Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer at Sirius XM Radio Inc., doesn't have a job that involves easy decisions.
Not only does he oversee what music, sports and talk programming nearly 19 million subscribers get to choose from. But on November 12th, Scott and his team had the daunting task of combining most of the music lineups of both Sirius and XM following the merger of the two companies.
So how does one go about the melding of two services, each with millions of loyal followers, and still keep everyone happy? I had to find out. So when Orbitcast got the chance to chat with Greenstein about the combining of channels, you bet I took it.
The fact is, most people understand that the duplication of channels is inefficient. There's no reason to have two channels, on two separate services, each playing the same thing. I get it. But I wanted to learn about the overall strategic thinking behind the process, and fill the gaps in some unanswered questions.
Orbitcast: How did you go about selecting which channels stayed and which were replaced?
Scott Greenstein: It's about getting the most amount of breadth we could have, with the most amount depth. Meaning that the breadth is the horizontal appeal, and the depth is the vertical appeal. We looked at every element of each channel, from the playlists to the jocks, and tried to bring it together so subscribers and listeners get the best audio experience they can have.
If you look at what each service had to offer - from Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, BB King, Grand Ole Opry, the Artist Confidential series, and POTUS on XM's side; to Jimmy Buffet, Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Steve Van Zandt, Metropolitan Opera, Jamie Foxx, Blue Collar Radio, as well as The Catholic Channel, Doctor Radio on Sirius' side - these are great assets that are missing from the other service. So you bring in those assets from each side and build a mix of vertical and horizontal content.
So is this a fundamental change in how Sirius XM is trying to appeal to a broader audience?
No. This is not some sort of new initiative or change in our thinking. I'm a believer in that there is a wide spectrum of tastes in all of our listeners. You might have come to Sirius for Howard Stern, or to XM for Bob Dylan, but your tastes in music may range from one genre to another. You're going to discover other channels and genres from when you first subscribed. In fact, with all its newly combined assets, Sirius XM has even more places to explore on its channels.
But never was this a change in our philosophy - from when we had 300,000 subscribers to our current level of about 19 million - it makes no difference.
Well, it's part of what got you guys here to begin with. It's how satellite radio has grown.
Exactly. We are doing a higher end, more intense scrutiny, to do what we've always been doing all along. The only difference now is we're bringing together both sets of content, to both sets of subscribers and listeners.
The thing to understand is that radio is the easiest and most freeform of media that can evolve. Let's take for example E Street Radio, which evolved from a limited-time promotion - but due to the massive and amazing public response we received - has turned into a full fledged dedicated channel.
It's an example of listening and responding. And that's what we're doing now.
So you're taking in listener feedback and continuing to adjust based on that feedback?
Our approach will continue to evolve as we receive feedback from our listeners and subscribers. We're doing exactly what we always did: trying to give the best aggregation of content to our subscribers. And part of that is to listen to them, and respond.
Now, that brings us to the question of specific genres. Obviously in media it's impossible to "please everyone," but many listeners are upset over the loss of entire genres such as Old School Hip-Hop (i.e., The Rhyme and Backspin) and Disco (i.e., Chrome and The Strobe) as well as the loss of other micro-niche channels. What are the plans to help address the fans of these genres?
For Old School Rap, we currently are running a show on Hip-Hop Nation. But as things evolve and we receive more feedback from our listeners, we're open to doing more. We are going to look into getting more Old School Rap into that channel and possibly expanding the programming. For Disco, the folks behind the channel are still on board with us and are distributed out into other channels. So the essence is still there but it has been spread to other channels.
The key is that we're here to serve our subscribers and listeners. And we aren't forgetting that.
We are still the ultimate aggregators of content. There's something for everybody - and immensely more than terrestrial radio. And while the internet has a wide range of choices, our service is more accessible than the internet and still the most content in one stop. This is a unique service that we're providing.
So we're looking into all of our options, and much of that has to do with feedback from our subscribers. We're willing to listen and react. But we're also trying to do our job, and provide the most unique amount of content with the spectrum available.
