Nothing in my life has inspired me like Satellite Radio has. It came into my life in different levels since Howard Stern announced that he would be joining SIRIUS Satellite Radio back in October of 2004. It was the most amazing thing when Howard Stern told his listening audience he would be joining a subscription based company that had a mere 500,000 or so subscribers. There was something incredibly magical about the energy that was created in the Stern studio that October 7, of 2004. The news spread like wildfire. It quickly went from the Stern studio to the outside world. In a matter of hours the world was abuzz with the news. It was the ultimate F you to those who had provoked Stern numerous times cramping his style and show.
I remember the excitement Ben Stern when he called in and congratulated his son. It was the most appreciative call any father could give a son. I can remember exactly where I was in Los Angeles that day. It was momentous as a big Stern fan. From that moment on I KNEW that Satellite Radio would become a major part of my life. Somehow it clicked, and at that point I really didn’t quite know fully how much it would do so.
A month later after me talking non-stop about Satellite Radio and how excited I was to get SIRIUS my friend and neighbor Kenny gave me the gift of a SIRIUS Radio and a 1 year subscription. He didn’t have much money, but he kind of lifted it in a way. See Kenny worked for a Celebrity Gift Bag company that provided Celebrities with all sorts of goodies in return for the hope that in some way those celebrities would promote the items. An Xact XTR1 with Kit was what I received. There was some confusion over the subscription attached to it, but when we got it figured out and activated it was a very magical moment. Something really special about tuning in to all the channels. It wasn’t nearly as special as if someone else was showing it to me, it was special that it was mine. I could immerse myself in whatever world I wanted to. The idea that if I wanted to just listen to Elvis, or Electronic music non stop and without commercials was incredibly unique. I’m sure I wasn’t the only Stern fan who would tune to channels 100 and 101 and look in amazement just thinking of what would become of the channels.
There was this little thing that would bother me about having the Satellite Radio in my car and that was the look of the Black Antenna on the roof. For some reason it just looked out of place and at the time I loved caring for my car and ran a side business of Detailing Cars as well as tending Bar at a Restaurant in Beverly Hills. I wondered whether there was a better way to hide that black antenna on my blue car. I had a notion, a very strong one to start a business painting the Satellite Radio Antennas to match the color of the vehicle. My friend Wolf was a automotive paint rep and had decades of experience in body shop work and painting. I introduced the idea to him and he liked it, after all we were in Los Angeles at a time when look and appearance of vehicles were pretty important. He painted our very first Color Match Antenna. It was amazing. I teamed up with long time friend and business consultant Sean to start our business.
In a matter of months things started to happen. We had a business that generated buzz and appeal mainly through Orbitcast and Sirius Backstage. We started selling painted Satellite Radio antennas. We must have actually painted about 300 or so of them. I would love to hear from anyone that bought them from us. Those that did were more than impressed. We quickly built a reputation which would become very important later on. We expanded and sold more than just painted antennas, we sold non painted antennas. They were quick sellers. Somehow the notion then was that others really had this business handled and covered. In reality the more we expanded the more we realized that not to be true. We started to sell SIRIUS Hardware and accessories. Eventually we gave up the custom painting business since it was not making any money and the cost to mix a custom batch of paint for one antenna was just too much to break even. But that was a blessing in disguise.
We evolved to become a leader in selling everything SIRIUS. We later changed our name to The Sirius Store. We were the first to carry the Sportster Replay and later the Starmate Replay line of radios. It was as if nobody at the competition had a real feel for the audience to catch on to the wave and buzz that was SIRIUS Radio. That was ending soon when Stern came closer to Satellite. In the Fall/Winter of 2005 the SIRIUS S50 was the hot product. Our business was booming with myself running most of the day to day operations and Sean handling many of the emails and the backend of the website and operations. The business was run out of my 400 Sq Foot apartment in Sherman Oaks, California. Good thing I had a guest house that was above a garage and on a fenced in property. I needed as much room as possible to store all the goodies. We literally exploded with business and at many times it was very difficult and tiring to handle. I got so little sleep and rest it was taking it’s toll.
I still made time for the important things like Howard Sterns last day on FM radio. I flew out to New York for a brief period of time and met some good friends in person, like Mariann From Brooklyn. Somehow I got the special pass to the Hard Rock party after the event. It was a Stern fan dream. Anyone who was or is a part of the show was there. It was sensory overload and I couldn’t believe I was able to be a part of it.
