Primosphere Limited Partnership was one of four companies bidding for Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, or SDARS, licenses in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The service would have been an

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

-supported

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

audio service with an emphasis on serving music

genres Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other form ...

that had lost exposure in the terrestrial radio market during that period, such as classic

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, " beautiful music," "

pop standard Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

s," and

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

. Two dedicated public radio talk channels were also proposed along with traditional

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

channels.

History

In 1990, Satellite CD Radio, Inc. proposed the concept of a satellite-delivered digital radio service to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

. The following year,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

radio station WPAT switched formats on both its AM and FM stations from "beautiful music" to "

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

", removing a

high-fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) f ...

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

outlet for these formats in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

. In 1993, popular music radio station WNEW in New York changed format from pop standards and swing music to business talk radio WBBR-AM, and WQXR changed its call letters to WQEW and format to pop standards, in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the WNEW and WPAT listener diaspora. In January 1995, the

(FCC) set aside 50 MHz (2310 MHz through 2360 MHz) in the

S-band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the convention ...

for Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service ( SDARS), now commonly known as Satellite Radio. In 1996, WPAT-FM switched from music to Spanish language "adult contemporary" format. Its sister AM station WPAT switched to a Mexican music format, then to Korean language, and eventually paid ethnic programming. In the same year, Clifford Burnstein, a New York-based partner in entertainment industry company Q-Prime, and

Peter Mensch Peter Mensch (born March 28, 1953) is an American music manager. He started his career in music management at the age of 26, managing AC/DC. In 1982, Mensch formed the management company Q Prime with Cliff Burnstein. Their first client was Def ...

bid $68 million for an SDARS license through holding company Primosphere Limited Partnership with the stated intention of restoring music genres no longer available in major radio markets. In April 1997, American Mobile Satellite Corporation and Satellite CD Radio, Inc. were each awarded SDARS licenses. The companies eventually become known

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable ...

and

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) service that operated in the United States and Canada. Sirius launched in 2002, and primarily competed with XM Satellite Radio, until the two services merged in 2008 to form Sirius XM. Li ...

, respectively. Primosphere and Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation were denied licenses as third and fourth lowest bidders, respectively, during the auction. On October 27, 1997, the FCC formally dismissed Primosphere's and Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation's applications for an SDARS license. In November that year, Primosphere petitioned the FCC to adopt foreign ownership restrictions for SDARS licensees in order to overturn both Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio's licenses. XM at the time had a 20% stake owned by foreign-owned WorldSpace Satellite Radio. In July 1999, American Mobile Satellite bought the 20% share of XM Satellite Radio owned by WorldSpace, effectively removing foreign ownership issues. In March 2001, Primosphere petitioned the United States Court of Appeals to require the FCC to review its previous petition, to require the FCC to adopt foreign ownership restrictions on SDARS licensees, now only Sirius Satellite Radio.

launched on September 25, 2001. In December 2001 the company petitioned the FCC to reconsider its 1997 decision to dismiss the company's SDARS application. The FCC reaffirmed its decision and sealed the company's fate.

officially launched on July 1, 2002, after several technical and financial delays. On August 27, 2007, Primosphere filed a second comment concerning the merger of Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. In 2009 Sirius/XM was required to lease 8% or 4 channels each to qualified groups as a condition of their merger, potentially opening the door to Primophere leasing channels on XM and on Sirius existing radios for free to consumers, supported by commercials.

References

{{Reflist Mass media companies of the United States Satellite radio Telecommunications companies of the United States