Edition #04: The latest news from SiriusXM.
New host for Country, someone's leaving and new specials.
Saturday, June 25th, 2022
Hello there and welcome back to the SeriousXM newsletter. Before we begin, a little explanation.
You may have noticed that there was no #TBT newsletter this week plus the news edition didn’t come on Friday this week.
I’ll come out of the gate as to why: lack of motivation. Unfortunately, that’s what sometimes happens with me, especially with yours truly’s depression and anxiety that I currently suffer from. Eventually, I get over the hump and then get motivated again. That’s what happened in this case. I’m only 26 so I still have lots of life ahead of me so forgive me but it does happen from time to time.
Its time to get to this week’s newsletter, a day late because of my explanation above. The #TBT newsletter will come back next week. A preview… we’re going back to 2007. That’s all I’m giving away.
The Latest News
J.R. Schumann is leaving SiriusXM.
After being with SiriusXM for almost seven years, their Senior Director of Programming, J.R. Schumann, has decided to leave the satellite radio service on July 15th.
Having come from Cumulus DFW back in 2015 as their Operations Manager and Program Director at some of its stations, according to MusicRow Magazine, Schumann was the leader for all of SXM’s country stations, including The Highway (Channel 56), plus the Christian category and Elvis Radio (Channel 75).
Vice President of Programming Darrin Smith will take over the Country channels on an interim basis until his permanent replacement can be found. Where Schumann is heading next is currently unclear.
Schumann says in a statement:
“After almost seven years, I’ve decided to leave SiriusXM and pursure other opportunities and adventures. I’m beyond proud of everything my team and I have accompolished and wish everyone at SiriusXM nothing but continued success.”
Sunny Sweeney on Willie’s Roadhouse
Starting Monday, an ACM-nominated artist is joining the SiriusXM family to host a program of her own.
Sunny Sweeney will host a six-hour program called Sunny Side Up on Willie’s Roadhouse (Channel 59) from 6:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. E.T. (3:00-9:00 a.m. P.T.).
The program will feature four decades of classic country hits from the ‘50s through the ‘80s with artists that are forever in country folklore: Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, and many, many more.
Sunny is a country and Americana artist that’s best known for hits like From a Table Away, Drink Myself Single, and Staying’s Worse Than Leaving. She’ll now be a host on the same channel that carries live broadcasts of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday and Saturday nights.
This news comes as Sunny is releasing her new album on September 23rd called Married Alone and will go on tour as well throughout July and two days in August with her first stop on July 6th in Oxford, Miss. Click here if you wanna know more information about the tour, including dates and tickets.
SiriusXM Canada’s Music Town competition has its 16 finalists.
So there’s a cool thing happening in Canada.
Since May, SiriusXM Canada has been looking for a unique town to showcase and host an awesome concert experience. In fact, they’re looking for four from each different part of Canada to represent. The result? A competition that’s called Music Town.
Earlier this week, they announced the Top 16 finalists in this contest and voting is now open for those 16 cities to possibly get a chance to get a contest headlined by top Canadian artists, such as Arkells, Dallas Smith, Walk off the Earth, or 2Frères.
SiriusXM Canada’s Senior V.P. of Sales and Marketing, Paul Cunningham:
“The stories we received for SiriusXM Music Town are a testament to the true passion and pride Canadians have for their local communities and their love for live music. Music Town is more than just a concert, it's part of our ongoing mission to give Canadians greater access to local artists and deliver memorable moments you can only experience with SiriusXM."
The finalists are:
Eastern Canada (for a chance to win a concert by Arkells)
Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador
Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador
Miramichi, New Brunswick
Summerside, Prince Edward Island
Quebec (to win a 2Frères concert)
Blanc-Sablon
Mont-Saint-Hilaire
Rivière-du-Loup
Sept-Îles
Ontario (To get a concert from Walk off the Earth)
Belleville
Orangeville
Timmins
Uxbridge
Western Canada (Dallas Smith would be the concert for this region)
Estevan, Saskatchewan
Lloydminster, Saskatchewan/Alberta
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Sylvan Lake, Alberta
Canadians will have a chance to vote from now until July 11th at musictown.siriusxm.ca with the four winners declared on July 14th.
All of these locations are pretty unique and not ones you regularly hear on a daily basis so this is a nice competition to give some attention to the Canadian music scene.
