I bought an XM Satellite radio a number of years ago so that I can ignore the horrible choices on FM radio in my area. I wanted a source of good, commercial free music and to be rid of morning DJs with their silly adolescent humor, talk about Britney’s latest rehab story, etc. I have a couple of kids too, so even more reason to want to kick that crap out of our lives.
XM gave me a good way out. The Loft – XM 50 was one of my favorite channels. Lots of great music, 24 hours a day. DJs that might tell you little stories about the music, the artists, and the names of the songs.
XM recently merged with Sirius and the DJ lineup merged as well.
Now, on The Loft, I have to listen to Dave Marsh, who can’t just play music. He has to interject a few minutes of his political opinions between every couple of songs. This Sunday morning at 10am, His program starts off with a snippet of a live performer shouting, “Let’s kick out the f***ing jams!”.
Then he gives us a mashup of Bush quotes put to a backdrop of Steam’s Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.
But it gets worse. His first comments are about the “genocidal war in Gaza”. He apparently hasn’t heard about the genocidal war against Israel, as declared by Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, etc. And he hasn’t read about the human shields being employed by Hamas and Hezbollah to maximize deaths of innocents and anti-Israel propaganda.
He also calls it a “surrogate war”. Apparently Israel doesn’t have enough reason to defend itself? Blame Bush for this too?
Other comments from Dave Marsh:
“We’re here today not to praise Bush, but to bury him.”
“What could be stupider than what we just went through for the last eight years?”
“…pathetic maniac that has been allowed to run this country.”
Dave Marsh thinks he’s clever, and he might think he’s right, but he seems woefully under-informed and afflicted by Bush Derangement Syndrome.
So I’ll have to start tuning in to The Loft at times when this turkey is not on. I’m also avoiding Vin Scelsa’s show on the same channel for the same reasons. I get tired of shouting at the radio, “Shut up and just play the music, jerk!”
Dear XM, please move Dave Marsh’s and Vin Scelsa’s political commentary to “America Left – XM 167″. If you think his political opinion is valuable, then put it on the political talk channels. Otherwise, he needs to just shut up and play the music.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Jeesh, 1 billion Muslims surround 5 million Jews who have a country smaller than New Jersey and still they don’t get a break.
Marsh sounds pretty awful. Especially if he’s swearing.
No, they don’t seem to get much of a break. All of the sympathy seems to go to the Palestinians who elected Hamas to power, and shout “Death To Israel!”
To be clear, Dave Marsh didn’t swear himself. He just played a few songs and the intro to his show had the F-word in it. Which makes his show fairly “family-unfriendly”.
And on a Sunday morning no less, at 10am. Jeesh.
I guess it’s right to say that the real good music nowadays is actually free and on fm. I hope you can give me a link to this site so we can listen to it, too.
Link to what site? xmradio.com? You can listen to their stuff online. I think they have a free trial of their online streaming.
The problem with FM radio isn’t the FM itself, but depending on where you live, you are likely to have a pretty poor choice of music. I can tune in about four classic rock stations. It’s the same old heavy rotation of music from the late 60′s, 70′s, 80′s that we’ve all grown weary off. Then there are the formula pop stations (top 20), the geriatric soft-rock stations. The only thing worth tuning into are the classical stations, and if you’re really lucky, a jazz station or a university station that isn’t currently running a basketball game or the death-metal show.
But regardless of the music that you’re interested in listening to, we really don’t need to be subjected to foul language or an asinine DJ’s ill-informed political opinions. Not when the channel is described as a music channel, and when we’re paying for it.