Edition #06: The latest news from SiriusXM.
More new online channels, plenty of events still to check out, and more.
Friday, July 8th, 2022
Hello there and welcome again to another newsletter of SeriousXM! Now, before we go into this week’s edition, a backstory about yesterday.
I went into the Throwback newsletter I usually do for Thursdays but then stumbled upon big breaking news across the pond in the U.K. That derailed me. As a news junkie, it was fascinating to see the past 48-hour period that culminated yesterday and watch history as it unfolded. Google it if you’re under a rock and have no clue what I’m talking about.
Anyways, because it did derail me, I wanted to postpone that, but leave it up to tomorrow so that the news edition can come out today, which is what you’re about to read right now.
Before you do so, if you know anybody who’d like to subscribe to the newsletter, then go here…
So, without much further ado, let’s get into this week’s news.
The Latest News
To be honest with you, there really wasn’t that much news this week at all. Nothing happening behind the scenes or anything that caught our attention, so we’ll put this section to rest for this week and skip to some new channels just released.
New Channels
Oh boy, we got six new channels to tell you about! All of these channels are online-only and all have a countdown format, which is great to reminisce and remind you of the greatest songs of each genre or decade. This was first discovered by Satellite Radio Fan Central and I tip my hat off to them for letting me know via email last week. I will break them down by category.
Pop
First on Channel 550 is the Top 500 Pop Hits Countdown. The biggest pop hits over the last two decades, from 2000 to today. If you like a mix of today’s hit, popular, current music, plus some throwbacks, then this is the online channel for you. You’ll hear Bruns Mars, Pink, One Direction, Taylor Swift, Doja Cat, Lady Gaga, Adele, and more.
Next on Channel 551 is the 80s on 8 Top 500 Countdown. This channel takes you back to, arguably, one of the best music decades of all time. Listen to the artists who’s on this channel: Michael Jackson, Journey, Madonna, Prince, Hall and Oates, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston, Kool and The Gang, Billy Joel, and more. I can keep going and going and going but I won’t. Lol. But that’s how good the music was back then (may I remind you yours truly is only 26 and thinks that the ‘80s is home of the best music decade ever, but that’s arguable.).
Next up on Channel 552 is the 90s on 9 Top 500 Countdown. In the same format as the 80s on 8 one, this one looks at the biggest hits of the 90s. Here, you got all kinds of music coming out from Nirvana to Mariah Carey and from the Backstreet Boys to the Spice Girls and so much more. This was the decade yours truly was born in and there will be lots of nostalgia found here.
Rock
We’re into Rock now on Channel 554 with the Classic Rock Top 1000 Countdown. If you love rock, this is the place to be. Merging the music you hear on Rock channels Classic Vinyl, Classic Rewind, Deep Tracks, 1st Wave and Hair Nation, the best of rock from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, this is the ultimate rock countdown as compiled and created by the SiriusXM staff.
Hip-Hop
Up next on Channel 556 is the Hip-Hop Top 500 Countdown, the only such channel with an XL designation from this group.
This is home to the best of hip-hop from Dr. Dre to Kendrick Lamar, from 2PAC to The Notorious B.I.G., and from Drake to Snoop Dogg, this goes over three-plus decades of old and new hip-hop.
Country
Finally on Channel 558 is the Country Top 1000 Countdown. SiriusXM has put songs from Willie’s Roadhouse, Prime Country, Y2Kountry, and The Highway all into one countdown channel. Here, you’ll have Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Reba McIntire, Dolly Parton (of course), Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney (the latter two have their own SXM channels), Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, and so much more.
And those are the six new channels that are now available. Reminder: all in a countdown format and all are online-only so you must have a streaming plan to access that.
Events
There are still lots of events taking place, despite the 4th of July holiday now past us for another year. All images courtesy of SiriusXM, unless noted.
😆: 2022 Just for Laughs Virtual Comedy Festival
All of next week, Raw Dog Comedy (Channel 99) will be the home of the 2022 Just for Laughs Virtual Comedy Festival. This year, the festival celebrates forty years of its flagship Montreal franchise, which is the largest comedy festival in the world.
The channel will air blocks of the festival from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. E.T. (7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. P.T.) each day with a day-long marathon block next Sunday, July 17th starting at 8:00 a.m. E.T. (5:00 a.m. P.T.).
