E Street Radio, Sirius' channel dedicated to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, will be returning tonight with a rare concert from the "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" tour, featuring Springsteen and the band performing at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey in 1978.

The channel launches today at 6pm ET, replacing The Bridge (ch 10) - at least temporarily - as E Street Radio will run on through late March 2008.

The launch of E Street Radio coincides with the start of the band's 2007 concert tour, as well as the October 2nd release of their new album Magic. The channel will air daily features on the new album's music and track-by- track discussions with Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band members, as well as archival concert recordings dating from early 1973 and some behind-the-scenes insight from band insiders.

Sirius Satellite Radio's Cousin Brucie, who just recently resigned with the satellite radio broadcaster, blasted his former home of WCBS-FM for not truly returning to the "oldies" format.

Bruce Morrow said he talked with WCBS-FM about returning to the station, but decided to renew with Sirius because WCBS-FM wasn't planning to play enough '50s and '60s music.

"I'm very concerned that radio isn't doing enough to keep this early music alive," he said. "There are so many people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who still love it, and I don't think they should be written off."

Cousin Brucie feels that WCBS is making the same mistake they did when they dropped the oldies format in lieu of the "Jack" format back in 2005.

Morrow added that "they have every right to program what they want - and I have nothing against '80s music. But there's a real need for earlier music, too."

Sirius, he said, understands that.

"When I first talked to people here, like Mel [Karmazin], they gave me a commitment and they've kept it. In almost two and a half years here, I've never felt like I had more freedom on the radio."

Brucie held "informal" talks with WCBS, but decided to stay at Sirius instead.

"They wanted me to come back, help sign them on, and that made sense," he said. "But I told them they're still writing too many people off.

"Now the station has the jingles back and the advertising back. But it doesn't have me and it doesn't have the music."

[NY Daily News]

Bruce Morrow, aka "Cousin Brucie," has renewed with Sirius in an exclusive multi-year deal.

Brucie will continue to host "Cousin Brucie's Saturday Night Party" on Saturdays from 8pm to 12-midnight ET on Sirius' 60s Vibrations (ch 6). He will also host "Rockin' with the Cuz," Wednesdays from 5pm to 9pm ET on the same channel.

In addition, Sirius will air special live broadcasts from events in New York City and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame throughout the year.

Brucie will also host "Cousin Brucie's Music and Memories" which features Brucie discussing the music and events of the early days of rock and roll. These mini-audio documentaries will air throughout the day on 60s Vibrations and Sirius Gold (ch 5).

Sirius' New York traffic channel will also feature Brucie as the host of the "New York Minute" where he'll highlight local New York events and fun facts.

Cousin Brucie joined Sirius back in the summer of 2005.

Sirius Satellite Radio will kick off its second season of Metropolitan Opera Radio tonight with an Opening Night performance beginning at 6:30pm ET.

Sirius is also launching a new show on Metropolitan Opera Radio (ch 85) entitled "The Met on Record," a new program featuring Met studio recordings that will be broadcast weekly during the 2007-08 opera season.

Sirius will broadcast up to four live performances each week throughout the Metropolitan Opera's 2007- 08 season. Met Opera Radio's second season of live broadcasts begins with Gaetano Donizetti's tragic opera Lucia di Lammermoor.

Highlights of the Met's 2007-08 season include Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Verdi's Macbeth, Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Britten's Peter Grimes, Phillip Glass' Satyagraha, and Donizetti's La fille du regiment.

"The Met on Record," begins on Sunday, September 30th at 9pm ET and will spotlight the studio opera recordings made by the Metropolitan Opera throughout its history.

Sirius Satelite Radio will be celebrating what would have been legend Hilly Kristal’s 76th birthday, with a special broadcast celebrating his life. Hilly Kristal, the founder and owner of the legendary rock club CBGB, died in late August.

The show, "Happy Birthday Hilly Kristal," will rebroadcast an interview conducted with Kristal by his friend and Sirius host, Meg Griffin.

Recorded at CBGB on Thanksgiving Day 2003, the interview features Hilly Kristal describing the early days of CBGB and the artists who broke out during that era including The Ramones, Pattie Smith, Talking Heads, Television and Blondie. Hilly also discusses how important providing a space for artists was to him and how the most legendary ‘punk’ club became so by accident.

Kristal lost a bitter fight with the club's landlord last year to stop the club's eviction from its home of 33 years. Last October, CBGB had its final show featuring Patti Smith who first performed at CBGB in February 1975. The show was broadcast live on Sirius. During the final show, the legend was using a cane to get around and showing the effects of his cancer treatment.

Sirius Disorder (ch 70), will air "Happy Birthday Hilly Kristal" this Sunday, September 23rd at 9am ET and again at 6pm ET. An encore broadcast will air September 24th at 5pm ET.

Sirius Satellite Radio has just announced the return of E Street Radio, a music channel dedicated to the music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which will premiere on September 27th at 6 pm ET, on Sirius channel 10.

E Street Radio will air on Sirius through late March 2008.

The return of E Street Radio coincides with launch of the band's 2007 concert tour, as well as the October 2nd release of Magic, Bruce Springsteen's first album recorded with the E Street Band since 2002's multi-platinum and Grammy(R) award-winning The Rising.

As the band's 30-city worldwide tour rolls on after its kickoff concert in Hartford, CT on October 2nd, listeners to Sirius' E Street Radio channel will hear daily features on the new album's music and track-by-track discussions with Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band members.

The E Street Radio channel will also feature archival concert recordings of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band dating from early 1973, and behind-the-scenes insights from band insiders.

Fans will also have the opportunity to submit their favorite live recordings of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concerts, and selected submissions get the chance to guest host a show on E Street Radio.

E Street Radio was originally launched by Sirius back in late 2005.

Fans will get a treat at Sirius Satellite Radio's New York City studios when 50 Cent will perform in front of a live studio audience on Saturday, September 29th.

The performance, which includes 50 Cent joined by G-Unit's Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo, will air on "G-Unit Radio" (the weekly 50 Cent-produced show) on Sirius Shade 45 (ch 45). Expect to hear songs from 50 Cent's new album Curtis, as well as others during the live broadcast on Sept. 29th at 9pm ET.

Fans can enter to win tickets to attend this exclusive performance starting today (September 14th) at 1pm ET from Shade 45's webpage.