But the new lineup seems heavily weighted towards Rock, what with over 20 channels dedicated to the genre. Is this driven by demand or some other reasoning?
A lot of that has to do with the broad definition of the category. If you look at it, there's a number of different ways to listen to "Rock," you could be into The Beatles or into Heavy Metal. The genre just lends itself to lots of different styles. In Country or Sports for that matter, there's a little less diversity in the definition. But remember, we have six country channels.
We also have an audience that has a clear interest in a wide range of rock interests. This isn't unique us. Look at attendance at concerts in North America, and you'll see an overwhelming majority go to Rock concerts. So it's based on both demand as well as the wide spectrum of the category.
So with that in mind, there seems to be a conflict between maintaining this wide range of genres, and the artist-only channels. For instance, micro-niche channels like Disco and Old School Hip-Hop get eliminated, while at the same time there are channels like AC/DC Radio and Led Zeppelin Radio. Can you help explain the rationale behind the Artist-only channels?
One of the benefits of Satellite Radio is the ability to go from broad appeal to very vertical interests. It's part of what makes us different from terrestrial.
These channels have true artist cooperation. The artists have a deep interest in participating with these channels, and listeners get access to their favorite bands like nowhere else. You'll notice that these are iconic artists, that have millions - not thousands - but millions of fans. And you're getting exclusive interviews and extremely rare insight and programming behind each of them. These channels are unique assets with limited duration and we only do them with full artist cooperation because that's the only way to bring listeners the best programming.
Bob Dylan's show is a great example of a fulltime show with one artist, even though it's not a dedicated channel. The ability to reach into the creative mind of someone like that is something you just can't get anywhere else - and that mind is a national treasure. It's something that is impossible for terrestrial to do.
Now, there's always a debate about the length of time these channels should run for, but it's all part of the constantly evolving process.
Would you consider a single "artist-only" channel that rotates each artist for a block of time?
That's something we're considering. We're looking at working to evolve towards that. But it needs to apply to the right genre. You shouldn't mix up artists that have nothing to do with each other, but we are actively looking into how to have one channel dedicated to "pop up" channels.
There has been a lot of talk about the channels getting "censored" and becoming family friendly. It's hard find a clear definition of what is going on. XM has its "XL" channels, while all the others were family friendly and there's been a lot of confusion following the combination of the channels about censorship taking place. Can you clear the air on this and address this confusion?
This is a great question and I'm really glad you asked it. There is absolutely, 100 percent, no censorship at Sirius XM. Let me be clear about that.
Here's the delineation: There are artist- and label-edited songs that the artists and record labels agree to provide radio. These are versions of the songs that have been approved by the artists and the record labels to air. Only three of our channels play these artist- and label-edited songs: Hits 1 on Sirius, 20on20 on XM, and The Heat.
Hits 1 and 20on20 are obviously pop/hits channels with a huge number of kids listening to them while The Heat is the urban equivalent.
The reason why these artist/label-edited songs are played is because our research found that an overwhelming number of parents are listening to these channels with their kids. We feel it is being socially responsible to air edited songs, knowing that we have young children listening to them.
Let me address The Heat. That channel took the place of Hot Jamz after the channel combination, and Hot Jamz did not play artist- and label-edited songs. I thought it was inappropriate to not have the equivalent choices like Hits 1 and 20on20 for parents and kids listening to that urban channel. So people listening to Hot Jamz started hearing artist- and label-edited songs from The Heat.
But when it comes to the term "censorship" this is something I feel very very strongly about. And I really want to drive this point home. Never ever, ever - EVER - do we play anything that an artist didn't agree should be played. So if an artist or label didn't approve it, we don't touch it.
The fact is, the subscribers and the artists built satellite radio.
I, personally, like to hear that. So you're not just talking about explicit language, but you're also talking about preserving the artistic integrity of the music?
Right. That's why we have the most amount of artist participation of any other form of media. These are artists of the utmost creditability and we respect their work. The word 'censorship' really gets to me, because it's completely not what we're about. From Howard Stern all the way to The Catholic Channel, with Jamie Foxx and Shade 45 in between. We simply do not censor our programming.
