Oprah Winfrey's weekly show on XM Satellite Radio, "Soul Series," will debut its 2nd-season on Thursday, October 4th on Oprah & Friends (ch 156).

Oprah's first guest on the new season of "Soul Series" will be Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, best-selling author and internationally renowned speaker in the field of self-development.

Oprah's "Soul Series" airs on Thursdays at 4am, 10am, 4pm and 10pm (all times Eastern).

XM was airing encore broadcasts of "Soul Series" throughout the summer, with two episodes airing back-to-back every Thursday. Fans can still get the opportunity to catch up on every episode with Oprah's "Soul Series Weekend," which starts this Saturday, September 29th and continues throughout the weekend.

In addition, it appears that Oprah has quietly sneaked (snuck?) into the DirecTV lineup, with Oprah & Friends now becoming available to DirecTV subscribers on channel 807. Perhaps it's a sign that Harpo is stepping up its public partnership with XM? It's been a year since Oprah has debuted on XM, and there's been little from Oprah (that I've seen at least) in terms of external promotions. It'd be nice if we saw more of a presence of XM on her show this holiday season.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will headline the National Journal’s first show on XM Satellite Radio's POTUS '08 channel, set to debut tomorrow at 1pm ET.

"National Journal On Air" will also be available on the National Journal’s web site as either a live stream or as podcasts of the show. (Interesting, XM is really pushing this "free to air" concept...)

In addition to Mitt Romney, tomorrow's show also will feature National Journal political writer Jim Barnes, National Journal White House correspondent Carl Cannon, and Senior Editor of The Hotline, John Mercurio.

National Journal Group, through it's partnership with XM Satellite Radio, will host "National Journal On Air" every Friday from 1-2pm ET on XM's POTUS '08 (ch 130).

XM's presidential election channel POTUS '08 (ch 130) will debut tomorrow morning at 6am ET, and C-SPAN will on hand with live coverage of the channel's first day on the air.

C-SPAN's morning show "Washington Journal" will be checking in on the POTUS studio at various times throughout the morning, starting at around 7am ET.

C-SPAN is a primary content partner for POTUS '08.

XM Satellite Radio said yesterday that they are canceling a paid "advertorial" program featuring Fredric Dryer, after learning about Dryer's legal problems.

Dryer was the co-host of a paid "advertorial" that appeared on XM's America Right (ch 166) last Saturday which had more installments planned. The program was sponsored by Convergent Acquisitions and Development Inc. - a company that acquires rental properties for investors.

"The advertorial aired once and it won't air again," said XM spokesman Nathaniel Brown.

Titled "Real Estate Wealth Myths Facts and Strategies," the paid program featured Dryer and Gary Eldred (a faculty member at Trump University and writer of over 21 books about real estate) both giving advice on real estate investments.

Brown said the satellite radio company pulled the show because it was "not aware of the legal issues surrounding one of the personalities that Convergent chose to use for the advertorials."

Fredric "Rick" Dryer (pictured), the founder of Mile High Capital Group LLC, last year was indicted on 67 felony charges ranging from theft to securities fraud for his involvement in an alleged real estate Ponzi scheme. Dryer has pleaded not guilty on all the charges, and is scheduled to go on trial next February.

The show was XM's first foray into paid "advertorial" programming (an advertisement produced in the form of an editorial program - essentially an infomercial for radio). Brown said the incident has inspired XM to reassess how it enters deals with companies that want to air advertorials.

"We haven't typically done background checks on the personalities our clients choose for our advertorials," Brown said. "We are reviewing our vetting process."

[Denver Business Journal]

XM is launching a new comedy interview series, "Unmasked," which will kick off with comedic legend George Carlin as the inaugural guest for the show.

"Unmasked" premieres on Saturday, September 22nd at 8pm ET, on XM's uncensored comedy channel, XM Comedy (ch 150). New episodes will air every other Saturday.

Recorded in front of a live studio audience, "Unmasked" will air candid, one-on-one interviews with both established and emerging comedic talent for an uncensored look into their creative process and the lives that shape their comedy.

Future episodes of "Unmasked" will feature Jim Norton, Patrice Oneal, Bob Saget, Brian Regan, Carlos Mencia, Jeff Garlin and others. Ron Bennington, from XM's Ron and Fez show, will be the host of future episodes.

More info and a schedule of guests is available here.

XM Satellite Radio will be making various changes to their News and Talk offerings, including dropping brand-name talent like Ellen DeGeneres and Tyra Banks, within the next two weeks.

In addition, several shows will be moving channels, and ReachMD will be changing channel location.

Set to take effect on September 24th, XM will drop ABC News & Talk from its channel lineup. Not all the programming will be lost though, as Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Bob Brinker will shift to America Right (ch 166) instead. Hannity will air weekdays from 3-6pm ET, Levin from 6-8pm ET, and Brinker will air weekends from 5-8pm ET.

As a result, Dr. Laura will make the move from America Right to Take Five (ch 155). Take 5 will lose "Satellite Sisters," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," and "The Tyra Banks Show" - while "Broadminded" moves to a new timeslot on weekdays at noon-3pm ET.

As for channel dancing, Reach MD will move from channel 233 to its new home on channel 157.

Ellen DeGeneres and Tyra Banks, both of whom were signed on when Take 5 was formed nearly two years ago, served as prominent images in XM's marketing. My assumption is they likely didn't get much listenership as Ellen and Tyra were simply rebroadcasts of the TV shows.

Ellen's image is still used on XM's "What's On XM" page representing the Talk & Entertainment genre.

[XM via Orbitcast Forums]

First Lady Laura Bush will appear on the premiere episode of the new XM series "The Big Read" on Sonic Theater (ch 163) on September 10th.

Sonic Theater host Jo Reed recently taped an interview with the Mrs. Bush in the China Room of the White House (pictured). The First Lady is not only a book lover, but the honorary chair of the NEA reading initiative The Big Read, which is of course the namesake for the XM show.

"Reading has been so inspirational and influential in my life that I can't imagine a life without reading, and I want other people who may not spend that much time reading to know how beneficial reading can be, in an emotional and spiritual way," Mrs. Bush told XM. "When it comes to the whole idea of how we let the next generations know what our values are, and how we teach the next generation what's important to us, and how we learn from previous generations, literature really is the best way to teach it, and to share it."

Fun fact: The White House is a mere 2.4 miles from XM's headquarters.

Photo caption: Laura Bush (left) interviewed by XM's Josephine Reed in the China Room of the White House, Washington, DC, on August 31, 2007.

In addition, Audible now has a page devoted to XM's "The Big Read" show up at audible.com/thebigread.