November 2008 Archives

It seems strange that a site dedicated to Satellite Radio would even consider reviewing a Digital Audio Player that has nothing to do with satellites. But that's just the thing, the Slacker G2 isn't a Digital Audio Player in the common sense - so let's not look at it like that - and maybe it's time to abstract the way to look at "radio" as well.

The Slacker G2 is a "radio," just without the reception problems.

The songs you hear on a Slacker aren't the songs you've ever heard before. Or maybe they are. Just like radio. Unlike an iPod, where you're guaranteed to have heard the songs you've downloaded at least once - the G2 is driven entirely by the Slacker service.

Their "stations" - each intuitively labeled as pre-selected genres of music - are programmed by radio professionals, but remain customizable to your tastes to an infinite degree. It's a combination of engineering and human intuition that works remarkably well.

So I embarked down Orbitcast's Long Term Review of the Slacker G2 from the point of view of the casual radio listener, not the iPod user.

The Jonas Brothers, the omg-so-hot boy band sensation comprised of three brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick have taken over Sirius Hits 1 for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas will countdown the biggest songs in the country on "Sirius Hits 1 Weekend Countdown!" Then the Brothers are hosting "Hit-Bound," the show that plays the artists and songs that are poised to be the next big thing.

If that's not enough, The Jonas Brothers will guest DJ the channel, and share their close and personal stories about performing, their upcoming film and other future plans. Like, seriously.

Hear "Jonas Radio" all Thanksgiving weekend up until Monday, December 1st at 6am ET on Sirius Hits 1 (ch 1). Don't worry if you - or your daughter - misses any of the Jonas-hosted shows, because they'll be replayed over and over and over again, for your listening enjoyment this Thanksgiving holiday.

Sirius XM will broadcast a series of Jimmy Buffett concerts, in addition to an acoustic performance by Little Feat, on Radio Margaritaville throughout Thanksgiving.

The series of eight full-length of Jimmy Buffett concerts will air on on Radio Margaritaville (Sirius channel 31/XM channel 55) in their entirety without any commercials. Additionally, Sirius XM will air an acoustic performance by Little Feat, who visited the Sirius XM studios to play their unique mixture of blues, R&B, country, New Orleans funk and rock 'n roll - also on Radio Margaritaville.

The Jimmy Buffett concerts will air on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 27th starting at 6am ET until Friday, November 28th at 2am ET.

Get the fill Jimmy Buffet concert broadcast schedule after the jump...

Sirius XM Radio Inc. will be launching a free "Best of Both" promotion starting on Black Friday and will join together its advertising efforts under a single unified strategy, according to TWICE.

The company will give customers three free months of "Best of Both" service with the purchase of any Sirius or XM aftermarket product.

The promotion sounds amazingly similar to a Sirius XM rebate offered back in October which offered a $50 discount, plus free 3-months of "Best of" service. It is unclear when the new promotion will end, but it said to begin on Black Friday.

Sirius XM will also drop the separate ads for XM and Sirius, and will shift its ad dollars heavily to radio advertising this season, said operations and sales president Jim Meyer in an interview with TWICE.

"If you go to a Best Buy or Circuit City beginning this week, Friday, for the holiday period, you'll see a common display with both brands displayed and a common merchandise strategy," said Meyer. "We think that goes a long way toward the elimination of confusion. A single pointed display and single pointed ads. Also, within the retail brochures, one promotion for both brands."

Meyer notes that this year will include more radio advertising and less television.

"We think changing it up was a good idea," said Meyer. "We're excited about [radio] because we think it is an efficient vehicle to get new listeners."

[TWICE]
Thanks MUSCLE!

Following Orbitcast's interview with Sirius XM's President and Chief Content Office, Scott Greenstein, questions have come up about why listeners are hearing edited songs on 90s Alternative channel "Lithium."

My gut tells me that it was a mistake in the system. Afterall - and this is something that is impossible to convey in the written interview - Scott was extremely adament about the whole censorship issue. He was insistent that only three channels are playing "artist- and label-edited songs" and Lithium wasn't one of them.

So what gives? Why are people hearing radio-edits on Lithium?

It turns out that it is indeed a glitch that is being worked out (Scott actually talked about this in the interview). Some songs from the XM library were inadvertently included in Lithium's rotation, which is why there's an inconsistency in what people are hearing.

I'm told that Sirius XM are now correcting the problem. Rest assured, all the naughty language will be fully restored as soon as possible.

