subscription so I don't hear any commercials).

So I would say I listen to a little of everything. My bedside radio plays HD radio, and a few of those stations come in nicely.

 

[athena53]

I'm also very conservative about paying subscription fees every month. I've found a great assortment of podcasts (NPR's Fresh Air, Freakonomics, Planet Money, some BBC programs, Jim Cramer, and video news in French and German). That, and my own music collection, keep me entertained.

 

[Sunset]

I'm all in on NPR, too. I guess that's why I'm not bothered by commercials. ..... NPR, broad topics, closest national show is probably Fresh Air.

I listen to OTA radio, had XM with a trial with the new vehicle, and found it repeated the songs every 3 days so refused to sign up.

Also use OTA TV because its HD and free, supplement it with Netflix and we have too much TV to watch.

On long drives of hundeds of miles per day, I use a thumb drive with all my music on it, have about 23 days worth of music and still building my collection

 

[Payin-the-Toll]

Wow!--can't believe how many responses this thread got. I'm a big OTA guy. Have a small battery radio that I haul around with me when weeding, painting outside, shoveling snow, etc. Keep a half-dozen CD's in the car, but usually too lazy to use them. Got a daughter that lives 160 miles north, and one that lives 260 miles west. When we road trip to see them, I like to punch the 'search' button and listen to the local stations to get the local flavor. NPR does 'Prairie Home Companion' on Saturday night at 6PM for 2 hours, followed by a local guy that does 2 hours of Blues. Just love it!

I'm in Indianapolis, and there's an independent station out of Bloomington IN (where IU is) 60 miles south of us (WTTS 92.3 FM) that I've listened to for 30 years. They do alternative, rock, a little blues, pop, and oldies. After the new year on Monday Jan. 4th, they played 2016 songs with no repeats to celebrate the new year. Still did the weather, news, & commercials, and it took them over 12 days to play them all--was pretty cool knowing you could turn it on and not hear a repeat.

We have a local station here in town that I won't mention, and at 10:15 am in the morning I'll say: "Oh, must be time for Billy Joel singing 'Piano Man'"--and sure enough, I'll turn on the station and Billy Joel will be singing--drives me up a wall!

 

[txtig]

I've been a Sirius/XM subscriber for at least 10 years. I hate the monthly subscription fees, but I hate the commercials and DJ chatter on OTA even more. Like a few previous posters, I mostly listen to Outlaw Country. I don't think there are any OTA stations that play that particular genre of music. Only time I ever listen to OTA is to pick up a little talk radio, Rush or maybe Michael Berry. The satellite cost wasn't too bad until DW decided she wanted it too. But, I couldn't very well tell her I wasn't going to pay for her to have if I wasn't willing to give it up.


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[Big_Hitter]

. Like a few previous posters, I mostly listen to Outlaw Country.

werd! must be a Houston thing...

 

[big-papa]

In the car, OTA radio. At home, only the local NPR station and sometimes the classical station. Otherwise, it's Spotify(our kid), Pandora (when I'm mowing) or Amazon (everything else in between). Had XM in the car but let it lapse after a year - there was nothing we listened to that we couldn't get for free some other way.

 

[nvestysly]

We're fine with OTA radio. We have not taken time to understand all that's offered and involved with satellite radio and our limited exposure to it with friends and family has been interesting but not life transforming.

We purchased a used vehicle a few years ago that has an early version of satellite radio and when I say early the tuner only accesses some of the channels. For example our radio may only go to channel 99 and there are way more channels than that now. When I contacted Sirius/XM and asked for a pro-rated monthly fee, since I can only access 99 channels, they acted like I was crazy!

Don't overlook HD OTA radio. We installed a HD radio in our travel trailer and I'm amazed at the programming that's available. Many of the channels have little or no commercials or they interject much less objectionable advertisements compared to "commercial" OTA. I don't know why HD radio doesn't get more attention.


HD may be a misnomer... maybe it's referred to as digital. Regardless, it's great!

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

We're fine with OTA radio. We have not taken time to understand all that's offered and involved with satellite radio and our limited exposure to it with friends and family has been interesting but not life transforming.

We purchased a used vehicle a few years ago that has an early version of satellite radio and when I say early the tuner only accesses some of the channels. For example our radio may only go to channel 99 and there are way more channels than that now. When I contacted Sirius/XM and asked for a pro-rated monthly fee, since I can only access 99 channels, they acted like I was crazy!

Don't overlook HD OTA radio. We installed a HD radio in our travel trailer and I'm amazed at the programming that's available. Many of the channels have little or no commercials or they interject much less objectionable advertisements compared to "commercial" OTA. I don't know why HD radio doesn't get more attention.


HD may be a misnomer... maybe it's referred to as digital. Regardless, it's great!

Well, I think there are two problems with HD radio. Firstly, is most radios, but certainly not all are not capable of receiving the HD radio signal. That means of course that one would need to buy a HD capable radio system. Most don't want to do that. Second thing is that the HD radio signal does not seem to travel as far. There is not much fringe reception in HD. If you get too close to another big city or a hill intervenes in the signal path you are done.

 

[ziggy29]

Well, I think there are two problems with HD radio. Firstly, is most radios, but certainly not all are not capable of receiving the HD radio signal. That means of course that one would need to buy a HD capable radio system. Most don't want to do that. Second thing is that the HD radio signal does not seem to travel as far. There is not much fringe reception in HD. If you get too close to another big city or a hill intervenes in the signal path you are done.

It's similar to digital TV signals -- there isn't a gradual fade out or reduction in quality. Either you get it or you don't. So any short-term degradation of a signal doesn't just make it fade out or add a little "snow" -- it cuts out entirely. That's the nature of digital signals compared to analog. But the flip side to that is when you *do* get a sufficient signal, it is terrific.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Don't overlook HD OTA radio.

have it in all 3 vehicles - doesn't work that well out in BFE or on the ski hill, plus they still have commercials. I hate commercials.

 

[sengsational]

Why isn't there a "DVR" for the car radio? I guess it would be a "DAR". It could be recording the last station you were on, or, shoot, 10 of your favorite stations at once! When you get in the car, you could set it to start playing from, say 2 hours ago. Then you could skip commercials as they come up!

Obviously no good for weather or traffic, but that's why they invented smart phones.

 

[UpAnchor]

Only in the car, and if there is more than one commercial, or even one, I turn the radio off or hit the mute button. More often than not I forget to turn it back on.

Sounds like me but I'm less irritated by commercials than mindless DJ babble. But the vast majority of the time I don't get around to turning it on at all. I listened plenty enough from my youth through my 40's (to which my tinnitus may attest.) I'm sure my twenty-plus years of weekly 400-700 mile round-trip interstate commutes played into that as well. I'd already pretty much stopped listening during the latter portion of those years and got so that I could drive for several hundred miles just listening to my tires on the road and doing my best thinkin'. (Never said I was a fast thinker.) But I was almost always alone and could get away with such behavior. These days I can still drive with the radio off but not without a psychological assessment by my family members.

And to think I came from a music background...

 

[Scarecrow]

I listen to NPR in the car. Occasionally try to listen to other stations, but, they are just ads with a little bit of non-ad content thrown in. I can't take it for very long until I turn it off or go back to NPR.