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Are Satellite Radio Common In Company Trucks Now?

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Grumppy, Jan 27, 2024.

Page 1 of 6
  1. Jan 27, 2024 #1
    Grumppy

    Grumppy Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

    3,051
    10,341
    Dec 11, 2010
    West Monroe, La
    0
    The company I work for has hired a promotion company (Work Hound) about a year ago, to ask questions & get our input on various topics.

    They ask questions occasionally like "how can we make your daily life better?" Not that so much but similar type questions. They do this about once a week or so.
    We have cheap stock AM/FM radio with mp3 player.

    (To bypass the following rant, go to the last paragraph)

    I don't listen to the radio much cause its hard to find a classic rock or classic country stations. Twenty years ago radio stations got kinda like truck stops. They changed formats from music to talk radio. I could give a crap less about talk radio. I got my own stupid opinions. I don't need anyone else's.
    So you either have static, talk, sports, rap, christian, spanish, other ethnic or advertising.... and that's from the 8 stations that you can even pick up where you are. And since they only broadcast 40 miles, you gotta change stations every 30 minutes.
    So, I have 4 thumb drives with 200 or so songs each on them & I switch them out weekly.
    And don't say/complain that I have to listen to the same 200 songs throughout the week. There's the other problem. Few radio stations have live DJ's anymore. Only the big market stations have live DJs anymore. All the small & medium market stations are automated. A fake DJ (software) in Los Angeles somewhere that satellites to 5000 radio stations around the country for a fee & a music director that chooses 200 songs that play for a year on a daily basis, then changes out those 200 for another year.
    I did happen to try to listen to KLUV 98.7 in Dallas yesterday.... they're still playing the same 200 songs they were playing when I was working in that area in 2006. KLUV is a major market station that is owned by CBS (or it used to be).

    Anyway, sorry for the rant. My question is, are satellite radios common in new company trucks now? I was considering replying to Work Hound & suggesting satellite radios in new trucks for drivers... not that I suspect it would ever be fruitful, but I guess it don't hurt to ask.
     
    Grumppy, Jan 27, 2024
    Grumppy, Jan 27, 2024
    #1
    Oxbow, Another Canadian driver, Lonesome and 3 others Thank this.
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  3. Jan 27, 2024 #2
    upnorthwpg

    upnorthwpg Road Train Member

    1,714
    2,459
    Sep 23, 2011
    0
    Satellite is the only way to go. Set it and forget it. Lots of variety.
     
    upnorthwpg, Jan 27, 2024
    upnorthwpg, Jan 27, 2024
    #2
    Another Canadian driver, Grumppy and Magoo1968 Thank this.
  4. Jan 27, 2024 #3
    Kyle G.

    Kyle G. Road Train Member

    3,754
    19,604
    Jan 23, 2016
    Eastern Iowa
    0
    In my experience, a lot of company truck radios have satellite radio capability, but it may be up to the driver to activate and pay for the service. If the company pays for the service, then heck yeah, but I wouldn't pay for it. I had it for awhile and found it just isn't worth the money for the two or three stations I would listen to.

    Now I am all about Pandora. Throw a bunch of requests at it, then put it on shuffle and let her rip. You get surprised how many cool artists/songs it will dig up that you never knew about.
     
    Kyle G., Jan 27, 2024
    Kyle G., Jan 27, 2024
    #3
    Saltyoldone, TexasRiverRat, Another Canadian driver and 5 others Thank this.
  5. Jan 27, 2024 #4
    Grumppy

    Grumppy Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

    3,051
    10,341
    Dec 11, 2010
    West Monroe, La
    0
    Yeah, I wouldn't mind paying for the service,... if the company would just put the radio, antena etc from the factory. I just don't want to have to go to the trouble of an add on, then have to remove my radio when I change trucks, etc.
     
    Grumppy, Jan 27, 2024
    Grumppy, Jan 27, 2024
    #4
    Another Canadian driver, Lonesome and Kyle G. Thank this.
  7. Jan 27, 2024 #5
    '88K100

    '88K100 Road Train Member

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    Aug 23, 2020
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    I stream Spotify. Best music option I’ve come across. My nephew got a subscription and he shared it with his 3 favourite relatives
     
    '88K100, Jan 27, 2024
    '88K100, Jan 27, 2024
    #5
    Another Canadian driver, Diesel Dave, snowlauncher and 4 others Thank this.
  8. Jan 27, 2024 #6
    LowBeam

    LowBeam Light Load Member

    79
    172
    Jan 31, 2023
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    I listen to podcasts almost exclusively. As for music, I like independent artists that you don't see on Spotify. I like LNBeats. There's a lot of new music podcasts that are dedicated to independent artists in the music shows tab. Some suck but a lot of them are fairly professionally produced.
     
    LowBeam, Jan 27, 2024
    LowBeam, Jan 27, 2024
    #6
    Another Canadian driver Thanks this.
  9. Jan 27, 2024 #7
    skallagrime

    skallagrime Road Train Member

    3,836
    9,877
    Apr 10, 2012
    Indiana
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    If the headunit doesnt have bluetooth built in, your company is 15 years behind reality.

    First thing i put in any vehicle i get, trucks, personal cars. No tunes, no drive
     
    skallagrime, Jan 27, 2024
    skallagrime, Jan 27, 2024
    #7
    Another Canadian driver, RockinChair and gentleroger Thank this.
  10. Jan 27, 2024 #8
    Crude Truckin'

    Crude Truckin' Alien Spacecraft

    2,377
    6,499
    Oct 22, 2016
    North Dakota, Eh?
    0
    Satellite radio is……..kinda getting ancient now too. I Bluetooth anything I want to listen to, to my head unit from my iPhone. I have Apple Music and they have almost everything on there. And I can download the music to my phone for when I don’t have service.
     
    Crude Truckin', Jan 27, 2024
    Crude Truckin', Jan 27, 2024
    #8
    snowman1980, Another Canadian driver, bzinger and 4 others Thank this.
  11. Jan 27, 2024 #9
    tscottme

    tscottme Road Train Member

    13,779
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    Jul 25, 2008
    Somewhere out West, in my mind.
    0
    I'd rather have my personal satellite radio than satellite radio be included into the built-in truck stereo. If you are a company driver you will from time to time drive another truck. If you have your own sat radio device it can move with you into any other vehicle. I don't expect a trucking company will take quick action to get the sat radio working in some temporary truck.

    The truck radio won't likey store as many preset channels as a stand-alone device and the stand-alone device display may show more info than the truck stereo.
     
    tscottme, Jan 27, 2024
    tscottme, Jan 27, 2024
    #9
    Another Canadian driver, Grumppy and Crude Truckin' Thank this.
  12. Jan 27, 2024 #10
    tarmadilo

    tarmadilo Road Train Member

    1,591
    4,254
    Dec 12, 2018
    0
    All of my company’s trucks have sat-ready radios. All I have to do is get a SiriusXM subscription to listen. But I have a couple of thousand songs already on my iPhone, and I pay for unlimited data so I can listen to podcasts or stream particular radio station feeds using apps like Radio Garden, so I haven’t bothered with satellite radio.
     
    tarmadilo, Jan 27, 2024
    tarmadilo, Jan 27, 2024
    #10
    Another Canadian driver, Grumppy and Crude Truckin' Thank this.
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