Give me your closing thought.
We feel that the subscriber and listener are paramount to Sirius XM on one side, and the artists are paramount to us on the other side of the equation.
That's what makes this medium so great and so real. It's the bridge between the recording artists and the fans and listeners, our subscribers, in its purest, most direct form.
Makes sense. I just want to know when that Clear Channel stuff is going bye-bye.
;)
The bold formatting code is missing in a few areas which is making it confusing to understand who is speaking.
-hw
Sorry about that, I fixed it. Thanks for the heads up
So Rock has many different styles, but Hip Hop has only one, and can be found on one station. This is a bunch of crap. Oh, but if you're a fan of old school hip hop, completely the same as regular hip hop sharing all the same fans as the modern pop chart driven style, there is a one hour weekly show you can tune into, so don't worry.
I also liked the comparison of Theme Time Radio to the artist only stations. Dylan doesn't even play his own music! It's an hourly show that airs for 3 months of the year before going to repeats the remainder of the year. It blends in with the programming on two separate channels. How does this compare to channels that eliminate the other channels and are so narrow in their focus that even fans of the artist don't listen to the channels exclusively.
Basically, what I got, was it's only going to get worse.
>> I just want to know when that Clear Channel stuff is going bye-bye.
The truth is that channel 161 is one of the better channels on XM now that the lineup has been Siriotized. It sounds better than any of the old XM rock channels, for some reason, so I listen to it a lot.
It supposedly has commercials but I don't notice them. At this point, if they removed 161 there wouldn't be any music I'd listen to on XM.
At first I thought the new lineup would be better but it really sucks for the most part. If it wasn't for wanting access to the news & talk channels I'd dump it at this point.
S.S.D.D.
Ryan,
Here is a follow-up question regarding the songs played by Hip Hop Nation. Is this station playing "clean" versions of songs as provided to Sirius XM by the record label?
Before the channel merge, Sirius's Hip Hop Nation did not play clean song versions. Now, they are playing both songs with explicit lyrics and "clean" versions. It really ruins the experience when songs have words that are completey muted over. It sounds like Scott said that Sirius XM is not doing the cleaning up but the record label did. Either way, this is totally unacceptable.
Daniel
Horizontal, vertical, breadth, depth. I only need synergy and "outside the box" for a bingo on my corporate bingo card. Could this guy be any further removed from the customer?
If only three channels are supposed to be playing radio-edit songs, why is Lithium 24 still doing so?
Total bullshitter. I can't wait until Howard is gone so I can dump my sub. I've been a satellite radio fan and follower since inception, they've lost me.
Very good interview! Thanks for the insite to the madness.
Go SiriusXM! you rock and don't let the bastards get you down. The nay-Sayers are just the NAB at work. They will continue the fight until they die. Dont listen to them, ignore the negativity, and know that the sun will shine soon.
I find the single artist channels to be ridiculous. IF you are a huge fan of Springsteen or AC/DC, chances are you already own and have listened to all the music. I don't see the point.
At least with the jimmy buffet channel the dj's play other music that the parrotheads may not know about but still close to jimmy buffets style.
You should have told him about the various petitions to get the old Saturday night show from Lucy back on any channel.
It is unfortunate that Mr. Greenstein did not take the time to accurately or honestly discuss the issues.
He plays fast and loose with the term censorship to wash his hands of the situation.
As subscribers we urge everyone to use our combined might as consumers and show Mr. Greenstein these changes to an inferior service are unacceptable.
If they are not honestly addressed or resolved join us in cancelling on December 17th.
Thank You.
http://www.siriuslyscrewed.com
Great Interview!!!
My favorite part is when he said, "our service is more accessible than the internet." Perhaps in the car, but right now I am listening to Classic Hip Hop on Pandora through wifi on iphone, sounds amazing. I would call having a music service on your cell phone pretty accessible.
Scenario by a tribe called quest.