WCLK Atlanta’s programs are now nationwide.
(Credit to The Atlanta Voice for this story.)
A local Atlanta station that airs a 24/7 Jazz format now has its programs heard by more and more folks across the country.
WCLK is allowing SiriusXM to air two of its programs, The Local Take With Kiplyn Primus and Upfront - Inside Atlanta’s Entertainment Industry, on its HBCU channel (Channel 142).
The Local Take offers discussions on critical issues and profiles organizations on activist work and engaging with the community.
Upfront - Inside Atlanta’s Entertainment Industry takes an in-depth look at Atlanta’s booming arts and entertainment scene. Whether its television, film, theater, music, fashion, and more, Atlanta is becoming a hotbed for Entertainment in the South.
Hosted by Ray Cornelius, the program has featured entertainers such as Billy Porter, Patti LaBelle, Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Taraji P. Henson, and Tracee Ellis Ross.
Wendy Williams (no relation to the now-former syndicated host) is WCLK’s General Manager:
“Jazz 91.9 WCLK has come a long way, with these two programs now on the SiriusXM HBCU platform. It is a major step forward in our efforts to deliver top-notch programming and the WCLK brand whether it be music or information to audiences, globally.“
On SiriusXM’s HBCU channel, The Local Take will air on Mondays at 6:00 p.m. with Upfront airing on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. with both programs airing on HBCU (Channel 142) starting this upcoming week. Both programs will re-air back-to-back on Thursdays and Fridays from 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Events
The 4th of July is upon us!
Its almost here. The 4th of July holiday. That could only mean a few things: food, fireworks, and fun. Here’s what they’re planning for next weekend, which would be the 4th of July weekend itself.
(All times Eastern - subtract three hours for the Pacific time)
40s Junction (Channel 71) will have a Top 100 Greatest Hits countdown from 1941-1945 on July 2nd at 2:00 p.m., July 3rd at 6:00 p.m., and July 4th itself at 6:00 a.m.
Classic Rewind (Channel 25) will count down the 400 biggest titles of classic rock. That will begin July 1st at 12:00 Noon and will last throughout the weekend.
Elvis Radio (Channel 75) is celebrating 18 years of being LIVE from Graceland, so why not throw an anniversary party? The Elvis Radio Fan-Voted Top 18 Countdown will be heard all weekend long.
Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville (Channel 24) will give you the Top 100 best Summer Escape Songs, as voted by their listeners. It will air on July 1st at 10:00 a.m., July 2nd at 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., July 3rd at 1:00 p.m., and July 4th itself at 11:00 a.m.
Finally, The Beatles Channel (Channel 18) will count down all Beatles songs that made it to No. 1 in the U.S. charts. That will go on all weekend long as well.
Sporting Events this weekend.
Finally, there is always some sort of sporting event that always takes place every weekend so why not run them down here.
🏒 - Hockey
As of this newsletter, the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to defeat the Colorado Avalanche last night 3-2 to make it a 3-2 Colorado series lead, meaning that there will be a Game 6 Sunday night from Tampa at 8:00 p.m. E.T. (5:00 p.m. P.T.) If it needs to go all the way to a Game 7, Tuesday night from Denver will wrap it all up at 8:00 p.m. E.T. If you want to hear it…
SiriusXM NHL Network Radio on Channel 91.
Avalanche hometown broadcasts on Channels 219 (traditional) and 927 (streaming).
Lightning hometown broadcasts on Channels 220 (traditional) and 946 (streaming).
⛳ - Golf
This weekend is the Traveler’s Championship from TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
As always, there will be plenty of weekend coverage over on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio (Channel 92). Weekend coverage on both Saturday and Sunday will start at 1:00 p.m. E.T. (10:00 a.m. P.T.)
🏁 - Auto Racing
Two races this weekend in the world of NASCAR with both on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90), both from the Nashville Superspeedway:
The Tennessee Lottery 250 as part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. E.T. (12:00 Noon P.T.)
The Ally 400 as part of the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. E.T. (1:00 p.m. P.T.)
SiriusXM is allowing three in-car driver audio feeds for the weekend so you can hear the drivers as their racing1. However, it would only be available for those on streaming platforms. Those three would be…
Kyle Larson - #5 on Channel 980.
Ross Chastain - #1 on Channel 981.
Kyle Busch - #18 on Channel 982.
