A brief mention in an article in the Village Voice, mentions that a new show Audiobook Cafe, is set to debut in January on XM Satellite Radio. In the article, Lawrence Block, author of the article and several books, says:
"As the host of Audiobook Cafe, set to debut in January on XM Satellite Radio, I interviewed two authors and reviewed one audiobook for each of the four shows. I talked in-studio with Ron Chernow and SJ Rozan, and on the phone with Joyce Carol Oates, Ann Rule, and Tony Hillerman. I recorded my reviews of books by Ed McBain, Philip Roth, Augusten Burroughs, and Jonathan Lethem."
Now, there's only a quick note about this on Audiobook Cafe's website, but it does seem like Mr. Block gave the slip on this as there hasn't been any official announcement from XM yet. Here's what we can put together about this:
1. We don't know if this will be a whole new channel, or just a radio show (in which case it probably would be on Sonic Theater XM 163).
2. It seems that these won't be abridged audiobooks, and while that's a big assumption that was the overall gist of the Village Voice article. They'll be covering both abridged and unabridged audiobooks on Audiobook Caf? - Thanks Lawrence!
3. With the recording capabilities of the MyFi and the SkiFi2, XM has a great outlet for this time of programming. Lots of people love audiobooks, and with satellite radio they don't need to be at their computer to download the audiobooks like with Audible. The total mobile access to this content would be greatly appreciated by those constantly on-the-go (like Truckers amoungst others).
At the time of writing this entry, neither XM nor Audiobook Cafe has given any comments regarding this. As more info comes in, I'll update it here.
Leave a comment