The recent moves show that SG knows nothing about music...he's still tainted by FM, like Mel. Sat radio is not the same as it was a few years ago, and, IMO, is heading down a slippery slope. Glad I've found Slacker...SQ, variety, customization....awesome
Mr. Greenstein, you dont know what you are saying, its ok for me if any artist has a show in any channel, but a one artist channel no way, I dont want just a show of old school hip hop, I want a complete channel the way it was before, I want one uncut hip hop channel also, shady 45 is uncut but they play alot Eminen and 50 cent, I like there music but if I want to listen to them I play there CDs. WAKE UP Scott! you dont know what you are doing.
Great Scott! Now I know why people are upset. This guy has about as much soul and originality as sheetrock. It sounded like a robot was being interviewed! I don't believe that he is losing ANY sleep at night worrying about subscribers concerns. A fat broad working at the DMV would be more creative and personable than this borefest.
Lithium is bleeping out "the F word" on songs like CREEP, YOU OUGHTA KNOW, and HEAVEN BESIDE YOU. Greenstein is either deliberately misleading or he is lying. No debate that Lithium is censored.
I originally got sat rad mainly for sports and talk, but the fact that they've removed EVERY SINGLE ONE of the music channels I listened to is ridiculous.
I expected the merger to bring consolidation. For example, I figured that it'd either be Backspin or The Rhyme that stayed while one was gone. That didn't happen...they're now both gone.
I've also lost Lucy, Fred and Ethel. All five music channels I listened to are gone.
While I do want to keep my sports, the fact is that for me there is now NOTHING that I want to listen to on the music front. I can't justify paying for a service that has taken everything away that I listened to.
I used to believe in this service so much. I was such a believer that I ended up losing six figures as an investor. The only solace I had was that I still believed in the product even though I lost all my money. Now I can't even have that anymore. They turned their back on me as a subscriber just like they did to me as an investor.
I guess it's back to the iPod for music. Either that or a Slacker. I'll listen to the sports on the web and just steal O and A off of the net since I'm not going to pay for a service that offers me just one thing.
Fuck You Sirius. You ruined XM and you're about to self-implode. You're almost as bad as terrestrial now.
Naysayers are the NAB at work?
You are crazy, and most likely a Sirius employee who wants to keep their job.
The new channel lineup is horrible. His answer to the Rock channels questions was crap. His answer to the censorship question was pure corporate spin. He doesnt care about his product or his customers. He just wants his golden parachute before the the whole shit house goes down in flames.
I cant tell you how many times I have looked at my currently playing songs listings and seen the same song on 4+ channels at the same time. WHY?????
Are those words you don't understand Eric?
First off, I am so sick of each channel needing some washed up musician to sponsor it. I dont care what bob dylan thinks or has to say. I'm waiting for him to die. deep tracks plays songs I've heard on fm radio. the vault did not. Second, scot g. is blurring the line between artist and label. the artist has no say in what the label does with the music. If sony owns the rights to your music, they will package and censor it how ever they feel will sell more copies. as far as the artists helping siriusxm, only if the label says so. the label uses the artists material in ways the artist will never know.(car commercials. etc..) Scott Greenstein is clearly full of shit. I have already cancelled my subs. I am currently looking into a different music service, Ipod or zune?
this is a complete bullshitting fool. Bring back Lee Abrams.
If you look at what each service had to offer - from Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, BB King, Grand Ole Opry, the Artist Confidential series, and POTUS on XM's side; to Jimmy Buffet, Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Steve Van Zandt, Metropolitan Opera, Jamie Foxx, Blue Collar Radio, as well as The Catholic Channel, Doctor Radio on Sirius' side - these are great assets that are missing from the other service.
"EVERYTHING WORTH LISTENING TO IS NOW ON SIRIUS"
BULLSHIT
Well, now that we've swept all of Scott's buzzwords away, let's look at what remains of satellite radio.
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock
CNN
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock
repeat ad nauseum....
It IS kind of sad when a service that introduced so many people to so many new kinds of music is gutted. I've cancelled two radios but kept one in the car since the great castration of XM, after all CNN is worth something on road trips.
But it's too bad that the radio business in this country can't support new music. Oh well, back to the college radio stations....
