Sirius XM music programming execs announced

There goes the rock channels .

Kingston's gone. Rock might actually have a chance, especially if Brutus sticks around and is actually listened to, rather than being treated as a resource.

What crap.

Why would they put a Sirius guy in charge of music production? From what I've heard, with few exceptions, XM had the better, deeper playlists. Sirius had the talk "talent" (sorry not a Howard fan). Let XM do music and Sirius do talk.

I hope they don't screw up the Decades channels. Or Fred/44.

Has anyone heard if Sirius/XM will continue to have IT each year? IT is awesome!

Well at least with Jon Anthony at the helm of Country music. Country style and music selection should stay the same.
Not sure on the Rock channels though.

Seriously, can they make just one decision that doesn't move me closer to cancelling my subs?

By next spring the Clear Channel stations on XM will be better than the XM programming, or at least whatever's left of it.

thats terrible im sorry

Jon Anthony is what is wrong with the country music channels at XM. He is the only one I hoped would be terminated. We need less programming and more music.

Well, given the sound of Sirius' music channels, which I've had plenty of opportunity to listen to thanks to my brother, I can't stand them. I REALLY hope that XM's music channels don't suddenly gain lots of unnecessary production content and DJ's that talk just to hear themselves.

There are certain channels where pop-like DJ's fit. The pop channels. Keep them there, and leave the rest of the music channels with DJ's and program directors that KNOW and LOVE the music they're playing, and talk about the artists, not what they had for lunch, or the latest tabloid headline about someone.

There is an old saying about how if everyone complains about something like this...it's probably not a bad thing after all.

I don't think any of you should seriously consider that say because a Sirius guy got the Rock job that Fred 44 is history - maybe in name, but it's too popular. Any VP worth his title is going to take parts from A to add to B to get the new C. Check your egos at the door and give them a chance.

Is it true that XM202 will be on Sirius on Channel 197? I thought I heard Ron and Fez (Noon to three) say that today

Guess that's what'll make the merger go 'round.

Sorry, but I still think Sirius' rock programming runs rings around XM's, and the DJs -- Dick Manitoba, Vin Scelsa, Mojo Nixon, Cousin Brucie -- are the reasons why. It's not just supposed to be an uber-deep iPod on shuffle, it's supposed to be personality AND music. That's what radio is. And yeah, that's what Sirius did over XM, with the exceptions of the 1960s radio recreations of stations and Lars on Fungus.

On the other hand, they DAMN WELL BETTER have a punk station on the combined service. That would be total BS if they had none with all the other stations they'll have ...

As long as The XMU crew and XMU itself stay intact, I'm happy.

Very happy to hear Jon Anthony will be in charge of country. They didn't build those nice new XM studios in Nashville for nothing. Could care less about the rock and pop channels. Both services are awful these days in those areas compared to how they used to be when things first started, so there really isn't a way they can become any worse.

Decades channels are easy to program - just combine the playlists from each company and you have an instantly deeper playlist for the new channel.

And here comes the TOP 40 PROGRAMMING that made me leave Sirius and switch to XM in the first place.

When I first got XM about 4 years ago, and was listening to many online trials to both Sirius and XM, i noticed a lot of heavy repitition on Sirius--hearing songs at least twice in an 8 horu shift at work. with XM, i would get the same artist, but rarely (if ever) the same song.

the playlist on the station i listen to most seems to have gotten a little shallower over the past two years..I hope it doesn't get even more shallow with a Sirius guy running the rock channels

Hope all you guys are happy with the merger.

Managemet cuts Now? Days before the end of Q3... Little to no Synergies realized, OEM subsidies Ramp up as well as new equipment for the holidays,

This Q will be UGLY and the PPS will suffer Big time IMO short term.

"Hold on to your hats boys... were goin' for a ride!"

When I first heard Sirius in a rental car, the shallow music playlists and intrusive DJs on the decade channels were so bad that I decided not to get Satrad at all. My wife, on the recommendation of one of her students, bought me an XM receiver for my birthday 6 years ago and we've been listening to the 50s, 60s and 70s since (well, I do like the country channels, but that's not her cup of white lightning).

If the channels are "Sirusized", my subscription is cancelled.

HARD ATTACK STAYS!!!!!!!

I am not a Country music fan at all, but it's widely known that XM country is MUCH better than Sirius country....that was a no-brainer. Had it been someone else, it would have been evident that there was some sneaky crap going on.

@ Edgewater Joe,

FM radio is all about personalities, awful, cheesy, babbling personalities. SDARS music channels should be exactly iPod like, just songs, no fucking inane chattering. Deep playlists with song after song. To me, a chattering DJ is just as bad, if not worse than a commercial. Nothing makes me want to see a DJ die in a fiery car crash than them yapping over the song intro. That's the entire reason I moved to SDARS. I chose XM over Sirius for a few reasons, the way music was handled being a huge part of it. Before the merger you could pick the service that was more to your liking, now you're shit out of luck. But thank god you don't work @ SiriusXM and lets hope that your scenario doesn't happen. It'll result in a lot of cancellations at a time when the company can't survive if even a small fraction were to bail out.