If you've been following the evolution of StarPlayr, you saw that first it was just an idea, then it became a reality (with Windows software and an iPhone app); so now the next step is to monetize on it all.

Introducing the Sponsor Marketing System for the StarPlayr platform.

It's a brilliantly simple idea, and one that I hope catches on. It's designed to be a cost effective way for advertisers to get their products and services out there in front of users, but in a unique way that doesn't interrupt the listening experience.

Here's the idea:
Instead of time-sliced, interruption-based advertising, (i.e. frequency and repetition - the "old model" of advertising) the new system provides 100% exposure on the purchased channel without getting in the way. The beauty is that these users are already connected online (in some form or another), so if someone is listening to a channel - the channel's sponsor not only gets continuous exposure, but also qualified visitors direct from the ads.

Currently it's only available on the StarPlayr for Windows client (there's a new version out by the way, with some sleek features). But expect to see the ad system added to other clients, such as the iPhone app (incidentally, new screenshots of the iPhone app have emerged in addition to the ones leaked back in August).

Currently, the Sponsor Marketing System gives sponsors exclusive 24/7 advertising on any Sirius XM channel on either service (or both). It's sold currently in weekly periods. For talk channels, there's the option for a static or animated image in the album art area (no intrusive, in-your-face animations are allowed though).

Eventually, the plan is to enable scheduled preferences. So, for example, if someone wants to advertise during Bubba on Howard 101 you can, and it will be cheaper than the full 24/7 slot.

Either way, this is a simple, easy to implement method to monetize on internet radio streams. Sirius XM should get behind the folks at StarPlayr, because they're innovating all areas of the experience, and that's a good team to have on your side.

[StarPlayr]
Thanks Mark!

Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer at Sirius XM Radio Inc., doesn't have a job that involves easy decisions.

Not only does he oversee what music, sports and talk programming nearly 19 million subscribers get to choose from. But on November 12th, Scott and his team had the daunting task of combining most of the music lineups of both Sirius and XM following the merger of the two companies.

So how does one go about the melding of two services, each with millions of loyal followers, and still keep everyone happy?  I had to find out. So when Orbitcast got the chance to chat with Greenstein about the combining of channels, you bet I took it.

The fact is, most people understand that the duplication of channels is inefficient. There's no reason to have two channels, on two separate services, each playing the same thing. I get it. But I wanted to learn about the overall strategic thinking behind the process, and fill the gaps in some unanswered questions.

Orbitcast: How did you go about selecting which channels stayed and which were replaced?

Scott Greenstein: It's about getting the most amount of breadth we could have, with the most amount depth. Meaning that the breadth is the horizontal appeal, and the depth is the vertical appeal. We looked at every element of each channel, from the playlists to the jocks, and tried to bring it together so subscribers and listeners get the best audio experience they can have.

If you look at what each service had to offer - from Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, BB King, Grand Ole Opry, the Artist Confidential series, and POTUS on XM's side; to Jimmy Buffet, Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Steve Van Zandt, Metropolitan Opera, Jamie Foxx, Blue Collar Radio, as well as The Catholic Channel, Doctor Radio on Sirius' side - these are great assets that are missing from the other service. So you bring in those assets from each side and build a mix of vertical and horizontal content.

So is this a fundamental change in how Sirius XM is trying to appeal to a broader audience?

No. This is not some sort of new initiative or change in our thinking. I'm a believer in that there is a wide spectrum of tastes in all of our listeners. You might have come to Sirius for Howard Stern, or to XM for Bob Dylan, but your tastes in music may range from one genre to another. You're going to discover other channels and genres from when you first subscribed.  In fact, with all its newly combined assets, Sirius XM has even more places to explore on its channels.

But never was this a change in our philosophy - from when we had 300,000 subscribers to our current level of about 19 million - it makes no difference.

Well, it's part of what got you guys here to begin with. It's how satellite radio has grown.

Exactly. We are doing a higher end, more intense scrutiny, to do what we've always been doing all along. The only difference now is we're bringing together both sets of content, to both sets of subscribers and listeners.

The thing to understand is that radio is the easiest and most freeform of media that can evolve. Let's take for example E Street Radio, which evolved from a limited-time promotion - but due to the massive and amazing public response we received - has turned into a full fledged dedicated channel.

It's an example of listening and responding. And that's what we're doing now.

