I’ll get a bit personal for this post, as it will be my final one for the site.

I have enjoyed writing about Sirius Radio for the last year and a half. Even though I appreciate the frustration many of you have with the service issues and can relate to some of them, I still intend to keep my Sirius Radio subscription for a long time. I love the value of having all of this variety at my fingertips. Regular radio to me is on the way out. Satellite Radio and Internet Radio are far and above much better for quality and entertainment.

I used to dream of the day when I would get to tune in to a Radio Station that would be uncensored and barrier free. Even with the CRTC monitoring some of the stuff going on, like the American FCC, they are not touching this stuff and laying off the talent in order for them to work and deliver the goods.

Thanks a ton to everyone for your comments, criticisms and kind words. I appreciate every one of the messages sent. Hope you all continue to find reasons to stay with Sirius, and hope those at Sirius Customer Service who have read these posts take customer concerns seriously.

Cheers,

Dann

Sirius has the great power of reaching people and giving them the best of theater of the mind. The Sirius Comedy Stations are a great example of Theater of the mind at its’ finest.

When listening to any of the Sirius Comedy Stations, you can pretty much imagine the sights and smells of smoky nightclubs or great concert halls. You can hear someone delivering their material onstage and the audience interaction.

On Sirius 106 Raw Dog you get the best uncensored comedy anywhere on the dial. No holds barred comedy from some of the best in the business past, present and future.

Sirius 105 Laugh USA is considered comedy for the whole family. You can also hear some great material from many comedians who regularly appear on television talk-shows and sitcoms.

SIrius 103 Blue Collar Radio is a great Sirius Comedy Station with some of the best in “Redneck” comedy. Comedians have taken the lead in getting material out there thanks to some of the great work of many American comics with southern accents!

Sirius 106 The Foxxhole will have some comedy shows from several great comics. It is not a 24/7 comedy channel but still features some great moments and great material. Jamie Foxx, whom the station is named, delivered some many memorable performances in his earlier career days. He still has a sharp wit and great delivery.

The Sirius Comedy Stations are all great entertainment. You can find comedy on other channels as well, notably Howard Stern’s Stations. Check them all out for a great laugh or two!

Sirius Radio has a ton of great rock  music stations. Most terrestrial radio formats are either New Rock, Classic Rock and then “Oldies Rock” type stations.

With Sirius, you have great rock stations on expanded programming formats. The two best comparisions that demonstrate this are Sirius Classic Vinyl 14 and Sirius Classic Rewind. Classic Vinyl is essentially the format of a Classic Rock Station from terrestrial radio but with a ton more variety. Classic Rewind is the second generation of Classic Rock. So with Rewind, you have stuff that is more recent but has made way into the Classic Rock category.

Sirius 19 The Boneyard is Classic Hard Rock with a sprinkle of Classic Heavy Metal. This is great for fans of Metal who might be getting on in years. Metal fans getting old? What a concept!

The Sirius rock stations under the decades category give a great time machine example of the development of rock and roll. When you start at 50′s on 5 up through 90′s on 9 you see the evolution of rock and roll music. You get the best examples of popular songs which cracked the Billboard Top 40 lists.

Check out all the Sirius Rock Stations on the dial. How often can you hear multiple rock and roll formats on terrestrial radio? No more than 2, I am sure of it.

If you have a Sirius radio subscription, you are able to listen to Sirius radio online through the Sirius Canada website at www.sirius.ca

You can contact Sirius Canada customer service at 1-888-539-7474 and they can set your online information up through your Sirius account.

Many people take advantage of this in order to listen to Sirius radio online through work and in their home offices where they might not have a Sirius home docking station.

Something to consider, if you are looking to listen at your workplace, ensure that it is permissible to do so. Some local area networks will not allow applications from sites like Sirius to run. Rather unfortunate since most people are stuck being tortured by Terrestrial Radio signals.

Listening to Sirius radio online is very easy. Once you are set up and you go to log in, the nagivation is simple to use and get through based on categories. Within a few short clicks you will have access to everything as if you had your actual Sirius radio unit in front of you! This is essentially the virtual Sirius radio unit.

Tough and Truth talking Radio jock Todd Clem (a.k.a. Bubba The Love Sponge) did not return to Sirius at the beginning of the year despite a barrage of e-mails to SiriusXM’s head office requesting that they give him a deal. Bubba and his crew host a wildly successful Terrestrial Radio show and featured their own uncensored show most Friday mornings on Sirius at Howard 101.

As of this post drafting (January 10, 2011) Howard Stern insisted that he would love to have a way to bring Bubba and his crew back to the channels in some way.

Bubba seems content with his new home at Radio IO where he has taken many of his loyal Bubba Army members with him.

