Sirius XM has updated its iOS app, but it doesn’t look to be all that great of an update. Normally I wouldn’t even notice this, seeing as though I primarily use Radium to listen to the one channel I listen to (The Virus for O&A and R&F), but this new update broke third-party access to the streams. Sigh. Anyhow, the app now stands at version 1.4, and the first thing you notice is that the icon has changed to reflect the new Sirius XM logo. → Read More
Microsoft has sold many Xbox 360 consoles, but apparently only 60 percent of them are used for gaming. The remaining 40 percent of consoles are used for other, just-as-fun things, like watching Netflix and tweeting <opie & Anthony's Bobo sweet nothings. Mhmm. So said a Microsoft exec at a digital entertainment conference. → Read More
Put down your pitchforks, fellow pests! Opie and Anthony have re-signed with Sirius XM. It’s a two-year deal, so you’ll be able to listen to Op, Ant, and Chip for many months hereafter. Can someone bring me back my money please? → Read More
So now that we’re very much approaching Opie & Anthony D-Day—Friday is the contract deadline, even though the contract actually expires on October 1—we need to ask ourselves: are we ready to drop Sirius XM if the boys don’t sign another contract? → Read More
Sirius XM appears to be at a bit of a crossroads. Howard Stern, arguably the company’s most recognizable on-air talent, has all but decided to negotiate his new contract in public, recently stating that “I do get a little charge out of thinking that in December we might be done. I get a little turned on by that.” Mere negotiating tactics, or a genuine feeling of wanting out? Who’s to say? I’m certainly no mind reader. Stern’s current contract has him making around $100m per year, and that’s something Sirius XM would like to change. → Read More
The Sirius XM application for BlackBerry is now available. It runs on the Storm/Storm 2, Curve (8500, 8900), Bold (9000, 9700), and Tour (9600). → Read More
Last year‘s Satellite Radio Awards were a smashing success, so let’s do it again! Only this time I’m throwing out the idea of handing out awards to the whole of satellite radio (and these awards are obviously just for fun), and instead will focus my energies on the channel that I spend 99 percent of my time tuned into: XM Channel 202 The Virus. If It weren’t for 202 I would have killed my subscription some time ago. → Read More
So Sirius XM is having itself a little bit of a sale today that might interest you. One of the deals will save you some $110. Granted, Sirius XM’s incompetent management can’t put together a simple Homeless Shopping Spree, but boy howdy can they put together a sale. → Read More
Just a quick heads up to anyone looking to try out Sirius XM. There’s a free seven-day trial you can sign up for that, among other things, Opie and Anthony trash Memorial Day weekend radio, and Ron and Fez debate which animal Fez could beat in a foot race. Oh, and knissors. → Read More
Those of you who just cannot wait till Apple approves the Sirius XM iPhone app may want to check out Pocket Tunes Radio, from Ted’s iPhone Application Emporium NormSoft. With its latest update, to version 5.2, this $9.99 iPhone (and iPod touch) application can tune into both Sirius and XM stations, provided you have a functional Sirius XM subscription. → Read More
There’s something wrong with CBS Radio’s press release announcing the launch, complete with silly “countdown,” of 92.3 Now FM in New York City, a contemporary hit radio station that will replace K-Rock on Wednesday, March 11, at 5:00pm. (Contemporary hit radio, in plain English, means garbage pop songs, distinguished by their use of auto-tune and use of lowest-common-denominator song-writing.) CBS Radio Senior Vice-President of Something or Other, Don Bouloukos, is quoted in the release as saying, “Our assets in the country’s No. 1 market include among them the best known brands in the business. From the most listened to news and sports stations in the country, to the classic sounds of WCBS FM and the adult contemporary styling of Fresh 102.7, CBS RADIO offers something for everyone in the market – including young adults who are using the radio to discover today’s most popular music as featured on 92.3 NOW FM.” [Emphasis added, obviously.] And that, friends, is why the radio business, as we know it, is truly doomed. No, Mr. Bouloukos, young people are not turning on their radio to discover new music; they’re certainly not sticking around to listen to new music on a commercial radio station. No, sir, that’s what the Internet is for, and thats why your business has no future. → Read More
This doesn’t look good. The Times is reporting that Sirius XM, home to Opie and Anthony, “has been working with advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing.” Of course, that’s different from OH MY GOD THEY’RE GOING BANKRUPT RIGHT NOW, but it’s not a good sign. → Read More
Sirius XM have finally showed off its first interoperable radio, the MiRGE. It’ll be available this spring for $250, and you’ll be able to subscribe to a new $20 per month plan that gets you “Sirius plus XM Everything” (cool how it’s marketing it as “Sirius plus THAT OTHER COMPANY”). Yes, both services, completely, for $20 per month. → Read More
Did Santa Claus give you a Sirius XM Radio yesterday? Boy are you in for a treat if he did, since “Secret Show to the Future” will be re-airing tomorrow night (Saturday, 12/27) at 9pm on XM channel 202 and Sirius channel 197. → Read More