Great interview, Ryan. You asked questions that I think most of us had.
Unfortunately, Mr. Greenstein gave lame, expected responses. If he doesn't want drastically different artists to rotate on the same channel, then why did he think it was okay to put the Grateful Dead in Planet Jazz's spot?
Where is baseball on sirius???????????
Greenstein trying his hardest to smooth things over with the rubes across the country. He did a wonderful job of talking without saying a word. And when he did speak it was utter BS, he knows it, and we all know it.
They way the business has been handled is appaulting. Talent without contracts until the last minute.
And of course there is a higher value on items coming from NYC..........It's a joke.
A really big bill comes due in February, I'm pretty confident that will squash the last .14 cents out of this dying beast.
GREAT concept POOR execution, there was a day when Sirius was creative. But it was their own fault for bringing in the old guard with their old ideas.
So why all the secrecy leading up to November 12th? Why didn't they solicit listener (read paying subscriber) input prior to the line-up changes? Secondly, I read this interview twice, and I'm convinced that guy doesn't even listen to SATRAD! JMO.
Greenstein came to Sirius from the film business and knows nothing about radio, plus he only pays attention to "celebrity." Working under this guy was a joke. Mel should toss him and his fat cat salary. His comments about the music channels were obviously fed to him, because he really is clueless. And why did the interview only focus on music? What about all the $ spent on Howard, Oprah, Martha, etc., and their futures on Siri-XM?
What a crock.
Wonder what the people who built XM would have said. Bet they would have been a bit more honest.
"We feel that the subscriber and listener are paramount to Sirius XM on one side, and the artists are paramount to us on the other side of the equation."
So which listeners and artists decided that XM should gut its most interesting channels? Is this the same spiel Greenstein gives to Wall St?
Didn't think so.
The new line up sucks. 20 Channels of "rock" all playing the same thing over & over. I loved the Boneyard but Hair Nation sucks. I never in 6 years had to change the station but with Hair Nation I'm constantly scanning what else is on, it's so repetitive and shallow. I prefer the watered down Liquid Metal, less death metal. However, if I was into that, it would just be another channel that's been gutted. Fred, Lucy & Ethel were my other music favs - all gone. There is no such thing as redundancy. I would have liked to have Boneyard that plays deep cuts and bands that were forgotten as well as the "hits" based Hair Nation. They are nothing alike and are not redundant. SDARS has already lost 3 of my subs. Only 1 left now that will be without music stations as soon as I have the option. Goodbye SDARS, it was great while it lasted.
Ryan,
Can you get a follow-up with him and call him out on the fact that "Only three of our channels play these artist- and label-edited songs: Hits 1 on Sirius, 20on20 on XM, and The Heat" is a complete bullshit answer.
Thirty minutes of listening on Lithium tells anyone that.
Although I was all for the merger, I'm not happy w/the censorship doublespeak. Notice he's standing next to "Goon Squad"? Funny.
Nothing but spin. This guy deserves to go down in broadcast history as one of the main people who destroyed satellite radio.
With idiots like him running the show it is no wonder he stock is trading for 15 cents/share.
ahhhhh, BULLSHIT...excuse me.
I want Lucy, Ethel, and Fred back. This new lineup sucks.
You should have asked Scott about the turn over rate in his department.
How many good people have left because he has NO management skills?
Great interview Ryan! Way to stick up for the fans or at least the fans that post to this board on a regular basis.
You should have asked why the fans/listeners/subscribers or whatever we're called didn't get any kind of input into the channel merge.
Great interview Ryan! Way to stick up for the fans or at least the fans that post to this board on a regular basis.
You should have asked why the fans/listeners/subscribers or whatever we're called didn't get any kind of input into the channel merge.
If any of you kiddies from the instant gratification generation here truly are subscribers, then bitch to SiriusXM. Or, cancel your sub(s) and move on.
Yes Lee Abrams is god! He actually sucks bad Sirius caught up with XM when XM was killing them in the number of subscribers. He also made bad deals with GM and CC
Please bring back Lee Abrams.
I was on the fence about cancelling, but after reading this I will.
