Just got an interesting phone call from Sirius - maybe others here have received a call as well. It came in response to my emailing Mel Karmazin (mkarmazin@siriusradio.com). The customer rep who called thanked me for the feedback about Boombox and confirmed the incredible amount of emails, phone calls and letters they have received from customers expressing their outrage over the new channel lineup. She told me that they are currently working to figure out how to get some of the demanded programming back on the air. However, she would not commit to the complete restoration of Boombox as a channel. She said the internal talk is that they were working to “restore some of the programming.” I asked her to explain that, and she was somewhat vague. She said that the details had not been ironed out, and that they are still considering all possibilities. She also said to expect emails to go out and announcements to be made to all customers. I told her that I had been monitoring the outrage on various forums and blogs, and that I personally did not think Boombox customers would be thrilled with anything less than a complete return of the Boombox channel. I reminded her that many have already canceled their subscriptions, and that all of us are looking at alternatives with internet radio, ipods and even HD radio.
Here's the last important note: I asked how they were going to restore the programming and she said that they still have a few channels available that have not been used. So they will add new channels to the lineup, not replace current ones. That being said, we need to make a serious push to Sirius to let them know that we not only want our music, but we want a channel dedicated to it 100% just as it was. Otherwise, we may end up with some sort of hybrid that tries to cover multiple genres of music. So to all of you - don't give up! This may be the most important part of our battle. Keep emailing, calling and sending letters. We have definitely been heard, so we need to keep screaming.