Looks like another killer week on XM. My high point last week was definitely the Robert Plant Concert on Deep Tracks. Killer stuff coming up this week such as The Wolfman Jack show all week @ 9 PM on XM 60’s on 6 as well as Farm Aid 2005 on X Country - XM 12 fromTue. - Fri. 9PM - Midnight ET.
Let’s see what else on tap this week.
Monday:
October Sketches: Richard Elliot | Watercolors - XM 71 | 9AM ET & 9PM ET - Conversation and Music with Richard Elliot
Herbie Hancock: Imagine The Possibilities | Beyond Jazz - XM 72 | 11AM ET & 10PM ET - Conversation and Music with Herbie Hancock
LIVE! Opie & Anthony One Year Anniversary Halloween Party | High Voltage - XM 202| 7PM to 11PM ET - O and A 1 year anniversary party from the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square
The Deep Tracks 4th Annual Night Of The Live Dead | Deep Tracks - XM 40 | 8PM ET - 8 hours worth of Grateful Dead concerts
Friday:
I Crossed The Line with John Cleese |XM Comedy - XM 150 | 10PM ET - XM’s Sonny Fox in a conversation with John Cleese
Saturday:
BBC Archives Concert: Supertramp 1975 |Deep Tracks - XM 40 | 9PM ET - Recorded live @ London’s own Hammersmith-Odeon
Sunday:
The Complete Dave Matthews: Part I |MIX - XM 22 | 8PM to 10PM ET - The Complete Series focuses on Dave Matthews
Not sure if this is true or rumor. I’m merely speculating, but I saw a post on the XM 90’s on 9 teams blog that says:
Someone NEW but OLD on XM 90s!
It’s not just a NEW DJ… But someone who RECENTLY left another XM channel….
…will be on THE 90s on 9 EVERY NIGHT!
(The ink is drying as we speak!)
Not sure who else they might be refering to, but I’m just speculating. Let’s wait and see on this one….interesting nevertheless…
Yes you’re reading the title right. XM did save radio, actually more like resurrected it, well more like brought it back from the dead. There are many people out there who would disagree with me on this, but AM/FM radio has been taking a turn for the worse over the past 25 years or so. For the heck of it I listened to AM radio on my way to work and FM on my home (actually I was in a hurry when I left this morning and left my Airware @ home) . This was actually a good thing though. I almost never listen to AM/FM radio so this was actually a good experience for me.
One of the things I completely forget about XM that I shouldn’t is the commercial free aspect. Not just when it comes to music, but the one thing that kind of sticks out in my head is Opie and Anthony. When they need to take a break its usually when one of them needs to go to the bathroom and when they are gone I’m not listening to some idiotic commercial, its usually a small promo. I actually timed this as I was driving. I sat through 11 minutes of commercial, which in my opinion is just ridiculous. But when you think about it, how else is local radio supposed to pay the bills? That’s their bread and butter I suppose.
Another thing I noticed that I really forgot was so bad is DJ interruption. It really seemed to be constant and oh so annoying. This point is kind of interesting to me in the sense that you hear a lot of people complain about stations like Top Tracks (XM 46) which never has DJ intervention just self promo stuff like once an hour or so. Even on the XM stations such as the decade stations for example you have DJ intervention, but its so little it doesn’t bother me at all. I think the DJ intervention combined with the commercials was about all I can take.
I think my dissatisfaction with AM/FM comes from my exposure to XM. Before I had XM I really didn’t know any better and I suppose I just tolerated what was out there and just sort of excepted what I was getting, which would explain the minimal time I was spending listening to the radio. XM has truly saved all of us from this and in the long run it may force commercial radio to clean up their act, but I’d seriously doubt it, because commercial radio can’t compete with XM. The only thing XM can do is save us all from having to listen to subpar radio. If nothing else that experience taught me one thing and that’s to never ever forget to bring my Airware with me wherever I go.
I usually don’t comment too much on XM Radio’s Corporate News, but I was real excited to read this . I don’t say too much about the financial state of XM because I truly believe in what they are doing and I can’t criticize the company a heck of a whole lot, but since I am commenting the big thing that stands out to me is that revenues are up 134%.
In all honesty, I do keep up with the company very closely since I am stockholder and the XM radio product gets me very excited, but I’m not too critical of what XM has doing financially, even though the company is doing extremely well in my opinion. Subscriber numbers are up and the content is just getting better. The numbers XM is posting are simply phenominal though and its exciting to see the company grow as it has. All I have to say is let the train keep on going and the XM nation get bigger and better !!!!!