If something sort of like IndyCar is more your style, then may I recommend you Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen event? It takes place on Sunday at 10:40 a.m. E.T. (7:40 a.m. P.T.) on Channels 207 (traditional) and 992 (streaming), which is usually home to one of SiriusXM’s massive Sports Play-by-Play channels.
⚾ - Baseball
The MLB season is still in the middle of the pack, so if you want an updated schedule with where you can find those channels to listen to the games, I suggest clicking here.
Meanwhile, the College Baseball season is coming to an end this weekend with the final games of the NCAA College World Series from Omaha. This year, its the Mississippi Rebels (Ole Miss) and the Oklahoma Sooners battling it out and the best-of-three series begins on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. E.T. (4:00 p.m. P.T.) for Game 1. Game 2 is on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. E.T. (12:00 Noon P.T.) with the deciding Game 3 on Monday at 7:00 p.m. E.T. All three games can be heard on ESPN-U Radio (Channel 84).
🏈 - Football
This weekend is also home to the first-ever USFL playoffs! Yes, the new United States Football League is holding its first-ever playoffs on Saturday, though its only two games.
The Philadelphia Stars will take on the New Jersey Generals on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. E.T. (12:00 Noon P.T.). The game will be heard on FOX Sports Radio (Channel 83).
The New Orleans Breakers will take on the Birmingham Stallions on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. E.T. (5:00 p.m. P.T.). The game will be heard on NBC Sports Audio (Channel 85).
⚽ - Soccer
The MLS season is also into the swing of things and has six matches between today and tomorrow. To listen to all six games, SiriusXM FC will have them on Channel 157.
So, that’s it for this week.
I know I wasn’t able to deliver on time this week and my apologies for that, but please do understand that I’m doing the best I can with this, considering what I’m personally suffering on the inside. I’m taking it one day at a time.
Also, it takes hours of information and research to put this whole newsletter together, whether its the #TBT edition or the news edition. Its not like I collect all the news, take ten minutes to type them out, and voila, that’s it. No. The fact of the matter is, I like to get my information right, the channel numbers right, and everything else. I hope you can appreciate the time I take to put it all together for you, the email subscriber, each week. I appreciate all the support and love I can get for an effort like this.
I’ll be back next week with a #TBT edition looking back at 2007. Plus, of course, take a look at the week’s news next Friday so keep your eyes peeled for that one as well.
Until then, I’ll talk to y’all later. Try to make this weekend a good, calm, and peaceful one. Have a great weekend.
P.S., the 4th of July weekend is next weekend, NOT this weekend. Be aware of that.
SeriousXM is a newsletter service of TheRolyPoly Productions.
Copyright ©2022 TheRolyPoly Productions - All Rights Reserved. Content on this service may not be rewritten, recreated, re-edited, or redistributed without the express written consent of TheRolyPoly Productions.
Any trademarks used, including channel names, product names, etc., such as Sirius, XM, SiriusXM, and SXM are registered, reserved, and maintained by SiriusXM via SiriusXM Holdings, Inc. with the USPTO: The United States Patent and Trademark Office in the United States (the trademarks (except for SXM) are also registered in Canada by SiriusXM Canada), and are only solely used with the mission to report on the latest news, notes, and happenings inside the service. ©2022 SiriusXM Holdings, Inc.
Any logos, images, videos, or sounders used are also copyrighted by SiriusXM via SiriusXM Holdings, Inc. and their respective owners but are used as part of news coverage and commentary and are designed to facilitate criticism, commentary, scholarship, and research relating to the broadcasting industry, and for purposes of historic preservation. Therefore, it is subject to the fair use exception under Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107 of the United States Code. TheRolyPoly Productions makes no claims to third-party content contained in any video or sounder used and no copyright infringement is intended.
If SiriusXM wants me to change the name of the newsletter and any of the aspects because of the name or anything else, I’ll be more than happy to do so. Just email me at roly4266@gmail.com and all references will be gone and all logos will be changed within 72 hours after the request is made.
This reminds me of the former NASCAR 2 channel that used to be available on XM back in the day. It featured in-race audio of the drivers and we did talk about it a little bit in the last edition of the #TBT newsletter. If you wanna check that out, head to the newsletter archive website and you’ll be able to find it there.
I think the first paragraph in the Willie's Roadhouse paragraph should say "to host a program of her own" and not "their own," since Sunny is just one person.