OK, I’m hooked. Totally dependent. Addicted.

To satellite radio.

It started last year when we put an XM radio receiver in our Jeep Liberty. We were driving a lot between Virginia and Illinois to settle Amy’s mother’s estate and got tired of the dead spots for radio reception.

XM offers more than 100 channels of digital-quality radio reception, including 65 commercial-free music streams. As we drove for 14-hour stretches, I relived my teenage years on the 60s channel, Amy sang along with showtunes on the Broadway channel and news was never far away with CNN and MSNBC. We drove a lot on Sundays and the NASCAR channel brought the races in loud and clear.

Earlier this year, XM added instant traffic and weather reports for metro areas and we added receivers to our two Wranglers, making us a three-XM family.

The receiver in my Wranger died last month and I had to order a new one. During the 48-hour lapse without sat radio, I tried listening to FM stations but couldn’t stand the glut of commercials and mindless chatter of the announcers.