I just stumbled upon a very interesting tidbit on skyreport.com. The story doesn’t say a whole lot, but the tidbit is here
The blurb says:
Bernstein Research, in data released last week, points out the obvious: The primary market for satellite radio will be 230 million vehicles on the road today and 17 million vehicles sold each year.
However, don’t doubt that the two companies, Sirius and XM Satellite Radio, also won’t target the nation’s 113 million households as well as special markets, the Wall Street firm said. The special markets potential is represented by 3 million RVs, 2.3 million heavy trucks and 4 million boats, Bernstein said.
In its forecasts, Bernstein predicts that by 2010 there will be 44 million satellite radio subscribers in the United States, representing a penetration of 28 percent of U.S. households
The tidbit that interests me is the 28% penetration in homes. That is just huge and underlines my thoughts that Satellite Radio will bring radio back and well I won’t get into the whole XM vs Sirius thing…not in this post anyways.
Just a follow up on the Wolfman coming to XM 60’s on 6. XM is now teasing the Wolfman on their home page flash tout. There is a click through to a small paragraph about the show here. I’m really happy to XM hyping this. I just think its really exciting since I don’t remember a whole lot about the wolfman, but he definitely represented an era and Im really happy about XM bringing that to us .
I decided to resurrect my Pocket PC. I sync it up with Mac via PocketMac software. I need to do some updates on some things, so what do I discover on Handango? Pocket XM Radio Pro This is pretty neat software. It works exactly as advertised. This is a very cool idea !!! I think this is a neat if you are in a situation where you have access to a wireless network and can’t get great reception.
I don’t know how widespread the Pocket PC market is these days. I don’t use my Pocket PC alot in all honesty, but maybe this a good reason to.
Not sure what it is about Deep Tracks lately, but it’s sure gotten alot better recently. It’s not just Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure thats made it better, but I’m noticing alot more concerts…good concerts that is, especially the BBC concerts. That I haven’t heard before. I’m really happy to see this. Deep Tracks used to be a channel I listened to from time to time, but its really gotten alot more of my attention lately.
Everyone might want to look @ the XM schedule this week again and notice all the awesome content on Deep Tracks this week. I did listened to TP this morning and I think his show is so awesome because he knows soooo much stuff. His voice does take some getting used to but I really look forward to his show every week. If you like Top Tracks give Deep Tracks a shot, I admit some of the stuff you hear on there is quite obscure @ times, but most of the time I am not disappointed in what Im hearing.
I’ve been hearing alot of promos lately on 60’s on 6 for the Wolfman show coming starting on Halloween. Since the Wolfman has been dead for about 10 years or so now Im going to go under the assumption that these are show’s recorded many years ago, probably back to his days on WNBC radio in NYC. This is pretty darn exciting to have these shows reair. He was pretty exciting to listen to from what I have heard before and saw in the movie American Graffitti. I’m really looking forward to this !!!
On this note I had heard some rumors back about 3-6 months ago that XM was going to start airing some of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 shows from the 70’s and 80’s. I hope those rumors are true. That was an awesome show to listen to as well. But for now I’ll be looking forward to hearing the Wolfman….very very cool stuff XM !!!!
Notable programming this week on XM Radio:
Monday:
October Sketches: Marc Antoine | Watercolors - XM 71 | 9AM ET - Conversation and Music with Marc Antoine
Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure | Deep Tracks - XM 40 | 10AM ET - Weekly trip straight from Tom Petty’s Living Room
Tuesday:
UnderCover | Deep Tracks - XM 40 | 8 PM ET - An hour of covers from the XM vault
Wednesday:
The Grateful Dead Hour | Deep Tracks - XM 40 | 11 PM ET - Various clips from Grateful Dead concerts
Thursday:
Beyond Category: Classic Duets | Fine Tuning - XM 76 | 12 PM ET - This week focuses on Tony Bennett
Friday:
October Sketches:Jeff Lorber | Watercolors - XM 71 | 9AM and 9PM ET - Conversation and Music with Jeff Lorber
Phryday Phish Phry | XM Music Lab - XM 51 |9PM ET - Recorded Live from The Glens Falls Civic Center in Glens Falls, New York. Recorded: October 31, 1994.
Saturday:
BBC Archives Concert: Robert Plant | Deep Tracks - XM 40 | 9PM ET - Robert Plant plays live in a BBC concert from 1993.
Sunday:
The Strip | The 50’s - XM 5 | 6PM ET - 50’s music Rat Pack Style
The Complete Dave Matthews: Part I | MIX - XM 22 | - 8PM to 10PM ET - New Series on the success of The Dave Matthews band