Well as more rumors still circulate about some big announcement on Monday. I keep hearing the same thing I had heard about E-lo mentioning something about this on O & A . There was no pointer as to when this would occur, but I can’t imagine anything else that it could be. Ok so let’s say that is the case. That we are getting 8 new channels on Monday. What would you like those channels to be ?

I would love to see the following:

- Smoke Stack spin off into its own channel
- A real Chill channel opposed to what we get on Sunday afternoon
- Another classic rock station that would be a cross between Deep tracks & Top Tracks
- Bring back On The Rocks

Those top my list, what’s yours?

I’m not one of those people who hopped on to XM because of O & A. Not being from the Northeast I didn’t know who they were etc. I go through these spurts where I don’t listen to them as much as other times, but lately they’ve really been funny. The Scott Ferrall and Tony Danza bits this week in particular had me cracking up and I thought Norton had some pretty good one liners this week as well.

With all this said I wonder what draws people into O & A. WIth me its almost like your kickin’ back and just watching some friends shoot the breeze. So I ask all of you, what draws you to Opie and Anthony ?

BTW…..if anyone out there knows the boys, I’ve sent along several emails. I would love to interview them for this blog (Anthony even said a blog interview wasnt beneath him ),I’ve sent several emails and no repsonse, so if anyone knows how to contact them directly give me a shout.

For any of you (especially you pests out there) who have been listening to O and A this week might be interested in this article that talks about the adventures of Stalker Patty and the mouse trap this week. When I heard this I was absolutely rollin’. Apparently this is getting some pretty big press.

Stuff like this is just gold as far as spreading the virus goes. I hope the boys dont end up running this one into the ground. Although it doesnt look like they will since tommorrow’s show sounds entertaining when they are doing an American Idol paraody which the boys are calling American Mess. Got a feeling its gonna be winner.

I tend to troll up and down the XM dial alot and I just wanted to comment on a few things I’ve noticed lately.

X Country XM 12 - When you first hear the name of the station and its location on the dial you’re thinking its just a regular country music station. I am definitely not a country music fan, actually very far from it….very very far from it. They play more bluesy/guitar type music. I’m told this is a genre called Progressive Country. Call it what you want, but I’ve really enjoyed it alot

Deep Tracks XM40 - I know I have had quite a few mentions of Deep Tracks in the past. If you really thought you have no interest in Deep Tracks. I urge you to listen to Deep Tracks Essential 5002. It will give you a good overall perspective on the station.

Fred XM 44 - This station had really lost its direction for awhile. It seemed to have no cohesiveness to it. Fred just became extremely hard to listen to. I’ve been listening to it here and there this week. The programming has gotten way better and they are truly playing classic alternatives now. The only thing its really missing is DJs and some shows. Just wanted to point out that it has improved alot.

Opie and Anthony - XM 202 High Voltage - I really enjoyed O & A this past week from CES. The big difference to me was the guests. I think they should have more guests rolling in. I think it would add a lot to the show.

This has been a phenominal year for the Satellite Radio, especially for XM. XM will have eclipsed 6 million users (that’s speculation but I’ll be very shocked if that doesn’t happen). Here’s my list of things I would love to see XM Radio make happen.

- More BBC Concerts on Deep Tracks
- Bring back On The Rocks, Liquid Metal, and Special X
- Bring DJs to Top Tracks
- XM2G02 Units
- Broadcast IT again
- Get some DJs on XM 8
- Get a Chill Channel
- More new guests on Opie and Anthony
- Better online interface @ XMRO
- xmradio.com to provide RSS content feeds

Those are the things @ the top of my list. Like I said its been a great year for XM Satellite Radio and I really think things will be more exciting in 2006. Happy New Year everyone !!!!

Now that the whole Howard thing is coming to fruition I feel compelled to hop up on my soap box and give my 2 cents. There are really 4 sides to this whole thing. You have to look @ this from the standpoint of Sirius, XM, Howard, and Opie & Anthony. Yes these sides overlap in many ways, but lets take a look at each of these separately and then tie it altogether.

Suppose for a minute you’re Mel Karmazin (CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio), I think you see Howard as the savior and the thing that will not only save Sirius, but save Satellite Radio. Sirius has absolutely nothing to lose. It’s no secret how the company has been suffering financially. This is more or less a go for broke move and Karmazin knows it. At $100 million a year there is really no other way to think about it. So right now I gotta think Sirius is very very happy . They have got their name out into the mainstream and they haven’t even paid Howard 1 penny yet, but the question still remains, how do you justify yet actually pay Stern $100 million a year? Extend yourself beyond belief is the first thing that enters my mind.

Now lets think about this from the XM side. If you are Hugh Panero (CEO of XM Satellite Radio) right now what do you think of all this. Well here’s what I think is going through Hugh’s mind right now. I’d say he’s smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary right now. Look at all the free press XM is getting from this. Almost every segment on TV that Ive seen with Howard mentions XM as a competitor and not just a competitor, but a competitor that has a heck of a lot more subscribers than Sirius. On top of that the way XM counts subscribers are very different from the way Sirius does. For those unfamiliar with this. Sirius counts a subscription for every car that rolls off the assemblyline, where XM doesn’t count the subscription until it is actually activated. With the subscriptions aside. To put the Howard thing in perspective from a financial side. XM will have exclusive rights to the NHL starting next season, although this season the NHL is being broadcast on both XM and Sirius. That deal is costing XM $100 million over a 10 year period. With the edition of XM Canada and the NHL doing all they can to improve the league as well as their game. Its hard not to see the ROI here. Oh and of that $100 million XM isn’t even paying all of that. XM did have a shot @ getting Howard, but passed. I don’t think Hugh is looking back on this one at all. I’d have to say at this point XM has to be happy with the way things are going.

