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?

[grogling]

> by svk1069 November 12, 2008 2:00 PM PST
>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.

Despite what you may think, since I've been listening to (what used to be) Fred this morning I've heard 2 songs repeated (you NEVER heard repeats in a single day on that station before) and ALL of them are top 40 'best of' tracks that never would have been played on Fred. I'm not sure what you consider 'better', but I'm hearing music on what USED to be my favorite stations that the programming managers wouldn't have DARED put into the playlists prior to today.

For the record, those on here aren't by far the only ones complaining. I have it on good authority that XM / Sirius's customer care lines have been FLOODED with calls since early this morning, and quite a few of them have resulted in cancellations. The general populace is _not_ happy with the rampant and obviously poorly thought-out changes that have taken place. I have other sources for music, but this is a real blow as I'll now have to start loading the majority of my library onto my ipod now instead of being able to sit back and know the station I had chosen on XM was going to play, with good reliability, music I wanted to hear.

Oh, and the guy who took over programming has a LONG history of destroying everything he's touched in the broadcast industry. Looks like he's kept true to his reputation. The stock price and overloaded phone banks tell the story. I guess if you're into mediocrity, you'd see the changes as being positive. I, for one, am not, and refuse to pay for it.

-g-

[myvinyl333]

Great post. Thanks for the insight. Looks like I may go back to carrying CDS ion the car. Will never embrace compressed music. But this is all leading to the MP3 plug n play in cars anyway. Look @ the gyms, campuses, mass transportation... Guess I will spend my savings on more vinyl and concert tickets~

[bottle12am]

I wonder how many nerves would've been soothed over if FRED and DISORDER were both kept as-is. I hate other changes (RAW XL gone, fusion gone, etc.) but I could've lived with them. FRED being gone is a deal-breaker for me as an XM customer; seems like DISORDER is the other side of the same coin for SIRIUS subscribers.

When they bring back Sisters of Mercy, Charlaitains UK, etc., I'll bring back my subscription.

[qiken739]

I have the Dish Net Sirius Music channels & was waiting to see how the merger shook out. Now my favorite station, Disorder is gone & I will not be subscribing for the cars. I will likely cut back my Dish Net sub as well. I was already skeptical anyway because of the lack of a World Music channel on either Sirius of XM. I may hang in there for a bit to see if Outlaw Country, the only other channel I listen to regularly survives the merger.

[stingerella]

Dear Sirius,

<EXPLETIVE DELETED> YOU for cutting out my favorite stations and replacing them with more of the same old mainstream crap. You have 2 stations for howard and no more DJ Icey OR Boombox, you nixed the Punk channel for 24/7 AC/DC and the old school hip-hop station- you gave me to option of listing to all the crap hip hop that is produced and maybe if i'm lucky, i can hear some of that good ish... who the heck are you catering to? NOT your loyal subscribers that's for sure.

In the words of Bender from Futurama... Bite my shiny metal <bleep>

I too am mourning the passing of Sirius Disorder. If you have broad eclectic tastes it was a great station. I listened to it all the time. No other station I'm aware of would play everything from New Orleans Funk to Opera to punk and everything in between. And the DJs were mostly awesome. They have moved Vin Scelsa and Lou Reed's shows elsewhere apparently. But I guess this means the end of some of their better shows including David Johansen's Mansion of Fun and Rick Allison's New Orleans show. I hope they bring Disorder back. Please write them if you miss it. But I'm guessing that boat has sailed. RIP Disorder. You were a shining light on the radio while you existed.

[julieb995]

so does anyone know if meg griffin and/or vin scelsa have a home @ sirius/xm. and if so, where? and why is so hard to find information about dj's and is it so bad for sirius/xm to mention departed dj's?
it's so hard for longtime listeners to learn a fave dj has left and never gets a change to announce it.

[KimoTom]

Meg is at Sirius Spectrum in the afternoons
Vin is at The Loft, but not sure if he has the same time frame as before...
Have no clue where Ghosty or Kerwin have gone...

[rqbird]

I also am saddened to see Fred go on XM, as 1st Wave regurgitates the same 300 or 400 songs. There was variety there, and it was nice to have my synapses re-awakened now and again..

[li20784]

I got so screwed...yesterday i extended my XM membership for 2 years at 8.99 a month cause I LOVED Squizz and the System, Fred, Ethel and Lucy...nobody told me on the phone that in less than 24 hours, everything will change, the sound quality will now become crap and your favorite stations will get replaced. If i hear ANY commercials on my musi channells i'm calling and cancelling RIGHT AWAY and asking for a full refund because this is BULLS***...I really liked XM, the sound quality was good, but *** happened...these sirius stations are sub-par and howard is WAY overrated..he was cool 15 years ago.

