XM Satellite Radio's chief creative office Lee Abrams has resigned from the company today, according to a letter sent out to employees this morning.
Abrams, who joined XM in 1998, will be part of a new company starting in April. Further details on his next endeavor will reportedly be available tomorrow.
"It is with mixed emotions that I announce to the company that Lee Abrams has resigned," wrote EVP of Programming Eric Logan in a letter to XM employees.
"Lee's impact on XM and the entire satellite radio industry would be impossible to capture in an email. However, everyone in our company knows that Lee's vision and creative force is a key reason why XM is as successful as we are today," added Logan.
"Lee's mark on our medium will be remembered forever and we are grateful to have had Lee as one of our founding programmers and architect of our programming philosophy."
Lee's last day with XM will be sometime in the next three weeks.
...I'm honestly at a loss for words.
UPDATE: For those who are not familiar with Lee Abrams, read this article on him by Wired, and check out Lee's own blog which gives an incredible insight into his thoughts and philosophies.
The remaining question at this point is: where is he headed to next? We need more info to put this move in context.
That is a shocker...I read his Blog, and have always enjoyed it, and his vision. Ironically, I dont subscribe to XM, but that doesnt diminish my admiration of the guy. I always considered him to be the "conscience" of XM...
On a side note, I have been wondering how he would be viewed/utilized IF the Merger was to happen, as Sirius and XM obviously have much different programming philosphies..
Lee we are going to miss you! You are one hell of a visionary. It goes without saying but, you are an important part of what made XM's content the best that it is today.
And now you have an idea what the merger (assuming it happens - and this is a strong, new leading indicator that it will) is going to bring us. And what it's not going to bring us.
Damn the merger. Damn Gary Parsons and his face-less, soul-less board of directors. Damn Mel Karmazin and his face-less, soul-less 'programmers.'
But we should have enormous gratitude for Lee. He brought radio back to life and back to us, and we should never forget him for this.
I just IM'ed this to O&A and they confirmed it on the air. In fact, they're reading this blog post as I type this.
Good riddence putz!
Frrruuunkkkissss!!!!
Am Enormous Loss - but one thing that is always constant is change. Lee - we will miss you! Thank you
Good riddence putz!
Frrruuunkkkissss!!!!
WOW! This man is an icon in the business. Without Lee's influence, Logan would not have developed into the powerhouse he is today (Eric will freely admit that!). Something positive better happen to SatRad SOON. It looks like their boat is is being tossed around in a "Perfect Storm" and there will be no survivors if they stay on this course.
I wonder whether anyone took this immense loss of talent into account when they considered the cost of the merger?
Abrams is obvioiusly responsible for XM's content being so much better than SIRI's. His leaving gives us a glimpse into the future of post-merger satellite radio.
It is a really sad day for XM and for satellite radio, in general. The only real hope I had for the merged company's quality was in Abrams. With that gone, all bets are off.
RAMOOOOONE!!! BRING ME A LONG-WINDED CREATIVE DIRECTOR!!!!
There goes XM's creative identity post-merger. Lee's programming style is 180 degrees from what Mel believes satellite radio should be - deep playlists with substance and meaning vs. the same garbage as terrestrial minus commercials. I was wondering whether there would be an internal clash when/if the merger went through between the two programming views, but it's obvious now that "Mel Karmazy" is going to shit all over the programming XMers have come to enjoy. The final shoe has dropped - SatRad as it was meant to be is over - long live XM!
To Lil' Jimmy & AC,
So glad you are happy, thus proving that ignorance is bliss!!!
>>> There goes XM's creative identity post-merger.
Absolutely.
Those who claim the consumer will "benefit" from the merger ought to take a long, hard look at this resignation. The merger isn't even a done deal yet, and the consumer has been slammed hard.
Effective immediately, choice in satellite is GONE. XM becomes what Sirius has been -- FM without commercials.
Will there be an a la carte option to not have music after the merger? I don't think I want to continue to pay for those channels anymore, just talk for me now.
Slacker just got a lot more appealing this morning!! XM is going downhill fast.
this is a sad day...