So you're taking in listener feedback and continuing to adjust based on that feedback?

Our approach will continue to evolve as we receive feedback from our listeners and subscribers. We're doing exactly what we always did: trying to give the best aggregation of content to our subscribers. And part of that is to listen to them, and respond.

Now, that brings us to the question of specific genres. Obviously in media it's impossible to "please everyone," but many listeners are upset over the loss of entire genres such as Old School Hip-Hop (i.e., The Rhyme and Backspin) and Disco (i.e., Chrome and The Strobe) as well as the loss of other micro-niche channels. What are the plans to help address the fans of these genres?

For Old School Rap, we currently are running a show on Hip-Hop Nation. But as things evolve and we receive more feedback from our listeners, we're open to doing more. We are going to look into getting more Old School Rap into that channel and possibly expanding the programming. For Disco, the folks behind the channel are still on board with us and are distributed out into other channels. So the essence is still there but it has been spread to other channels.

The key is that we're here to serve our subscribers and listeners. And we aren't forgetting that.

We are still the ultimate aggregators of content. There's something for everybody - and immensely more than terrestrial radio. And while the internet has a wide range of choices, our service is more accessible than the internet and still the most content in one stop. This is a unique service that we're providing.

So we're looking into all of our options, and much of that has to do with feedback from our subscribers. We're willing to listen and react. But we're also trying to do our job, and provide the most unique amount of content with the spectrum available.

But the new lineup seems heavily weighted towards Rock, what with over 20 channels dedicated to the genre. Is this driven by demand or some other reasoning?

A lot of that has to do with the broad definition of the category. If you look at it, there's a number of different ways to listen to "Rock," you could be into The Beatles or into Heavy Metal. The genre just lends itself to lots of different styles. In Country or Sports for that matter, there's a little less diversity in the definition.  But remember, we have six country channels.

We also have an audience that has a clear interest in a wide range of rock interests. This isn't unique us. Look at attendance at concerts in North America, and you'll see an overwhelming majority go to Rock concerts. So it's based on both demand as well as the wide spectrum of the category.

So with that in mind, there seems to be a conflict between maintaining this wide range of genres, and the artist-only channels. For instance, micro-niche channels like Disco and Old School Hip-Hop get eliminated, while at the same time there are channels like AC/DC Radio and Led Zeppelin Radio. Can you help explain the rationale behind the Artist-only channels?

One of the benefits of Satellite Radio is the ability to go from broad appeal to very vertical interests. It's part of what makes us different from terrestrial.

These channels have true artist cooperation. The artists have a deep interest in participating with these channels, and listeners get access to their favorite bands like nowhere else. You'll notice that these are iconic artists, that have millions - not thousands - but millions of fans. And you're getting exclusive interviews and extremely rare insight and programming behind each of them. These channels are unique assets with limited duration and we only do them with full artist cooperation because that's the only way to bring listeners the best programming.

Bob Dylan's show is a great example of a fulltime show with one artist, even though it's not a dedicated channel. The ability to reach into the creative mind of someone like that is something you just can't get anywhere else - and that mind is a national treasure. It's something that is impossible for terrestrial to do.

Now, there's always a debate about the length of time these channels should run for, but it's all part of the constantly evolving process.

Would you consider a single "artist-only" channel that rotates each artist for a block of time?

That's something we're considering. We're looking at working to evolve towards that. But it needs to apply to the right genre. You shouldn't mix up artists that have nothing to do with each other, but we are actively looking into how to have one channel dedicated to "pop up" channels.

There has been a lot of talk about the channels getting "censored" and becoming family friendly. It's hard find a clear definition of what is going on. XM has its "XL" channels, while all the others were family friendly and there's been a lot of confusion following the combination of the channels about censorship taking place. Can you clear the air on this and address this confusion?

This is a great question and I'm really glad you asked it. There is absolutely, 100 percent, no censorship at Sirius XM. Let me be clear about that.

Here's the delineation: There are artist- and label-edited songs that the artists and record labels agree to provide radio. These are versions of the songs that have been approved by the artists and the record labels to air. Only three of our channels play these artist- and label-edited songs: Hits 1 on Sirius, 20on20 on XM, and The Heat.

Hits 1 and 20on20 are obviously pop/hits channels with a huge number of kids listening to them while The Heat is the urban equivalent.

