Launch of XM Satellite Radio has been full of surprises, Chmn. Gary Parsons told Salomon Smith Barney conference in Scottsdale Thurs. Company had expected subscribers to skew strongly toward men 18-34, core of the car stereo market. Instead, early buyers have come almost evenly from those ages 18- 55, Parsons said. He attributed that to drawing power of XM’s several channels each of jazz, classical music and news. Older purchasers are helping make add-on hardware more popular than in- dash units because they aren’t inclined to rip existing music systems out of their cars, Parsons said.
Launch of XM Satellite Radio has been full of surprises, Chmn. Gary Parsons told Solomon Smith Barney conference in Scottsdale Thurs. Company had expected subscribers to skew strongly toward men 18-34, core of the car stereo market. Instead, early buyers have come almost evenly from those aged 18-55, Parsons said. He attributed that to drawing power of XM’s several channels each of jazz, classical music, news. Older purchasers are helping make add-on hardware more popular than in-dash units because they aren’t inclined to rip existing music systems out of their cars, Parsons said.