NO MERGER WILL HAPPEN! IT IS NOT LEGAL!
who is lee abrams? never heard of him
Ok. Honestly? I had only heard this guy's name once before. But, reading on him this morning makes me think that he is very important to SATRAD.
Am I the only one reading between the lines in this article though? Is it even remotely possible that he is resigning from XM to join the new, mergered company? No indication given as to where he'll go, only we'll know either tomorrow or within a couple of weeks (the same timeline that we are 'supposed' to hear from DOJ). Perhaps wishful thinking on my part, but maybe this story is a positive--the glass is half full.
Best to those who are continued frustrated with the merger process.....
All - if you need history on Lee - even before he came to XM, he made his mark as the icon and genius behind the birth of FM radio. And then, when FMbecome old and tired, controlled by big company and trash play lists, he joined up with and helped create Satellite Radio. He is a true visionary.
He will be missed -both professionaly and personally.
Good luck, bro.
Well, you wouldn't need two creative directors if you're going to merge...
I have no idea how good he is, but I hope he lands on his feet. My guess is that a guy like that has a salary that a company in financial trouble doesn't need.
Curious to see what news comes out tomorrow. With the future of satrad looking more bleak, maybe I'll find out about something new to listen to tomorrow.
That's two strikes. It's beginning to look like I'm going to be satellite-radio free sooner than I thought. It sure was good while it lasted.
What a disappointment.
Everything I enjoy about XM flows directly from the philosophy Lee advocated (see his blog postings if you're not familiar with Lee Abrams).
Of course, my frustration with XM over the last couple years has been this continuing drift away from Abrams style on many of the rock channels, as XM's channels have become more and more like typical terrestrial formats.
Judging from his prior posts, I bet he's jumping on some internet-driven news media start-up. He's been writing for a long time about the need to find a workable modern way to deliver news.
I've been full circle...signed up with XM when it launched in 2001, was one of the first SIRIUS subcribers in February 2002.
Had and enjoyed SIRIUS until Steve Blatter and Scott Greenstein came aboard and began to wreck havoc on the playlists.
Bought an Audi in 2007 which came with XM, and I've been loving it ever since. The programming philosophies are so dramatically different, XM's is a breathe of fresh air, and it's a direct result of Lee Abrams.
Sure there are a few rare birds and great personalities left at SIRIUS, but for the most part it's commercial free FM.
Sad day for satellite radio fans, and a sure sign of things to come once the merger goes through.
I'm completely depressed. Can I ask one question? If satrad becomes a clone of FM, where should we go to hear a variety of music? Is Slacker really the answer? Can anyone suggest other places to look? Good luck, Lee. I hope your talents and direction will enlighten us again somewhere along the way. Peace out.
This is the worse than hearing the merger would be approved.
Ive long said i would stick around if they combined company kept Lee Abrams. And now that doesnt look like an option.
This is terrible news. This guy was the soul of XM. I am really bummed.
Wow...This is definitely a shocker. I first heard the name Lee Abrams as a 12-year-old kid listening to Z-Rock. I never met the guy, but worked for a summer as an intern for Real Country, a network he, from what I was told, pretty much founded and made viable. I've always enjoyed his blogs, and his appearances on O&A...The guy's a living legend, a genius, and will be missed.
I've gone back and forth on the merger...Most people who've seen my comments know that I started out thinking it was the worst thing for satellite radio, letting Mel run the merged company...And I still stand by my earlier comments that, as an XM sub, other than the NFL, Sirius has nothing to offer me. As time passed, I started seeing some benefits to the merger...Now, with Lee gone, I think those who say a merged XM-Sirius would just become terrestrial without the commercials are probably right. Whoever Mel puts in to handle creative direction will not have the talent, insight, brains or instincts of Lee Abrams, and the product will likely suffer.
But yeah, I'd bet he's going in to something to do with News delivery...Who knows, maybe if the merger falls through, XM will beg him to come back. Whatever he goes to next, it should be interesting and fun to watch it develop.
