On Friday afternoon, I dropped $69.99 on a car adapter kit for my XM Delphi Skyfi2. A couple hours later, and I was on an 1,181 mile roadtrip across the country to Minneapolis, Minnesota. I kept track of what I listened to on my trip (and what I thought about it), and here's the first part, from Philadelphia to Minneapolis. The return trip will be documented on Thursday.
Minority Report - Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder

Oh, Janeane and Sam. I can always count on Janeane Garofalo to go to the lunatic fringe of any political issue. I always feel as though she is about ten seconds away from screaming about the trilateral commission and the Zionist conspiracy.

Alan Colmes - Alan Colmes, Charlie Daniels

Alan Colmes had Charlie Daniels on, who is pretty well-known for patriotically-themed music and attitude. A good show. I think Alan Colmes should have guests on more often. I learned a lot about Charlie Daniels that I didn't know before, and Alan was a great interviewer. Good show!

Morning Sedition - Marc Maron and Mark Riley

What can I say about these guys that I haven't said before? Engaging, entertaining, and funny. I still think that these guys are the geniuses of the newly-minted 'Air America Radio On XM.' I haven't listened to a show of 'Morning Sedition' that I haven't liked. I wish they would replay it at a sane time at night, so I didn't have to get up at six in the morning to listen to it.

The Rush Limbaugh Show - Rush Limbaugh

Spinning the dial to the conservative side, I got an earful of Rush Limbaugh. I couldn't believe the guy was still on the air, but a little while of listening told me why. He sounds good. He sounds like he did in the Clinton years. No stumbling, no waiting, no pauses. He is on top of his game, he's got his research, and he sounds good. His political viewpoint hasn't changed, so this isn't about his content. He just plain sounds good.

The Rusty Humphries Show - Rusty Humphries

I had thought that the era of political radio was over. I thought the stuffy right-wing commentators and the whiny left-wing commentators had been brought full-circle with the advent of Air America. I thought there was nothing new under the sun. I'd never heard Rusty Humphries before this night, and I'm very glad I did.

Yes, he's a conservative. Yes, I'm a liberal. I couldn't stop listening to the show. His delivery is wonderful, his callers seem to be smarter than most, and he's not afraid of nuance. I love this show. I love it so much. I will listen to this semi-regularly from now on. This is why I got XM. Introduce me to things I wouldn't normally listen to.

Top Tracks

Top Tracks is XM's 'big classic rock hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s' station. It's hit-or-miss. Two good songs followed by one mediocre song followed by a really crap song. Rinse, repeat. They need to tighten up this one somehow. No ideas from me, but maybe cut more songs out of the entire library.

The 80s on 8

Much better. The 80s channel gives me a nice wide look at eighties music without making me feel as though they're just playing everything they can find. 'Jam on it' by Newcleus? I haven't heard that song since the 80s, and XM provided. Great stuff.

The 90s on 9

Same as the 80s, really. On the other hand, I would like to mention that there's a lot of hip-hop in the 90s. I think that 'The 90s' tends to err on the side of Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots and Smashing Pumpkins. No reason not to, there are entire hip-hop channels on the network, but I'd like a little more hip-hop in my 90s, please.

Radio Disney

Yes, yes, I know. I was hoping to hear 'Us Against The World' by Play, but instead I heard... Jimmy Eat World? Apparently this isn't the all-Epcot all-the-time station. They play pop, and not just Disney-pop, either. The best part of Radio Disney was hearing the song 'Rich Girl' by Gwen Stefani. You know, Gwen Stefani from that band 'No Doubt?' That band that released an album called Tragic Kingdom? Featuring a song called Tragic Kingdom? That was a seven-minute diss on Disney and their current management? Yeeees. Fair play to Disney for playing the girl from Anaheim anyway.

XM Comedy 150

This is the reason I got XM in the first place. Uncensored comedy. Mitch Fatel and Todd Barry and the late Mitch Hedberg. Great stuff.

Minneapolis Local Traffic & Weather

My god, the traffic stations sound terribly awful. They need to do something about this, because they sound terrible. You can barely make out what they're saying, and you've got to crank the volume to make it out. Supremely annoying.

How was the service? I would say that it was about 95% good, with static and fadeouts in mountain valleys and tunnels. To be fair, I was unable to mount the antenna the way they wanted me to mount the antenna, because my Cadillac has a cloth top, not a steel one. The antenna currently resides just ahead of my driver's side door. All things considered, this service is worth the money. On trips like this, it was definitely worth not station-surfing because of reception loss.

More on Thursday!