Sirius gets serious, reshuffles lineup, cuts DJs
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?
Steve Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to magazines and Web sites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
I was hoping XM would be able to use some of Sirius's bandwidth to increase quality. Ah well, I guess quality doesn't sell these days. I'm on the fence about un-subscribing. I'll wait until the merger is complete and see whether they keep the Garage Rock channel on Sirius and bring back Punk (as in 70's, 80's punk).
In the new XM line up Sirius has dropped XM HD support. A sign of further reduction in sound quality and features.
So, we get more channels but at a loss in sound quality.
In 2 years (if they last that long) satellite radio will be similar to cable television and terrestrial radio. A vapid waste land of commercials, commercials, commercials, song, commercials, commercials, commercials, commercials, song, commercials, commercials, commercials, commercials, commercials, commercials, commercials, commercials, commercials, song, commercials...
And, yes, the sound quality on either one is terrible to the point that it's insane that Mir. High-end Guttenberg would even cover anything about it. They have added stations and spread the bandwidth thinner and thinner, waiting for the point when people actually complain, which never seems to come (this thread being a notable exception). The amazing thing is that in most conversations 90-mumble percent of people think it sounds great! Digtial! Great!
XM has a slightly better codec than Sirius and also devotes (devoted?) more bandwidth to some of its most popular or marquee channels (such as the late great Fine Tuning). But still pretty bad. I'll give the new setup a chance, but without easy access to Bob Dylan and Tom Petty (who each played a lot of stuff old enough and mono enough that the sound quality was not an issue) I have little reason to stay aboard.
HD is not perfect and WBCN in boston has seemed to goof up their HD1 channel music playback compression, but their HD2 Indie 104.1 is my favorite channel, sound and playlist (though it's somewhat repetitive).
Funny thing is I had just sent an email to Meg asking about some programing resembling AOR selections.
Thus said, "Will The Wolf Survive?"
I'm not sure if I like it or not. I prefer no dj's, so losing them doesn't upset me [other than I don't like people being fired, unless their name starts with a 'howard'.;-) ]. I'll just have to wait and see how it feels.
Basically, when deciding what to cut, Sirius/XM threw out the baby and kept the afterbirth. Feh...
First and foremost, XM has WAY too much TALK on music stations! I got XM to listen to music without all the TALK on commercial radio. Now on my two "favorite channels" there is so much TALK I don't listen anymore.
Second was for TWO channels: Solid Gold Oldies (formerly channel 5) and Movin' Easy (formerly channel 4), Of course....those two channels have now been REMOVED! There is/was nothing like these on XM. Now there is nothing like them on either XM or Sirius!
As soon as my Sirius subscription is up, that's all-she-wrote for Sirius, especially since they have reduced the quality of transmission - which was never as good as XM anyway! So, I'll keep XM....for a while, and when I buy a new car satelite radio is NOT going to be something I install!!!!
My wish list: a second blues channel (pre-1980s), a second reggae (pre-1980s), a full-time old school rap, bring back Disorder (but good riddance to Mansion of Fun).
The one thing the merge may accomplish is consolidate programs so they are not repeated (blog radio at noon AND midnight??).
What about 50's on 5 and 40's on 4?
Two of the stations I listen to, in fact, the two I listen to 90% of the time, have changed. Ethel changed to AltNation. I?m sure the music will be more or less the same. It is still an Alternative station, just with a new name.
The biggest disappointment is with The Rhyme. The Rhyme was an Old School hip hop station. It played classic joints from the 80s and 90s, had great shows with Afrika Bambaataa, and great Progressive hip hop music and discussions. They have done away with it and merged it with Sirius? Hip Hop Nation, which plays ?Some Old Skool Rap.? Which means the rest is going to be new crap, which I can?t stand. If it?s not old school or progressive, I will most likely not listen. The good thing about satellite when it launched was the variety of music that could be featured on the stations. The sad thing is, for at least the rap stations, they sound just like a Clear Channel or Channel One stations across the country. The stuff at the top of the charts, over and over and over.
I?ve also noticed that the quality of the online stream seems to be lower than usual and it keeps cutting out. The merger isn?t starting out on a good note, in my opinion. One of my favorite channels is gone and the service is sub-par. XM might have just lost a subscriber.
They've also done away with all but one of their Latin music channels.
I do now have 24/7 Elvis, Buffet, Grateful Dead and Springsteen stations, which I have no need for. Guess I'm in a demographic that Sirius/XM isn't concerned about.
I've subscribed to both XM and Sirius (Sirius currently), and only by personal preference did I choose Sirius over XM, so I am obviously disappointed in the Sirius channels that are replaced by their counterpart. I can also understand the same sentiment coming from the flip side of that.
McDonalds and Shake Shack are both quick-service restaurants that serve burgers. There is a reason Shake Shack has a line 2 hours deep at times.
