What the Hell Happened to My XM Radio?

A couple years ago, fans of Washington, D.C. area alternative rock station WHFS, 99.1 were cruising along in their cars, or lounging at home, or at work, enjoying the cutting edge, very popular radio station when suddenly (and ironically) Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye" was followed by a Latino pop song and DJs speaking Spanish. Without warning, "99.1 HFS" had become "99.1 El Zol," a Spanish-language rock/pop station. Longtime fans were shocked and outraged - absolutely no warning had been giving for the abrupt change in programming, and alternative rock fans were forced to find, well, alternatives.

XM Radio owners experienced a similar occurrence on Wednesday, November 12, as they awoke to find that many of their favorite channels had been renamed, and in some cases completely redone, as Sirius channels. As we struggle to rework our presets and attempt to discover how much our favorite channels have changed, a few early impressions have become clear. Here, then, are a few positives and negatives to use as a guide in the XM/Sirius change:

Positives: Two additions to XM Radio from Sirius are sure to ease the transition - NFL football and Little Steven's Underground Garage. XM already boasted every MLB game, a plethora of college football and basketball games, NHL, NASCAR, and countless sports talk stations. But the one thing Sirius always had over XM was live broadcasts of NFL games. Now, we have that. That's pretty great, especially for those of us fantasy football addicts who need to know if, for example, LenDale White poached a goal line touchdown from Chris Johnson in a tight matchup. XM/Sirius is now an enabler for the extension of our fantasy addiction.

Besides football, Little Steven's Underground Garage is the other outstanding addition to XM. Produced, and sometimes hosted, by Steven Van Zandt of the E-Street Band (also Silvio from "The Sopranos"), the Underground Garage plays the best rock you've never heard alongside the best classic rock that hasn't been overplayed. Most of the tracks seem to have a garage rock feel, and provides several gems that would never make it onto conventional radio, or even the old XM. Contemporary underground rock bands like Apples in Stereo and Tomorrow are mixed in with lesser known tracks from Elvis Costello and Traffic. Since the switchover, my XM tuner has been on Underground Garage nearly the entire time. I have yet to hear a bad song on that station. Definitely check it out, on XM 59.

Other stations to try that seem to have potential are the Grateful Dead channel (XM 57), JAM ON (XM 56), and Radio Margaritaville (XM 55).

Negatives: The two major negatives to the switch (besides having to relearn channels and reset your presets) are the renaming of XM channels and the deletion of XM favorites. The old XM featured two very good alternative rock stations - Ethel (which played newer alt-rock songs, as well as a spattering of recent alt-rock hits and a few quirky oddities) and Lucy (classic alt-rock, always dependable). Ethel has now been renamed, "Alt Nation," while Lucy is now, "Lithium." My early impression of these is that both stations have gone a bit more mainstream than their predecessors, playing a safer (read: more radio friendly) mix of alt-rock hits. Essentially, Alt Nation and Lithium are the same channel, so feel free to switch freely between them; you are likely to hear the same songs on both channels. "Top Tracks," the excellent classic rock station from the old XM is now "Classic Vinyl," and there appears to be no change whatsoever in programming. Ditto for Real Jazz and the comedy channels.

My biggest complaint of the switch is the loss of two excellent XM stations - The Rhyme and Beyond Jazz. The Rhyme played nothing but classic hip-hop. In any given hour, you were likely to hear Wu Tang, The Fat Boys, Eric B. and Rakim, A Tribe Called Quest, and Ice Cube. Old-school rap from its greatest era - the late 80's to the early 2000's. The new Sirius/XM has completely eliminated this channel, replacing it on the tuner with "Hip Hop Nation," which is great if you like Chingy and T.I. and Lil' Wayne. I don't. Beyond Jazz has also been scrapped, which is a blow if you ever want to hear Miles Davis' later work, for example.

The jury is still out on the new Sirius/XM Radio, but my initial thought is that they could have handled the transition a little better. Advance warning of the channel changes and a willingness to work with fans on the new programming would have been very welcome consolation gifts to XM subscribers. However, the addition of new channels like Underground Garage give me hope that the merger might ultimately be beneficial for XM subscribers.