This is important...

[SiriusBuzz]

Does this site have any clout?

I would think that we should judging by our numbers but, do we... I would say no. I don't think its personal, I just don't think the PR/Marketing team has a clue.

[DScum]

I am not going to argue with you man, you are free to believe what you want. The reality is that site alone does not have the clout nor the traffic to garner Sirius XM cowering its tail and "meeting their demands."

Apparently enough to have SiriusXM call him directly regarding it.

Where is the return of Beyond Jazz and all the hosts that were fired from POTUS. Where is the return of Scott Walterman? What about the return of deeper playlists on the decades channels?

Does this site have any clout?

Contact SiriusXM about it directly. They seem to be in the mood to actually listen to complaints and accept feedback. Or just e-mail Mark at SiriuslyScrewed or Ryan at Orbitcast they have the programmers contact information.

[SiriusBuzz]

Apparently enough to have SiriusXM call him directly regarding it.

They "called" orbitcast and siriusbuzz as well. This was a big PR spin.

[Newman]

I do not think that any one individual site has that kind of clout.

This is simply a matter of a company listening to their subscribers. If enough people send in emails, and call, then changes can be made. That is what we have been telling people all along is voice your complaints. If there are enough people, then they will be heard.

Keep up the fight and keep sending emails. Obviously,they are listening. If there are enough voices, changes can be (and obviously are being) made.

[Demian]

http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/musing.asp?xid=310

An Open Letter to XM-Sirius Satellite Radio
Country Musings by Robert Loy, January 2009

Dear XM,
It's hard to know when to let go, especially in a relationship that has been as close as ours. I was one of your biggest fans, constantly singing your praises to anyone who would listen. Very few days went by that I didn't have XM with me in my car and when I did I missed you so much I couldn't stand to go back to FM and just left the radio off, preferring to commune with my thoughts -- many of those thoughts about how much I loved XM.

And now, I'm ready to cancel my subscription.

I was against this merger with Sirius from the very beginning for several reasons, mostly having to do with not trusting big business mergers, which inevitably lead to fewer choices and higher prices.

But also because Sirius didn't have anything that I wanted. You tried to get me excited about the merger by telling me what all I could get from Sirius - Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, NASCAR and the NFL. Wow! I hate Howard Stern, couldn't care less about Martha Stewart and have no interest in any sport other than baseball - which I already had with XM, and was one of - okay, the - reason I chose XM in the first place.

And you merged anyway, didn't you? I found out when I turned on my XM to one of my two favorite channels - XMX, channel 2 which I could count on to play "Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour" all day on Wednesday, and "Bill Anderson Visits With the Legends" all day Tuesday as well as Marty Stuart's "American Odyssey" on Fridays - and it was gone. Just gone, nothing in its place, nothing on Channel 2.

I went to my other favorite channel - America, the alt-country channel, channel 12, and it's gone too. But there's something in its place. Something called "Outlaw Country." My hopes are not high right off the bat for this channel. I haven't heard the term "outlaw country" since the 70's - but I guess it's apt, because this channel doesn't play cutting edge-country like America did; it plays stuff that was cutting edge in 1977 - a lot of Waylon and Johnny Cash and other stuff you can already find on the classic country stations. Seriously, most of these outlaws are long dead, hasn't the statute of limitations run out? I felt like I was in a time warp, and I had no way now to find new alt.-country artists. But I wanted to be fair, so I gave Outlaw Country a chance - and in addition to a lot of dead guys you also played Neil Young and Tom Petty (neither of which are country or cutting-edge. Did they get a parking ticket sometime? is that why you consider them outlaws?) And then I heard Black Betty from Ramjam.

Ramjam? No, I get why you're called outlaw country - it ought to be against the law for a country station to play Ramjam.

And of course there's no baseball in the winter. So you tell me, why shouldn't I cancel my subscription?
Sincerely,
Robert Loy

P.S. I decided to give you one last chance in view of our past relationship. Here's some of what you played on my ride home today. The Flying Burrito Brothers, David Allan Coe, Pam Tillis and Johnny Horton.

Come on! If nepotism is not a crime than Pam Tillis has never been an outlaw. Johnny Horton died in 1960, and I'm sure would be amazed to learn that he's an outlaw. Oh, and I also heard Jingle Bells done in all fart noises and a song from the idiot disc jockey (don't even get me started on the idiotic and intrusive DJ's) some foul-mouthed libertarian knucklehead named Mojo Nixon who did a Christmas song to the tune of Louie, Louie. It was excruciating. Unbearable.

On the old XM 12 what most of the artists had in common was that they were stretching the definition of what country music could be. Now what the artists on channel 12 have in common is that they're all dead - or in the case of that egomaniacal name-dropped David Allan Coe it's just his career that's dead. Look, I love classic country but we've already got an oldies station for when I want to hear Johnny Horton. Can't we have one that plays new country - I mean progressive country - Reckless Kelley, Chris Knight, Jim Lauderdale - the stuff XM played before this damned merger?