Look, I know this is a passionate audience of commenters, but this certainly isn't the end of the world. How much daily influence did Lee still have? And it's not like he prevented Tobi from turning XMU into a giant pile of suck (thank God for Billy Zero), or stopped Kingston from killing Ethel.
Anyway, the departure of one man is not likely to immediately turn XM into FM. I like Lee a lot, and will miss his contributions a great deal, but let's not get carried away.
This is bad news for XM. Lee was a pioneer and responsible for some of the best, deep-playlist programming on XM. I had the pleasure of hanging with him in his office talking about music, and attended several Yes shows with him at XM and other venues (and lucky enough to go back stage with him). His music knowledge is unreal.
Best of luck, Lee...
My experience mirrors the others in this comments list.
When I first got satellite radio I started with Sirius. Being used to non-com FM I was disgusted that satellite radio seemed like the usual commercial FM shit radio, just without the commercials. By "shit" I mean shallow play lists, motor mouth DJ's and overly repetitive, highly annoying channel ID's and bumpers... like others have said, terrestrial FM without the commercials.
Then I discovered XM, and was pleased to find there is a significant difference between the two services. That is why I am opposed to the slick Mel proposal to take over XM, because I have already heard what he thinks is "good programming"...
Yet with the US economic bankruptcy unfolding before our eyes and cheap energy behind us, something as optional to most people's constrained budgets as satellite radio is bound to lose subscribers... so for their economic viability, something needs to change.
BUT if XM's musical offerings become like Sirius, I will unsubscribe.
Todd
10 years is a long time at any job these days... I made it to my 5 year anniversary at my last company, collected my bonus, and headed off into the sunset.
Sounds like creativity has now officially died at XM.
here's the article we should be circulating:
Foxes in the Henhouse: FCC Regulation through Merger Review
Posted by D. Daniel Sokol
Public choice concerns go hand in hand with issues of regulation. Though antitrust is not immune from public choice, it is far less likely to be guided in its decision-making by such concerns than sector regulation, where interests are more concentrated and therefore more prone to capture. In a new paper, Greg Sidak and Hal Singer (both of Criterion Economics) argue to reduce the power of the FCC to condition merger approval based on its public interest rational (which may in fact not be in the public's interest) in their article Foxes in the Henhouse: FCC Regulation through Merger Review.
ABSTRACT: Although the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) review proposed mergers, in mergers involving communications businesses the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decides whether it would serve the public interest for the acquired firm to transfer its operating licenses to the acquiring firm. This public-interest discretion has become problematic because the FCC has repeatedly set conditions for merger approval that satisfy private pressure groups with economic or social agendas, yet are irrelevant to defending consumers from the consequences of increased market power.
A current example of this phenomenon is the proposed merger of XM and Sirius, the only two satellite radio companies holding FCC licenses for radio spectrum. The firms have an incentive to accept costly new regulation-for example, a requirement that the combined systems set aside channels for educational programming or offer programming on an à-la-carte basis-as the price of merger approval. Such concessions, however, are not relevant to the antitrust laws, where the concern is whether the merger will create monopoly power. Redistributing income to influential political constituencies does nothing to answer the question of whether the merger will harm consumers, who form the constituency that should matter most to the FCC.
Congress should remove the FCC's power to impose conduct remedies as a condition of approving a merger. Alternatively, Congress should require that the Tunney Act apply to conduct remedies imposed by the FCC in mergers, such that a federal district court would independently review whether merger conditions adequately addressed the specific harm to competition that the FCC alleged in the merger order.
found on the following website:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/antitrustprof_blog/
This stinks. I hope this doesnt mean Lee sees the writing on the wall, and is jumping ship before they destroy his creation. Yeesh can I use more cliches?
Perhaps Lee will fly around the country doing Pirate Radio from his plane. "This is your pilot speaking we are at 10,000 feet and now some great acid rock from YES!"
"and the hits just keep on coming....."
It's gotta be an Internet Radio startup or something. Maybe he's joining Slacker? They already have one XM founder (Lon Levin).
