Opie and Anthony spread the virus to San Francisco, to CBS Radio's KIFR (106.9 Free FM). The addition of KIRF gives O&A a total of 21 markets - seven of which are in the top 10 markets.

In addition to this, Opie & Anthony have been booked to make their first appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman on August 31st.

UPDATE: According to AllAccess, Opie & Anthony will not be replacing Adam Carolla who will remain in the morning drive timeslot.

UPDATE 2: R&R informs us that O&A will be on KIRF during the 10am - 1pm timeslot. 

The expansion of Opie & Anthony's syndication through terrestrial radio is continuing. Today XM Satellite Radio has announced that Chicago’s WCKG 105.9 FM will broadcast “The Opie and Anthony Show” starting tomorrow (August 1st), from 6am to 9am CT.

With the addition of CBS Radio’s WCKG, Opie and Anthony are now heard in 20 markets on stations owned by CBS Radio and Citadel Broadcasting.

The expansion to WCKG comes at the expense of Rover, who is moving back to Cleveland to call WXRK his flagship station for syndicating to 7 additional markets. Rover says the departure from WCKG was "a mutual decision."

[more on FMQB] 

What's up buddies? Ron and Fez are dropping by XM Satellite Radio's XM Comedy (ch 150) on Monday, July 31st at 8pm ET.

Ron & Fez will be saluting some of their favorite comics, as well as inviting friends and special guests to join the party.

This full hour of Ron & Fez on XM Comedy is a fitting finale for XM's Laugh Out Loud month, so be sure to tune in as it's sure to be giggles galore.

XM Satellite Radio is celebrating Casey Kasem's American Top 40 coming to The 70s on 7 and The 80s on 8 with a marathon weekend.

On July 4, 1970, Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 debuted, and the Detroit native quickly became synonymous with the countdown format. The format, reminiscent of the immensely popular Your Hit Parade program in the 1930s and 1940s, allowed Kasem to blend human-interest stories with the top songs of the day. His final show aired on August 6, 1988 due to contract conflicts with ABC, after which it was taken over by Shadoe Stevens. Casey eventually reclaimed the AT40 moniker in 1998, until the torch was handed over to Ryan Seacrest in 2004.

Tune in to XM 7 and XM 8, Friday through Sunday, August 4th through August 6th, to hear the all-Casey Kasem countdown marathon all weekend long.

The SIRIUS Starmate Replay was the top selling plug-and-play satellite radio receiver from June 2005 to May 2006, according to The NPD Group. Pretty interesting considering that it was just introduced in September of 2005.

The Starmate Replay beat out the XM Roady2 by 1 percentage point.

Below is the NPD Group's top 10 plug-and-play satellite radio receivers in order of unit volume share at retail (June 05 - May 06):

1. Sirius Starmate Replay
   
2. XM Delphi Roady2
   
3. Sirius Sportster Replay
   
4. XM Delphi SkyFi2
   
5. Sirius XACT Communication (sic. I assume the Visor?)
   
6. Sirius Starmate
   
7. XM Delphi Roady XT
   
8. Sirius Sportster
   
9. SV1 Sirius One
   
10. XMC10 XM Receiver

So said XM Satellite Radio CEO Hugh Panero during yesterday's conference call:

"Moving to an update on the Opie and Anthony show, the syndication thus far has been a major coup for XM. Its availability in seven major markets at launch and the addition of 12 more markets have expanded the show’s exposure, XM’s branding, and O&A’s exclusive content. Within the last 90 days, customers citing O&A as a reason they subscribe to XM have doubled.

Moreover, O&A broadcast radio ratings are on the rise, and thus we expect the XM brand, which is embedded in those broadcasts, to drive continued awareness and ultimately attract more subscribers desiring XM’s exclusive O&A content."

There's something to be said (at least from a chest-thumping standpoint) for the ability of "shock jocks" to convert their audience to subscribers. Maybe they don't get a piece of the action (maybe they should) but the bragging rights are there.

We've seen the influence that Howard Stern has had on Sirius subscribers. If Opie & Anthony really want to show their arch rival how much clout they hold, it behooves them to do the same for XM.

According to Panero, it sounds like it's working.

Recent commentary on CNN Money, XM faces the music, features an interesting debate about the possibility of a merger/takeover of XM Satellite Radio. Generally I dismiss most merger talks, especially since the recent misquoting of Mel Karmazin's "love" for buying XM is the basis for such debates, but this article doesn't just wax poetically about the subject. It explores step-by-step the different scenarios under which a takeover/merger could happen.

Great food for thought, but still just a pipe dream in my opinion. But hey, that's just me.

Here's some questions I'd like to pose those who do support this concept: would an XM+Sirius Merger actually help the consumer? Would it be a validation that the satellite radio industry is a viable form of media, or just the opposite? Does having XM and Sirius merge actually strengthen satellite radio's position against terrestrial radio, or would a single company have a harder time convincing the market that radio is something worth paying for? And what of the OEM channel, what reprocussions would there be in the relationships between auto manufacturers and each satcaster should the merge?

[CNN Money]
Thanks Britt & Bob!

Mad dog in the fog has put together a graph showing the rate of growth of subscriber acquisition for XM Satellite Radio to reflect the reaching of 7 million subscribers.

XM Satellite Radio has reported their financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2006. And while XM has recently surpassed seven million subscribers, they have yet again revised their 2006 subscriber guidance to end the year with total subscribers of between 8.2 million and 7.7 million.

For the second quarter 2006, XM recorded gross subscriber additions of 926,281 and net subscriber additions of 398,012. XM finished the second quarter 2006 with a total of 6,899,871 subscribers, representing a 56 percent increase over the 4,417,490 subscribers at the end of the second quarter 2005.

The subscriber guidance change is based on current "marketplace dynamics and regulatory uncertainties" concerning their plug-and-play radios. XM will refine these numbers when they get a "firmer sense of regulatory progress and availability of product." Even with this revised subscriber guidance, XM still expects to achieve positive cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter 2006 and the full year 2007, although its ability to do so becomes challenging toward the lower end of the subscriber range.

XM Satellite Radio's upcoming Oprah & Friends channel is coming together at a rapid pace.

Corny Koehl, John St. Augustine and Rita Coburn Whack all have been named to the production team for the lifestyle channel set to debut in September.

Koehl will serve as senior producer and director of Programming Development for Oprah & Friends while St. Augustine and Coburn Whack will serve as producers for the channel, all reporting directly to Laurie Cantillo, programming director, Harpo Radio.

[Radio Ink]