The Day The Music Died
It seems like so long ago, but in reality it has only been a year since the music died. One year ago yesterday is when many satellite radio fans consider it the day that XM Satellite Radio died.
It was on this day when Sirius and XM merged most of its music programming. The deep playlists that XM customers loved were gone as were a handfull of popular stations. XM customers were in shock with the lost of most of the programming and personalities they loved.
The changes were met with a wave of backlast from customers, buy January 15th a number of the popular channels that were dropped were returned to the service.
The cuts were made to bring down operational costs, Sirius and XM were duplicating a lot of their programming, for example both Sirius and XM had their own separate decades channels, these channels were merged together, which for most XM customers was not a good thing. For example before the merger XM’s 80’s on 8 had a playlist of over 3,000 songs, after the merger that playlist was cut down to just a little but more then 300 songs.
Over time Sirius XM has worked to improve the playlists but still today the programming is not like it was back on January 14th.
On the anniversary of what many XM fans call “D Day”, the milestone was marked with with some strange news and that news was the announcement that Sirius XM Director and Chairman of the board Gary Parsons resigned.
In another “D-Day” aniversary surprise it was announced that former DirecTV CEO Eddy Hartenstein was replacing Gary Parsons as Director and Chairman of the Board for Sirius XM. Mr. Hartenstein is also currently the Publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times.
The timing of Mr. Parsons and the immediate appointment of Mr. Hartenstein has me wondering how long this move was in the works.
While Satellite Radio is still worlds better then FM radio, I still miss the satellite radio of old.
New DirecTV CEO Coming?
It appears that DirecTV will be announcing the name of their new CEO shortly. Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei announed at a conference in New York to expect an announcement to be made in the next few weeks announcing the new CEO.
I hope its someone with money smarts like Chase Carey, but also who is technical savvy to understand what DirecTV needs to move into the future.
DirecTV Update
For those of you wondering, earlier in the week my refund from DirecTV was finally processed an applied to my credit card. That’s a long time to return to someones money that was taken due to a “boo boo.”
XMFan commented:
Hey Big C, actually its true, head on over to XMFAN.COM and you can do a search and see for yourself.
XM's 80's on 8 had a playlist of over 3,000 songs pre merger, and now has a playlist depth of around 350 songs.
It is sad what happened to XM.
Snausages commented:
The fact that ALL of my favorite DJ's and stations are gone was enough for me to give it up Slacker is better than Pandora but Shoutcast on the iPhone is a great alternative as well.
Rip 66Raw and TheCity
big c commented:
Stick to what he said... 3000 to 300... it's just plain untrue... Not to mention, there are at least three "alternative" rock channels... and at least one additional 80's station (hair nation)... "The Day the Music Died" is a pretty damn over dramatic title
M Richards commented:
The playlists have most definitely shrunk. I'm a longtime XM subsciber and I have it on all day at work. Even stations like The Spectrum (replacing XM Cafe) which is supposed to play a wide range of music repeats many of the same songs several times a day. And Alt Nation (replacing Ethel) is supposed to be alternative ROCK and half the stuff is Pop/Dance junk. Unfortunately I can't stream at work or I'd drop it.
JonE commented:
Better than FM, yes. But better than Slacker or Pandora. Not by a long shot.
big c commented:
I haven't noticed a huge difference in playlists. 3000 to 300? Really...?! It's BS and you know it, Scott.
vurbano commented:
I waited that long or longer to get overpayment returned to me. Its absurd.
DodgerKing commented:
When XM had Top Tracks and Big Tracks as their two main classic rock stations with thousands of songs on their play list, nothing else compared. After the merger they took on Sirius's lame Classic Vinyl and Classic Rewind. Now the same few hundred songs are played over and over each day. Even Boneyard's music library decreased drastically.
Don't get me started on how much lamer MLB Homeplate has become since the merger.
806051 commented:
The lack of song variety is shameful. When are they going to get their act together? It's still better than FM, but puhleeze.
Shield95 commented:
I am glade you were able to get
your refund from DirecTV.