So The Blend doesn't use edits anymore? I guess I had better not listen to that with kids in my car. They might hear James Blunt drop the F-Bomb. They should air edits on more than 3 channels.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by saying that Lithium edits the music. I read someone else comment on this on another article and I have been paying close attention to this and just this morning on my way in to work I heard Alice in Chains, "Man in a Box."
We all know there are 2 versions of the song with the one lyric, "shove my nose in ____"
radio-friendly uses the word 'spit' and album version uses 'shit'
This AM on Lithium they played the version with the 'shit' lyric. So I'm not exactly sure what you mean by Lithium is getting edited music.
No censorship? Lithium wasn't playing radio edits before the merger, and now they are. What do you call it?
I think they did a great job of combining the two services and wholeheartedly agree with what was said in the interview. That being said, I can’t stomach foul-mouthed rap music and it appears that most of the complaints are coming from people who like it.
Greenstein is no Einstein for sure.
Greenstein, install Itunes on your PC and select the Radio button. Choose each genre and observe how narrow and shallow you've made music on Sat radio. You would rather spend money kissing Stern's ass.
"Everything worth listening to IS NOT on SiriusXM"
Hey Sam!!!! I like rap music, so what, XM had music for everybody and I was ok with that, I think Sat Radio has to have music for everybody I like it or not, thats why we are paying. We need one old school hip hop channel one for new and uncut, one for house music another for electronic.
I've said this before.. why not have single artist channels that last just three weeks maximum.. can anyone really tell you that they listen to the Zep channel 24/7?? or the AC/DC channel till they puke?? please tell me why these channels are on as long as they are.. more than three weeks and they are old golden moldies channels no matter how new some of the music is.. really buy a vowel, get a clue... start a revolution.. XM couldn't manage the bottom line but they played good music and had the best channels... and that includes "Fine Tuning" as well as your favorites.. put me in coach I'm ready to play..
"Horizontal, vertical, breadth, depth. I only need synergy and "outside the box" for a bingo on my corporate bingo card. Could this guy be any further removed from the customer?"
Eric, i'm a paying customer and I got what he was saying. Just because YOU don't doesn't mean everyone agrees with you. Don't speak for me.
And guess what boys and girls....XM WAS JUST AS CORPORATE! Get over it!
To SCOTT GREENSTEIN
BRING BACK SIRIUS LINE UP AND DUMP THE XM THING
the 50s channel and the 60s are all F--ed up and what in the hell happen to channel 4 ???? I have spent well over 700.00 sirius radios to get what I wanted only to have to stupid merger kill off Sirius I call every day to complain also have filled a complaint to the FCC witch have told me there was so post to be no change
Mel lied I will give you till the end of Dec to put things back that way it was if not I am sending you and Mel the bill for the money I wasted right now I am so mad at what you did Sirius gold was my best channel but now it not the same it sucks BIG TIME
AS DR Phill would say WHATS WORNG WITH YOU WHAT PART DON’T YOU GET NO WONDER THE STOCK IS AT 14 cents
Having gone without Sirius for over a year, let me tell you, folks, it still can't be beat.
AM radio may have the good talk show now and then, but the ads are repetitive and take up too much of the hour.
FM? The same six songs every hour with 40 minutes of ads.
CDs? How many can you carry with you in your car to keep from getting bored with them?
I'm glad to have Sirius back...most of the talk, news and music channels I regulary enjoyed are still there and now there's a few new things from XM that I'm exploring. I find it very hard to get bored on my hour commute.
Rather than bail, support the shows/channels you like and keep at them to add those you feel are missing. If they hear from enough people, they might just get the message.
If GMC can relentlessly hassle me for comments on their dealer’s service, why couldn’t XM (who had my name, address, phone number and email);
1) Research me for which channels I like and dislike?
2) Send me an email blast or snail mail me the line-up changes prior to November 12th?
It is obvious that Sirius XM has the terrestrial broadcaster mentality when it comes to changes: “F*** ‘em! They have no other choice!”
Yes we do. Mine was to cancel five XM subscriptions.
