With regulatory approval, the Sirius Canada Merger with XM Canada will likely take effect later this 2011 year. Both companies will follow suit with SiriusXM out of New York and become one company.

It is the hope of many Sirius radio and XM radio subscribers in Canada that they will now be able to access the best of packages for each respective entity.

Sirius subscribers will hopefully be able to obtain the Oprah channel along with full NHL hockey and Major League Baseball coverage which XM radio carries. In the same scenario, XM radio subscribers will hopefully be able to now access great programming on Sirius such as the Howard Stern and Martha Stewart channels, as well as Sirius NASCAR radio and the Sirius NFL football radio stations.

This kind of cross programming will allow many users to fully embrace the kind of entertainment available to them on satellite radio. How great for a hockey fan like myself to be able to find any NHL hockey game being broadcast for online listening. In addition to checking on my favourite teams I would love to be able to hear the commentary in between periods of these stations which are feeding the games through to XM radio subscribers. Hopefully this merger between the two entities will be of benefit to subscribers while the company works to gain and subsequently maintain a presence of profitability.

It is my understanding as well that Sirius radio units will be easily programmable in order to access the best of XM once that happens. Sirius customers will not be required to purchase new equipment.

I invite readers to comments and share opinions on what you think of the merger and if we will benefit from it.

The Sirius Sportster 3 Radio is a combination of a brightly lit orange background with dark lettering advising you what is on the screen. It is one of the more user-friendly Sirius Radios where you can program 11 of your favourite channels on buttons 1 through 0 and the Sirius jump button. The Sirius jump button is identified with a check mark icon. The Sirius jump button essentially is programmed the exact same way as one of the numbered pre-sets. At any given time you can go to a selected favourite channel.

Once you program your Sirius radio remote control for your Sirius Sportster Radio, that remote will respond to your programmed pre-sets.  For example, hitting the 1 button on the Sirius radio remote will bring it to the programmed Sirius radio station on your Sportster. This applies to all Sirius radios which have programmable remote controls. The Sirius Sportster radio is also very user-friendly when it comes to overall channel navigation. You can view channels by category, be it talk radio, genre of music, and categories that may be even more specific in a breakdown of entertainment.

 The Sirius Sportster 3 has been a majorly popular seller for Sirius and many subscribers own these units which can be used at home, in Sirius car kits and Sirius boom boxes. You can still purchase a Sirius Sportster 3 or the newer Sirius Sportster 6 Radio through the Sirius Canada website online store and through most of your favourite electronics retailers. Visit the Sirius Canada website at www.sirius.ca for more information about the Sirius Sportster and other great Sirius radios for sale.

Once you have your Sirius radio activated, the next major step is to find a radio frequency on the FM dial that will give you the cleanest signal. Most people when they find a frequency are able to have that frequency apply to their Sirius radio vehicle kits as well as the Sirius radio home docking units.

Sirius Canada used to have a listing of suggested frequencies at www.sirius.ca but I can no longer seem to find it. Many of the older Sirius Radio units that you can still purchase have the old website listed but it appears to no longer be there.

It can be a daunting task, however once you find that great radio frequency you will enjoy minimal static on your radio. It is helpful to keep in mind the frequencies of your local FM radio stations. You may find that staying as far away from them as you can will be helpful and reduce signal interference. There may be occasional exceptions to this rule. When I recently set up my newer Sirius Stratus Radio, I was able to land on a radio frequency that was only a few decimal points off of the local country station. Surprisingly it is a clean signal. 

The whole process of finding a Sirius radio frequency essentially is trial and error. You may spend up to an hour or so until you find that right frequency. If you are getting frustrated, I would not recommend calling Sirius customer service right away. Ensure that you have checked out every possible frequency you could land on. One of them should work eventually.

Among the best set of Sirius Radio Stations are the collection in the single digits known as The Decades.

Sirius 40′s on 4 covers off the Swing Era and early great jazz orchestras. Timeless music from the 40′s and 30′s.

Sirius 50′s on 5 plays music and stories from the birth years of rock and roll with some r&b flavours thrown in every so often.