[upuaut]

Unfortunately, this is all about money as all business are and need to be to survive in this market today. You try to please the customers as much as possible, but the primary people you have to please in the business world to day are the investors and the board. This is just reality it doesn't matter if it sucks or not. Even if they loose a million customers because of this if they cut the budget by 100 million a year they have pleased their primary customers. Now I am sure there intention isn't just to be greedy and not care about their subscribers, it is to make cuts with the best information they have at the time. Unfortunately, that isn't going to please everyone and may be incorrect. It will take some time to re-adjust, best thing you can do is share you opinion politely and without malice, state your opinion and why and you feel this way. Then hope for the best and if it doesn't change after a reasonable time the cancel, it is really as simple as that.

[Noob]

^ only businesses that are on their way out have an attitude like that....it's as simple as that

[Demian]

I came across this post on the internet that touches on what I have been trying to express in several threads and posts on this forum about the sickening loss of XM's programming diversity...

A Trip to the Sirius-XM Supermarket

So new owners took over the local supermarket where I'd been a pretty happy customer for the last few years. It's a unique supermarket in that you have to pay to shop there, but it was worth it because there were so many things there the regular supermarket didn't have. The funny thing is, you could actually get things there that old supermarkets had years ago, like Freakies and Quake cereals. It was always a lot of fun to go there.

But now, since the new owners have taken over, something's different. I walk in and head to the produce and I find only Red Delicious Apples. My favorites, Cortland Apples, aren't carried anymore. I asked the manager in this department what happened, and was told that for every person who asked for Cortland, or McIntosh, or Red Rome, or Pink Lady apples, someone asked for Red Delicious. They can't please everyone, and they can't risk offending people who like Red Delicious by presenting these unusual types of apples.

So, since I don't really like Red Delicious apples, I don't buy anything in the produce department.

Next comes the cereal aisle. You can have Wheaties or Corn Flakes. Oh,wait, there's a big selection of Raisin Bran, too. What about Rice Krispies? Again, I'm told the same thing. Not everyone wants exotic cereals like Rice Krispies.

So.. since I couldn't get Rice Krispies, I don't buy anything in the cereal department. I mutter something to myself and am overheard by another shopper, who says, "I don't know what you're complaining about. When I come into a supermarket, I want exactly what I want to buy, and I don't want to have to sort through five different brands of cereals to get my Corn Flakes."

Stunned by that line of reasoning, I continue to make my way to the next aisle. I'm amazed by what I see: something I haven't seen since 1985. Could it actually be? Big 2-liter bottles of Coca-Cola, but with a funny silver imprint added to the label. It's bottle after bottle of it. I ask the guy stocking the shelf, "Excuse me," I said. "Is this aisle full of nothing but New Coke?

"Yes," he replied with pride. "Don't you know that in blind taste tests conducted in 1983 and 1984, more people chose the taste of New Coke over old Coke and Pepsi both! It's all about the testing. This New Coke tests off the charts. People love it!"

"But they don't," I said. "There was such an outrage over the introduction of New Coke that they had to bring back Coca Cola Classic. New Coke was one of the most high profile failures in US business history."

"It tests well!" he snapped back. "You just don't get it! People love this stuff."

So, I decide I'm not going to win this argument and make my way down the next aisle. They did have something I wanted. They had some Dolly Madison Zingers---with Charlie Brown on the wrapper! A favorite from childhood! So I reached down to get them and saw that through the cellophane, the three Zingers inside had actually been squished together. "Why are these all like this?" I asked. "To make them flow better."

Then as I make my way to the checkout line, I tell myself I need to get something. After all, I paid to shop here. So at the checkout line I pick up some gum. I could choose between Wrigley's Spearmint or Bubble Yum. No Orbit allowed, because for everyone who asked for Orbit, someone wanted to know why it was there. So I'm stuck with some Spearmint and as I pay for it, I read the fine print on my receipt that while it won't cost me more to come to the store once per month, if I shop on the store's website, it will now cost me even more money. And, if I use more than one bag when I'm leaving, there will be an additional charge.

As I leave the store, I wonder what happened to my favorite old supermarket and wonder how long this one will stay in business.

Poster: hourman

[imromo24]

Hip Hop Nation was terrible the day/week after the merged channels. Now it rules. Maybe that guy should have gone to the manager.

A friend of mine went to the manager at Sam's Club and asked they bring back Green tea. The manager said, oh, i didn't realize we got rid of it, and brought it back.


In support of your argument, I really, really hope they counter the increase on March 11th with some added feature, option, channels...something.

[Noob]

Hip Hop Nation was terrible the day/week after the merged channels. Now it rules.

IIRC, it's more than one channel that was effected.