Fred VS. First Wave

Wizkid2003 · 07-04-2003, 05:00 PM

One of the reasons why I chose satellite radio was because I love New Wave/Punk/Alt rock of the late 70's to the 80's. I went with XM because of Fred looked like what I wanted also I didn't have a car at the time and XM was the only one with a home unit.

Well, I have XM for 2 months and Fred is one BIg Disappointment for me.They play the most obscurest songs. I am a Manager of a Music store for 10 years and 80 percent of the songs on Fred I don't recognize. The Strangest thing was since I got XM, I noticed I listen to Sirius over the web much more than XM!

First Wave is the Station that I craved! The playlist on First Wave is amazing. I can't stop listening. I'm getting a Kenwood P2A this week and I'm going to enjoy First Wave and all that Sirius has to offer including NO Commercials!!!

Anthony

Speeddemon · 07-04-2003, 05:15 PM

I couldnt agree more.
Fred used to be fantastic, then suddenly something happened.
Funny thing is, when Sirius first started broadcasting over the web, before service was actually available, First Wave really sucked big time. Everything they played was very obscure. Now its the opposite.

zaxxon2000 · 07-04-2003, 09:50 PM

I switched to Sirius for this very reason. Let me count the ways I was disappointed with Fred.
1. Obscure songs.
2. TOOOOOOO much punk.
3. Way to many BBC concerts.
4. Nine Inch Nails followed by The Pixies. What gives?
5. Stone Roses followed by the Pixies.
6. The 80's extended mixes were way better than anything on Fred.
7. NO: Heaven 17, Q-Feel, Flash n the Pan, Ultravox, Blancmange, Soft Cell, Talk Talk........................................or very little of the New Wave I love so much.

Anyone who likes New Wave, I challenge you to compare both. You will see the obvious. Fred is Dead!

Blink · 07-05-2003, 12:36 AM

1st wave does it for me too. I am a fan of early 80's alt music but I rarely even know any of the songs played on Fred.

Blink

The Interpreter · 07-05-2003, 08:36 AM

I, too, listen to First Wave a lot! It is a great stream! I also recommend Organic Rock as a weird complement to First Wave!

SatMike · 07-05-2003, 11:52 PM

In the last couple weeks I've tended to listen to 1st Wave about 95% of the time. It's a great stream.

Suburbanites · 07-06-2003, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaxxon2000

I switched to Sirius for this very reason. Let me count the ways I was disappointed with Fred.
7. NO: Heaven 17, Q-Feel, Flash n the Pan, Ultravox, Blancmange, Soft Cell, Talk Talk........................................or very little of the New Wave I love so much.

Anyone who likes New Wave, I challenge you to compare both. You will see the obvious. Fred is Dead!

From a long-time XM'er, I must admit that you're correct. There were two things that I liked about XM when I first got it nearly 16 months ago. One was Fred, the other was the 80's Toejam's, although the timing for us East Coasters was horrid (12, 6, 12, 6), and now it's even less. If I wanted my New Wave fix, I found that Fred offered precious little, and the 80's channel was offering even less and dwindling.

Sirius has done a wonderful job with First Wave, a major factor in my decision to jump ship.

SiriusGS300 · 07-10-2003, 12:52 AM

I have to admit, I agree with you guys, FirstWave is much better than Fred. But, there's one thing I don't get...why are you all complaining about "obscure" tracks?

The last thing I want FirstWave to turn into is "80s hits" or something. There are tens of thousands of songs in this genere. Why would you want to hear the same ones over and over again. Think of it this way: The New Wave era is long gone, but everytime you hear one of these "obscure" songs for the first time, it's like its 1982 again.

It's very rare that I hear a song on Fred or FirstWave that I haven't heard at least once before (back in the day, that is). Maybe I just listened to more college stations than most during the late '70s and 80s. The whole reason we have sattelite radio is to be free of the top-40 commercial radio world. Do we need a top-40 retro-alternative station?? Give those obscure tracks a chance!

wae · 07-10-2003, 06:25 AM

Before XM & Fred, I *thought* I liked the obscure stuff. Occasionally I will hear obscure stuff I like on Fred - but 5 obscure songs in a row is unlistenable.

Very seldom do I hear something on First Wave I do not know... But when I'm cleaning the garage - or working on the cpu - or driving traffic... THAT'S WHAT I WANT!

I'm SOOO000ooo close to switching teams (Sirius). The only thing keeping me @ XM is the talk programming (love The Buzz and Regular Guys on Extreme).

Manco · 07-10-2003, 10:56 AM

wae, welcome to the board as an XM customer, and hopefully soon to be Sirius Listener. I'm sure there will be things that you will miss from XM if you choose to end the service, but it seems there are many here that choose to keep both. Maybe this is an option?

Birdinthesky · 08-02-2003, 04:57 PM

I have been listening to 1st Wave... and for the 1st two days I had my shuttle I loved it.

But now it is annoying me.. lots of songs like HOLD ME NOW by the Thompson Twins and that stuff you can hear on the 80s channels or even on the radio.

At least Fred plays nothing totally familiar like that but plays enough of a mix of punk, alternative rock AND new wave.