Sirius 60′s on 6 is a splendid variety of music from this glorious decade of music decadence. Not just pop standards from those days, but music from the peace and love generation, and some great music from Motown.

Sirius 70′s on 7 visits the expansion of rock and roll into other sub genres while playing music from the disco revolution and all the top 40 hits of that time.

Sirius 80′s on 8 is probably my favourite Sirius Radio station out of this set. The 80′s were a tremendous decade for musical expansion as new wave, techno and dance music helped to dominate the pop charts. Thankfully many great songwriters and groups penned some great rock and roll classics which are the main focus of the programming.

Sirius 90′s on 9 covers the rise of the alternative rock music wave. In addition the 90′s brought aboard a ton of great r&b influenced dance and pop acts which caught the ears of youth and adults the world over.

The Decades are a virtual time machine of music and worth a few minutes of listening time. These are some of the best Sirius radio stations on the dial. Visit the Sirius Canada website at  www.sirius.ca for more information on The Decades and other progamming.

Sirius Canada and XM Canada have finally merged. It was announced last week that thankfully Sirius customers should soon be able to order the best of XM programming.

Of course the deal unfortunately is subject to regulatory approval by the CRTC.  It is my hope thatthe CBC will sell its 40% stake in Sirius Canada. It is not right that taxpayers are funding an enterprise which while awesome, is not something that every Canadian Taxpayer pays for.

It was revealed this past week that Dr. Laura Schlessinger would be making a permanent move to Sirius in 2011.  Her show was already available in syndication through Sirius 102.

I am not a fan of Dr. Laura. Period. I can listen to her show for about 5 minutes before I start to get completely annoyed. Her “advice” often is dished out based on her religious views. Her delivery is nothing short of annoying. That being said, I will defend her right to free speech just as much as I would anyone else. Even if I disagree with what they are saying.

Here is where I have a major problem. SiriusXM has no trouble signing her to a multi-million dollar deal. Howard Stern and others who are on his channels, are completely hung out to dry right now. Howard, the Bubba Radio Network Crew and Scott Ferrall are hugely entertaining talents with a ton to offer.

So I cannot figure this one out….

I also need to clarify for a few readers who recently posted comments about programming content. This is just a reminder message that this site and myself are not employed by Sirius Radio. This is a fan site where I enjoy writing about SiriusXM news, views and programming. SiriusXM does monitor this site for content and comments from readers. Recently head office in New York was made aware of this site’s existence. So please keep the comments coming.

I spent some time the previous week before this post goes live with Sirius 22 1st Wave. By accident I came across the station when they were playing a classic Roxy Music track.

Decided to leave it on the station for a bit to see what else I would hear.

I am reminded at how melodic most of the music from the Classic Alternative era is. You could heard driving rhythms once minute before going into tracks with punk rock lyricism and the same melodic elements of a more pop sounding song.

It gets easier to appreciate the greatness of this type of music as I spent more time listening and opening up my mind. Some great under-rated talents came out of this rock sub-genre, which sadly is a bit forgotten even by many terrestrial radio stations.

1st Wave has a featured show “Dark Wave” which airs Sunday evenings. The description revolves around exploration of the dark side of New Wave Music. This seems really unnecessary. The music of the so called dark side should be blended in with the rest of the programming. No reason we cannot go from hearing Spandau Ballet to Siouxie and the Banshees, and so on.

Sirius 22 1st Wave is a great station devoted to the very foundation of modern Alternative music. A worthy retro trip of memories worth re-living and songs worth repeating.

Check out further information on the station by visiting the 1st Wave page through Sirius Canada’s website.

XM customers recently saw the addition of a Fantasy Sports Radio Channel. I have absolutely no idea why the company felt this kind of programming was necessary, because frankly it is a waste of air space. Even with all of the on-air talent it is bringing, to me it is still useless.

I renew my protest on how both Sirius and XM Canada customers are not permitted to get the best of both worlds like in the States. I am sure this is due to some ignorant minded regulators.

In other news, well-known Sirius personality Martha Stewart is now endorsing a line of pet products through American-based Petsmart Pet Stores.