[artzifartzi]

I really really REALLY miss Sirius Disorder! The Loft (so far) is nothing like it at all. Nothing else compares! I miss the personalities of the shows and the music programming. I hope it comes back on air, or at least some of the programming gets added back in to another channel. I know things change, but this change has left me very very sad and disappointed. I will keep looking, but I just wanted to send my feedback. WAHHHHH! Keeping my fingers crossed for Disorder returning in some form. I sent Sirius an email with feedback, also.

[Techfobe]

I was an avid listener of Sirius Disorder (Ch 33)...I especially like Vin Scelsa and his Idiots Delight...Vin has a great mix of talk and music he plays from his own varied collection, not the stuff on the Co. hard drives. He is on the Loft (ch 29) now...at least that is what the new Sirius web site stated today...I will listen tomorrow (Th) at Noon (Eastern)...If he is not on, then we still have Vin online at WFUV Sat from 8p-Midnight. The man knows his sh** and I will miss him if he is sirius-ly missing.

[evannave]

My two favorite channels are Sirius Disorder and The Vault!! The Loft is NOT an adequate substitute. I am especially disheartened to lose David Johanson's show and The World Cafe. I also noticed the elimination of yet another jazz station and there still isn't a world music show. This is not the strongest of the two services, it is merely a merger of the two. Instead of merely substituting overall channels they really should have looked at fusing similar services into the best of both worlds. This screams bean counter instead of intelligent programming. Very disappointing.

[lauren770]

You can listen to the World Cafe here at 3PM Eastern on weekdays: http://www.xpn.org/listen-live/listen-live Stream it on the internet via XPN. I am a member of XPN - it is a great station as is in Seattle KEXP 90.3 (stream it via iTunes). Public radio is still on the right track...thank god for them now that Sirius Disorder is gone.

~Lauren
Philadelphia, PA

[chrisftcc]

I understand that changes had to be made with the masses in mind; however, I feel there could have been a better transition period offered to the customers. Backspin 43 was the primary reason I subscribed to Sirius (I am a Old School Hip-Hop lover), and though there is still sufficient content available for me to listen to, I feel this move has made me consider discontinuing my service. Not only am I disappointed as a music lover, but as a consumer that has been totally disregarded.

I will finish my three month subscription and hope that they get enough complaints to reconsider the changes; however, if I am not getting what I am paying for, I can certainly use my money somewhere else. I can always buy and 80GB Ipod and fill it with music and podcasts to last me through the year.

Disappointed Customer

[elomamahaha]

I see on the Sirius website that Meg Griffin will have a show from 6 pm to midnight (eastern) on Ch. 18 "The Spectrum."

Can anyone confirm that David Johansen will stay on? A search of the site turns up nothing for him. Ditto for Larry Kerwin and Ghosty.

Lou Reed and Vin Scelsa will have their shows on (I think) ch. 29 "The Loft."

I already wrote my email to Siruis threatening cancellation. Without the Disorder DJs I will be just fine listening to my iPod on shuffle, except how will I hear new music?

I hope they reconsider.

[Techfobe]

Glad to see that Meg will remain along with Vin...I especially liked the way Vin was on repeat for 8hrs on Sunday....sometimes I'm not there for the daytime shows. I'm going to wait for the dust to settle before I comment further...I wonder if this is just the first phase of changes for Sirius/XM. Good listening to all.

Sirius has always treated Disorder as a step child. They moved them to at least 3 different channels, and it took many months after the last move before the proper name even showed up in the Channel display.

I agree that it's good that Meg and Vin are still around. However, I believe Meg programmed Disorder, as well as being a DJ - now it seems she's just a DJ, giving her a lot less input into the feel of the channel. Her show led in to Vin's show and they had great interaction at the handover. That will be missed.


Ghosty is gone - he's posted on his myspace page that he's already had another job interview but he can't write about it yet. I hope he lands somewhere great - but I doubt he'll have the national exposure he did with Sirius.
I think David Johansen is also out.
There are rumors that Larry Kirwin will have his show moved to another channel, but I don't know if that's true.

[HomerRamone]

My sympathy to all who lost their favorite channel. My favorite radio station EVER, Little Steven's Underground Garage, survived and is now available on both services. If you like non-obvious rock 'n' roll from the 50s up to the present day check it out. I might now switch to XM because they have Air America; SIRIUS Left sucks...