Now before one of you “Anons” go off on me for still checking up and posting on this board, it’s because I had a real passion for satellite radio. XM got worse prior to the merger (especially when no talent DJs like Priestly and Michelle started on the hit channels and when Boneyard added mediocre “not even ready for a weekend shift” jocks). The Sirius produced AC/DC channel with its muddy, over-processed, no stereo separation audio and schlock production elements was the final sign that XM was dead and time for me to cancel.
Ironically, all my subscriptions ended on ... November 12th!
You are dodging all the real issues. THis is supposed to be about innovative and unusual options: real, creative,vast options. Take Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour: It alone presents,dissects and explains music from early 1920sjazz thru gospel, blues, all kinds of rock, folk, county, old timey, etc. The accompanying scripts are funny, sweet, tough and always ALWAYS enlightening, as well as offering us the delightful knowledge and viewpoint of one of the nation's most important artists.You have limited it to just a few hours of airtime, without the all day rerun so many of us loved because we work or want to hear a show again.
WHY NOT THE ALL DAY BOBBY OF THE FORNER XMX CHANNEL 2? Don't fix it if it ain't broke, folks. Lee Abrams knew this, and gave us a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend selection of two years of BOb's shows last year that skyrocketed in ratings.
Many dozens of friends and I bought our radios for that show alone, as well as the baseball channel and the reruns of Bob's show in the summer. If you only want Howard Stern fans, why did you merge and try to kill things that are unusual and fill such a great radio void?
And by the way, The Village 15 is the best station you have, with very personal Dj's who play requests and respond to e-mail questions. Is that next to bbe limited like Dylan?
Think hard what you're doing: YOU WILL LOSE MILLIONS OF US IF YOU KEEP CUTTING DYLAN AND NOT RERUNNING HIS SHOWS. OR IF YOU ELIMINATE THE MARVELOUS VARIETY OF THE VILLAGE. We're all watching money and you will lose us I promise. I'm waiting three months to see if you have the courage to reschedule more Dylan encores and even an all day show, then cancelling if things don't improve.
As for XMAS music with Bing Crosby all this and next week and month? I can hear that free at any mall! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?? (Sharon Schlegel)
(By the way, I am a working journalist and earlier this year wrote about how much I loved my XM radio and the Dylan show. Little did I know.) Sharon Schlegel
I'm basically taking away that SiriusXM is racist.
According to SiriusXM hiphop is summed up with 50cent. Rock has just soo many flavors, but hiphop is comprised of those scary black men on TV. The same thing goes for electronic music. I can't tell the difference between those techno channels. The BBC has it's own drum and bass channel, it's own experimental channel .. I was really hoping to hear that Boombox channel on my XM. If this company was truly "in tune" with the people then can they tell me what channel I would hear Justice on? I'm pretty sure they raked in a lot of record sales last year.
"Look at attendance at concerts in North America, and you'll see an overwhelming majority go to Rock concerts."
Really? Glow In The Dark Tour?
The genre channels exist as part of a marketing package for new cd releases. To shove those re-releases down our throats.
Thanks for the pointer to the Slacker portable radio. Slacker has a prog rock channel, and it's amazing that Sirius XM doesn't recognize prog rock. The rock genre of progressive rock, for which there are internet radio stations devoted to, is not represented at all. In the end, do they not understand that we are be able to receive terrestrial and space-based wideband internet everywhere, and as a result, the current content of Sat radio isn't likely to compete. Also the portable Slacker radio which has a Prog rock channel, is evidence of the current wave of technology soon to make intelligently chosen musical content available to all. Not just Prog rock, but friends have complained the Sirius music channels are no better than comparable FM channels, with First Wave (Sirius) versus Fred (XM) a good example with respect to 80's alternative.
The ability to customize your own stations...very easily, mind you...is what I really love about Slacker. Besides the better sound quality! I'm not happy with XM now...I was a devoted fan, but losing interest...
Personally, I believe Sirius XM made the programming revisions in a vacuum but the biggest mistake that was made was the absence of clear and open communications to the listener base. As indicated in this article, Scott already knew there was going to be a backlash so why not attempt to diffuse the situation through clear communications?
