There's a new XM commercial out called the "XM-erator" - and it's pretty neat in my opinion. Watch it below:

One of the key thing about XM's latest batch of commercials is the music. I love that. They select a tune that matches with the theme of the spot, and that just seems to work. This commercial is tied to an online ad campaign (which, if you haven't noticed, are everywhere recently).

Anyway, I just thought it was neat as we're in the midsts of the final stretch of merger madness.

[XM]
Thanks Roland!

UPDATE: There have been several requests for what the song is for this commercial. The artist is DJ Mehdi, and the song is “I Am Somebody” - you can hear the full song on his MySpace page.

Despite a report from Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck, who predicts that a DOJ decision could arrive as soon as today or Monday, Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby advises clients to remain "cautious" - deal or no deal.

Jacoby has remained as the devil's advocate throughout the merger proceedings, which is a good thing because it helps keep some of the more irrationally exuberant investors grounded (to a degree). Historically he's been very skeptical of the merger prospects (putting chances of approval roughly around ~30%). The interesting thing in his most recent research note, though, is that Jacoby does not dispute what Peck is reporting.

Much of the Bank of America analyst's conclusions have been based on information from DC contacts, but we don't hear about them in this note. Instead, Jacoby brings to light the high hurdles that XM-Sirius need to overcome to get approval (and there's no denying that this isn't your rubber-stamp kind of merger). If the deal is not approved, he points to significant downside. And even if the deal is approved, he feels there's not much upside.

"However, we are not ‘naïve.’ We think investors will most likely run these stocks post-merger approval," Jacoby notes.

To me, it's a significant development when the naysayers stop saying "nay."

Peck and Jacoby have been on two sides of the coin for this merger. With no significant information coming from BofA's sources disputing the information of Bear Stearns, well, I'd say that's pretty telling.

Toronto based, Pop Up Retail Group, announced today that they successfully launched XM Canada kiosks in mall locations across three markets, and had them selling radios in less than 90 days.

The exact number of kiosks was not disclosed, but the timeline was supposedly aggressive enough to put Pop Up Retail Group's turn key approach to the test.

"Kiosks give us incremental sales, a great brand presence and further support to our existing subscribers," said Donald McKenzie, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing at XM Canada. "We are not interested in shifting volume from our valued retail partners. We expect their sales to increase as well in the markets where we have a corporate presence."

I suppose that kiosks must actually work for satellite radio, since they've been using them for so long. But my own anecdotal (and granted, limited) experience is that they're fairly low-traffic and low-key. I love the concept of a focused, branded retail environment - but just think it could be more immersive than just slapping some logos and letting people play with a radio. Even just to include one of those funky car displays (pictured) that are seen in tradeshows - or a variation of them - would be nice to see. The goal not necessarily being on creating a point of sale, but rather a place for people to experience the service.

Just my $0.02.

A decision by the Department of Justice on the merger between Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. could come as early as today or Monday, according to an analyst note issued this morning.

Bear Stearns analyst Robert Peck issued a research note this morning stating that a decision by the DOJ is imminent. According to Peck, conversations with their contacts in DC suggest that a DOJ decision could come as early as today or Monday.

Further, the Bear Stearns analyst believes that junior staffers at the DOJ are recommending blocking the merger, but that higher officer deputy officials likely disagree with the junior staff recommendation. The analyst expects Tom Barnett likely will rule along with the higher officials and announce that the DOJ will not be blocking the deal.

This is consistent with a Cowen & Co. note issued earlier this month, which also said that Antitrust Chief Tom Barnett is likely to approve the deal, "despite a staff recommendation against the deal."

Bear Stearns' Bob Peck also feels that the FCC has been coordinating its actions with the DOJ, and that an FCC decision will likely come near this year's end.

Chalk this up as the feel-good story of the day. XM's all-politics all-the-time channel, POTUS '08 (ch 130), started the day today with a reminder that there's an entire audience of listeners who might not be of voting age... but are still pretty darn smart.