Meanwhile Howard Stern has been filling in the space of time once occupied by Bubba’s show with “Mammary Lane” classic Stern moments.

I have a difficult time with Talk Radio on Terrestrial Radio overall. I loathe the news, so I am genuinely disinterested in listening to much talk radio on Terrestrial Radio. So I just avoid it altogether.

With Sirius, we are fortunate as customers to have such a variety of options available for our listening pleasure. I never thought much of talk radio until hearing the King of All Media in my high school days. And Stern still rules!

I’m going to mention a handful of Terrestrial talent who I would love to see from from the Terrestrial Newsroom to Sirius Radio. I think honest journalism is dying in this world. These are 2 of the few Talk Radio greats  remaining in Canada.

David Rutherford of AM 770 Calgary is one of the most upfront journalists to ever get behind the mic and in front of the camera. He lets people speak while getting the whole story into the audience for everyone to understand. I think Dave would be even more blunt with listeners if he did not have the restraints of CRTC rules.

Jordi Morgan is a politically experienced former CBC journalist with a demeanour that is honest and thorough. He was one of the most underrated broadcasters during his time with the taxpayer-funded corporation. Morgan returned to the airwaves in October of 2010 hosting Maritime Morning which is heard at http://www.news957.com
http://www.news919.com and
http://www.news889.com .

Talk Radio without restrictions is one of the reasons we look to Sirius as part of our entertainment. Any other names you would like to see from Talk Radio?

Had a rather amusing thought during my recent road trip. I have experienced so much in the way of bad music at weddings and Christmas parties. Sirius could possibly do a limited engagement channel for the summer playing all of the friggin horrendous music and songs we all hear at these silly functions.

You know exactly what I am talking about. You are guaranteed to hear “The Chicken Dance”, “The Macarena” and “Old Time Rock and Roll”. Songs which I no longer can stand to hear.

Plus, we might save some newlyweds to be a few hundred bucks on a Disc Jockey in place of this channel. Just connect a home kit to the venue’s house system!

It is just a thought. It is a limited engagement I would not be tuning in to.  I am glad that my wife and I made a point to choose the music we wanted and even drew up a do not play list with all of the crap we did not want to hear.

Hoping every-one’s holiday season is rolling along well as mine is.

I gave everyone some food for thought for this coming week surrounding pop music. Most of us have a subscription to Sirius or XM in order to get away from the drudgery of popular music that exists on Terrestrial Radio. In order for Sirius to capture that market share it makes sense to have a Top 40 Station which is easily accessible and located well on the dial.

I make no secret that I loathe most of the popular music that gets spun on this station, let alone Terrestrial Radio. For those that still need to have access to this format, Sirius has everything covered here. Including a somewhat cheesy yet entertaining to some morning show for the week.

Popular music still makes a ton of money. We have today an industry where there is less value placed on music. Fact is though that to the average listener, a catchy cook written by a slick producer who knows how to get things done can create something memorable.

Terrestrial Radio is a horrendous ground for spinning the stuff on a horrendous programming format every few hours. Where I have to salute SiriusXM on their version of the format is that they will bring in a mix of tracks that were Top 40 hits over the course of the last 2-3 years. They ultimately end up doing the record industry a major favour by keeping a few memories of some one-hit wonders alive, or alternatively they might play an earlier song from say, Taylor Swift, then within a same block play something newer to remind listeners she has new material that is catching ears.

If Top 40 Radio is not for you, as it really ain’t for me, Sirius 1 is not worth the time. At least it is covered for those who would actually use it.

Due to the extended holiday week, and my being on the road for the majority of this coming week, I will return to these pages in one week for the first column of the New Year. The best again to all readers, and thank you.

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.

Siriu71 s 71 Watercolours and Sirius 72 Real Jazz offer an excellent selection of jazz and fusion music from across the global jazz spectrum. I often consider jazz (and blues for that matter)  to have been the root of much modern rock. Especially given the types of patterns music would develop and the intricate melodies that would follow.

Jazz has so many greats both past and present who contribute such great time and talent to the genre. I think back to the great work of Miles Davis and legendary composer Charles Mingus. Mingus was known for his bass playing, but became more respected as a writer and arranger especially after his passing. Mingus was such a great instrumentalist which contributed well to his composing.

Miles Davis was known as the Man with the Horn. Miles was cool defined to the letter. Many musicians who worked with Miles often felt terrified going in to work with him. That was only because they wanted to be perfect in the sessions.

The great jazz singers are all over the aforementioned Sirius channels as well. My personal two favourites are the great Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.

Although I have yet to hear her on Sirius. Carmen McRae deserves a mention here since I watched an older concert of hers during my younger teens that knocked me out. Carmen’s voice was phenomenal and far reaching. She seemed to hire the best musicians for her recordings and live bands.

In Part 2 later this week, Fusion!