As the only satellite radio fan here at CrunchGear, I feel it’s my duty to review the year that was and point out some of the events that made the medium such a joy. This isn’t a typical “Top 10 Movies” snoozefest, but rather an illustration of what makes satellite radio inherently superior to regular, terrestrial radio (provided you don’t mind a nominal monthly fee). Please note that this list isn’t to be ranked, but seen as a sum total “these were the best moments of the year, in my [worthless] opinion.” With that… 1. The Back to the Future Secret Show on XM. If any broadcast showed the power of satellite radio it was this one. Hosted by the Opie and Anthony staff (minus Opie), they narrated the classic movie Back to the Future live on the air, riffing on the abject corruption of Mayor Goldie Wilson, the awkwardness of having your high school-age mother hit on you in the past (even though you’re from the future and know she’s your mother) and just how big a creep the Doc is. I could have done without Sam’s last 100 examples of “foreshadowing,” however. → Read More
Following the merger, XM content has made its way to Sirius-branded radios. This photo shows XM’s Opie and Anthony playing on a Sirius radio, on channel 197, and Howard Stern on an XM radio. Yeah, it’s weird. → Read More
Possibly their worst photo ever, and one that’s several years old Mel Karmazin, the CEO of Sirius XM Radio, was just on the Opie and Anthony show</a to discuss a few post-merger items. For the most part, it looks as if Opie and Anthony are safe, and that Karmazin wants them to be a part of the new company (i.e., renew their contract). At the same time, Karmazin once again expressed his distaste for sharing satellite radio with terrestrial radio. Reading between the lines, it sounds as if Karmazin doesn't want the show to be on CBS Radio anymore. Hardcore fans, fans who can't stand the watered down CBS portion of the show, will like that news. Karmazin also said that he didn't know if Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez (another fine radio program heard on XM channel 202, noon to 3pm) alone constitute a channel. So one would think he has some changes in mind as far as that goes. That could mean moving them to a new channel, or bringing additional talent to 202 to flesh out the programming. Jim Brewer would feel right at home, right? That was pretty much the gist of it. It sounds as if Opie and Anthony are more than welcome on Sirius XM Radio, possibly, maybe having to give up on terrestrial radio in the process. CBS, you probably already know, has a wonderful, free application for the iPhone on the Apple App Store. Terrestrial radio will have to continue to innovate along those lines if it wants to compete in the current radio climate, where everyone has every song they’d ever want on their iPod or cellphone, or can tune into Internet radio using programs like Pandora. That, and now a combined satellite radio company less concerned with making the other guy look bad, and more concerned with convincing people to leave commercial-laden terrestrial radio once and for all. (Karmazin also expressed his dislike for satellite radio music channels with commercials, so expert moves in that direction, too.) Interesting times to be a radio fan, to be sure. Opie and Anthony (Possibly NSFW) → Read More
A follow-up to yesterday’s “What of O&A?” post, Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Karmazin is slated to appear on the show during the 9am hour today. Opie and Anthony fans know that Karmazin has always been a “Howard Stern guy,” so this should make for good radio. Karmazin is similarly scheduled to be on Howard Stern, if you’re so inclined to seek out that audio. And to the paranoid fans: if O&A were as vital to XM’s success as we’ve been led to believe, why wouldn’t Karmazin renew their contracts? Surely personal bad blood shouldn’t get in the way of maximizing shareholder value, right? via Orbitcast → Read More
Following the approval [PDF] of the XM-Sirius merger (read: buyout), we can now focus on some of the specifics of the deal, fallout, and all sorts of post-merger hysterics. The first order of business: what happens to Opie and Anthony, of which I’ve been a fan since their WNEW days? Their contract with XM expires on October 1, but, according to what they’ve said on the show, XM has yet to approach them about a renewal. That may well have been the fault of the merger, but now is when people will speculate for fun. Copy-paste, BCC, etc. Mel Karmazin, slated to be the combined company’s CEO, has long said that he doesn’t like the idea of sharing content between satellite radio and terrestrial radio. Opie and Anthony can currently be heard on terrestrial radio in New York, Boston, Cleveland and other cities. To uncertainty! via Orbitcast → Read More
We’ll all be dead before XM and Sirius merge, but the two companies would like the whole wide world (or whoever reads PR Newswire) to know how they think they’ll end up financially once they’re one company. (What an awfully constructed sentence.) The headline here is the combined company will have positive cash flow in 2009. They did re-state that, technically, Sirius will be taking over the assets of XM. So, pretty boring financials that might please Wall Street, but we couldn’t really give a toss about. I’d like to know what sort of “clerical error” led to XM not paying Opie & Anthony for the past two months. → Read More