Lee sees the writing on the wall
It is over for XM merger or not. Is he the one that brought in Oprah for only 19.5 hours a year? XM never thought content was important and only realized it was when Sirius got it.
nobody likes lee abrams.
they LOVE him!!!
So, NOW WE KNOW:
Tribune Names Lee Abrams Chief Innovation Officer
CHICAGO, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The sweeping change underway at
Tribune Company today took another giant leap forward as the media giant
announced the appointment of music and radio industry icon Lee Abrams as
Chief Innovation Officer. Abrams will be responsible for innovation across
Tribune's publishing, broadcasting and interactive divisions, and will
assume his duties April 1. He is the first person to hold the position in
the company's 160-year history.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-11-2008/0004771908&EDATE=
Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. I have EVERY expectation that this is the downfall of content and programming at XM, or if the merger goes through, the merged company.
Lee had a way of ensuring that programming at XM was fresh, unique, and stayed away from traditional radio as much as possible. I'll now be listening a lot closer... and if I begin noticing that XM starts to take the same road as regular radio, I will make no bones about cancelling my 3-radio subscription.
I'll be interested to see where he shows up next... I have no doubt that whatever organization he ends up in will benefit from his decades of experience.
hes going to tribune check allaccess
Hmmm...If the merger doesn't go through, maybe Tribune will buy XM. LOL
Interesting move. If I remember right, Tribune (if it's the same company) owns a couple TV stations out here in Seattle. One of them, our Fox affiliate, has decent newscasts but could use some serious help with the morning show. Be interesting to see if any changes happen here on the local front after Lee takes over.
I don't know much about Mr. Abrams' specific influence on XM, but if he's a YES fan, he can't be all bad.
I don't understand the criticism here of Sirius' programming. They are much stronger in talk than XM: Stern/NPR/Sirius Left vs. XM's Oprah/Ellen/Take Five.
When Sirius does have an artist specific channel, they make interesting choices like Springsteen, The Who and The Dead. With XM, we get Michael Jackson, for chrisssake. Deep Tracks is OK if you're really into Rory Gallagher and Spooky Tooth. (And hey, who isn't?)
Count me as a former Sirius subscriber stuck now with XM factory-installed and hoping the merger will let me access some of Sirius' good stuff. If that doesn't happen, it may be back to the aftermarket option.
Wes - what a great town you live in, Seattle. Yes, the Tribune company owns a bunch of TV stations, WGN AM in Chicago and the Cubbies. Lee gets to go back home again to Chicago. Bad for XM.
@The Grinch: And I think that's significant. We obviously don't know about his personal life, but maybe there's a reason why being close to home is important to him?
this sucks.
Very sad to see him go, I'm afraid of what's going to happen to XM, not that it's that great for me now anyways.. increased repetition on BPM, shallow playlist.. doesn't offer me much now anyways, except for O&A, but XM does have some great channels, I just don't have time for them, and I'm afraid for those channels now.
Internet radio will be the way to go.. I will even record hours of online streams to play in the car.. free, and MUCH more interesting than XM is.
>>> I don't understand the criticism here of Sirius' programming. They are much stronger in talk than XM: Stern/NPR/Sirius Left vs. XM's Oprah/Ellen/Take Five.
I think the focus is XM's music programming -- which is vastly superior in the eyes of many.
Sirius obviously has the advantage in talk with Stern -- but I wouldn't think Oprah/Ellen/Take Five would be the backbone of XM's talk channels (Ellen is gone, isn't she?). I'm not much of a talk radio fan these days, but XM has some strengths in this area that Sirius is missing. You mentioned NPR, but XM's PR channel is just as strong as SIRI's (since SIRI is missing the key programming from its NPR channels).
Ho Ho... I invented Lee Abrams. Tell them, Robin!
Wow. This is a shock. I haven't checked Orbitcast for a few days, and now I'm almost sorry I did.
Lee was *THE* reason why I loved XM, and now he's gone. His programming philosophy and knowledge is second-to-none in my book. I have tremendously enjoyed XM since I joined in 2001, and Lee helped me enjoy it more and more. Sadly, I too have noticed that Lee's influence on XM has dwindled in the last couple of years, and it almost sickens me that he is leaving. I wish him well, and hope he will be back to clean up "the mess" that SDARS has become, whether they merge or not.