The reason why these artist/label-edited songs are played is because our research found that an overwhelming number of parents are listening to these channels with their kids. We feel it is being socially responsible to air edited songs, knowing that we have young children listening to them.

Let me address The Heat. That channel took the place of Hot Jamz after the channel combination, and Hot Jamz did not play artist- and label-edited songs. I thought it was inappropriate to not have the equivalent choices like Hits 1 and 20on20 for parents and kids listening to that urban channel. So people listening to Hot Jamz started hearing artist- and label-edited songs from The Heat.

But when it comes to the term "censorship" this is something I feel very very strongly about. And I really want to drive this point home. Never ever, ever - EVER - do we play anything that an artist didn't agree should be played. So if an artist or label didn't approve it, we don't touch it.

The fact is, the subscribers and the artists built satellite radio.

I, personally, like to hear that. So you're not just talking about explicit language, but you're also talking about preserving the artistic integrity of the music?

Right. That's why we have the most amount of artist participation of any other form of media. These are artists of the utmost creditability and we respect their work. The word 'censorship' really gets to me, because it's completely not what we're about. From Howard Stern all the way to The Catholic Channel, with Jamie Foxx and Shade 45 in between. We simply do not censor our programming.

Give me your closing thought.

We feel that the subscriber and listener are paramount to Sirius XM on one side, and the artists are paramount to us on the other side of the equation.

That's what makes this medium so great and so real. It's the bridge between the recording artists and the fans and listeners, our subscribers, in its purest, most direct form.

Following last week's rumor mongering, official word has come out that Bubba the Love Sponge will soon be heard on four more radio stations covering Miami, Orlando, Ft. Myers and Richmond, Virginia.

Rumor has it that Bubba The Love Sponge is leaving Sirius XM Radio Inc. in January, and that an announcement of his status at the company could be coming as early as Monday morning.

Orbitcast has learned that Bubba will be departing the world of Satellite Radio for a terrestrial syndication deal with Cox Broadcasting, according to people familiar with the matter. Bubba The Love Sponge is said to be adding 96.5 WHTQ in Orlando and 93 Rock in Miami to his roster of syndicated stations, these people said.

As to who will be replacing Bubba? Sources told Orbitcast that Neil Rogers and Phil Hendrie have been named as possible replacements on the Howard 101 channel.

Additionally, FMQB is reporting that an announcement about Bubba's status at Sirius XM could be coming as early as Monday morning.

Upon further inquiry, Orbitcast has confirmed with Bubba's representatives that a Monday announcement is indeed true, though details of the exact nature of the announcement remain unknown. "We are not responding to rumors about its subject," a representative for Bubba said.

Stay tuned...

More layoffs are being reported in the halls of Sirius XM Radio Inc., presumably in addition to the 30-or-so staffers that were let go last week.

And add that on top of the estimated 100 employees that have been "rightsized" so far, and you have a toll of at least 130 workers.

There's no word as to exactly who was caught up in the mix, but Taylor on Radio-Info reports that it was mostly PDs. Some are sticking around until December 15th, while others will hang in there until December 31st.

Slacker's Personal Radio Service is now available on Sony's Bravia TVs with Internet Link Service.

The Slacker service is free - as usual - and gives listeners access to all of their favorite genre stations (including Slacker's new Holiday stations) and custom stations.

Slacker's service also allows users to personalize choice across the web, Bravia Internet Video Link, Slacker G2 or soon on the BlackBerry, ensuring that your favorite artists and ratings follow you to whatever device you're using.

The Bravia Internet Video Link Module, which attaches to the back of a compatible Sony Bravia TV, streams on-demand video entertainment (via Amazon Video On Demand; YouTube; Dailymotion, etc.) and a variety of other high- definition and standard-definition content not found on network or cable/satellite TV. The module connects to the Internet via an existing broadband Ethernet connection and streams content, much of which is available at no additional charge.

Hip-hop superstar Ludacris will appear live at the Rockefeller Center studios to perform for Sirius XM Radio listeners on November 20th.

Ludacris will perform tracks from his upcoming release, Theater of the Mind, (which is in stores November 24th). The entire new Hip-Hop Nation lineup will be on hand to celebrate Ludacris' appearance.

Join Leo G., DJ Envy and Nina Nine, live with Luda this Thursday, November 20th at 8pm ET on Hip-Hop Nation, Sirius channel 40 and XM channel 67. The encore broadcast will air on Saturday, November 21st at 6pm ET.

Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday that it will stop all of its North American factories for two full days next month.

At the same time, Nissan Motor Co. provided a dismal prediction of the auto industry's near-term future to the media. Predictions that, if they hold true, could affect the satellite radio industry more than previously expected.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, has already canceled all U.S. production of its light trucks for three months this summer. Production is to be further reduced in 2009 at three U.S. assembly plants, according to a spokesperson.

XM installs in Toyota vehicles was expected to reach one-million vehicles annually by 2010. There's no word whether this was a contractual obligation, or an estimate based on predicted production levels.

Toyota also did not disclose how many produced vehicles would be lost as a result of the two-day stoppage on December 22nd and 23rd (which is in addition to a scheduled break for Christmas and New Year).

Meanwhile...

Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan and Renault SA, warned of his own bleak view of the auto industry's prospects in Washington with a reminder that Nissan was expecting virtually no profit in the October-March second half.

"We have to recognize 2009 will be one of the most challenging years for our industry and the whole economy in the last 50 years," Ghosn told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Ghosn told CNBC that U.S. industry-wide sales falling to 11-11.5 million vehicles next year was a "realistic" assessment. For comparison's sake, in 2007 auto sales totaled 16.15 million.

So what does that mean for the satellite radio industry? I think Sirius XM Radio Inc. CEO Mel Karmazin said it best during the Q3 earnings call:

"Unfortunately we do not have a whole lot of control over what cars are getting sold," said Karmazin to investors. "We do our best. We help our car partners any way we can, but we are not the ones that are selling cars.

"So we are at the mercy of what happens."

[via Reuters]

Sirius XM have officially made official the holiday music channels for this year, bringing together traditional holiday favorites, country music versions of holiday hits and classical holiday music.

On Holly (Sirius channel 81 and XM channel 35) you can hear contemporary holiday hits mixed with selected traditional favorites. Holly will air through New Year's Eve, December 31.

Then there's Bing Crosby Christmas Radio (Sirius channel 113 and XM channel 120) which will air a non-stop broadcast of more than twenty years of vintage Bing Crosby holiday radio specials. The channel which will be hosted by the Crosby family, will air starting December 13th at 12-midnight ET to Christmas Day, December 25t.

Holiday Traditions (XM channel 36) will broadcast traditional holiday recordings from the '40s through the '60s. Holiday Traditions will air beginning Monday, November 24th at 12-midnight ET through Christmas Day, December 25th.

For holiday music by great classical musicians, check out Holiday Pops (Sirius channel 79 and XM channels 37 and 77). You'll hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Luciano Pavarotti, Boston Pops and Leontyne Price among others. Holiday Pops will air beginning Thanksgiving Day November 27th at 12-midnight ET to Christmas Day, December 25th.

Radio Hanukkah (Sirius channel 3 and XM channel 38) will broadcast a celebration showcasing Hanukkah music and Jewish culture. Radio Hanukkah will air starting the first night of Hanukkah on December 21th starting at 12-midnight ET to December 29th.

SaveSirius, a group of shareholders that is accusing Sirius XM Radio Inc. of unjustly enriching themselves, served formal letters of demand to the company's Board of Directors recently.

The group demands that the company:

• Postpone the vote to increase the number of shares of common stock (from 4.5 billion to 8 billion)
• Delay the proposed reverse split, ranging from 1 for 10, to 1 for 50.
• Suspend all stock compensation plans and other bonuses immediately

"Given the NASDAQ's reprieve of delisting securities below a dollar, there is sufficient time for the Board to convene an emergency meeting to consider other options, such as but not limited to, self-funding by shareholders," said Michael Hartleib, founder of SaveSirius.

Read the entire letter sent to the Board after the jump...

Details are scant about this new Sirius television commercial, but a crafty fan recorded the spot and posted it online for all to see.

It's a departure from prior commercials in that it sets a tone and emotion, rather than simply highlighting content. An approach I personally prefer.

The minute-long spot, which shows flashes of memories and life moments, is set entirely to music with no voiceover. It displays the text:

When was the last time you discovered something new?

Discover music again
Discover again

What's interesting is that there's no mention of the "Best of XM" package or "Everything worth listening to..." which makes me think this is from Sirius Canada (where they tend to have entirely cooler commercials than here in the U.S.). UPDATE: Yep, it's definitely a Sirius Canada commercial, and I've updated the post to show a better quality video.

Thanks Michael!

