Coping with the XM/Sirius Merger (file under “Problems of the Middle Class”)

Coping with the XM/Sirius Merger (file under “Problems of the Middle Class”)

All the time I’d had XM since sometime in 2004, I had such a strong sense that these people knew what they were doing. This was based largely on the programming at XM channels such as Deep Tracks and Fine Tuning. The former was programmed and DJ’d by familiar figures from the 70s – early 80s heydays of my favorite stations, WMMR in Philadelphia and WNEW-FM in New York. Dan Neer and Earle Bailey were old friends, and George Taylor Morris a respected figure from their sister station in Cleveland, WMMS.

The real merit was in the songs they’d pull out of the vaults, stuff that my friends and I would swear were remembered only by us. Robin Trower’s “Too Rolling Stoned”, Captain Beyond (entire sides of their first LP), songs from the Allman Brothers other than “One Way Out” and “Ramblin’ Man”. Remarkable. Rory Gallagher, Sparks, “I’m One” from Quadrophenia, “Sally Simpson” from Tommy. Amazing. These guys knew more about rock & roll music than we did! Pre-1978 Kinks, CCR’s mini-epic “Ramble Tamble”, I could go on and on. As I write, they’re playing “Amoreena” from Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection; I rest my case.

It was through XM’s new age channel AudioVisions that I discovered current faves Iasos and Kamal.

XM’s Fine Tuning played plenty of Yes in among a bizarre but fascinating mélange of Celtic music, blues, classical and God only knows what else.

There were only two classical music channels, but I could live with that. (The third, devoted primarily to opera, I happily ignored.)

Well, if you pay attention to this kind of thing, the XM/Sirius merger has prompted a lot of grumbling about the combining of similar channels, often with Sirius’s branding and thematic emphasis winning out. Again, this kind of “concern” is the type of luxury reserved for people with jobs who are current on their mortgages and can afford their prescriptions, in addition to going to the movies once in a while.

I actually spent/spend more time listening to XM at work, via XM Online, than I did listening to actual XM satellite radio in the car. So yesterday 11/12/08, my knickers were really in a twist over yet another merger-related foul-up in the online service. Of the two newly renumbered and slightly-rebranded classical channels one was delivering AudioVisions-type music and the other the same type of repertoire as XM’s now-departed “Escape” lounge-music channel.

Additionally, my pleasure at having access to Sirius’s Grateful Dead channel was ruined by the left channel of the feed being badly distorted.

On the other hand, I was, and remained thrilled at the all-Springsteen channel. Where are they getting the unreleased concert material? Well, it’s obvious that it’s authorized and legal and paid for, but that must be one hell of a cleverly devised licensing arrangement with Sony Records and Springsteen’s own business organization.

Today, it’s finally straightened out. One clicks on “Sirius XM Pops” or “Symphony Hall” and one gets the actual desired classical music. Y’ see, I need my beautiful, wordless classical music to help me constructively isolate, and to concentrate when I’m contemplating the complexities of my technical writing work.
Or when writing non-essential stuff like this. How much trivial self-expression is really necessary? Well, I guess this is a little more reasonable than the over-self-glorification of a MySpace page.

Especially maintaining it from work….