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

I long believed that SiriusXM could have maintained a station solely for Punk Music. This was apparently not the case as the channel was taken off post-merger. Anyone looking for the Punk mix now has to get their fix from Sirius 28 Faction. Although I could easily live without some of the hip-hop and more recent alternative music that exists here, this station still carries a ton of punch and is a refreshing breath of air. 

Daredevil and Mixed Martial Artist Jason Ellis hosts a kick ass afternoon show weekdays at three on Faction. Jason, like the King of All Media, holds nothing back and shoots straight from the hip. Even people who are not necessarily fans of extreme sports may find what he has to say interesting.

Punk rock drumming legend Marky Ramone hosts a great show called the Punk Rock Blitzkrieg every Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. The Ramones were one of my personal favourite groups from this genre. The Ramones were responsible for generating many of the great riffs that would be later used by countless others in the 90’s alternative movement. 

There are other tremendous talents in the Punk Rock and Punk Metal world that can be heard on Faction. In addition to The Ramones, I would list the Glenn Danzig fronted Misfits as being another of the most influential and hard-hitting groups in the Punk world. Like the Ramones, the Misfits crossed over into influencing several Metal bands. While the Misfits are still going today with a different vocalist, one of the key components to its success was the brilliant songwriting and lyrics of Glenn Danzig. Worth checking out.

I should acknowledge Skateboarding great Tony Hawk for his Demolition Radio show. I have not listened to enough of this show yet, but plan to listen more since I grew up respecting Tony for his positive contribution to sport and fashion. 

For more information on Faction, head up to the Sirius Canada site or go to RadioFaction.com

The speculation continues to grow on whether or not The King of All Media will return to Studio 69 in 2011. Stern’s contract is up at the end of the year and Sirius will need to move soon in order to prevent a lucrative offer from taking Stern and his advertising power with him.

It was recently suggested that even with the financial troubles at SiriusXM, Stern is rumoured to have brought in a whopping total of a billion dollars in advertising revenue since the commencement of his contract. Meanwhile SiriusXM continues to review the contracts of other personalities and program formats searching for ways to save money. 

SiriusXM has the opportunity to re-sign someone who is arguably one of the biggest names it will ever host on the airwaves. While it would certainly be understandable should Howard elect to retire after a 30 plus year as a revolutionary radio host, it makes better sense for SiriusXM to give Howard another 5 year deal. This would be long enough for advertising sales to really give the boost the company needs and for better financial decisions to be made elsewhere in the company.

Stern has been approached by a handful of companies to return to Terrestrial Radio. I would personally hate to see this happen since the kind of formatting Howard is allowed to present on his channels is something he worked his entire career towards achieving.

Hopefully on these pages by the end of the year, I and other Stern fans will be toasting his staying with SiriusXM. The world needs more of his sense of humour and blunt honest precision in a world full of phonies and pathetic news broadcasts.

I have been reviewing the large number of comments and complaints about service issues people have been experiencing and am compelled to write this page about these issues. Even though I love the product and have had tremendous success and service in my dealings with Sirius, I encourage everyone to continue to submit these kinds of comments. There are people in the IT department at Sirius Canada who are monitoring this site on a regular basis. So your comments are read by people who may end up passing them on to others within the company. I know that the chances of this are slim but you never know.  There is always a possibility. I strongly suggest as well that comments be passed on directly to the company through the website.

If you feel that you have a strong enough concern that should be addressed by someone at a higher up level, take those concerns further and address them to those at the executive level. This company needs subscribers in order to survive and therefore it should be paying attention and addressing the views of all customers.  We all pay money for this service and the customer, while not always right, IS THE CUSTOMER.

I have tremendous respect for SiriusXM’s man at the helm, Mel Karmizan. He has addressed in his various television appearances that customers are what drive the company to continue doing what it does. So I again stress to every reader of this page and every subscriber who comes across this page, if you are not happy with your service issues, pursue them until you get some sort of a satisfactory answer.  Do not settle for less than that. I want this company to survive and believe in the product. Stand up and shout loud, let Sirius Canada have it if you are not happy!  Speak up!

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!

I am continuing my week reflection into the great music on Sirius23 Hair Nation. Talking about the influence this kind of music had on me personally has been fun.

I did not mention in Monday’s piece the fact that Glam Metal allowed metalheads to have one of the greatest anti-censorship voices in musical history. Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, vocalist, songwriter, humanitarian, and hero. Dee as most of you know took on the American Congress and the blithering idiocies of Mrs. Al Gore and her PMRC cronies.

Dee stood up for freedom of choice, and it is because of freedom of choice that everyone is allowed to pay for and enjoy their SiriusXM Radio and hear all the content with little involvement from regulators.

Twisted Sister’s music packed a great metal punch in hard rock, where they proudly once proclaimed “you can’t stop rock and roll”.