As expected, another round of layoffs ripped through Sirius XM today, only this time it was the Sirius business unit that was affected the most, reports All Access.

"At least 30" employees were let go, most of whom were New York-based employees (pictured above, South Korean labor protesters outside the Sirius headquarters in NYC).

There's no doubt that things must be pretty hectic over at Sirius XM Radio Inc., but Wednesday's channel switchover was wrought with confusion and miscommunication, and I'm amazed the company even let this happen.

If I was management, I would be fuming right now. Heads would be rolling.

The fact is, a small percentage of the nearly 20 million subscribers read Orbitcast. But we were the only ones who knew the channel switchover was coming.

I received an email notification of the new Sirius XM channel lineup on the day of the switchover. But for a majority of subscribers, that was one day too late. Heck, it was one week too late.

Sure, there was some on-air discussion about the switchover, but that's assuming that everyone was listening. A mighty big assumption. Just like it's a big assumption that your subscribers will check their personal emails before jumping in the cars to go to work on Wednesday.

The result? Confusion.

Countless subscribers turned on the radio for the first time only to learn that their presets were messed up. Confused customers turned the dial only to find that the service they were used to (and paying for) is completely different now. Confusion leads to dissatisfaction - not exactly the end result the company was aiming for.

This is Satellite Radio. This isn't Internet Radio. The communications with the customer shouldn't be relegated to an email and a homepage update.

The least the company could have done was to send out a mailer a week ahead of time. A simple direct mail piece notifying that there will be a major restructuring of channels. It didn't need to be specific (though, that would be nice), but at least the channel changes wouldn't have been a surprise.
 
"But Ryan, budgets are tight, and a mailer to millions of subscribers costs money!"

True, but call center calls cost money too. Forrester Research estimates that a customer call for service to a call center costs an average of $5.50 per call. If one post gets 400+ comments on this subject, something tells me that there was a large increase in activity to the call centers as well. For every unhappy customer who calls, there's hundreds more who don't bother, but are equally unhappy.

The bottom line:
Sirius XM Radio have two revenue-generating "clients" - the subscriber, and the advertiser. If the company was going to do a major overhaul to the ad sales system, I'm sure they would have notified each and every advertiser well ahead of time. I'm sure every advertiser would be aware of a change occuring, even if they didn't know the full details.

The same logic - and respect - should apply to subscribers.

Miley Cyrus is visiting the Sirius XM studios in New York City to be the first guest DJ to countdown the top songs from around the country for Sirius and XM listeners.

The teen superstar will host the "Weekend Countdown!" and "Hit-Bound" on Sirius' Hits 1 channel (ch 1) and the "20on20 Countdown" on XM's 20on20 channel (ch 20).

Miley will also share personal stories, give the inside scoop on her new movie Bolt, season three of Hanna Montana, as well as share her favorite songs from both Sirius and XM.

"Miley Radio" kicks off today, November 14th at 5pm ET and will run through Monday, November 17th at 6am ET.

More personnel cuts are expected to occur today at XM, that's on top of the estimate one-hundred staffers that were cut last month, reports DCRTV.

Additionally, Radio-Info reports that some terminated employees are being asked to sign one-year long Non-Compete Agreements in order to receive a severance package. Since there isn't another satellite radio service provider to jump to (and I doubt they're worried about the now bankrupt WorldSpace), I'd assume this is meant to prevent an influx of talent to terrestrial radio.

To date, 22 percent of the combined Sirius XM Radio Inc. workforce have been eliminated, said CEO Mel Karmazin to investors earlier this week. There's no word, yet, as to exactly how many staffers are expected to be let go today.

[DCRTV]

The switch was finally thrown, and both sides of Sirius XM Radio Inc. now have a cross-pollinated music lineup.

So, what are your first impressions?

Now that XM subscribers have access to Sirius programming like Radio Margaritaville, The Grateful Dead Channel, and The Foxxhole; and Sirius subscribers have access to XM programming like Theme Time Radio Hour, Artist Confidential and Tom Petty's Buried Treasure (among many others) - what are you initial impressions?

Sound off in the comments.

Tom Petty's beloved music series, "Tom Petty's Buried Treasure," is kicking off its fourth season on XM's Deep Tracks tomorrow, November 13th at 8pm ET.

Each week the rock legend will pull together a set of rare and classic tracks from his private vaults, for an hour of radio magic woven together with Petty's informed, passionate and entertaining commentary.