And for the record, there is no better rock DJ than XM staple Eddie Trunk. He plays music and shuts his mouth.

I like XM and I like Sirius. I hope to not lose either. But I suspect I will lose one or the other.

This is horrible news. First Fungus goes on hiatus, then there's talk of it not returning. I think they've ruined what was XMSN with this new Mad Dog Radio crap.

If this is the future of Satellite Radio, Slacker is looking better and better.

My first impressions of Sirius's music channels from hearing them on Dish a few years back were pretty bad...However, my wife and I took a trip last weekend, and the only rental car with Sat Rad that I could get had a Sirius installed...I actually found myself REALLY enjoying Buzzsaw and Octane. The rest of the channels were so-so...Better than FM, but not as good as their XM counterparts...Though, I would consider replacing US 17 on XM with Sirius Prime Country...For the rest of the country line-up, XM wins hands-down.
As far as pop, I think XM definitely does a better job. In rock, like I say, I wouldn't mind having Buzzsaw and Octane on my XM. Take Buzzsaw's on-air line-up, add Eddie Trunk, and some of the deeper and newer Boneyard cuts, and I think you'd have the perfect hard rock/classic hard rock channel. Maybe keep Hair Nation, but lose a few of their DJ's. For Octane, combine some of Octane's on-air talent with Squizz's music library, and get rid of Jose and replace him with Grant Random, and again, we'd have the almost-perfect newer hard rock channel. Also, I definitely preferred Hard Attack to Liquid Metal...With XMLM, when I tune them in, it seems I hear almost nothing but death metal...With Hard Attack, I felt I heard a better variety of old-school thrash, some death stuff, and other forms of metal...The delivery seemed better as well.
I never thought I'd admit that Sirius music channels have something to offer, but after 20 hours in a car in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (went for Summer Slam and Cross Canadian Ragweed Family Jam), I felt I got a better feel for some of Sirius's music programming...Though, most of Sunday was spent flipping around NFL games. :)

*dripping with sarcasm*

Hey, don't worry about it... remember that this isn't a monopoly! They still have competition! They can't let their music stations suck!

It's one thing to screw your shareholders, but it's quite another to screw your subscribers. Congrats Mel, you're screwing everyone.

I'm loathing the day that I will have to cancel my subscription. But my 5-year sub is dwindling down to less than 1 year left... We'll see if that runs out before Sirius XM's cash.

PFreak,

"XM staple" Eddie Trunk flagship station is Q104.3 on good old FM radio and he has many other FM station's also carrying his show. There still is good on FM radio and with SiriusXM road to failure we will all have good old FM radio to listen to. Satellite radio is a fad not the future, it's a fad who's end has been made quicker by Mel's "merge" MONOPOLY.

I already told SiriusXM there is NO WAY they will ever have the ability to re-up any of my subscriptions without my personal approval, as they have done in the past. It might "less than 50 cents a day" per radio buts that's about 50 cents a day per radio more than it's worth. SiriusXM like Sirius and XM before them hope since it's a automatic charge on a credit card it's not noticed. Well thanks to Mel and his "merge" MONOPOLY the price of satellite radio is very much noticed. At this point there is NO WAY SiriusXM will ever see another penny from me.

Buyer Beware. Mel and SiriusXm is not looking for educated consumers.

This is what I feared when I sorta supported the merger, and then heard longtime radio salesman Mel Karmazin was taking over.
Oh well, I've been recording my favorite channels on XM for a long time and will be able to listen them for a long time after they're gone. Nothing really good on any sort of broadcast lasts forever. I have XM and Sirius and there's no doubt the Sirius playlists are no where near as deep. And ditto on the lack of need for DJ's, and the inhouse promo's don't add to the experience either.

Sigh.

One thing you never address is that most people who do subscribe to SatRad don't want FM stuff. You keep saying FM and HD Radio is "the future" but at the same time, you never address all the crap that people who moved to SatRad hate, the Clear Channel playlists, etc. People want commercial-free music.

I'm trying to engage you in serious debate rather than just sniping you, but it's very hard for all of us to believe you're not some NAB-backed person in disguise, simply because you seem more offended in the fact that XM and Sirius are no longer seperate units. You seem to be a fan of radio since you never mention iPods or the other commercial free versions of it, and you get real defensive if anybody attacks HD Radio.

If people want to subscribe to SatRad, why shouldn't we be able to?

And just who the hell is "Trinity"?
Is this some hack from the Doggie side?
If, for instance, "Real Jazz" on XM 70 starts playing the likes of Kenny G , I will shit-can my 4 subs in a blink of an eye.