Producer Joanna Welch came upon a unique letter (not email, mind you) this morning from Sophia McCrimmen, who turns out to be an 8-year-old and an avid politics and POTUS fan. Sure, Sophia might have misspelled a few words (don't we all?), but that doesn't diminish the fact that the 3rd grader noticed something that the POTUS pros did not.

"I love lisning to your shows!" she wrote. "I love politics so much! I just have one problem, you are underestimating the number of days until the election! You are forgeting that 2008 is a leap year!...Plese add one day too your total to acount for leap day. Keep up the good work.

"P.S. Can you mabie read this on the radio? That would be super cool!!!!

"P.P.S. If you have time. I don't want to mess you up."

Sophia was right. The POTUS folks had been counting the days to the '08 election incorrectly (ok, it was Scott Walterman's fault, but I'm not pointing any fingers). So "1600" host Rebecca Roberts (pictured above) got Sophia on the phone.

You can hear her three-minute on-air interview with Sophia below, or by clicking here.

[Los Angeles Times Blogs]

Oh we've all known that Apple will eventually come out with a 3G iPhone, but when AT&T's Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson says, "You'll have it next year," we're all going to listen.

Stephenson doesn't give an indication as to how much it'll cost, that's up to Apple CEO Steve Jobs who "will dictate what the price of the phone is."

Jobs plans to sell 10 million iPhones worldwide in 2008, and so far Apple had sold a "mere" 1.4 million handsets through the end of September. Even with 10 million iPhones in everyone's pockets, that would give Cupertino only 1% of the mobile-phone market.

Of course this is all part of Apple's grand plan.

Introducing a 3G iPhone will still allow for the slower EDGE iPhone to penetrate the market - just at a lower price (and subsequently a faster pace). The 3G iPhone will likely also pack more features, which will make it the must-have mobile phone/music player once again.

And who wants to make bets that a "Mobile iTunes" will be part of the package? At 3G speeds, and unlimited bandwidth packages, streaming music (and talk, and sports) on your iPhone will be commonplace.

Long live planned obsolescence.

[Bloomberg via Engadget]

Whoopi Goldberg's syndicated morning show "Wake Up With Whoopi" has been dropped from Clear Channel's WKTU/New York. I guess star-power isn't enough to make it in the #1 radio market (just ask David Lee Roth).

New York Daily News reports that a memo was circulated around the KTU staff late Tuesday saying the station would no longer be carrying the show as of yesterday morning.

Whoopi's show launched in late July 2006, and while it's still in syndication (her site lists 9 affiliates), "Wake Up With Whoopi" is now gone from its flagship station in the leading radio market.

This brings back the roaring debate about Celebrity-ism versus Radio Talent. It's not much of a debate actually, since this is proof positive that it actually takes a lot of talent and effort to be a successful on-air host - especially when it comes to terrestrial radio.

Tom Taylor of Radio-Info is quick to point this out in his recent newsletter:

"Politicians, entertainers, TV stars, businesspeople, professionals – they’ve all thought 'Hey, I can do what Rush Limbaugh does, or Howard Stern, or Sean Hannity, or…' And mostly, they’ve been wrong."

That's not to say that famous-folk can't possibly be good on-air hosts, there's a few that have made it, but to build an audience in talk radio takes a lot of time. And the ever fickle terrestrial radio industry is constantly in seek of "hits." There's no time to experiment, take a gamble, and try something new (maybe that's why regular radio sounds the same since the '90s?).

So why is that celebrities have seemingly found a home on satellite radio?

Martha Stewart, Oprah, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Barbara Walters, Bob Dylan, Richard Simmons, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Tony Stewart, Cal Ripken Jr., Tiki Barber... the list goes on and on. Celebrities span the entire channel lineup on both XM and Sirius.

And while I'm not one to say definitively whether these celebrities are good at hosting shows (some of abysmal in my opinion), they do seem to hold a higher success rate than on terrestrial radio. The difference being, I think, that on satellite radio: it's not all about the ratings, it's all about the subscribers.