And jsl4980 ... yes it is a first pass through - but they've fired a lot of good people and that's not terribly easy to undo. And yes I will be writing a letter but the more negative publicity this receives the more inclined management should be to undo what is an AWFUL mistake. So this isn't a self-pity blog that can't help anyone.. its a fairly realistic way to assess the market's reaction and perhaps to mobilize for concerted effort.
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Thanks XM... thanks for nothing.
You've completely destroyed any semblance of the music programming that I came to XM for in the first place 5 years ago. Channels 80-84 were some of the best electronica programming I'd ever heard. You wrecked it all in one night. 80 and 82 played some of the most current and upcoming music that paid for my monthly fees alone. 80 is now a cesspool of mediocre tracks and no-namer artists. 82 is GONE! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?!?!? 84 sounds NOTHING like it did yesterday... and I'm sorry... Macy Gray has NO place on an electronic music downtempo channel.
And then my other favorite was Fred. You killed it. Fred played all the B-sides, all the rarities and all the music that I grew up listening to. It's now a horrible montage of 80's alt-hits that have been played out and several others that bring back horrible nightmares.
Sure, I'm being overly dramatic, but these changes have removed everything I liked about XM. I'm canceling my subscription at the end of this month, as will at least a dozen of my friends. Next time you decide to make sweeping programming changes without giving your PAYING CUSTOMERS any notice or say in what they PAY FOR, think twice. I know I won't be the only cancellation this month. The only reason Sirius even still exists is because of the deal they made with Stern. Horrible audio quality and programming that was banal at best was killing Sirius. If Howard's listeners are who you polled for the music lineup (who cared only about listening to him and not what programming choices were made elsewhere), then it's easy to see where the failure point in your choices were.
Good luck. You took a gamble. Might as well just broadcast Stern on all the channels, because I don't know a single friend who has subscribed to XM that will be keeping the service after their subscription runs out.
And I'm fully expecting a lame automated response. I know nobody that cares or can actually make any decisions will read this. I'm re-posting the text of this message on my blog for everyone else to see. Thanks for failing and letting down a loyal customer for the last 5 years.
-greg-
I am equally saddened..
In other words, when is the Sirius-XM iPhone app coming? 3G networks are, in many cases, better than satellite.
The stations I listen to the most are gone. The Vault and Disorder. Looks like it's time to cancel the sirius and get the iPod out. Way to go guy's. YOU ARE DESTIN TO FAIL !
Bill
I will cancel four (4) subscriptions if they don't reinstate the Disorder programming.
Dan
Obama, Illinois
Lance- NH
Sirius/XM should take note. We, the subscribers that keep you in business, bought satellite for MUSIC not DJs. I say ditch all the DJs, play music. More people will subscribe.
Talk channels are a whole different story... Music should be uninterrupted music. Nothing else.
I don't know what channels you have been listening to but Sirius disorder had fantastic DJs. If you don't want DJs there are plenty of other channels that don't have them. And of course commercial radio has scarcely any.
Also of course you can listen to CDs, iTunes, etc and have no DJs.
As for the programming, I'm very pleased. I don't like talk and the channels that I like and listen to the most on Sirius have now moved over to XM. Some of the channels I listened to on XM had dj's that sounded just like the regular FM dj's. They talked throught the beginning and endings of songs. With Sirius, they tend to wait for the actual music to end and then play filler music if they need to talk about the songs or the artist. Speaking of which, I have not heard an XM dj ever talk about the song or the artist, at least on the channels I listen to.
As will all of these mergers, and especially with entertainment, they won't please everyone and I'm sure I will not be completely happy with all of the lineup changes, but so far I like what I see and hear.
Oh, I do want to say that they can keep Howerd, Oprah, Martha and the rest of the high priced people they brought on board and lower the subscription prices for everyone. That would go the farthest in keeping me as a long time subscriber.
- by Grumpypaul November 12, 2008 9:16 AM PST
- To me, the benefit of satellite radio should be the total lack of humans. While I don't subscribe to it, I get a few channels through my DirecTV account. The thing that bugs me is the drivel I must put up with in order to lieten to the music that I have chosen. I don't need a DJ to slather on about things I have no interest in.
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- by mdziatko1 November 12, 2008 7:19 PM PST
- I think xm-sirius made a big mistake. Directv is "supposedly" either going to go to dmx or urge now.
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- by ems30 November 13, 2008 9:35 AM PST
- LOL.....your funny.....
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Showing 1 of 9 pages (233 Comments)And they can keep all the Sterns, Opie and Dopies and all the other big mouthed "talent" that too many think are gods.
Highway 16 is gone which means I can no longer listen to the CMA's tonight, or exclusive fan club shows that highway 16 used to have during the beginning of june, instead i get some stupid dj saying "we'll talk about the shows and concerts tomorrow."
How is that going to help me? I'd rather listen to the shows and "fan club concerts" than listen to some blabber mouth talk about how good or bad they were.
Wrong move xm-sirius. You may have lost your 10,000th subscriber with your latest moves. Hope your happy when you go under by this time next year.