This season Tom Petty is said to have been particularly inspired by the numerous emails from fans of the show requesting their personal "buried treasures", and their input will no doubt influence Tom's choice of playlists.

"Tom Petty's Buried Treasure" airs regularly on Thursdays at 8pm ET, with encore broadcasts airing on Saturdays at 4am ET, Sundays at 2pm ET and Mondays at 11am ET - all on XM Deep Tracks (ch 40).

[Tom Petty's Buried Treasure]

XM Lucy Program Director Bill Hutton signed off the "XM Saturday Night" show by, uhm, thanking everyone who made him a failure - including management and those who advised him to buy satellite radio stock.

It's an entirely humorous segment, and should be taken no differently, but regardless it's well worth a listen. Enjoy.

[xDownload MP3]
Thanks Derek!

Ahead of Sirius XM Radio's November 12th launch date, here is the merged channel lineup for XM leaked to Orbitcast by an anonymous source.



[XM Channel Guide (PDF)]

The limited-run channel Holly, which plays contemporary and Traditional Holiday music, first started making some noise a few weeks ago hinting that it would debut "in November."

Since then, the MySpace pages had the info removed, raising questions as to whether the celebrated holiday music channel would return.

Well now curtains have opened and the channel has updated its MySpace blog once again, to announce that Holly will make its triumphant return on November 12th on both Sirius and XM.

You'll be able to hear Holly on Sirius channel 81 and XM channel 35 starting tomorrow and through New Years Day.

[MySpace via Orbitcast Comments]

DirecTV's on-screen programming guide is showing the upcoming channel updates to its XM service, starting Wednesday. The channels gives a strong indication of which XM channels are staying and which are not.

Orbitcast reader Struff (check out his websites here and here) was kind enough to submit a video of the on-screen DirecTV programming guide. Watch the video below:

Sirius XM Radio Inc. have released their third-quarter 2008 earnings results, showing that pro forma revenue increased 16% year over year, and total subscribers grew to more than 18.9 million (up 17% from last year).

Total operating costs, less those nasty merger related expenses, fell compared to last year, leading to a 64% improvement in the pro forma adjusted loss from operations of $37 million before restructuring costs.

Read the full press release after the jump...

The combined Sirius XM Radio Inc. channel lineup, scheduled to go live this Wednesday, was officially made public in a full-page spread in Friday's USA Today.

A scan of the USA Today full-page ad was uploaded by maxoct97 to XM Fan. I've color-corrected it and stitched it together into a single image (click on the image above to view the full-size version).

The channels listed still leave some holes to be uncovered - because they don't add up to the 69 commercial-free channels publicized - but this gives us a clear and official look into what channels will remain after the switchover.

Here's the lineup by category:

Pop:
40's on 4, 50's on 5, 60's on 6, 70's on 7, 80's on 8, Elvis Radio, Top 20 on 20;

Rock:
AC/DC Radio, Led Zepplin Radio, Hair Nation, 1st Wave, Alt Nation, Faction, Classic Vinyl, E Street Radio, Grateful Dead Radio, Radio Margaritaville, Underground Garage, The Coffee House,

Dance & Electronic:
BPM, Sirius XM Chill

Hip-Hop & R&B:
Shade 45, Hip Hop Nation, Soul Town

Jazz, Blues & Standards:
Real Jazz, Siriously Sinatra, BB King's Bluesville, Cinemagic, On Broadway

Country:
Outlaw Country, Bluegrass Junction, Willies Place

Latin & World:
The Joint

Christian:
Praise

Classical:
Met Opera

Play-by-Play Sports:
NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, PGA, Mad Dog Radio, Barclay's Premier League, NCAA, Indy Car, F1, NASCAR, Pac 10, Big 10, SEC, Big East, Big 12, ACC

Talk, News and Entertainment:
Fox News, CNN, CNBA, Bloomberg Radio, POTUS, XM Public Radio, NPR, Doctor radio, The Catholic Channel, Cosmo Radio, Sirius XM Book Radio, America Left, America Right, Raw Dog Comedy, Bubba The Love Sponge, Laugh USA, National Lampoon Comedy Radio, Laugh Attack, Radio Disney, Kids Place Line, Howard Stern, Blue Collar Comedy, Martha Stewart Living Radio, The Opie & Anthony Show, The Foxxhole produced by Kamie Foxx, Sirius XM Stars, Oprah & Friends

[via XMFan]
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

BMW of North America has re-upped its partnership with Sirius XM Radio Inc., extending the relationship through September 2011.

