Comments on: Sirius gets serious, reshuffles lineup, cuts DJs

At the satellite radio company--should we call it Sirius XM Radio?--big programming changes are starting to shake things up. Are the cost savings impacting you?

[docbass06]

I had Xm radio and was surprised this morning with the new format. by my count I have lost 2-3 rap and R&B stations I am not happy. I particularly miss XM raw. They played new underground rap with no bleeps. I have never liked the Siruis version of the same station. I just wished they hade asked first instead of just nuking the genre

[Paradigm1381]

So far I am not happy with the changes. My favorite Sirius station (Dance/Techno) "The Beat" has been replaced with "BPM". The DJ has no personality and the style/flavor of the music is completely different now. Also seems to be less variety. It was better when I had 5 Sirius Dance/Techno Channels than 3 Sirius/XM.

Also the Rap/Hip-Hop channel has been replaced with "The Heat" and now all the songs are censored. I don't pay money for censored songs.

I remember agonizing over which one to go with, now that they've merged I'd hoped I would get some of the XM stations that appealed to me, but it seems its the other way around. NOT HAPPY with this new arrangement!

[ribby18]

I have sirius, and just want to keep howard stern (the king), and get mlb baseball. thats it. so if that happens, i'll be 100% happy with the merger :) I got my zune for music...

[Don_Oh]

See my comment above. I see no where on the Best of List where Sirius subscribers will have an option to receive MLB, yet XM get's all the Best of Sirius. Something's wrong with that picture!

[clif28]

i can't imagine anyone paying to listen to howard stern.

[UKStory1355]

At least your radios work. Mine will not work at all. I have an hour drive to work and when I still did not have a working radio when I pulled into to work. I tried again at lunch, still no dice after 20 minutes.

[UKStory1355]

So from what I hear, I will lose XM Comedy, Ethel, and Lucy (My 3 favorite stations), but I will not get NFL, or NBA games?

[nat559]

They killed XM channel 82 - The system. It's an electronica/trance channel that had a lot of great DJ shows and mixes. Now the channel is online only which does nothing for people in cars.

It was my wife's favorite channel and primary reason to stick with XM radio. Now I think we are going to cancel the service and get her car setup with her Iphone to listen to related podcasts instead.

[psu_jedi]

I'm a long time XM subscriber and my morning commute was just ruined by Sirius's crappy line-up. Flight 26, Fred, XM Cafe, Ethel, and Lucy, stations that I always listened to on my way to and from work, are now replaced by less-than-adequate Sirius programming. There's a reason I chose XM over Sirius long ago, and a big reason was the programming!

[svk1069]

Loving the new line-up personally. I'm especially enjoying the P.O.T.U.S. channel 110.

For those complaining about a certain channel being "gone", there is most likely an equivalent station. I haven't noticed a single channel that disappeared that doesn't have a new channel from the other side of XM/Sirius replacing it.

If the merger gives the new company better financial strength, I'm all for it.

[svk1069]

P.S. It seems a lot of people are making snap judgments regarding their particular station being "gone". In most cases there is a replacement. Many of the surviving channels are merging elements of both the XM and Sirius parts.

Why not LISTEN to the station for a bit before assuming the worst? It hasn't even been a full day yet since the change. I've found that many of the changes are for the better.

[oosteroo2]

You must not be a Disorder listener. I am not a stockholder; I am a customer. As long as they are financially strong enough to provide superior, intelligent programming like Disorder then great! But apparently the "suits" have taken over like they did FM.

[svk1069]

I'll admit that I did not listen to Sirius Disorder. If I may, what specific programs, etc, did you particularly like? Have they been relocated on a new channel?

I didn't listen to Sirius Disorder because I honestly thought it was a punk rock station. There's a lot of channels to sort through and somehow that one slipped through the cracks. I pulled up the cached web page for it though and it looks like it was an interesting mix.

I'm not a stockholder. I like the idea of a financially strong Sirius XM so that satellite radio survives. I had given up on regular radio because I just couldn't tolerate the inane DJ's and commercial after commercial after commercial. Yes, I have my iTunes collection, but I enjoy discovering new music on the radio and having a mix selected by a DJ. Nothing has been able to replicate the wonderful experience of satellite radio for me, not even Internet radio.

I suggest that if Disorder was important to you, contact the company. Let them know. Perhaps they'll bring it back. Heck, I'll even send an e-mail asking for it back to support your cause. If they bring it back, I'll make sure to give it a listen.