Here’s what you’ll hear each day…
July 11th: International Comedians (John Oliver, Sean Lock, and Eddie Izzard, just to name a few…)
July 12th (Pt. 1) and July 14th (Pt. 2): New Faces (Chelsea Peretti, Tony Rock, Dan Cummins, Illiza Shlesinger, and Jerrod Carmichael, just to name a few…)
July 13th (Pt. 1) and July 15th (Pt. 2): Women Comedians (Examples include Carolina Rhea, Joan Rivers, Paula Poundstone, Kathy Griffin, Michelle Wolf, and Wanda Sykes)
July 16th: The Nasty Show (Examples include Jim Norton, Mike Ward, Artie Lange, Amy Schumer, Patrice O’Neal, Jimmy Carr, and Norm MacDonald)
🏀: 2022 NBA Summer League
Yeah, I know. The NBA season ended a couple of weeks ago, plus we just had the NBA Draft. Already, its time to look forward to the new guys on the block, the rookies who’ve just been drafted this year.
SiriusXM NBA Radio (Channel 86) will have all the action of the NBA 2K23 Summer League, including live games, exclusive interviews with players and head coaches, and much more.
From now until Tuesday, you’ll hear hosts like Justin Termine, Tim Legler, Amin Elhassan, Noah Eagle, Jason Jackson, Zach Harper, Eddie Johnson, and Frank Isola.
🎄: Christmas in July?! Yep.
Say it ain’t so but its true. We’re half a year away from Christmas but SiriusXM is bringing the feeling of the season right now with a week-long special, Christmas in July. It will contain Christmas songs, radio renditions of seasonal movies, holiday episodes of comedies and dramas, and more.
All of the music will be on Holiday Traditions (Channel 776) with all the classic radio programs on Radio Classics (Channel 148). It will be all there next week. Programs1 heard on the latter will include…
Jack Benny Program
The Bob Hope Show
Father Knows Best
Gunsmoke
Dragnet
Sherlock Holmes
The Bing Crosby Show
Radio adaptations will include the following holiday films…
It’s A Wonderful Life
Miracle On 34th Street
Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol
Remember The Night
Christmas In July
😆: Comedy in Color on Kevin Hart’s LOL Radio.
Its the second season of Comedy in Color on Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud Radio (Channel 96). Starting on Wednesday, July 6th, and lasting for the next ten weeks, it will showcase diverse comedy voices from the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.
Airing as a new hour-long volume each week until September 10th, on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT) with repeats on Fridays at 12 Noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT) and Saturdays at 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT).
Featured comedians will include Donnell Rawlings and Myq Kaplan plus rising stars like Yamaneika Saunders and Ricky Velez.
Gilbert Gottfried is being remembered this weekend.
This weekend, SiriusXM’s Comedy Greats (Channel 94) will air a 90-minute special interviewing Gilbert Gottfried about his comedy experiences in the 1980s.
The Gilbert Gottfried is Dead Special will feature the last-known interview with the comedy legend before he passed away back in April, which was recorded two years ago before the pandemic took hold.
It started airing on Wednesday but will air throughout the weekend, including the following times…
Today, Friday, July 8th at 8am and 8pm ET (5am and 5pm PT)
Tomorrow, Saturday, July 9th at 5pm ET (2pm PT)
Sunday, July 10th at 12pm ET (9am PT)
Its Ringo Starr’s Birthday!
Ringo Starr is turning 82 this week (yesterday as of this newsletter) and The Beatles Channel (Channel 18) is celebrating with a special birthday mix, some of his favorite songs, a listener-voted countdown, and much more.
Here’s the broadcast schedule and all descriptions are according to SiriusXM.
Ringo Starr’s Birthday Mix
Today at 3pm ET (12 Noon PT)
Tomorrow at 12am ET (9pm PT)
Sunday at 11am ET (8am PT)
Ringo Starr’s Favorite Drumming Moments (Ringo takes control of The Beatles Channel with a playlist of hand-selected songs by The Fab Four and more featuring his favorite drum moments.)
Today at 11am ET (8am PT)
Gregg Bissonette Guest DJ (Ringo’s drummer for over 15 years, Gregg Bissonette will feature his favorite drumming moments from Ringo Starr in The Beatles.)