---------
@Ryan: It has come to my attention that some coworkers have been posting here (I'm sure you notice the IP is the same). They are some of the anonymous cowards and possibly a few other aliases. They have been resposible for some of the mudslinging going on between the two radio shows (who's names I won't mention). I just want you to know that it isn't me, and I would hold no qualms about you deleting or banning their posts when appropriate. I always use my name when posting (and personally dislike this ridiculous radio-show war).
@TulaneJeff
I almost had to do a double-take when reading your post. I couldn't believe it was you writing about how much you liked Lee (and XM's) programming philosophy after having Sirius for so long.
I'm glad you enjoyed his philosophy as much as myself and many others! He will be missed!
@Ryan
I just realized I've been spelling my own name wrong on the last two posts!
Talk about a shock to my system! LOL :P
WOW!! This sucks totally. Its slowly starting to resemble the TECHTV Merger with G4 where techtv was abandoned pretty much. Someone needs to buy XM and stop this merger and get Lee back!
Amazing creative figure and person as a whole -- truly inspirational.
Stack:
"I wonder whether anyone took this immense loss of talent into account when they considered the cost of the merger?
Abrams is obvioiusly responsible for XM's content being so much better than SIRI's. His leaving gives us a glimpse into the future of post-merger satellite radio.
It is a really sad day for XM and for satellite radio, in general. The only real hope I had for the merged company's quality was in Abrams. With that gone, all bets are off.>>
Once again, no doubt. Sheesh.
If this doesn't scream "merger approval" I don't know what does.
Hey Homer..... you've been wrong since 7/06 when I called the merger and approval and you pooh-poohed the idea.
Time to get a job Son... XM will toss you with the rest of the trash like Parsons and Panero
should have been tossed by the BOD.
Yup he's bailing out of a burning aircraft, hitting the silk before it hits the ground.!
I just love how everything screams MERGER APPROVAL to some people. This event doesn't even whisper the words. But, if you look closely at the moon at 3 tomorrow morning, you may see the words "merger denied" written in crayon near the Sea of Tranquility. But you have to stand on your head for 10 minutes before you can see the letters.
@Ryan - He likes Chicago and his White Sox. It's a good company, and he probably decided to pounce on a job where he knew he'd be appreciated, rather than be stuck in a bad situation later on.
XM's content being so much better than SIRI's
That's the funniest thing I've ever read.
The Brain Drain starts. Who else will follow Lee Abrams out the door at the Eck ?
If it weren't for the sorry state of radio companies finances these days, I would have expected it sooner.
Lee waited for a YEAR after the merger was announced. He waited until the merger should have expired ! Now they ask him and others to please be patient until MAY ? Fugetaboutit. It's almost criminal what the money men at these companies are doing to their employees....dragging this thing out past even the very liberal year deadline! For the people with careers to get on with, it's time to go.
Randy Michaels at Tribune (formerly Jacor's head guy) and others in the business know that there is a happy hunting ground at the satellite radio companies.....particularly XM. The XM employees have been waiting for Mel and his hatchet men to come in and trash the place, and now they have to hang around more ? The smart people in the entertainment business are going to be making offers to all of the talented people at these companies. Gary Parsons and the board at XM are going to come to work one day and find out they are the only ones in the building. Then Mel's lackeys can come in and wipe out what little remains of XM. Sad, it could have been so great.
>>>>>> Gary Parsons and the board at XM are going to come to work one day and find out they are the only ones in the building.
I think it already happened, in spirit -- about a year ago.
You cannot waltz in and say to your employees, "You know everything we've worked for for the last 7 years? Well, just forget about it, we're not doing that anymore" -- and expect them to hang around. When the firm I worked for was acquired by AC Nielsen many years ago, most of us stayed just long enough to cash out our stock options, and it was a ghost town after that. Night and day; from the most committed group of employees in existence to the biggest group of "I don't give-a-shits", overnight.