[carayogamama]

I'm not going to cancel my subscription just yet y'all - but Disorder, for those of you asking, played all kinds of music. Classic jazz (Billie Holiday and Miles Davis) then some singer/songwriter (Todd Snider, Norah Jones, or maybe Martin Sexton), then threw in some folk (say Joan Armatrading) then some world music (say Tito Puente or Miriam Makema). They leaned pretty folk sometimes, so you wouldn't get the more standard classic rock tunes, but for some Grateful Dead. It was not out of the ordinary to hear some 80s alternative (Violent Femmes). A pretty good helping of New Orleans/Bourbon STreet music (old and new). Also, Alt Country like The Mavericks (miss Raul Malo so much). Maybe Harry Connick. Sinatra. Goodly amount of Dylan. It's almost impossible to cover it all - they played so much great stuff. New and old. Peter Gabriel, stuff you don't hear on the pop or regular rock stations usually.

The Friday show, Mansion of Fun, was hosted by David Johansen of New York Dolls and Buster Poindexter fame, and he played really eclectic world music, classic vocal jazz, opera, Peggy Lee - so many artists that get almost no air time!

The Kennedys (Pete and Maura) are folks musicians who hosted a Saturday/Sunday morning show of great folk that you never hear on the radio. And they are fun adn funny!

Celtic Crush, with Larry Kirwan, I heard from his newsletter, that it will be relocated but kept on air. Not sure where. Check Black 47's website, I suggest, to find out.

Corporate culture is teh downfall of all things great, intelligent and beautiful in the world, I have no doubt now.

[siriusxmsux]

My favorite channel is gone, temporarily at least. It's was replaced and "taken over" (sirius's words) by 24/7 AC/DC radio until January. I used to have Channel 19 Buzzsaw on all day at work but now it's 24/7 AC/DC and the sad part is they play the same songs every few hours. AC/DC has hundreds of songs but they keep playing the "popular" songs over and over. It is stupid to have a station dedicated to one artist and now there are 4 that I know of.

It's time to consider cancelling my subscriptions. I can hear the same crap on FM radio for free.

[HCMcB]

DISORDER was the reason my wife was actually pleased when I gave her a SIRIUS radio as a gift a couple of years ago, the first time an electronics purchase was warmly received. So far, the music on The Loft is pretty good, but you aren't likely to hear the wild juxapositions, the smattering of jazz and folk that made DISORDER so much fun to listen to.

I understand Vince Scelsa will be on the Loft, as will David Johansen and Lou Reed, but I really liked the DISORDER concept and will miss it, along with Larry Kirwan and even "Ghosty". I have four subscriptions, so I'll be listening very carefully.

If I am correct that the baseball channels cannot be purchased under any circumstance for a Sirius radio, we might have to drop satellite radio altogether since, as far as I know, there is no radio available that gets both services.

[mmntech]

I can't say I'm pleased with the new lineup. For starters, XM72 is now gone. No more jazz fusion at all. A lot of fans of the channel were worried it would get canned eventually. I like jazz but now there are fewer options available. Just XM70 and XM71, the latter which just airs that modern elevator music.

I'm glad O&A didn't get canned in the merger. They're not available on terrestrial radio in Toronto any more since they went off the air in Buffalo.

[davho]

Regarding XM 72: I so agree. Note that Russ and Michelle are working on bringing the the format to the Internet. Go to russdavismoja.com

[brookerme]

Please, I need to have Disorder back or I'll give up on satellite forever.

[lesinnh]

I agree 100%

[davho]

I am an XM subscriber. I'm also a big Jazz fan and Jazz DJ on public radio in Albuquerque. The main reason I subscribed to XM has been 'retired': the progressive, Post-Bop channel, Beyond Jazz. I've called and complained, basically asking how does it make sense to have two Howard Stern channels available, but no room for two different types of Jazz. I'm told that all of the artists I used to listen to are now spread over more than a few different channels.

They offered me a discount of 66% off my subscription on one of my receivers to three months and completely free service on the other for four months, so that I can evaluate the new channels. I already know that they won't have the programming I want in one place as before. Having been in the media business for almost 30 years, I understand how this business works, but they SERIOUSLY screwed up here. If I'm paying money for a service I want to get what I joined for, otherwise I might as well give it to my local public radio station, or better yet create my own radio station at pandora.com (which I can get for free on my iPhone.)