As the business grew leaps and bounds so did the stress of carrying a lot of the work on my shoulders. I decided that I needed my business partners help and moved the operation from California to Chicago, IL. We hired our first employee and things smoothed out a bit. In the next year or so I was still busting my butt, but things were more manageable. We grew into our larger 1600 sq foot location and increased with more employees. By 2007 we had about 5 or 6 people.
The business was growing but so was the impact of Satellite Radio on my life. Somehow people just understood my passion for the service was clear. I have strong ties with many that share that passion. I’ve met many people online who like myself are obsessed with the service. It’s pretty easy to get that way especially if you listen often. I was living and breathing Satellite Radio, but I didn’t quite understand that others could see it so much until later on. I had begun establishing some good relationships at both SIRIUS and with some of the personalities on the channels. I became a fan of the Bubba the Love Sponge Show. And Bubba took a liking to myself and my business, which has done wonders for the amount of people who took a liking to our business, now called TSS-Radio. Bubba turned me into a personality in only he knows how to do. We began advertising on the SIRIUS channels and that strongly impacted our business in a positive way.
Somewhere along the way this Merger thing came along. And I didn’t quite get it. I was a SIRIUS fan and I wanted SIRIUS to destroy XM Radio. It bummed me out in some way. I was sure that SIRIUS would takeover the Satellite Radio world. I really didn’t have much experience with XM though, I just paid attention to what others were saying, plus I was on the Stern side of things. When the companies did officially merge I had calmed down but some part of me just wanted for SIRIUS to just dominate at that point.
By the time November of 2008 came around big changes were on the Horizon. Channel Changes, and most people don’t like change. Just reading blogs and what people say online got very depressing at that point. And Bubba the Love Sponge wasn’t sure whether he was going to be remaining on Satellite Radio or not. It was as some say “quite the tenses.” The channel changes didn’t bother me. I actually liked some of the new channels and at this point I had given into the evil XM empire and settled down with my newest toy the XMP3 Xm Portable Radio. I liked the addition of Pop2k to the lineup, sure did I miss Backspin, yes.
I was in a dark stage. I had lost some faith in Satellite Radio and that is rough for me to do. Everwhere I went online was bitching. But that would change on December 16, 2008. It’s the 3 year anniversary of Sterns last day on FM but it’s also my birthday. I went out with my Sirius friends that night here in Chicago. I got the most amazing gift anyone could have asked for. It was a History of Howard Stern Poster signed by the entire on air staff. I don’t think Howard Stern signs much but somehow this got signed for me, care of Baba Booey Gary Dell’Abate. Apparently my Sirius rep and him had an email conversation back and forth about me and he thought I was deserving of such a gift. It made more than an impact, it made me realize something. That some of the positive seeds I had sown earlier on had paid through. More positive signs came in the days to follow. Jose Mangin (Liquid Metal DJ/Programmer)ordered from us and in his comments he said some pretty cool things. “I love you guys! I’ve worked at Sirius for nine years and I’m the metal/hard rock dude here and think you guys do a lot for us, thanks!” Those words made quite an impact to me and the rest of the TSS-Radio crew like Alvaro, CJ and Berto who help the operations run. I had met Jose a couple years back with my mom on a tour of SIRIUS. He apparently remembered me and I sure remembered him. This is a guy who is gung ho and pumped up and it shows. Here we had built up a business on a passion of Satellite Radio and it makes an impact on some of the on air staff.
The next day SIRIUS XM made an announcement that Backspin and the Strobe were going to be back. Things were turning around. Bubba got re-signed and I was in far better spirits. In fact some things really came into realization about how much I love this service and how much others don’t. See people who have SIRIUS or XM or SIRIUS XM are extremely passionate about it. We are talking about so passionate that if one day one of their presets isn’t there any more it’s more than just a bummer. But what if the service all of a sudden just left? It probably would be more than a bummer. I have tremendous faith, in fact renewed faith that Satellite Radio will continue to grow and grow. But if we take a step back from looking at all the details about it, We Love the Service. And I ask you to spread the word and help Satellite Radio grow and succeed. If you love Satellite Radio like myself I encourage you to tell your story on this site. We can all get the word out there about how much we love SIRIUS XM and truly make a positive impact. Email your story or video to blog@ilovesiriusxm.com.
Taylor
Satellite Radio
