From tragedy to triumph

I was alarmed when I happened to see a post on CNN about the demise of XM Satellite radio that happened this week. I have been listening to podcasts and audio books lately, so I hadn't tuned in to my satellite radio for a while. I have been an XM subscriber for several years, after initially winning a radio and year of service. When I first started listening to satellite radio, I was disappointed to see that XM's competitor, Sirius, included BBC Radio 1 on their service. However, I was delighted when the merger happened between XM and Sirius, because they were promising that subscribers would be able to subscribe to "a la carte" options from both services.

I was worried when the postings on the CNN site seemed to indicate that XM died a quiet, unannounced death, and that "all my favorite stations" (to quote some of the more hysterical laments in the comments section) had disappeared. Apparently, this week there has been a big shift and a new lineup of stations for us XM folks. Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw that channel 29, formerly UPOP, was now BBC Radio 1!!! Oh joy and excitement! I was imagining being forced to purchase an expensive package (including a lot of stations I would never listen to) before I would be able to get this station. Never did I expect it would just suddenly show up!

Of course I will miss UPOP, where I first heard the likes of Amy Winehouse, Elbow, Kaiser Chiefs, Lily Allen, Lady Sovereign, Snow Patrol and Muse (I don't get out much), but there are hints on the website that it might make a comeback to Sirius XM at some point in the future. If so, I would like to point out to one Mr. Ted Kelly that long, pointless, meandering phone calls to your friends quickly get old for the listener. Just a word of friendly advice . . .

Now I'm going to go fix my XM radio presets, since I'm sure everything has moved or gone AWOL. I'm looking forward to discovering the new channel lineup! I just hope they haven't gotten rid of Sonny Fox on the comedy channel . . .