Not too long ago, I wrote out some limited engagement ideas which I felt would work well for getting subscribers. I was recently thinking about some other ideas that would just be cool for a weekend or two days. Some special modified programming just for certain channels.

Something honouring the great jazz bass players on Sirius 72 Real Jazz. Bassists like Charles Mingus made significant contributions on the music world, not just jazz by itself. Why not do a weekend of programming around some great jazz bassists and their compositions?

An entire weekend worth of bands doing other artists songs. This would be cool for Sirius 15 Classic Rewind or Sirius 19 The Boneyard. Sirius 27 Liquid Metal woiuld do well with something like this since many Metal bands have covered other bands songs. I would love to spend an entire weekend critiquing different versions of different songs. Might be kind of cool!

All live rock performances. There are so many great live albums in rock, that a weekend on Sirius 14 Classic Vinyl devoted just to these great performances would just make sense. Sometimes Deep Tracks Sirius 16 will play some great extended live versions of songs, so lets just have a channel takeover and call it something creative!

All Black Sabbath or Rush Radio. Surely The Boneyard Sirius 19 could spend a weekend or two playing music from my two favourite bands! Why the hell not! I am sure this would piss off a few people. Just like listeners were mad at having a month of Metallica straight. As good as they are, a month without other metal programming was weird.

You have any ideas? Post them in comments.

This post will conclude my celebration of Metal Legend Ronnie James Dio. He is regularly heard on Sirius 27 Liquid Metal and Sirius 19 The Boneyard.

Ronnie’s words that he wrote with Black Sabbath were a tremendous inspiration to me. When you listen to all the Sabbath albums and even the Dio records, he inspires with  his tales of the fine line of good and bad. Many of the songs offer tremendous inspiration and light at the end of occasional dark tunnels in life. Songs about pursuing your dreams and life in general. Ronnie had a way with his words.

In addition to all of the Black Sabbath records, I must mention Rainbow’s Rising. It is in itself a Hard Rock / early Metal masterpiece where Ronnie’s voice really first came to prominence in the global music community. Also let us not forget the last record he did with members from Sabbath, The Heaven and Hell album “The Devil You Know”.

Ronnie was also a positive support for so many younger acts and acts that were out during his earlier days. Search the web and you will find absolutely no negative stories about how he was with other bands. The pictures various Metal and Rock artists have posted of themselves with Ronnie are moving in their own way. Ronnie clearly loved being a leader in the Metal community.

Ronnie and Heaven and Hell were planning to again tour and record very soon. I made a point to plan to get to Minnesota if they came through there again.

I am sad for the passing of Ronnie James Dio, but have spent the last little while celebrating his life and music. I am truly grateful for his influence. It has been a good celebration.  RIP RJD.

On the day I write and post this, February 13, 2010, metal fans across the world are celebrating the 40th birthday of “Black Sabbath”. This record by a group of 4 guys from Birmingham England would revolutionize the world of Heavy Metal and dare I say it, modern music. Those of us who are Sabbath devotees are celebrating this occasion all month long. For me, this particular record is my favourite record of all time and still a blast to listen to from start to finish.

It is safe to say that SiriusXM Liquid Metal would not exist without the music of the almighty Sabbath. Sabbath influenced every metal band that would come after them. Sabbath defined Heavy Metal with dark imagery and dark themed lyrics while maintaining solid musicianship.

The tracks from this and other Sabbath records will also be heard regularly on Sirius 19, The Boneyard. 

Sabbath’s history in metal is permanently secured thanks to the wide influence on metal musicians that followed. A rock and roll hall of fame induction further cemented this place.

I am eternally grateful for the influence Sabbath has had on my life personally and as a musician. I am pleased to spin this record a few times over the weekend!

Growing up, my main passion for music was heavy metal. I am into my thirties now and metal still is my main musical passion. I spent hours mulling over dubbed tapes that were traded in the underground during my youth in Nova Scotia. The only way any of us had access to much of the darker side of metal back then was through finding material in Halifax records stores or through friends of friends who might live in Toronto and send down some tapes once in a while.

Sirus 27 Liquid Metal for me is a dream long come true and another great feature of the Sirius dial. I used to get angry and thump my chest in the name of free speech shouting several reasons that more metal should be heard on terrestrial radio. At the time, you would hear the best (and worst) glam metal of the 80’s and late 70’s on some stations but thats about it.

Sirius 27 also acts as a wonderful service by way of constant updating of newer talent that is producing some amazing music. During each programming day they throw in a very health dose of Classic Metal which is always a great trip down memory lane! Many times when they are about to spin a classic track I might flip out once I see the caption as to who it is. I end up in a constant state of “I remember that!”, and “Holy shit it’s been a while since I heard that!”

Jose Mangin, Scotty and all the other great on air talent at Liquid Metal keep the metal coming fast and furious. I am very happy that my favourite musical genre has a home on SiriusXM now and forever thanks to its’ popularity.

Merry Christmas all! By the time you all read this the food prep will be just about done at my place as we prepare for a great Christmas Eve Dinner. I will be celebrating a few days off from the day job while drinking a few cold ones, and probably hitting the ice for some hockey. I am planning to set up my father-in-laws garage for a great two days of watching two global hockey tournaments (GO CANADA!) and in between we will have Sirius cranked on some of our favourite stations.

