Just drove to work to nothing but Springsteen. I’m liking the changes. 
All my channels are intact, but I’ll be listening to see if any of the programming sounds any different. I have a button on my radio that’s up for grabs, so I’ve printed out the station list to see if anything catches my eye - I might have to give the 90s on 9 a listen to see what that’s like. And what is up with “Escape” which is tagged as Beautiful Music. What does that even mean?
Longtime Sirius subscriber here, and I’m only a little annoyed.
Sirius merged Rumbón (“tropical” music – salsa, merengue, bachata, etc) and Universo Latino (Latino pop) into Caliente, which will play both genres. But now the same category has FIVE Canadian music channels, which doesn’t excite me in the slightest. I was okay with the last Spanish-language channel that disappeared (Mexican music) because I didn’t like it, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with 5 times as many Canadian channels as Latino.
I’m excited about Cinemagic. I’ve long felt that Sirius should have had a movie soundtrack channel to go along with Broadway’s Best, and now we will. I also think it’s interesting that there is now a dedicated 90s channel along with the Pulse. Sirius had the decade channels for 50s - 80s and then the Pulse which was 90s and modern adult. Now there’s both 90s and the Pulse, which seems unnecessary.
I’m interested in this Hanukkah channel that will be coming along in December. I’ve never heard Hanukkah music before.
I very obviously jinxed Left of Center with the above post I made last week. My channels all updated today to the new Sirius XM content, and Left of Center is no more. I can’t believe it. It’s all my fault. 
Heh. Heh heh. Heeheehee. Duke, that’s what sucks you in in the first place! 
Dalej42, I want you to know that in all seriousness I’m really sorry this merge puts the channels in an inconvenient light for you. Will you take some comfort in the fact though that because of your thread, I realized what had happened when my presets came up with an AC/DC channel, hit All Channels and ‘bout creamed my shorts to see a 24 hour Zep fest now available. Sweet sufferin’ succotach, I select and We’re Gonna Groove is beltin’ out in all its glory. Yes, yes we are. We’re gonna groove for quite some time.
This. Is. Awesome.
I know that the Canadian channels are required by law. Both XM and Sirius both thought they’d get plenty of Canadian subscribers and were willing to play by the government’s silly rules.
The Jimmy Buffet station isn’t all Jimmy Buffet. It is more of a tropical theme type station.
I miss Boombox. The newsletter said that I should check out Alt Nation instead… uh, no. Boombox was breakbeat electronica; Alt Nation is rock and emo.
Indeed. The Pulse was 90s and 2000s; now there’s a 90s channel and a 2000s channel, but The Pulse is still around. That’s a slot they could’ve used to save my precious Boombox!
It’s still there. Channel 26 is now called SIRIUS XM U, but it doesn’t sound any different from yesterday. Kind of a shame… I like LoC, but the original XMU was a nice change when I had the occasion to listen to XM.
That’s interesting. American DBS satellite services cannot be subscribed to in Canada, and Canadian services cannot be subscribed to in the USA.
From what I understand, the lack of Hispanic channels is due to financial issues among first generation immigrants and migrant workers regardless of documentation (they’re not really going to spend $13 a month for satellite radio, many don’t have checking accounts to pay the Sirius/XM bill, and so on), and the plethora of other media outlets catering to the niche tastes of Hispanics (the, like, 800 ranchero/norteno/oompah-oompah-ay-dios-mio AM radio stations in every town in the US that has more than five Spanish-as-a-first-language speakers).
FWIW, I like the new channel lineup on the Sirius side. Have to get use to the loss of Sirius Disorder (Loft as a sub, supposedly) and Left of Center (is Surius XM U much different?).
Sirius and XM offered their services through different companies.
It’s constant Grandma classics. “Tea for Two”, that sort of thing. The sort of thing you like to hear every now and again, but are really weirded out that somebody would program a whole station of it.
Ha! We call that “Number 12 Combination Platter music”. I often wonder what sullen Mexican teenagers listen to, because I’m sure I’ve never heard it while ordering a margarita grande. Probably Good Charlotte.
I was concerned, but all the stations I liked in Sirius are either intact or largely the same with a name change (Left of Center now being the clunkily-titled “Sirius XM U”). Well, Backspin (Old-skool rap) is gone, but recently they’d become the “late-90s gangsta rap station,” so no loss there.
When baseball season rolls around in the spring I’ll see what packages Sirius XM is going to offer for live games. Too bad I can’t pick up a signal here in the office, though.
Hoo boy. Well, I’ll have to give Grandma Music a listen to see what it’s like then.
I too thought it was a strange thing to recommend Alt Nation in place of Boombox. My husband has Boombox as one of his presets, and I HATE IT. But I like Alt Nation.
Well, I’m upset that I lost the Rhyme. Great classic hip-hop station. They told me to try Hip-Hop Nation. I flipped over, first song by Kanye West. No thanks, not the same.
I was a big Lucy and Fred fan, Lithium and First Wave don’t seem too bad. I miss the Fred Essentials.
I do like getting BBC 1. Seems like it’s sync’d to match Eastern Time, since I’m getting the morning show in the morning here.
I’m still listening, and trying to be optimistic. I was one of the first 4000 subscribers to XM (even have a sticker and stuff), so losing some of the channels hurts. Of course, we already lost Special X, which was the best station back in the day.
I’m mad I’ve lost The System. Sure, it’s still on XMRO, but it was nice to be able to listen to it in the car. Well, now I can get each week’s Trance Around the World with Above and Beyond via podcast, also Subterranean (I think), but not sure about the rest. And I’m going to be quite unhappy if they’ve canned XM Saturday Night on Lucy–that was a great 2 hours of music with a hilarious DJ and some stuff I’d never heard before.
I tuned to Grandma Music on the way back from lunch and heard the Romantic Strings play “Scarborough Fair”, and then an instrumental version of “If You Could Read My Mind”, because the Gordon Lightfoot version might be too agitating for Shady Acres.
I’m very sorry to see that XMU has essentially been replaced by Sirius’s Left of Center. I went searching for information on LoC, and everything I read confirmed what I had heard before–smaller playlists, more repeats, less exposure to the indie/unsigned stuff that made XMU great.
I’m not going to knee-jerk cancel my subscription, but this definitely makes me more like to question the value the next time my bill comes.
I listened mostly to Lucy, Fred, and Ethel, and it remains to be seen if the Sirius versions are any good. Last I checked, our car hadn’t done the switch yet, but I think I checked yesterday morning and not again since.