James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul", who died on Christmas Day, will be honored by XM Satellite Radio all week on Soul Street (ch 60) and The Groove (ch 64).

Both channels will air tributes, including archival interviews with Brown and vintage concert recordings, througout the week. Yesterday Soul Street played a song of his every hour on the hour to pay tribute to the life and music of James Brown.

Brown died of congestive heart failure on Christmas morning in Atlanta at age 73. There will be a public viewing at NYC's Apollo theater where he made his debut. A private ceremony will be held on Friday in Brown's hometown of Augusta, Georgia, and another public ceremony will be held a day later at the James Brown Arena.

XM Satellite Radio's holly-jolly channel, Holly (ch 103) is being extended through New Years Day.

Now you'll be able to hear contemporary holiday hits, sprinkled in with more traditional favorites, into 2007.

Right now it seems like this is the only holiday channel being extended, but if more follow Holly's lead I'll be sure to post it. 

Thanks Matt! 

XM's interactive hits channels Top 20 on 20 (ch 20) is welcoming Beyonce in studio on Wednesday, December 20th.

Miss B is stopping by to host the countdown with Top 20on20 host Michelle, and will give the scoop on her latest movie "Dreamgirls," which is out on Christmas Day. If that's not tantalizing enough for you, they'll also get to the bottom of those nasty rumors about her and Jennifer Hudson. Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson have both been nominated for Golden Globes for their work in "Dreamgirls" (Best Actress/Best Aong for Beyonce, Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer).

Tune in this Wednesday at 9pm ET, with replays on Friday, December 22nd at 12-noon ET and 9pm ET. 

It's always interesting to see what things seem to take hold as buzzworthy news in this industry. One of the key items that seems to continue to have legs is XM's introduction of Radio Hanukkah.

First there's this terrific story on Radio Hanukkah by AP writer Matt Sedensky, who obviously (and refreshingly) did his homework. Obviously so because it's an article that has been republished in countless media outlets. One interesting thing pointed out is that XM is marketing Radio Hanukkah to Jewish organizations, rabbinical groups, etc - offering free access to XM during the eight nights of Hanukkah (available by going to xmradio.com/hanukkah and entering "TheChosen" as the XM promo code).

Another great article in The Mercury News highlights the fact that this is an effort to target niches.  Remember, the Jewish community "only" makes up about 6 million, not exactly a huge audience - especially by terrestrial radio's standards. But this is where satellite radio's strengths come in. It's all about serving hundreds of niches to smaller markets - and in aggregate making a large subscriber base.

Radio Hanukkah officially starts celebrating the Festival of Lights today at 5pm ET. Go here to get your free 8-days of XM. 

XM is broadcasting a special holiday episode of Bob Dylan's "Theme Time Radio Hour" on December 20th.

The special two-hour show will feature a complete reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas," by Bob Dylan himself, as well as his holiday-theme selections and commentary throughout the show. Songs for the "Christmas and New Year's," themed show include "Sock It To Me Santa" by Bob Seger, "Jingle Bells" by Johnny Paycheck and "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" by Nancy Wilson; to name just a few.

And keeping with the holiday spirit, XM will make the special episode of "Theme Time Radio Hour" available to non-commercial radio stations for broadcast.

The two-hour holiday episode will debut on Wednesday, December 20th at 10am ET on XM's Deep Tracks channel (ch 40), with encores airing through the end of the month.

XM is airing every episode of Tom Petty's show, "Tom Petty's Buried Treasure," as part of a weekend-long marathon entitled "Highway Companion Big Weekend." The special kicks off this Friday, December 15th at 12-midnight ET on XM Live (ch 200).

"Highway Companion Big Weekend" (which borrows its namesake from Petty’s Grammy-nominated album, Highway Companion) will feature rare recordings and previously unreleased live tracks from Tom Petty's archives along with the first 44 episodes his XM show.

Petty’s free-form playlist features cuts by artists from Jimi Hendrix to Carl Perkins, the White Stripes to Little Richard, Elmore James to the Beatles, Bob Dylan to Jerry Lee Lewis. "Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure" debuted on XM in December 2004 and airs on Mondays at 10am ET on Deep Tracks (ch 40) with replays throughout the week.

"Offstage with Yoko Ono" is set to premiere today at 6pm on The Loft (ch 50) as part of XM Satellite Radio's ongoing "Offstage" original music series.

The exclusive multi-part special will feature Ono with complete creative control selecting the music of her choice and speaking openly about whatever she chooses. In conjunction with the show’s debut, XM will be hosting an event during Art Basel at Social Miami at Sagamore.

The first installment of "Offstage with Yoko Ono" will debut today (12/4) at 6pm ET with encores airing throughout the month. New installments will premiere in the coming months.

XM Satellite Radio has officially announced it's new dedicated Jewish music and culture channel: Radio Hanukkah. Word of the new channel first surfaced a few weeks ago in XM's programming guide, though at the time little details were known. So here they are.

Radio Hanukkah will kick off on Friday, December 15th (25th of Kislev) and run through December 23rd on XM channel 108.

The new channel will will feature specials focused on contemporary and traditional Jewish music, in addition to comedy, and children's programming. The Barenaked Ladies, Matisyahu, Al Franken, Kinky Friedman, Neil Sedaka, Dr. Ruth and Larry Miller are some of the Jewish celebrities who will be participating in XM's Radio Hanukkah programming.

XM will also feature nightly broadcasts of the traditional Hanukkah candlelight blessings which will air at the appropriate times for both the Eastern and Pacific time zones.