"Talk to Me with Oprah Winfrey," a new weekly call-in show hosted by Oprah, debuts today at 10am ET, on XM's Oprah & Friends channel (ch 156).

"Talk to Me with Oprah Winfrey" gives listeners a direct way to share their thoughts with Oprah as she takes calls from listeners each week during the half-hour program.

Want to call Oprah to discuss, ask questions and share your own stories? Just call 866-OPRAH-XM (toll-free).

Oprah will open each show with a brief monologue that will serve as the underlying theme, starting with this week's theme "Life Lessons."

"Talk to Me with Oprah Winfrey" will air every Thursday at 10am ET and "Oprah Weekly Highlights" (a 1/2 hour show featuring interviews and moments from the previous week's "The Oprah Winfrey Show") will air Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. ET, both with additional encores airing throughout the week. Interestingly enough, this new programming replaces the weekly "Oprah and Gayle Show."

XM is expanding their XM Public Radio (XMPR) schedule with a bunch of shows from Public Radio International (PRI). Starting on Monday, November 6th, XMPR (ch 133) will be featuring the PRI programs "The World," "To the Point" and "To the Best of Our Knowledge," as well as the BBC's documentary series, "The Changing World."

XMPR already features several PRI shows as part of its repertoire, including "This American Life," "Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen," "The Tavis Smiley Show," and "Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know?"

• PRI's "The World," anchored by Lisa Mullins, is a 2005 Peabody Award-winning daily global news program co-produced by PRI, BBC World Service and WGBH Radio Boston.
• "To the Best of Our Knowledge," produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and winner of a 2004 Peabody Award, is a two-hour weekly news and information program hosted by Jim Fleming.
• "To the Point" is a fast-paced, news-based daily discussion program produced by KCRW/Santa Monica and hosted by multiple-award-winning Warren Olney.
• "The Changing World," produced by BBC World Service, is an acclaimed global documentary series.

This might explain why Sirius and PRI parted ways.

Mike Bullard has signed with XM Canada to host a new morning show on XM's Canadian comedy channel, Laugh Attack (ch 153).

The new show, "Mike Bullard Uncensored," will also feature Canadian comedienne Judy Croon and comedian Lawrence Morgenstern, and is set to debut on Monday, October 23rd. The show will be broadcast on both XM Canada and XM Satellite Radio, five days a week, from 7am - 9am ET.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

Mike Bullard is the former host of the late-night talk shows Open Mike with Mike Bullard and The Mike Bullard Show. Apparently he was quite popular and it's good for Canada to get their own on-air personalities.

[Press Release]
Thanks Kyenta!

XM Satellite Radio's public radio guru, Bob Edwards, has been named this year's Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award for Overall Excellence in Music Coverage by the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP).

Bob Edwards will receive the award at the 39th Annual ASCAP awards ceremony on December 7th.

"The Bob Edwards Show" was also awarded the Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professional for his documentary on Father Greg Boyle of East Lost Angeles. This happens to be Edwards' third Gabriel Award, but it is the first ever given to a satellite radio program.

And if that's not enough, last week Bob Edwards received the Environmental Program Gold World Medal from The New York Festivals for his documentary "Exploding Heritage," on mountain top removal coal mining in Eastern Kentucky.

"The Bob Edwards Show," the flagship program of XM Public Radio (ch 133), which airs weekday mornings. In 2006, XM debuted "Bob Edwards Weekend," a two-hour 'best-of' show for the week which is syndicated to public radio stations nationwide through Pubic Radio International (PRI).