No matter what happens in the future I think Howard is in the worst situation out of anyone here….and here’s why I say that. There are 2 sides to this. The first being if he succeeds. Let’s say he does pull in a ton of subscriptions and Sirius does catch up to XM or even dominates the Satellite radio market. With the current financial state of Sirius how long can they afford to flip a $100 million bill because if Howard is successful, he’s obviously going to get incentives and I think the more successful Howard is the deeper Sirius will fall. Let’s say he fails, where does he go from here, back to terrestrial radio? I don’t see that happening somehow or if that did happen I don’t think it would last long.But I must say that Howard’s biggest downfall was refusing to go XM because Opie and Anthony were there, which can only lead me to believe that he’s scared or intimidated by them because of his bullying tactics in the past or he’s just plain scared of them, why else would he refuse to be on the same network they are…it makes no at all.

The folks who have to be salivating the most over this have to be Opie and Anthony. I think they will be the ones who reap the biggest benefit, but before I get into all that. You might be wondering why I don’t lump O and A together with XM. I can’t do that because of the history between Howard and the boys. From what I’ve heard the boys say Howard personally made it very difficult for them to work anywhere due to a gag order that they would have had to sign, which resulted in a 2 year plus layoff. With the presence of Howard on satellite now I think you’ll see Opie and Anthony bring their show up to a new level. The show right now in my opinion is doing well (better than ever actually) and I think will do better with Howard showing up at Sirius. There are going to be people now who are curious about satellite radio, but can’t stand Howard. There are just as many people out there that like Howard out there as hate him (I have to lump myself in the hate category). Those haters are going to flock over to XM and catch the virus. I cant think of a single reason why they wouldn’t.

Well that’s how see things for what its worth. The best thing about all this is that its really putting satellite radio out there in the mainstream. Even though its really been out there for some time. The one big question that I really can’t answer or even take a stab at right now is what will be the effect on terrestrial radio. I’ve spoken to this previously and I think that situation is bad and getting worse. I don’t see any light at the end of that tunnel at all. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out as well, but to answer the question which I initially broached. I think ultimately Howard means a lot to XM right now and I can sum it up in 2 words…more subscriptions.

Well generally speaking I don’t engage or talk about XM Radio vs. Sirius stuff, but today is the definite exception this also may very well become a rule. In any event today was Howard Stern’s day in the sun, his last day @ terresterial radio. Anyone who halfway keeps up with Satellite radio knows about this. The O and A pests were in full force today. Nothing got out of hand from what I heard, but I did see alot of photos with XM Radio signs.

Here’s my slant on all this stuff. Yes today was huge for Howard and a little less huge for the boys on High Voltage XM 202. However, I think today was a bigger day for Satellite Radio. I think the question of Satellite Radio coming into the mainstream was answered today. It’s here and all Howard’s entrance will put Satellite Radio out there. There are just as many people out there that hate Howard as like him I think. I’ve never been a big Howard fan, but now that the parade is over and the confetti is being swept up. How the heck is Sirius going to flip that $500 million they are paying him. I need to write an article on this opposed to a blog posting, but my big takeaway from all this is that XM has really shown smarts with who they bring aboard. Opie and Anthony were a big part of those smarts, seems to me like a win/win situation there, but back to today’s events. I’m glad Sirius was the one to pay the marketing bill on this one for Satellite radio. My short term prediction is….watch Sirius numbers climb…however watch XM Radio’s numbers climb exponentially.

XM Radio has made another awesome move by adding Good Morning America to the Take 5. The press release is here . This is a very sweet add to the Women’s radio channel and to my surprise this morning Opie and Anthony this morning were tuned in to GMA this morning and carried the announcement. I know this was just a promo but I thought it was kind of cool and of course they spun this into a Sirius slam…I’ll leave it at that, but this is yet another awesome edition to Take 5…nice one XM !!!

Well I guess it was just a matter of time before this happened and it finally happened Friday on XM Radio. I think it’s safe to say that the gauntlet has truly been thrown down. On Friday’s O and A show they really ripped Howard apart. Here’s an mp3 of the pertinent convo. In all honesty I don’t think there is any way that we can know exactly what happened. This is pretty damaging stuff. This will all be very interesting to see how this all unfolds.

I don’t blame XM for not hiring Stern, however O and A said their deal was mutually exclusive of what Stern did which I totally believe. I have to admit though I tend to buy into what O and A are saying for the most part it all makes sense. In any event…this is just getting started….

Opie had some interesting today about XM going above and beyond Satellite Radio. Yes the technology is getting better, the video ipod and mobile video on demand is proof of that. I can understand the want and need to venture into new mediums. However, Is this a direction XM needs to pursue at the moment? My opinion on this is no. I believe the O and A show has huge potential, but XM isn’t the one to fullfill most of that. As far as Xm going into video and all this other stuff I think the jury is out there. I would be content if I could just record XM content and export an mp3 off my Airware or even more recording time on my Airware. The technology for XM will get better, but I really think XM has a great thing going and I say they should just take that and improve on existing technology, but stay within the realm of what they do….thats my 2 cents anyways.