The Audiophiliac

Read all 'Ghosty' posts in The Audiophiliac
November 12, 2008 7:20 AM PST

Sirius gets serious, reshuffles lineup, cuts DJs

by Steve Guttenberg
  • 233 comments

UPDATE! (November 19, 9:59 AM PST) Sirius Disorder fans take note: Vin Scelsa announced on his 11/19 Idiot's Delight show on The Loft (Sirius Disorder's replacement channel) that Meg Griffin will soon return to do her thing on The Loft (yes, she's currently on The Spectrum). Vin also noted that David Johansen's show will be back. The Lou Reed and Hal Wilner show is headed back as well. All will appear on The Loft. Maybe our protests were heard!

As a Sirius Satellite Radio subscriber, I received an e-mail on Wednesday "Announcing The New Sirius Channel Lineup" that confirmed my worst fears about the Sirius-XM merger.

That is, the inevitable cost savings would impact me personally. My favorite music channel, Sirius Disorder, is history, replaced with the near DJ-less The Loft. It seems rather bland, and I really do miss Disorder's morning guy, Ghosty, as well as afternoon host Meg Griffin.

Hey, Sirius has to keep forking over those hefty paychecks to Howard Stern, and somebody has to pay for it.

There's a lot more changes across the range of programming, and some great XM channels are now on Sirius.

If you're not getting the new lineup, or you're a little dazed and confused, here's how Sirius recommends catching up:

Please note that when you turn on your radio for the first time on or after November 12, it may need 2 (to) 5 minutes to receive the update from our satellites.

During this time, the audio you hear may not match what is shown on your display, and you may see messages such as "updating channels." While the radio updates, please do not change channels, as this will delay the update.

I know it's still early, and we are just starting to grasp the changes, but I'd love to hear Sirius and XM subscribers' views on the shake-up. Is it good for you? BTW, the Sirius-XM stock is now 25 cents (down from a 52-week high of $3.94), so please remind me why the merger was such a great idea.

Oh, anybody know if Howard Stern still has any stock? He was such a big booster of Sirius, wasn't he?

June 16, 2008 6:52 AM PDT

Poll: Tell us about your favorite obscure music

by Steve Guttenberg
  • 8 comments

Ghosty, one of my favorite satellite radio DJs, he's on Sirius Disorder, urged listeners to email their favorite weird and obscure music. Never heard of any of the records, but it set me to wondering about some of my more out titles, and if I had to pick one I'd go for, The Rotor Rooter Good Time Christmas Band LP. It came out in 1974 and yes, I bought it for the wacky title, but it's actually a really good record, I've played it many dozens of times. Mixing equal parts polka, psychedelic, rock, classical and just flat out bizarre, Rotor Rooter is a blast from start to finish. If I had to pick just one cut, it would have to be "Fanfare/Buick LeSabre."

... Read more
  • prev
  • 1
  • next
advertisement

15 sites that went kaput in 2009

Web sites launch all the time, but they also shut their doors. We highlight 15 that bit the dust this year.

Top 10 news stories of the decade

Let the debate begin: Was the iPhone more important than iTunes? Was anything bigger than Google finding a great business model? CNET offers its list of the 10 most important stories of the '00s.

About The Audiophiliac

Ex movie theater projectionist Steve Guttenberg has more or less successfully hitched his future to home theater, but he still pines for the clickity-clack of 35 MM projectors and all the stale popcorn he could eat. Between projectionist gigs he worked as a high-end audio salesman for sixteen years, and produced records for an audiophile label. Oh, and one more thing, nothing annoys Steve more than being confused with the other Steve Guttenberg, the washed-up Police Academy actor. The wordsmith Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to a number of magazines and websites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Add this feed to your online news reader

The Audiophiliac topics

Most Discussed

advertisement

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right