Instead, the changes were made abruptly and without warning leaving its listener base confused and understandably frustrated.
For my part, I have taken the time to launch a dedicated web site to capture the feelings of the Sirius and XM listener base which will ultimately be sent to the board of directors. I would encourage you to weigh in with your thoughts:
http://voiceofthelistener.com/
"The reason why these artist/label-edited songs are played is because our research found that an overwhelming number of parents are listening to these channels with their kids. We feel it is being socially responsible to air edited songs, knowing that we have young children listening to them."
Bullshit, these are bad parents, Sirius XM should not hold the responsibility of the parents. Better start censoring HBO, kids are watching movies with their parents!
Hey "Jared", Just because YOU don't like it, doesn't mean others don't like it as well. HBO is a premium channel that you pay IN ADDITION to cable fees....its completely different. On top of that, even HBO doesn't air R-Rated movies before 8pm. That's the way they choose to do business. Cartoon Network doesn't air Adult Swim until after 10pm, as does other networks....I have no problem with that.
Sirius XM airs edited songs on those channels because they realize kids are listening with parents....but also realize that the songs aren't exactly clean and pure either. I mean, take a listen to some of the music that's considered "pop" and it is what it is. So what should the parents do? Keep it on Radio Disney? Get real dude, I don't mind if a few channels are censored.
ATTENTION SCOTT GREENSTEIN: In a few weeks, I will stop contributing to your paycheck by CANCELLING my 3 XM subscriptions. As you may know -- and probably don't care, there is a growing movement of both XM and Sirius subscribers who plan on CANCELLING their subscriptions on December 17, 2008. I plan on being one of them.
Your corporate views are totally out of the touch with your subscribers. What you fail to realize is that both XM and Sirius listeners previously chose to subscribe to each respective service based on niche programming choices and listening preferences. Your attempt at "merging" channels has been poorly done, at best. And, the elimination of several XM and Sirius channels without the advance courtesy of communication to subscribers shows your blatant disregard for your paying customers. The horrific customer service at both XM and Sirius has been highly criticized by many, both subscribers and the media.
You've created the perception that all promises that were previously made to the FCC and the Feds are now being broken -- in a BIG way. Remember, perception is reality and unfortunately your recent actions (and those of your CEO Mel Karmazin) have quickly secured the nails in the coffin of satellite radio. What's most unfortunate and sad for me as a long-time XM subscriber (since it's beginning) is that I now have no other satellite radio choice!
"Get real dude, I don't mind if a few channels are censored"
If you don't like the channels you can have them blocked and there's always the on/off & volume buttons. It's totally irresponsible to expect a PAID subscription service to do that job.
To not mind that content is censored on a PAID subscription is what is going wrong with this country. You are accepting sub-par service and lapping up corporate mindspeak. It is "sheeple" like you that SiriusXm is counting on to accept mediocrity and basically satellite FM or "SatRad "lite"
I don't listen to these channels but if they do it to one, it will be done to all eventually.
Does the word MONOPOLY ring a bell?? -- given the "merger" and "elimination" of channels. Mr. Greenstein, DON'T INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE BY TELLING ME THAT MY FAVORITE MUSIC THAT I USED TO LISTEN TO CAN BE FOUND ON OTHER CHANNELS!! I'm just one of millions of Sirius and XM subscribers that feel lied to and ripped off by your recent changes. It's time for you to get out of the IVORY TOWER and listen to your customers -- before it's too late.
SIMPLE SOLUTION:
- APOLOGIZE TO YOUR SUBSCRIBERS FOR YOUR ACTIONS
- BRING BACK THE CHANNELS THAT YOU ELIMINATED
- ASK FOR CUSTOMER INPUT BEFORE MAKING FUTURE DECISIONS.
By doing the above, you can BEGIN to regain the credibility and customer loyalty that you quickly lost -- and that may make future changes to save the company easier since you'll likely have the support of your customers.
I'm glad he is listening to customer feed back.
go f**k yourself.