It's a short renewal period, especially when compared to Toyota, which extended its contract with XM through 2017. But BMW isn't known for its long contracts anyway, having extended its contract with Sirius once before for about the same duration.

Sirius is available as an option on all BMW vehicles with a 1-year bundled subscription included in the price of the vehicle.

Bruce Morrow, aka "Cousin Brucie" - who joined Sirius Satellite Radio back in 2005 - will be making his debut on XM, according to on-air audio.

The Cuz made the announcement on the air after explaining to a listener that he will also be "moving next door" to Sirius 5.

"And we're also going to be on XM," said Morrow.

Listen to the audio below:

[Download MP3]
Thanks Nathan!

Rumor has it that Directed Electronics and Sirius XM Radio Inc. will be parting ways next year, Orbitcast has learned.

DEI Holdings Inc. (formally Directed Electronics Inc.) will no longer be the satellite radio distribution source for Sirius, according to people familiar with the matter. The two companies are said to be splitting up once the contract runs out in January 2009, these people said.

An official announcement is expected to be made sometime in the near future, possibly as soon as today. To date, official sources have not confirmed this information.

UPDATE: The official press release was issued shortly after market close. Click the jump to read the full announcement...

Following audio from XM Escape, more audio has come in confirming the November 12th channel switchover.

Listen below:

The question remains whether Sirius XM Radio will let their subscribers know the exact channel lineup well before next week's launch date. Today is the day the new merged lineup was originally rumored to go public, so maybe we can expect to see some sort of official notification from the company today?

Thanks Alex!

Merger talks between General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC may intensify this week following last night's win by Barack Obama, according to reports.

Combining the companies would require $10 to $12 billion in additional cash to mesh operations, said Citigroup's Itay Michaeli said in a note to investors on October 20th. And Chrysler and GM don't expect to make significant progress on government aid until after the U.S. election, sources tell Bloomberg.

"A combination of these two companies could, in the long run, save them quite a bit of money," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Robert Schulz.

"However, it's going to take a lot of liquidity in the short run, and we don't see it as a panacea to their problems," added Schulz. "It certainly doesn't fix the economic outlook."

Government loan guarantees might help stabilize the companies, said President-elect Barack Obama in an interview last week on NBC's Nightly News With Brian Williams.

Obama said in the interview he would meet with the chiefs of GM, Chrysler, Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers union to develop a plan for an industry overhaul should he win the election.

With that now a reality, the GM-Chrysler merger could see a new ray of hope with the help of government loans. And a healthier auto industry, amid massive declines, would bode well for Sirius XM Radio Inc.

U.S. Auto Sales, lead by General Motors, took a nosedive last month resulting in the lowest levels in 17 years.

This election night, radio duo Ron & Fez will present a one-time live special: "Presidential Thunderdome '08...Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves," on The Virius - Sirius channel 197 and XM channel 202.

Starting at 7pm ET, Ron & Fez will go live and talk to listeners across the country as the polls close and results come in, calling it state-by-state... until one man is left standing.

The Ron & Fez Show regularly airs Mondays through Fridays, noon to 3pm ET.

A shareholder lawsuit has been filed against Sirius XM Radio Inc. management by a group called "Save Sirius," headed by Michael Hartleib.

The case accuses management of violations of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Breach of the Fiduciary Duty and The Sherman Act. It seeks to prevent Sirius XM from "further damaging its shareholders with massive amounts of additional dilution" of its stock, which includes the possible 50-to-1 reverse stock split.

"We are working to gain control of our company by seeking to remove current members of the board as well as top executive Mel Karmazin," said Michael Hartleib on behalf of Save Sirius and its members, which the group claims to have over 500 members.

Hartleib insists that Karmazin intends on taking the company private, citing statements made during a September 2008 Wall Street Journal interview.

"In light of the aforementioned, it is clear that they [Sirius XM Management] have lost sight of their obligations to shareholders and have breached and will continue to breach their fiduciary duties in the future," said Michael Hartleib in a statement. "We, as a group, will not stand for this and will use any means possible to prevent and preclude them from stealing this company from its rightful owners -- we the shareholders."

Read the entire 56-page lawsuit by clicking the link below...

[Download Lawsuit (DOC)]