Celebrities on satellite radio are like mannequin displays at a store. Or those big posters of half-naked people frolicking with each other at Abercrombie. There's no chance in hell you'd actually wear what you see, but it gets the target demographic through the door.

That's the function on the celebrity. They create a level of familiarity with the product. "Oh, I like 50 Cent! I guess I'll get Sirius." "I'm a diehard Bob Dylan fan, so I'll sign up with XM."

And once you're through that door, you experience the rest of the service. You fall in love with a show that you otherwise wouldn't have listened to. Take Ron & Fez for example, by far one of the best kept secrets on XM. Incredibly funny, snarky, smart and entertaining all at once. But you have to give the show a chance to set in with the audience.

Another example is "Whatever with Alexis & Jennifer," which by the traditional formula should be a complete trainwreck. Still, for having absolutely no radio training whatsoever, these two deliver a surprisingly high quality and entertaining show. They have the drive and put in the effort, which is apparent on the air. But again, there needs to be a chance for people to experience that.

So bringing to back to Whoopi. Her show is (was?) personable and funny and worked hard at it, but for Clear Channel, it just didn't bring the "hit" that they needed. That's money on the table for them. Ad dollars that are disappearing as she (and the industry) struggles to gain traction in an increasingly fragmented audience.

The moral of the story: Whoopi, maybe you should've gone to satellite radio. Instead of failing to become a "hit" you could have become one of those secrets that people fall in love with.

A devote audience is better than none at all.

[via FMQB]

Sirius will be honoring World AIDS Day this Saturday with a special six-hour broadcast event on Sirius OutQ (ch 109).

This broadcast event unites renowned musicians, leaders from the GLBT community, and listeners from the Sirius OutQ audience for a presentation devoted entirely to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. World AIDS Day is annually observed on December 1st and is dedicated to raising awareness of the global AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.

Larry Flick from "OutQ in the Morning" will host the live 6-hour event: "World AIDS Day 2007: A Celebration of Life and Hope." The special will include musical performances, discussions with medical experts, pioneering activists, and Sirius listeners sharing their perspectives on the ongoing battle against HIV/AIDS and the progress being made in the GLBT community.

In addition, the broadcast will feature an interview with Madonna - not to mention performances by Cyndi Lauper, Indigo Girls, Travis, Joss Stone, Erasure's Andy Bell, Jimmy Somerville, Marc Cohn, Leann Rimes, Littlehorse, and others.

"World AIDS Day 2007: A Celebration of Life and Hope" will air this Saturday, December 1st, from Noon – 6 pm ET.

Just in case the Federal Communications Commission wasn't already aware of it, the Sirius-XM camp has filed an ex parte filing highlighting the NAB's dubious tactics for garnering "support" for their cause.

The counsel for Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. says little else in the filing beyond simply linking to the Washington Post article, but that's really more than enough for them to do. It's better to put the issue on record and let it speak for itself.

It still boggles me that the NAB needed to resort to these "inspirational" tactics so as to generate 8,500 form-letters, when they advocate on behalf of 8,300+ radio/TV stations and networks.

John Gorman said it perfectly in a recent blogpost:

"Is this how your NAB members want their money spent? Is this the image the radio industry wants or needs right about now?"

I would wager to say the answer is a resounding "no" and the NAB will have a lot of explaining to do once this is all over.

[Ex Parte filing (PDF) via SiriusBuzz]

Yesterday, Artie Lange mentioned on "The Howard Stern Show" that he was doing voiceover work for an upcoming Leisure Suit Larry game.

While there has yet to be an official announcement for a new Leisure Suit Larry, Artie did say that he would be playing the role of "Big Al" in the game. Very little other details are known at this time other than what was said on-air. Joytiq points out that the last Leisure Suit Larry game, "Magna Cum Laude," didn't even star the original character and "was an amateur-hour" Larry adventure.

Does this mean that King's Quest is coming back too?

[Joystiq]
Thanks Todd!