XM Satellite Radio will preview POTUS '08 (their channel dedicated to the 2008 presidential election) with an airing of the presidential debates held across the country this summer.

XM will preview POTUS '08 (ch 130) during the upcoming months with the following debates:

• The June 28th edition of "All American Presidential Forums on PBS," featuring the Democratic presidential candidates, hosted by Tavis Smiley at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and carried on XM through its partnership with PRI. XM will also carry the PBS forum for Republican presidential candidates on September 27th.
• The first CNN/YouTube debate, featuring the Democratic candidates in Charleston, South Carolina, on July 23. Candidates will answer questions submitted via YouTube videos. The CNN political team will choose the most creative and compelling videos sent to the YouTube web site. Hosted by Anderson Cooper, the debate will air live on CNN, as well as XM's CNN channel (ch 133), and it will replay for 24 hours on POTUS '08. XM will also air the CNN/You Tube Republican debate on September 17th.
• Presidential debates hosted by ABC News, featuring the Republican candidates on August 5th and the Democratic candidates on August 19th. Both debates will be held in Des Moines, Iowa. Iowa will hold the first presidential caucus in January.
• The AFL-CIO's town hall forum for Democratic candidates in Chicago on August 7th.

POTUS '08 is a "free to air" channel, meaning that even if you don't subscribe to XM, you can listen to it on your XM receiver (think cars that have let the XM trial expire).

The commercial-free, nonpartisan radio channel will officially launch in September with 24-hour news updates, candidate interviews, complete speeches, debate coverage, polling results, fundraising reports, and live call-in shows. The channel will also provide free airtime for presidential candidates to speak to voters and non-traditional media outlets, such as bloggers and podcasters, will provide content for the channel.

XM's flagship program on XM Public Radio (ch 133), The Bob Edwards Show, has received the prestigious 2007 Robert L. Kozik Environmental Reporting Award from the National Press Club.

The award was given for the documentary "Exploding Heritage," an hour-long broadcast which reported on the little-known practice of mountaintop removal coal mining in eastern Kentucky (which happens to be Edwards' home state). "Exploding Heritage" originally aired on The Bob Edwards Show in July 2006.

The Robert L. Kozik Environmental Reporting Award recognizes excellence in environmental reporting.

XM Satellite Radio has sent out an email to subscribers, as well as posted a message on their website, about the return of the Opie & Anthony show on XM, starting tomorrow. 

During Opie and Anthony's suspension, they continued broadcasting live on CBS Radio - something that the XM Nation didn't get to hear. Starting tomorrow, XM will begin broading a compiled "Best of" for O&A's CBS shows from the last few weeks.

Starting on Monday, June 11th through early morning Friday, June 15th, XM air these “Best of” O&A CBS shows at multiple times throughout the day. Ron and Fez also air live, and with encores broadcast throughout the day as well.

The on Friday, June 15th at 6am ET, the Opie and Anthony show will return live to XM, and the regular schedule will resume.

For any fans pests that canceled their subscriptions as a result of the suspension, XM will waive the reactivation fee (by calling 1-800-XMRADIO) through June 30th.

Check out this week's revised schedule for The Virus (ch 202), after the jump...

[The Virus]
Thanks Plum! 

In less than 10 days, Opie and Anthony's suspension will be lifted and they'll be back on the air. That's the assumption of course, even amid rumors of their impending firing (rumors I was never able to validate myself).

The question remains as to the "state" of the show following the suspension. Will O&A be neutered as a result of the suspension? In a post-Imus world of radio scrutiny, it's hard to say. Sources at the company have said that the suspension was actually not a result of the pending Sirius-XM merger. Afterall, Howard Stern's high profile show, and contract, has more than enough reputation with conservative regulators that suspending O&A over "indecency" is a moot point. Regardless, a neutered show is just not the right approach.

Will XM throw O&A fans pests an olive branch with a 24-hour Ron & Fez channel? Now that XM has had the chance to test the waters of the popularity of an R&F-only channel (minus is mind numbing replays), it may be a good effort to regain some of the disenfranchised - not to mention offer an alternative to O&A for that demo. The hardest of hardcore fans may never return to XM, but Ron & Fez now have had exposure to the morning drive audience, and this is a good opportunity to gain some additional traction.

All in all, there really is no such thing as bad PR (especially for O&A, who can now can lay claim to being the only "shock jocks" who went too far in unregulated territory). The level of online buzz driven by the suspension of Opie and Anthony was astounding last month, and it would be silly not to maintain the momentum.

Either way, on June 15th, the XM Nation will be listening.