It's official now: Chris "Mad Dog" Russo has signed a five-year contract to headline a new sports-talk channel available on both Sirius and XM.Sirius channel 123 and XM channel 144 - formally Sirius Sports Central and XM Sports Nation - will relaunch as Mad Dog Radio, a reformatted channel that will cover the spectrum of sports with engaging talk, high profile interviews, up-to-the-moment news and live remote broadcasts from the biggest sporting events.
Russo will host the channel's anchor program, "The Mad Dog Sports Show," live from Sirius' New York studios every weekday afternoon from 2 - 7pm ET.
The show will begin airing daily on Sirius channel 123 and XM channel 144 on Monday, September 15th. It will feature Russo's take on the biggest sports stories from around the country, plus listener calls and hard-hitting interviews with some of the most intriguing people in sports. Broadcasting simultaneously on Sirius channel 123 and XM channel 144, "The Mad Dog Sports Show" will be the first original show available both on Sirius and XM.
"Mad Dog's fans are passionate about their sports and passionate about where they get their sports news and commentary from -- these are the listeners that any audio entertainment company would want," said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, Sirius XM Radio. "Having Mad Dog on Sirius and XM will fuel subscriber growth and create new and exciting opportunities for advertisers. Choose whatever sports analogy you want -- this is a big win."
Isn't there a guy on Fox Radio that is/was the first exclusive host on both services? Spencer?
This is great news. I hope they have a televised conference about it. It'd be the FIRST major announcement advertising the combined company to the public...and sports being such a big part of what makes Sirius's content so special...this is huge.
Being a battle fatigued Sirius shareholder, I am cynical about how much this news will move the stock...but in the long run, it will add to the catalyst that EVENTUALLY wakes up wall street to the reality of the synergies.
It's just so frustrating that NOTHING...not going from 67 million subs to now over 18 million has moved this stock.
Wheres the friggin LOVE???
They gave Russo his own channel? I can't believe it. Wow! Wonder who else will be on it???
Welcome to SiriusXM MadDog!
So, what becomes of the Mike and Murray show that airs from 3pm to 6pm on Sirius 123?
It is one of the few shows that I make an effort to listen to everyday.
this was an amazing hire ill listen to him everyday
Ok, the good sign is that there is simulcasting on both platforms. I imagine that's what we will have before the interoperable units are here.
It'll be interesting to hear Russo
A) Go it alone and
B) Do a show without 40 minutes of commercials per hour (I'm sure it'll be more like 15 minutes per hour)
Either way, I'll listen.
I wonder if Howard will move Ferrall over to Russo's new channel since he fits that format far better than Stern's.
Good move for Sirius XM.
So, my guess is September 15th is the date that more "synergies" will be realized.
Seems logical, and in time for the holiday shopping season.
Very happy to hear that XM will get this channel. I thought Maddog was only going to Sirius but now I can look forward to it on XM sept. 15th.
Anybody have any guesses if Sirius will make this available for online listening? Currently that channel isn't available online and I would love to listen online at work (can't get signal inside my office... no windows)
Does this mean the E-Rock from the O&A will be the producer?
So is this how they're going to do channels in the future? Never heard of anything like this before.
Anyways, what'll happen to Dan Patrick, Tony K, Claire B. Lang, and the rest of the XM Sports Nation crew?
Well, here we have it folks.
Sirius XM's first cross platform program....
I'm sure they will. Sirius has made all their most popular channels available online (Stern, NFL, etc...) to regular subscribers.
When will the new Sirius-XM channel lineup come out if the 15th is the cutover day?
Flap, I would assume Claire B Lang would move to the Sirius Nascar channel. Seems like a better fit. Having Dan Patrick in the morning and Mad Dog in the afternoon makes a pretty strong sports lineup.
@Flap:
Tony is on hiatus and his local DC station just went under. Dan Patrick does a morning show and won't be affected. Clair starts. Claire's show goes 4-7 and will be the only one that gets affected.
My guess is this new Mad dog sports (hate the name) will be an all inclusive sports channel combining XM and Sirius sports personalities and they will add Claire to the NASCAR channel on Sirius. Hopefully thwe new simulcast sports station will be a competitor to ESPN and Fox as opposed to a part time network with way too much racing programming.
@MikeHunt
They won't move Ferrall to this channel, have you ever heard swearing on 123? They don't allow it.
Interesting move...Being on the west coast, I admit I've never heard Mike and the Mad Dog, other than O&A's and Howard's references to them over the years, and will miss the show due to being at work (unless XMRO keeps the channel online). But, I like the sound of the line-up; Mad Dog in the afternoons, Dan Patrick in the mornings. Keep enough decent college football-related programming, get rid of some of the auto racing programming, or move it over to NASCAR Radio, and this could be good. But, as much as Mel doesn't like to share content with terrestrial radio, do we think Dan Patrick will stay on XM 144, and is he currently on Sirius at all? (Sorry, not being a Sirius subscriber, I have no idea).
