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Six months ago today, I reviewed KISS-XM and Sirius Hits 1 and determined that Sirius Hits 1 was better for me. Six months have passed with me listening more to Sirius and I can still say the same conclusion that I had in my other post (Part 1) that Sirius Hits 1 is still killing XM in the Hits department.

Sirius Hits 1

Impressive. That’s what it comes down to between the two. It’s a 20on20 mixed with today’s hits and a few extra songs thrown in there. Plus, it plays the current hits sooner than XM, which is what the Hits-based genre is all about and why Sirius is kicking XM in that respect.

Despite the sweepers that are still frequent, you eventually tune them out. Not only that, but the sweepers are so quick, they are truly unobtrusive. DJ’s are totally into their job, meaning they are energetic and informative. The Morning Mess is a Hits-based, high-energy morning show unrivaled by XM since XM has no morning shows that are enjoyable for the “younger” generation, so to speak.

KISS-XM

Pathetic. One song that is out of the normal rotation, INOJ – Love Me Down, is not enough to sway me back to XM. XM has claimed for half a year that “DJ’s are top priority” (reference the other thread and the quote from Jon Zellner, XM’s pathetic excuse for a VP of Programming which he assumes means “Hey, I have total control of cutting playlists and living the FM mentality!”

Not only that, but him saying that KISS-XM only plays today’s current hits is obviously a total lie; otherwise, INOJ should NOT be on KISS (great song and group, yes, but they haven’t been Top 40 since 1998 at #64 and #88 ).

KISS still lacks DJ’s, user interaction, and any form of requests (despite their new sweeper’s claiming you can send in requests to their e-mail address) though they won’t be played for 3 days because it’s all voicetracked 3 days in advance last I checked (not that there is anything wrong with this, except the fact that it’s a Hits-based format that is great for requests and they make it seem as if they will get your request on the air ASAP).

Overall, KISS still greatly sucks and despite XM’s claims for getting KISS in gear and “into the 21st century” as they claim, those ideas have all fallen dead, as expected of XM. Contacting XM about KISS’ problems is useless, as has been proven, and will always fall on deaf ears, those being Jon Zellner, the SPD of Hits, and the PD of KISS.

The KISS yearbook is the stupidest thing ever. If you’re going to pretend to be a Decades channel, then be one, otherwise trash the bad idea. If you’re not going to play a lot of songs from the year you’re “advertising”, then what’s the point of even giving a flashback to that year? Utterly pointless and doesn’t fit in at all. It’s probably XM’s response to “user interaction.”

Conclusion

Sirius Hits 1 still wins and I will be staying with Sirius as a lifetime subscription soon for this reason and other reasons as to why I am unhappy with XM. I plan on keeping XM for a while, but if things continue to go downhill as they are, I’ll drop it – plain and simple.

The Hits genre is about getting the newest music first and providing a good mix from 2000-Today, if not a little further back. KISS has failed to do so, whereas Sirius Hits 1 has blended in a bit of MIX, KISS, and 20on20, as well as U-Pop content in one channel. Sirius Hits 1 plays new music constantly and is a true Hits channel. KISS is the disgrace of XM and I’ll tell anyone right now that if they are thinking of getting XM and love Hits, don’t subscribe to XM as they can’t deliver.

View Sirius Hits 1 Playlist (part 2)
View KISS XM Playlist (part 2)