# Satellite radio listeners: Ready to lose your favorite channel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400 "2008-11-06T03:08:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/21 "2008-11-06T22:17:01Z")
If Lithium goes away, there will be hell to pay, as in a phone call and e-mail every day until it returns. I much prefer the Sirius music channels (I have Sirius + best of XM right now…at work, my boss has XM). ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/22 "2008-11-06T22:20:36Z")
I’m pretty fed up with XM. It seems that they are having more and more commercials on more and more channels. I’ll probably cancel it soon enough as I’ve heard that they will offer you a $19.95/3 months option if you try to cancel. I’d pay that but for 12 bucks a month it’s lost it’s charm. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/23 "2008-11-06T22:20:49Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > If First Wave (Sirius 22–80’s alternative), Lithium (Sirius 24–90’s alt), Left of Center (Sirius 26–er, 00’s alternative), and CBC 3 (Sirius 86–yes! Canadian alternative) go, goodbye satellite radio for me. ☹ Left of Center is what fell me in love with Sirius 6 years ago when I heard it in a car I rented. Got Sirius in my own car/house within the year and have been listening ever since. If LOC ever goes away, I’ll feel like the end is near (or something). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/24 "2008-11-06T22:24:38Z")
> [@Frostillicus](#): > > I truly hope that XM channel 6 (1960s music) is shitcanned. They currently have a mix that is 80% stupid banter and 20% music. You should be ashamed of yourself for telling such a filthy lie. It’s 95% stupid banter. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/25 "2008-11-08T17:19:42Z")
[This thread](http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=96597) on a satellite radio message board has a list of stations that are staying. Mainly for XM listeners. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/26 "2008-11-08T17:45:41Z")
All of my stations are sticking around, and I get new ones that I like. Win-win for me. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/27 "2008-11-08T17:52:27Z")
_phew_ It looks like the one station my mother listens to will be staying. I won’t have to hear about the kvetching that would have caused if it had died. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/28 "2008-11-08T17:59:46Z")
> [@TommyTutone](#): > > Keep my Ron & Fez (and to a lesser extent, Opie & Anthony), and I’ll get by just fine. Dump them and I’ll switch to internet radio instead. I thought I was the only one who had my subscription only for Ron and Fez. I’ve been listening every day for three years, and I still have no idea how much of the show is true and how much is carny. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/29 "2008-11-11T18:12:08Z")
Bumping this thread as it’s T -11 hours until the realignment. There’s still nothing official from Sirius as to what’s going, what’s staying, what’s getting merged, what we Sirius subscribers are getting from XM. There have been a few hints dropped (“Sir” Richard Blade shouted out an early welcome to the “10 million XM subscribers who can listen to First Wave tomorrow”) but that’s really been about it. The thread **dalej42** linked to is a bit troubling. CBC 3 gone? BBC World Service gone? **Left of Center gone?** ☹ Not like Sirius is clarifying matters any, either. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/30 "2008-11-11T18:35:19Z")
I think folks should calm down a bit, I mean it’s not like they are getting rid of all the stations and will be broadcasting a low hum on every channel. I am sure, while the names and locations may change, there will still be a ton of music options, news/talk options, and sports. ---
**Author:** ![TheFifthYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@TheFifthYear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFifthYear)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/31 "2008-11-11T19:06:16Z")
I’m a subscriber for three things: XMU (Channel 43), the Big Ten channels, and the MLB channels. I see that XMU is merged into Sirius’ equivalent. I’ll remain cautiously optimistic that the quality won’t suffer. I read somewhere that Sirius’s music channels had more dj banter and smaller playlists. Let’s hope that doesn’t spread in the changeover (or maybe it’s not true). I’m hoping Tobi survives as DJ on XMU. Her show (the after school special) is worth the subscription by itself. She plays great music. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/32 "2008-11-11T19:42:59Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I think folks should calm down a bit, I mean it’s not like they are getting rid of all the stations and will be broadcasting a low hum on every channel. I am sure, while the names and locations may change, there will still be a ton of music options, news/talk options, and sports. Well, technically true. But the chance of, for example, a new Canadian indie channel to replace CBC 3 is vanishingly low. And the “BBC News Channel” just isn’t the same as “BBC World Service.” It’s like your local cable provider dumping (say, for us crime-show junkies) A&E and Discovery Times and defending the decision by saying, “Look, you still get CBS and they show _48 Hours_…once a week…when it’s not pre-empted by sports or news or anything like that. Your monthly bill, please.” I paid for Sirius Radio at the beginning of the year and it included Left of Center and BBC World Service. KVETCH! ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/33 "2008-11-11T20:11:11Z")