Even though he turned out to be a bit of a dick toward O&A, I'd like to see Ferrall on the new Mad Dog channel in an evening slot. He, along with T.J. The Brick, were the two guys who got me listening to sports radio when I was in high school. Living in Phoenix at the time, I could pick up Ferrall's old San Francisco show out of KNBR, and then when he went national, he was on a couple different affiliates in Phoenix, and even though his voice drives my wife nuts, I always find his content and his take on things interesting.
if orbitcast is going SANITIZE ALL OF THE POSTING FROM THIS SITE....THIS SITE IS GOING TO THE GRAVYARD......LONG LIVE FREE FUCKIN SPEACH
I now have a new channel to listen to. I love the Mad Dog.
you are the 1st person I ever heard that actually listened to Mike & Murray.
This should be an interesting shake up. Now they just need to get Tony Bruno on the channel and they will have a winner.
It's good to see that new content is cross platform already. Here's hoping for more.
Yes, but let's hope that not too much of XM's music content gets destroyed along the way, since those of us with intact brain cells know XM music content is better.
Nothing against Chris but he's a relatively unknown from NYC. I used to listen to Mike & the Mad Dog Show when I lived there and it is what it is, another me-too sports show. This is fiscal responsibility? There is zero reason for him to be added to Sirius/XM. He's not a household name and won't move any subs. And as far as sports talk goes, we already have a lot of options, most of them bigger names.
Once all the channels are the same on both Sirius & XM what exactly is the point of interoperable radios and a la carte? So I can pay more to get both services even though they offer the same channels? Oh, that's right, the point of a la carte was to get the merger approved, not to benefit anyone.
I hope they don't move Claire B Lang, thats the only reason I listen to XM 144
This dude is boring as heck. Just another loud talking New Yorker. What a bore!!!!!!!
Wasn't Mike and the Maddog a New York thing? I've never heard of him or them together. How is bringing him in going to bring in new subscribers? That is really the point of highering new talent. As a stock holder I'm kinda let down by this news. If he can bring in 100,000 new subscribers then cool. I doubt it though. I like Ferrell. He kicks ass.
What happened to Mel saying they need to save money? 3 million a year for five years for a guy nobody has ever heard of outside of NYC, maybe Philly and Boston? This strikes me bizarre.
It sounds like more that Russo will make his own channel separate from XMSN and Sirius Sports Central latter down the road.
In their 19 years together, did Mike and the Mad Dog ever get invlved in any sort of syndication outside of NYC?
Even though Russo may not be a household name yet, growing up in Phoenix, we had a lot of New York transplants on sports radio, and for whatever reason, they tend to be (personal opinion) the best sports hosts...But yeah, it does seem like a weird move to put him on Sirius XM, name the channel after him, and all that. It makes me wonder if, demographically, the majority of subs are on the east coast, and they're counting on that for name recognition. Seems risky though.
Having a guy like Russo will start to build a content destination for people who want good sports talk. is he good...I do not know. But ESPN Radio was weak when it started.
Sirius XM is going to have to build up a content catalog that will need to drive people to sat radio. Commercial free music, great sports & political talk, sports play by play...all of these things are going to set sat radio up as a HUGE alternative to terrestrial radio.
I hope.
This is absolutely horrible. When is Sirius going to get out of the Manhatten bubble. Nobody in the nation cares about this guy other than New York. Just another piss poor example of how us the listeners are not getting what we want. For that much money they could sign Bubba and others to long term contracts...Boooooooooooo!!!!!
I am not a huge fan of Chris Ruso's but to call Mike and the Mad Dog a me-too sports show shows a lack of historical context. They were the first successful two-person sports talk show on the first successful al-sports local rasio station. If they seem "me-too" today, it's only because what they started has been copied nationwide.
Again, I can't count myself as a huge fan of the Mike and the Mad Dog show, but let's give them their due as pioneers in this area, rather than talking about what they started as derivative. Granted, everyone in this business builds on what went before, but they've done less of that than most.
@New Yorker.
What you say makes sense. But, following your logic, wouldn't it have made more sense to sign them as a team, instead of just signing Mad Dog to a deal? I imagine he has done some solo work before, but was he any good as a solo radio host? It'd be like splitting up Lex and Terry and just signing...No, wait, they both suck...It'd be like signing Opie and Anthony to do separate shows. It might work, but who knows, and do you really want to take such a long-term risk in a business where money needs to be made now?
Again, not discounting your comment, just raising some questions. I could see this type of deal for a nationally known name like Tony Bruno, Colin Cowherd if he left ESPN and wanted to jump to Satellite, or Tom Leykis (not sports, and I'm not a fan, but a popular, nationally-known talk show host)...But for a one-market guy; albeit a very successful guy in that one market. I'm looking forward to listening to see what he has to offer though; I've heard a couple of promos so far on ESPN Radio (I'm sure they love that), and they're definitely high energy if nothing else.
Actually this guy pretty much created sports talk radio long before Mike and the Madog. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Franklin
This guy caters to a New York audience. That is why he was never syndicated. He may be huge in New York,but in other parts of the country no one knows who the hell he is. You give a guy his own channel? That makes no sense. Not everything revolves around Manhatten. I wish Sirius would realize that.