[thefilebunch]

The demise of Fred, Ethel and Lucy is very sad. Anyone who listens to these missed XM stations and compares them to their Sirius "counterparts" will be disappointed. The Sirius playlist is not nearly as vast or comprehensive. And I miss the quirky snippets between songs (especially on Lucy). Boo! Boycott Howard Stern!

[nperacchia]

Fred, Lucy and Ethel are the 3 stations that earned XM a ton of subscribers. Why? Because it was our music that got ignored by FM for 20 years. Many of us felt, wow...XM is playing MY CD collection! It is only fair to give the new channels a chance but it was widely known that XM was a stronger company in terms of the music. So...these 3 channels would have been better served had they been the XM versions. Time will tell...and so will subcription payments...

[WorkinBob]

"near DJ-less The Loft. It seems rather bland" . . . My feelings as well and as I searched for a replacement that would entertain me without offending I just feel like I've lost a bunch of "friends". I have other Sirius buttons to fall back on. We have a great local eclectic public radio station here. I listen to a lot of NPR over the air as well. However, Disorder was what it said it was. I haven't seen the same approach anywhere else. There were several shows that I tuned out when I first started listening that I've found myself going out of the way to tune in to after getting to know the personalities and musical tastes of the DJs. I think Sirius is a very valuable resource and part of a wonder of access to music these days. However, I'll miss my Disorderly "friends". (BTW - Meg has been doing time on The Spectrum - 18 and will apparently continue there. Vin Scelsa will apparently have Idiots Delight on The Loft though I haven't figured out when)

[jayebird16]

I have been a Sirius subscriber for a few years, and I am furious that Backspin is gone. I plan to definitely send a letter to their customer service. Hip Hop Nation is not an adequate replacement for Backspin -- I loved the old school rap 24/7 rather than the newer stuff. It's a shame that the suits at Sirius didn't evaluate the unique qualities of each channel before cutting them or revising format. I mean, as music lovers, we should all be insulted that they think that it is acceptable to assume that people who like old school rap would automatically like new school hip hop (do they know the difference???) or that the beats they played on Boombox are comparable to the XM channel replacement. Why not just expand the options? Do they not have the technical capability to keep all consumers happy???? UGH! This sucks. I may have to bow out of my satellite contract if this is a sign of how its going to work from now on.

Bring back Lady B & Kurtis Blow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[svgtom]

For those of you who are online XM and Sirius subscribers and care only about music, you might want to check out Rhapsody instead. I was quite surprised at the number of channels they have as well as the variety. Even their free service offers a lot of channels.

[jamesps]

To all those thinking of cancelling, i say... Are You Crazy!

Going back to FM is nuts. Comercials are insane on FM. There is no comparison. I have Sirius and XM and both are worth way more than $12 per month. I happen to pay for 2 full services because one car has xm and the other sirius. I love them both. I cant imagine having to go back to FM. Anyway, this this merger stuff a chance. change takes a while getting used to. more changes will occur and irius XM will have to listen to subscribers to stay in business. Everything will be OK.

[bottle12am]

Who said anything about going back to FM? I have an iPod and an input jack for my car radio, and apparently some extra $$ to play with on iTunes since I'm cancelling my XM subscription.

When they ressurect FRED ***AND*** show some respect for my Sirius brethern (by returning DISORDER), then I'll be glad to return to the fold.

[ampopg]

Glad to see passionate music fans still exist!!! Sent this email to XM.

Hi,

I am an XM Radio subscriber and noticed this Wednesday morning (November 12th) that there was no Channel 2 on my XM Radio. Which means no "Theme Time Radio w/Bob Dylan'' all day. What gives??? It was always a pleasure listening, at my leisure, to Bob Dylan's radio show when I went to work in the morning and hearing the rest of it on the way home in the afternoon, and sometimes listening to it twice a day!!!!! Will this mean no ''Buried Treasure w/Tom Petty'' on Thursdays as well??? Or ''Marty Stuarts American Odyssey'' on Fridays????
I found that these were ''special shows'' and rightly deserved the spots that they were given. I think it will be a grave injustice to your listeners by placing these show in ''time slots'' on other channels.
I subscribed to XM because I was looking for a change in radio. Your channel XM2 was a great change by placing your best shows on a separate channel and giving your subscribers the chance to enjoy these shows when they wanted.
XM Just Got Better??
Looking forward to your response.


GP in Toronto