SIRIUS and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum have signed an agreement making SIRIUS the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

SIRIUS DJs will broadcast daily live from the Alan Freed Radio Studio located inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

SIRIUS will also have exclusive special programs and events related to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s inductees, as well as live performances from the Museum.

Sirius just announced that Toyota is now offering Sirius Satellite Radio as a post-production or dealer-installed option in select Toyota and Scion vehicles dealerships beginning this month.

They’ll be available in the:

• Toyota Camry

• Toyota (2005 and 2006) Solara and Solara Convertible

• Scion xA

• Scion xB

• Scion tC

This is good news for Sirius because the Camry is a big seller, and Scions are big in the target audience. Sirius needs to land more Factory-installed deals than post-production in my opinion. Still, it’s better than nothing.

— UPDATE: Apparently the wording on the Press Release is more than a bit misleading. Sirius does not have a deal directly with Toyota (at least one hasn’t been announced). In fact the Dealer-Installed Option is apparently available through the Penske Automotive Group - one of Toyota America’s distributors. A major distributor infact, but nonetheless, the wording on the press release makes it sound like something bigger. Sure, technically it’s correct, “SIRIUS as a post-production or dealer-installed option on select Toyota and Scion vehicle lines” - but leads the reader to a false conclusion in my opinion.

I should have remembered this, having posted about it - but I forgot. I know, my mistake. I took the press release at face value, and delivered it as such. My bad.

Still, it really pisses me off that press releases are put out like this, and in my attempt to turn around news as quickly as possible to everyone, I end up looking like an ass. I’m pretty infuriated right now. The point of Orbitcast is to give an unbiased source of news, but when I write up a post based on what I assume to be fact and it’s not - I look like a schmuck. Note to Sirius PR Dept: funky worded releases that leads the reader to a false conclusion will only cause a backlash amoungst those who support you the most. It’s NOT good PR.

/rant

Memorial Day Weekend, usually involves two things: trudging through traffic-snarled roads and listening to music with friends and family (usually accompanied by heavy drinking… hopefully not while stuck in traffic). Well, to appease the herding masses, Sirius is hooking up Memorial Day Weekend with performances by country/rock artists Van Zant, and providing enhanced traffic and weather reports.

Coming from Tennessee’s Ocean Way Studios, brothers Johnnie Van Zant (known from his work with Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Donnie Van Zant (known from his work with .38 Special), will perform songs from their new album Get Right With the Man, (plus some stuff from .38 Special and Lynyrd Skynyrd). The exclusive performance will be broadcast on SIRIUS channel 31, New Country, on May 27th at 10pm, May 29th at 5pm and May 30 at 8pm.

Starting May 26, the Weather Channel reports on SIRIUS traffic and weather channels will provide resort and getaway destination weather, every Thursday through Sunday throughout the summer. Starting on Friday, May 27, traffic reports will provide uber-coverage of US beach, mountain and getaway destination routes every Friday evening for the trip away and Sunday afternoons and evenings for the grueling return trip home.

SIRIUS Satellite Radio has hired two regional advertising directors and one New York account manager to expand its advertising sales efforts on its non-music channels.

Mark Kallen joins as Western Regional Sales Director, Stephen Scheu joins as Midwest Regional Sales Director, and Kevin Zoback joins as New York Account Manager.

Kallen, Scheu and Zoback will work to increase SIRIUS' advertising revenue on its 55+ Talk, Traffic, News, Sports and Entertainment channels (no worries, the music channels will remain commercial-free).

Kallen was the VP of Sales for Infinity Radio Sales and brings with him 20 years of experience. Stephen Scheu, has more than 25 years of experience in advertising sales, was most recently National Sales Manager for Infinity's WCKG-FM/Chicago. And Kevin Zoback comes to SIRIUS with 15 years of experience in broadcast ad sales. Previously, Zoback developed customized sales and marketing strategies for national advertisers, agencies and clients at Disney/ABC Inc.

SIRIUS has just released their official release about the Adam Curry hosting a Podcast Show. Here's the further information we get from it:

The four-hour, weekday program will feature highlights and insights from the world of podcasting and will introduce SIRIUS listeners to a completely new range of talent and artists from around the world, including the best new, undiscovered music.

The program's SIRIUS debut coincides with the launch of Curry's PodShow.com, the first true entertainment and information network in podcasting.

"Podcasting is not just about portable media players," said Curry, the former star MTV VJ who developed podcasting in mid-2004. Explaining how the new collaboration between SIRIUS and PodShow.com takes podcasting to a completely new level, he said, "Podcasting is an entirely new form of broadcasting that enables anyone to create powerful content. By combining the creative talent and content of available podcasting with superior programming of SIRIUS, we can create and showcase talent that terrestrial radio listeners would not be able to hear. We think that this partnership is about introducing the best of podcasting to the world."

Awesome stuff.

The NY Times has a feature on Adam Curry's new deal with Sirius Satellite Radio with a little bit more information than what I originally got.

Pretty much, all we have additionally now is that the name for the show is "Adam Curry's PodShow" and Adam will help choose material from some of the thousands of Podcasts floating around in the PODosphere.

More info as it develops.

Satellite Podcasting has arrived! Sirius Satellite Radio is launching a show later this month that will feature a daily selection of Podcasts hosted by noneother than the PodFather himself - Adam Curry.

The show, which Sirius is expected to formally today, will begin broadcasting weekdays on May 13. It will be hosted by Adam Curry, the former MTV personality who helped create the technological tools that allow podcasting to work. The show will be broadcast on Sirius Channel 148, and will carry commericals.

This is awesome, and I applaud Sirius for taking this huge step!