My dogs, along with my wife and I, suffered a very disturbing experience at the Thunder Bay location and its grooming shop which was never resolved. I will not get into details but will tell you all that our dogs are ok, and ask you all to trust me when I tell you to NEVER give this company any of your business.

While I respect Martha as a business person and acknowledge she has an audience with Sirius, I am really dissapointed she is now associating herself with this corporation.  Petsmart does a poor job in screening the people who work in their stores and grooming shops. Do not leave your animals in unqualified hands.

Coming up on this site for the middle of August and for the month of September, I will begin profiling some personal favourite artists you hear on Sirius. Just some nice short bits about the people and their music.

On Monday, I started to share some of my thoughts about Sirius and Satellite Radio as a whole sticking around.

People are constantly referring to the SiriusXM stock poor performance as an indicator of a downturn. Where I believe part of the problem lies is that both companies pre-merger made some very poor business decisions. Sirius worked very hard in order to land more talent and in doing so succeeded in bringing in more advertising revenue.

The company has to invest in talent before it starts to pay off in dividends. I believe this company will turn a corner, having learned some hard lessons and saved some money post-merger. They need to keep the right people with them, pay money for the talent if the advertising revenue can cover their contracts and turn a profit.

Regardless of whatever other options are becoming available through the Internet, or portable applications for iPhones and Blackberries, SiriusXM has a good quality product which can be enjoyed by a vast audience. There is at least something on the dial for everyone and every taste.

Seeing a Heavy Metal Radio Station become a reality is a dream come true for me. Listening to content that is uncensored and not bleeped out is a celebration of our freedom of choice and speech! Take it all in!

If you believe in the product, and know someone who might be interested, direct them to the Sirius Canada website and encourage them to sign up for the free trial. Let them listen for themselves to Radio freedom.

Thanks all,

Dann

A reader recently commented on an older post on this site which was written several months before I came on board which is prompting me to write here. The writer of the comment was upset, understandably about the cancellation of lifetime subscriptions in July of 2009. The writer refers to Sirius as being a “fad”.

 I am going to use this entire week’s two pieces to write how and why SiriusXM is here to stay. I will angle this from the perspective of a Sirius Canada subscriber.

When I joined Sirius in June of 2008 I was very delighted to have access. I have long concluded that in order to get the kind of radio programming you want, you need to go to Satellite and abandon Terrestrial radio for good. I have become so tired of most normal radio. I used to dream when I was a kid about stations that would play exactly the kind of music I wanted to hear, whenever I wanted to hear it.

I did not want to resort to going to the Internet for streaming web radio casts. Even though we have reached far beyond the point where you can get decent Terrestrial programming by dialing into a sites live features.

If it meant paying a reasonable price in order to have content, then I am happy to pay it. Even some of you who have experienced poor service issues probably have concurred that its nice to hear programming you would never get elsewhere!

To be continued Thursday, July 29, 2010

So here’s to having a Thursday off in the middle of the week folks! Hope you are enjoying it. I envy you bastards who are able to make a long weekend of it all. Kudos to you.

We have so much in this country to be grateful for and are truly fortunate.

Take a few minutes to reflect on some of your favourite Canadian artists who are featured on Sirius Radio regularly. Don’t care what channels and what kind of music you prefer. You can find lots of Canadian content on the dial, and Canadian contributions from Canadian radio talent.

Worth mentioning on these pages are a few personal favourites such as Rush, whose music we regularly hear on Sirius 19 The Boneyard and Sirius 15 Classic Rewind. Also remember to head on up to the great channel known as The Iceberg for some great Adult Oriented Rock and Alternative Music. I just happened to flip to it hearing The Parachute Club’s classic one hit-wonder “Rise Up”. I forgot that song was even Canadian in the first place.

We are lucky enough to be living in an age where there is a tremendous surge in original new talent from this country, while the older groups and artists are releasing new material that is of critical and commercial success. So much great Canadian talent out there, it will surprise you and everyone else if they just listen.

I renew my continued objection to the CRTC interfering with Sirius Canada and XM Canada by not allowing people to subscribe to the best of series for each set of stations. Maybe they could give that to us as a Canada day gift….