A Resource and Radio and Rental Cars

I wanted to share another resource for those who may have an interest in talk radio. The resource is http://ltradio.blogspot.com/ and the "lt" which is part of its name stands for "liberal talk," but you don't have to be a liberal to enjoy the writing that you'll find there.

It talks about a variety of talk radio issues and what's going on in the industry. It's tightly written, often humorous, and very well presented.

An interesting radio-related occurrence happened to me a few weeks ago that you may find interesting (or not). I had occasion within a few days to rent a car from each of two different companies.

I should add that the reason I first subscribed to Sirius radio, after already having been an XM customer was because when I'd rented a car and heard Sirius, I was impressed with all the additional programming they had, and had to have it (yes I'm a member of the Yuppie scum).

In this case, neither of the cars had either satellite service, and I found that curious. It really wasn't disappointing, because I took my Sirius radio in the cars with me, but it did seem odd. So I asked. I was told that the companies are keeping their cars longer now and the reason they had the satellite service in the first place is that the companies (XM or Sirius, depending on the auto manufacturer) provide the service free for a year. After a year, you -- if you're the purchaser of the car -- have to pony up and subscribe or you lose the service.

This tells us several things.

One, XM and Sirius (now merged) were both behaving intelligently by providing their services free to get someone hooked, and hopefully gaining subscribers. Hey, it worked with me and I'd only heard it for a couple of days (on a long trip in the rental car).

Two, rental care companies are keeping their cars longer for a simple reason -- they're trying to save money. It's also reflective of what happens in a serious recession. The rental companies' income is down, so they buy fewer cars and that affects the automakers, and the rest of the economy.

There's no real conclusion, here, but it's interesting how radio can tell us things that seemingly have nothing to do with the medium.

In any event, check out LT Radio.

Also, if you want to share a comment, you can do that at jbushman@gmail.com. And, if you want to read my writing on other subjects, try: http://JeffOnPolitics.blogspot.com and/or http://JeffOnHealth.blogspot.com.

Thanks.