They were right…

In the early to mid 1990’s, my favourite band from this era emerged after the release of a great record that hit me on a personal level. Seattle Washington’s Queenstryche were always a band I respected but did not give much thought to. The release of “Promised Land” forced me to do a 360 and check out the earlier releases, including the bona-fide metal masterpiece “Operation Mindcrime”. The Ryche are known as the “thinking man’s metal band”. Lyrically, many of their records reflected this statement accurately.  Mindcrime is proudly among my top ten metal records of all time.

Fortunately, you can hear the Ryche on Sirius19 The Boneyard as well. Because their music had a cross wide appeal, they were able to reach heavy hard rock and metal fans who frequent channel 19.

The Glam Metal Revolution gave us great songs about love, anger, and getting laid in the back of a car. It also gave us great musicianship. Some of the greatest guitar players of all time can be heard on this channel.

Give Hair Nation a spin, and hear the music behind the great lyrics. It will surprise most people….

Bruce Springsteen represents America. He represents the values of freedom and peace that Americans (and us Canadians) sometimes really take for granted. Sirius10 E Street Radio has proven to be a popular channel for SiriusXM. The Boss has a significant amount of material for the programmers to select from. Live performances, interviews once rare now not becoming so rare, and a forum for long-time and short-time fans of Bruce to share their stories and how they relate to the music.

I began to listen to The Boss as a very young kid when the seminal classic “Born in the USA” came out. Even though I was quite young, I understood the musicality in these tracks. Everything right down to the killer drums and bass combinations of Gary Tallent and Max Weinberg leapt out of my tape player. Lyrically, it was a lesson in poetry. Bruce incorporates great stories into each of his pieces.

After this record and me wearing out the tape until nothing was left of it, my folks bought me the follow-up album “Tunnel of Love”, the first without the E Street Band. I still have this tape, having not worn it out the way I did the other one. This album has some great melodies on here, even though I get the feeling from listening to it that it almost sounds like Bruce misses his bandmates.  Like he is throwing geat tunes out there and asking if everyone likes it, but only producers and recording engineers are there to provide feedback.

Enough of the personal story. Whether you are a long-time, minor fan, or perhaps never even heard of the guy, I encourage everyone to check out E Street Radio. You might find that great story you can relate to.

Sirius Canada has exceeded the 1 milllion subscriber mark. This is great news for the company as it continues to emerge from financial difficulty. SiriusXM is entering an important year as it continues to increase its subscriber base. Sirius will be entering into contract negotiations this year with one of its biggest names. It is likely that Howard Stern will sign one more deal with the company before calling it quits.

Has it been a while since you have been to the Sirius Canada website?  Go check it out after reading this post. On the main page you will find the link to the refer a friend program where you could earn Esso gift cards!

If you are only listening to a select set of channels right now, why not visit the site and check out what is on under “what’s on sirius” to review the complete lineup. You might see something that you forgot or did not even know was there!

With the NFL playoffs in full swing do not miss all the coverage and commentary. Of note, check out Mad Dog Chris Russo and his VERY LOUD VOICE on Sirius 123 Mad Dog Radio.

SCENE members can also earn 10% off and points towards movies, and are able to try out Sirius for a 14 day free trial. This is a great way to encourage the movie fan in your life to sign up for Sirius.

Over the course of the coming weeks, I am going to check out the programming on some channels other than my pre-sets to see what else is being spun.  It is great to have all this music at my fingertips! Time to check more of it out.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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.

A new year is upon us! This is the end of another holiday season and the end of the 2009 year. I always look back on a year with positive reflection and how far I have come as a person personally and professionally. Being able to write about a product I believe in and am passionate about is a great honour and a ton of fun. I love challenging myself to write about different channels and business issues related to SiriusXM. Please keep the comments, kudos and criticism coming.

I was talking to someone not that long ago about Terrestrial Radio versus Sirius, and some of the limitations imposed by the CRTC that choke local radio into having a fitted format. I am referring mainly to the rules specifying that a station has to play a certain amount of Canadian content every hour and every day. Locally where I am at, the station makes sure at quarter to the hour that it gets in the Canadian content to meet its requirements. While Canadian artists are great to hear, especially for me being a Rush fan, it gets to be part of a cycle that becomes boring and tiresome.

When listening to Sirius, occassionally I might hear a song that I will turn off because I could hear it on Terrestrial Radio any other time. If I want to hear Canadian content, I would at least like to hear a variety! Well Sirius takes care of this for me through channel 85, the Iceberg.

On Iceberg you can hear the great standards of classic and modern rock from artists like Neil Young, The Tragically Hip, and of course Rush. In between you can hear eclectic styles and Independent Label Rockers that you might not have heard of. I have been turned on to some great talent that I might not have otherwise heard.

Iceberg programmer George Christie and his crew do an excellent job with this station and I encourage all readers to cool off to some great tracks on the Iceberg.