I'm verrry disappointed!

[grg1901]

I have XM and pay for multiple receivers. Sound quality over the past 3 years has blown away FM broadcasts, and it has been money well spent. However, I will be canceling service on 2 of them in short order, and may cancel my service all together. I went with XM's offering because I believed it to be superior to Sirius and their line up. That said, it's clear that they will be looking at ways to extract more money from customers after this aweful new channel line up is rolled out. Oh, you want commercial free on more than 50% of your stations - well subscribe to our commercial free package for an extra $4.99 a month. If I get one more email on the great benefits of the merger ( like being able to spend $5 bucks more a month to listen to Howie Stern ), or another phone call on the topic that will be grounds cancelation all together.

[troutnut1]

Sirius seriously sucks. Nearly wacked 2 Montana deer this morning trying to figure out where Disorder and my Blues channel went as the receiver stated that I was no longer subscribed and that i should call Sirius. No warning from Sirius. If I hadn't recently re-upped for a year I would be canceled by now. Maybe they will prorate a refund for me though i suspect it will take years to get through to them on the phone after this fiasco. It has never been easy. Can't wait to see what else they do with their new monopoly. But who cares right? We can bail them out in a few years like we do with everyone else and thereby share the pain with people who have never even heard of sat radio....

[lesinnh]

I signed up for the 2yr because of Disorder in August. Now it's gone. Funny, me too- I was on the phone trying to figure out where Disorder was at 6am this morning and then I slammed down the phone on the dashboard only for it going flying off and down the side of the door as I went around a corner nearly causing me to swerve and get in an accident. Also, what a joke this blues channel is- I wonder if they have ever heard of Chess Records.

Lance

[Lifesaver1]

I have had XM up to now. I'm very pleased. Having driven coast to coast a few times, the Sirius exclusives I missed most on XM were NPR and the NFL. I could get NPR on FM locally, but out in the boonies, it's a different story. The NPR addition will make my next trip much more bearable. Most of the other channels seem to be duplicates, with exceptions of things like Howard Stern and Martha Stewart, which do not interest me. I like the addition of Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffet's channels. Obviously, I have to pay for the NFL stuff, so that is a decision I would have to make, but overall, this is a major bonus for me.

[Don_Oh]

Rather than sending complaints snail mail, I recommend going to Sirius website and click on Help at the bottom of the main page, then click on Email Customer Service. For XM subscribers go to the main XM page and at the top, click on Help & support, then click on email link in the Contact Us area. There is a drop down topic selection for Programming at both sites. If enough subscribers complain, maybe we will get some results, or at least it's an opportunity to air our concerns directly to the company that has disappointed us.

[MizOlga]

WOW. What a bunch of crapola. My fave station....gone. totally. Boombox 39 is not integrated into anything. What happened to Liquid tide? Mash ups? I thought that the better Sirius stuff would be integrated with XM. Now I get the crappy side of both?

Sirius and XM are seriously screwing up here. 2 subscriptions will be gone if they don't remedy this. Its also about the other fave stations that everyone is posting their frustrations about. Wasn't that the whole point of satellite radio? To find your niche station?

If anyone has any electronic radio stations as an alternative to boombox, please lemme know!!

[brett37095]

Sirius is seriously in trouble. Their stock is barely worth good toilet paper!, or buy some big roll charmin, its worth more per roll. Anyway, its really depressing what they did to Disorder. All of the DJ's were great. Why ruin it? They think they will make money on damn football. Oh, and the ADs! Listening to disorder the other day, the idiots running sirius had a football plug for those sports channels. I don't know about you, but its sounding more like commercials everday. Public radio is just about un-listenable with the sirius ads. The XM merger was a total idiot move. Now with no competition we will get nothing but CRAP. SIRIUS SUXS. I am going to let my subscription go.

[svk1069]

Sirius Disorder fans-

Go here and ask them to bring the station back: http://www.sirius.com/customercare

They obviously didn't realize how passionate the fan base for Sirius Disorder was.

[DNicolasL]

Dang I didn't know that anyone listened to Disorder. Tell Sirius XM that you want your channel back. I'm sure they will listen to you. Some of the channels just changed names and spots. Also, most of the good hosts stayed and the bad are gone. Also, as an XM sub I am excited about the new lineup and I welcome the changes.