I am sure some of you will have your radios on in your kitchen and dining rooms with al the great holiday programming still going on. NFL fans will catch up on their latest news through all the sports programming and those of us into hockey looking for a different perspective will turn to Hockey Night in Canada radio and Hardcore Sports. 

At some point during holidays I will make my way out to my wife’s parents camp. They have a great outdoor speaker setup and I love to crank The Boneyard and Liquid Metal at full blast so it rings through the forest!

This is one of my favourite times of year, and I am happy to have my trusty receiver at my side again. Good times, good food, and good radio!

I want to wish every reader a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year. As SiriusXM enters what will be an interesting year of contract negotiations for on air talent and continue to grow their revenue base, it will be an interesting year and I firmly believe this medium will grow in popularity even more.

On that note, I will remind subscribers that if you refer a friend to Sirius Canada through their website and they purchase a subscription and unit through the site, you are eligible to receive a 25 dollar gift certificate from Esso! Part of a tank of gas ain’t that bad! It will get you somewhere!

Cheers….

If your receiver has pre-set options, you probably have all or some set to certain stations for easy access. Perhaps there is a reason why you have the station at that particular spot or you are ranking your favourite stations in a particular order! I will enclose my list pre-set from my sportster. 

1. Liquid Metal – My life has become better because of my love of Heavy Metal Music. It is my favourite genre of music and I am proud to be a part of the Metal culture.

2. Hair Nation – My initial exposure to Heavy Metal was first through Glam Metal. Hair Nation plays the best and the worst music from that era. I am pleasantly surprised some days at what I hear.

3. The Boneyard – Classic Heavy Metal and Hard Rock at its absolute finest here. Often during the day when I flip to this station I will hear a lost classic from a band like Judas Priest or Rainbow.

4. Classic Vinyl – Take Terrestrial Radio Classic Rock and give it steroids, you get Classic Vinyl. Broadcast from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this great station has variety and great commentary on some of the greatest music ever made.

5. Classic Rewind – The second generation of Classic Rock. Classic Rewind often plays great tracks from the more recent eras. Music that has been considered Classic Rock for a short period of time is spun here although occasionally Classic Vinyl material will make its way here.

The jump button on my receiver is set to Howard 100. If I am in the middle of a listen that goes sour I might jump to Howard 100 to hear part of the replay of the day. My day starts Monday-Thursday with the Howard Stern show, and goes from there. At the end of the evening, I make sure the channel is set back to 100.

6. Prime Country – I will flip to Prime Country in the hope of once in a while hearing a decent track from the end of the decent Country Music era in the 90’s. This is going to change soon as I am finding the programming becoming more poppy and catering to some acts that are too annoying for my taste.

7. Outlaw Country – I love the OC. The benefit to the death of decent country is the rebirth of Outlaw Country and the defined category of Americana Music. Many of the Outlaws who might occasionally appear on The Roadhouse or Willie’s Place have more of a home in the OC. Wonderful Music.

8. 80’s on 8 – I love some of the great popular music that was born in the 1980s. We have seen great developments in technology for music and we also saw growth in great genres.

9. Raw Dog – We all need to laugh and Raw Dog often plays great material from some of my favourite comics, every single day.

10. Deep Tracks – The forgotten b-sides and tracks from great acts are spun here.  Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour also offers a smile or two of insightful thinking.

What are your pre-sets and why? Are they your favourite stations? Post your comments.

Everyone has that one difficult person close to them that they are stuck on for a Christmas gift ideas. Maybe they have everything they need and truly need nothing else. But perhaps they love a specific kind of music. Maybe they might enjoy the work of a particular personality who happens to have a home on Sirius like Martha Stewart or Howard Stern.

Sirius Radio makes the absolute perfect holiday gift for anyone. Many people who hear about Sirius will blow off the possibility of joining this great revolution with many excuses. “They won’t have any music I like”, is the most common one I hear. Yet I can easily turn that around by throwing a curve ball. Usually goes like this, “but you can hear different varieties of classical that terrestrial radio not often plays!” People are always surprised when they read a channel list that details the great entertainment available.

My Dad for instance, is very specific about the type of music he enjoys. He loves much of what Sirius has to offer but it seems like it is not enough. The Roadhouse and the music through the 40′2 and 70’s stations will make him smile, but what kind of channel would convince him of the value of Sirius?

My answer is going to be Bluegrass Junction, Sirius 65. He will not believe that the world can have an entire station devoted to this great brand of music.

Besides Howard Stern, I was sold on the idea of a Heavy Metal station and a Classic Metal and Hard Rock Station, these being Liquid Metal and The Boneyard respectively.

Even if talk radio or sports radio does not do it for people, most in the world like one kind of music. Sirius is a gift that your family member or friend will be eternally grateful for. The subscription worth every penny and pays for itself in no time flat!

Just in time for their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Sirius has reintroduced the Mandatory Metallica channel after its intial appearance during last summer.

The massively popular group will host  24/7 channel content, discussing their storied career and body of work alongside cuts from their discography and recordings of rare, live performances. Metallica will also conduct interviews with bands inspired by their music, including Mastodon, Dragonforce and many more.

Mandatory Metallica will run for approximately one month as a limited series on Liquid Metal (Sirius channel 27/XM channel 42) beginning this Saturday (March 14th) at 6pm EST.

[Via Orbitcast]