It is the week of Christmas and for many people the holidays are in full swing. Hope all of you will enjoy your radio programming over the holidays. Whether its reviewing the great selection of holiday music available, classic favourites from your most loved stations or the wide range of specials happening on different channels.

I will be tuning in to the History of Howard Stern Act III for the duration of the holidays. This has been in the works since the beginning of 2009 and Stern nerds like myself are anxiously awaiting this great global premiere.

Sirius 18 the Spectrum recently hosted John Mayer playing a great set of tunes from his new record “Battle Studies” and he also spun several of his personal favourites. There will be one more re-broadcast of this special at 3:00 eastern today. The Sirius website on this lists incorrect dates however it is apparently 3:00 today for the final re-broadcast. 

Let’s return to a quick review of the holiday programming still running on Sirius right now.

Radio Hanukkah just wrapped up another great run on Sirius 76.

Channel 3- Holly, contempotary and traditional holiday favourites. Online listeners unfortunately are still getting the Sirius Love feed for reasons myself and several readers here have not been able to find out. Holly runs until December 31.

Channel 4 – Holiday Traditions, playing traditional and memorable recordings from the pre and post formative rock and roll years. Running until December 31.

Channel 79 – Holiday Pops, classical carolling sung by some of the greatest choirs and vocalists in history. Running until Deceber 31.

Channel 62 – Country Christmas, great Christmas country classics sung by some of the best country artists.

Enjoy the week everyone!

In the last two years plus, customers have been fortunate, depending on your taste in music to experience some great channel takeovers. Channel takeovers work in attracting customers for many reasons. When an unsubscribed AC/DC fan was made aware of the lengthy AC/DC Radio takeover which took place on Buzzsaw/Boneyard, that fan automatically turns this positive moment for them into a great possibility. Other artists they love and listen to who have such an enormous impact and influence could end up on a takeover! The possibilities are endless, and Sirius has proven through its customer service desk that they are willing to entertain program takeover ideas and forward them to program directors!

Takeovers also serve as an educational experience with the music. When Sirius 18 The Spectrum did a takeover of one of my all time favourites, John Mellencamp, I was able to learn a ton more about this great talent that I did not know. A month of hearing all of his music was inspiring and something I looked forward to.

The AC/DC takeover was also part of a marketing deal used to heavily promote AC/DC’s recent release “Black Ice” which ended up selling over 7 million copies by the end of May 2009.

The Led Zeppelin takeover also turned out to be a huge success for SiriusXM as the band continues to maintain major popularity, and the music continues to get introduced to new music!

While there are many takeovers I would love to see, my suggestion to the company was the great Tom Petty. I could handle a month straight of that!

Who would you like to see on a takeover? Post your thoughts.

Quentin Tarantino, writer/director of the new film Inglorurious Basterds, appeared on Sirius XM Radio‘s Underground Garage in order to share some of his favourite music with fans last Friday, August 21st.

Tarantino hosted the show, playing and discussing some of his favourite songs, many of which served as the background music and inspiration for his newest blockbuster movie.

The special was originally aired on Little Steven’s Underground Garage (Sirius channel 25 and XM channel 59) but was re-broadcast several times throughout last weekend on The Spectrum (Sirius channel 18 and XM channel 45) and Alt-Nation (Sirius channel 21 and XM channel 47).

[Via Orbitcast]

The success and popularity of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour hasn’t gone unnoticed. Sirius XM Radio has now announced the expansion of the program to allow for longer, uninterrupted playtimes.

Dylan’s show will now run for four consecutive hours of the musician’s acclaimed blend of traditional-style hosting and hand-selected tracks.

The program will remain in its regular time slot and channel on Wednesdays at 11am EST on Deep Tracks (Sirius channel 16, XM channel 40) with the longer running time.

Theme Time Radio Hour’s new format begins on Sunday, February 8th 2009 with an encore of Wednesday’s episode at 4pm EST and will air on The Spectrum (Sirius channel 18, XM channel 45).

[Via Orbitcast]