July 2009 Archives

Tony Bruno, who departed from Sporting News Radio, will be returning to FOX Sports Radio beginning Monday, August 10th. Bruno was originally at FOX Sports Radio, having helped launch the network, prior to signing with Sporting News Radio in 2005.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. President and Chief Content Officer, Scott Greenstein, will continue to serve the company through July 27, 2013, according to a filing with the SEC.

Today, the "U.S. Music Royalty Fee" for Sirius XM Radio goes into effect. We first heard about this price increase nearly two months ago when an internal document was leaked out to the public.

The company says the increase in subscription rates is "principally as a result of a decision made by the Copyright Royalty Board." The Copyright Royalty Board issued their decision to increase the royalty rates for satellite radio in late 2007.

A couple weeks ago, the Slacker BlackBerry App "magically" appeared on every BlackBerry Storm on the Verizon network.

Today Orbitcast just learned that the same thing happened - Verizon pushed out the Slacker App to every single BlackBerry Tour. Every, single, one.

On Friday, Sirius XM Radio will air an exclusive special entitled The Three Stooges: Lost and Found Interviews featuring a collection of rare interviews with Moe Howard and Larry Fine, as well as some of The Howard Stern Show's greatest Stooge-themed moments from Howard's personal radio archives.

Sirius XM's Outlaw Country (Sirius channel 63 and XM channel 12) channel will broadcast an in-depth interview with critically-acclaimed band Wilco. Listeners will hear Wilco in the Sirius XM studios every weeknight, startng Monday.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will air today on XM and Sirius with the "Best of XM" programming package, starting at 1:30pm ET.

Live coverage will be broadcast on MLB Home Plate (XM channel 175 and Sirius channel 210) as all-time runs and stolen bases leader Rickey Henderson, longtime Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice, and former Yankees and Indians second baseman Joe Gordon are enshrined in Cooperstown, NY.

Red Dragons! Rising radio superstar Jason Ellis (aka "The Future") has extended his contract with Sirius XM Radio Inc. Information remains scant about the contract details, but Ellismate isn't going anywhere, so who cares.

Over the course of nearly 5 years, I've dedicated my life to Orbitcast and the satellite radio industry. I've done everything I've could to try to provide news about what's going on in the industry, as well as updates on what channels and specials would be fun to listen to - but also tried to give unique insights and commentary on the business of satellite radio in general.

And I have to say, it's exhausting.

But I've loved every minute of it - and changed my life because of it (during the "merger days" I would wake up at 4am every day so I wouldn't miss anything!) - and it was primarily motivated by you, the reader.

I wish I could express how valuable the connections are that I've made with my readers. When I started this, I really didn't expect Orbitcast to take off. I had no "plan" (oddly enough, I still don't), I just wrote. Never did I think that I'd end up consulting for investment analysts, talking to the media or establishing relationships with the top echelon in the industry. I just thought that satellite radio was a fun topic to talk about. But most surprising is how you all responded in ways I couldn't imagine. I get hundreds of emails to my inbox literally everyday - and I read and try to respond to every single one of them. Sometimes I get questions. Sometimes I get criticism. Sometimes I get tips on news. Many times I get a simple "thank you" for the work I put in here. All are appreciated.

It's with that in mind that I feel freakin' guilty. Guilty because I feel like I've let you down.

Over the past few weeks (months?), things on a personal level have gotten extremely complicated. My mental capacity has been redlining and I've been getting pulled in a hundred different directions - between family, work, and life in general. Something had to give, and unfortunately it's been my writing here on Orbitcast.

The strange thing about "writer's block" is that it compounds on itself. Once you lose the rhythm, it gets harder and harder to overcome.

So first and foremost, I want to apologize. You've come to expect a level of coverage over the years, and I dropped off the map on you. Many readers have come to depend on Orbitcast, and I've let you down.

No, this isn't a "goodbye" letter or anything like that. But I felt like you deserve an explanation. I think the best way to overcome writer's block is to simply write about it, to confront it. I've also come to the realization that Orbitcast is so much bigger than me. It has nothing to do with me, it actually is all about you. While this site has grown exponentially (nearly a half million of you visit here every month!), I think I may also be holding it back. Instead of the catalyst, maybe I'm turning into the bottleneck.

So I need your help.

I'm debating on giving the opportunity for others to speak to this awesome audience. To opening up Orbitcast. Whether it be in the form of "guest posts" selected from submissions, or a team of satellite radio ninjas to join Orbitcast as a regular writers. Of course, I'm not planning on disappearing, but Orbitcast is about the satellite radio community, and I want to amplify our collective voices. And again, Orbitcast isn't about me, it's about you.

But a lot of people have said that opening it up will diminish the site's value. I'm not sure if that's so true, but I understand their point.

So below is a quick poll, so you can weigh in on the concept (RSS/Email readers may need to click-through to participate with the poll). I'd also really really appreciate any and all comments - not only about including other writers, but also about what topics interest you the most. If I can understand more about what attracts you to this site, then I can better serve you.



(Oh, and with all that out of the way, I'd like to declare this writer's block as "crushed" - let's get back to it!)

New owners of Sirius-equipped Certified Pre-Owned BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles will start to get a 3-month trial subscription of the "Sirius Everything" package.

Of course, Sirius will continue to be offered as a factory-installed feature with 1-year of the "Sirius Everything" package on BMWs, and 6-months on all model year 2010 Mercedes-Benz vehicles, sold in the U.S.

Just 2 weeks after its debut, the Sirius XM iPhone App has surpassed more than 1 million downloads. But what continues to amaze me is that the App has remained as the #1 top free music App - having reached that status only 12 hours after its launch.

All this, despite not featuring Howard Stern.