The only stations I listen to regularly on Sirius are Howard 100 (why I got in the first place) and Symphony Hall, Channel 80, which I like at work. Otherwise I flip around in the car listening for songs I like, which I will always be able to do. My son might have to do some adjusting because he’s used to the songs he likes being on Buzzsaw, Hair Nation and the AC/DC channel, but he’s 9, he’ll survive if they switch him up too much. I haven’t even checked what’s changing. There’s no chance of losing Howard and some SFW music so I don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/34 "2008-11-11T20:15:20Z")
> [@jkusters](#): > > I figure my favorite music station, U-Pop is also going to go away. When they did the big Coldplay 24/7 channel a month ago, they turned off U-Pop, then took their time turning it back on. And they always nuke it during the holiday season. ☹ UPOP has sucked donkey dick for forever anyway. Remember when they had actual music? And not some damned live-in-studio show - music from, you know, Europe? Like on the radio or something? ---
**Author:** ![jkusters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jkusters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkusters)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/35 "2008-11-11T20:21:55Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > UPOP has sucked donkey dick for forever anyway. Remember when they had actual music? And not some damned live-in-studio show - music from, you know, Europe? Like on the radio or something? Well, it was off the air for so long that we kind of stopped listening to it. This season I’ve been listening much more to political talk (being a political junkie), and when my partner is driving, it’s mostly Broadway. So, no I don’t think I’d noticed. Still, it used to play a lot of great tunes that would become pop hits here on USA radio a couple of months later (just in time for me to be sick of hearing them :D) ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/36 "2008-11-11T21:30:18Z")
If The Verge (XM52) is gone, so am I. And I just re-upped with them for another year a short time ago. I don’t know WTF Faction is supposed to be, or Underground Garage (what stupid station names these Sirius idiots have), but if it doesn’t cover The Verge’s territory. . .I will make them wish they had never been born. Or at least give me my hundred bucks back. ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/37 "2008-11-11T22:17:38Z")
I found the [channel lineup pdf](http://www.xmfan.com/files/NEW_CHANNEL_LINEUP_XM_LINEUP.pdf), and it looks like The Verge is moving from the Rock section to “Latin & World Music.” I don’t consider Canadian rock music to be “world music,” but whatever. I hope they don’t change the format too much. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/38 "2008-11-12T04:26:33Z")
> [@troub](#): > > I found the [channel lineup pdf](http://www.xmfan.com/files/NEW_CHANNEL_LINEUP_XM_LINEUP.pdf) Thanks! My losses aren’t as bad as I feared. Cinemagic remains; it moves to Channel 76. Beyond Jazz is gone, but Watercolors (Ch. 71) is now listed as Smooth/Contemporary jazz, indicating they will play some of the old Ch. 72 songs. Blue Collar Comedy joins XM, although Channel 150 goes from XM Comedy to the Sirius name, Raw Dog; I hope the Jim Breuer Show is moved elsewhere but I doubt it. Deep Tracks survives! Lucy, Fred, and Ethel are all gone. ☹ Fine Tuning is also gone. ☹☹ ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/39 "2008-11-12T13:26:13Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > All of my stations are sticking around, and I get new ones that I like. Win-win for me. Ditto, and I’ll add that I like the all-artist channels like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and Elvis (although I can’t stand Jimmy Buffett or Bruce Springsteen, that’s okay–I just tune past those). I wish they had even more: sometimes it’s nice to say “now I’d like to hear some Zeppelin for a while”, hit a button, and know that they’re playing something you like, and that you’ll like the next song, too. And then when you’re done, back to Lucy/Lithium or whatever they’re calling “Ethel” these days. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400/40 "2008-11-12T14:12:49Z")
So the change happened to me this morning in the car and I noticed two things: the channel upgrade happens faster than it used to and there’s old fart mom music smack dab in the middle of the Pop section (40’s on 4). Otherwise, there were changes, sure, but not important ones to me. My kid will shit when he sees there’s nothing called BuzzSaw anymore though. Pray for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/satellite-radio-listeners-ready-to-lose-your-favorite-channel/471400.md?page=3)