Today at 9pm ET (6pm PT)
Tomorrow at 3pm ET (12 Noon PT)
Sunday at 1pm ET (10am PT)
8 Songs a Week (It’s a special birthday mix dedicated to one of the most iconic drummers, musicians, and singers in history — Ringo Starr. Which song with Ringo on lead vocals did fans decide is their favorite? Find out on an all-new 8 Songs A Week plus 2, hosted by Meg Griffin.)
Today at 2pm ET (11am PT)
Tomorrow at 10am ET (7am PT)
Sunday at 1pm ET (10am PT)
Monday at 12pm ET (9am PT)
Magical Ringo Maxi Concert (30 minutes of Ringo hits (Beatles and solo) captured live and assembled into one magical Ringo maxi concert.)
Tomorrow at 9pm ET (6pm PT)
Fab Fourum (Dennis Elsas, Bill Flanagan and Tom Frangione will host a birthday tribute to Ringo Starr, featuring former members of Ringo’s All Starr Band including Steve Lukather and Warren Ham. Plus lots of other Ringo topics!)
Tomorrow at 7am ET (4am PT)
Sunday at 6pm ET (3pm PT)
Dark Horse Radio (For Ringo’s birthday, Laura Cantrell celebrates by exploring Ringo’s musical friendship with George Harrison.)
Tomorrow at 11pm ET (8pm PT)
Sunday at 4pm ET (1pm PT)
Next Wednesday at 12 Noon ET (9am PT)
Northern Songs (Bill Flanagan celebrates Ringo’s Birthday with a show dedicated to his work as a session drummer. He’ll play songs Ringo drummed on, featuring artists like Stephen Stills, Howlin’ Wolf, Joe Walsh, Tom Petty and of course, John, Paul and George.)
Tomorrow at 7pm ET (4pm PT)
Sunday at 6am ET (3am PT)
Way Beyond Compare (Host Tom Fragione dedicates this week’s show to Ringo Starr for his Birthday as he features rarities, alternate takes and demos of songs featuring Ringo.)
Today at 4pm ET (1pm PT)
Sunday at 10am ET (7am PT)
My Fab Fours: Rock Drummers (Hear some of rock’s most legendary drummers each pick their four favorite songs by The Beatles where Ringo stands out the most to them. They’ll discuss how Ringo Starr’s drumming influenced their careers.)
Tomorrow at 11am ET (8am PT) - Liberty Devitto, a former Billy Joel drummer for 30 years.
Tomorrow at 10pm ET (7pm PT) - Tico Torres, Bon Jovi drummer.
Sunday at 2pm ET (11am PT) - Peter Criss, the original KISS drummer.
Sunday at 9pm ET (6pm PT) - Denny Seiwell, the original Wings drummer.
Apple Jam (Join David Fricke and Tom Frangione for Apple Jam, a show dedicated to the music and artists of Apple Records. This month, a look at Ringo Starr’s Apple Records contributions in celebration of his 82nd birthday this month.)
Today at 11pm ET (8pm PT)
Sunday at 12am ET (9pm PT)
Sports
🎾: Wimbledon is in finals mode this weekend.
This weekend is the finals of this year’s Championships at Wimbledon. The Women’s final is Saturday morning between Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur while the men’s final is between Nick Kyrgios and either Novak Djokovic or Cameron Norrie. Rafael Nadal had to pull out due to an injury, making Kyrgios a walkover into the Men’s Final on Sunday.
All coverage is still available on one of SiriusXM’s Sports Play-by-Play channels on Channel 204, for all semi-final and finals action throughout the weekend, starting at 4:00 am ET (1:00 am PT).
⛳: Genesis Scottish Open is this weekend.
This weekend, if you are into golf, SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio (Channel 92) will have live coverage of the Genesis Scottish Open. Coverage starts now as you read this newsletter and will continue on both Saturday and Sunday for the third and final rounds at 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. PT).
🏁: NASCAR
This weekend, NASCAR will be in Atlanta for the Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 250, which takes place on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT), and for the Cup Series Quaker State 400, which is on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT). This week, the in-car driver channels are (online-only)….
Chase Elliot #9 - Channel 980
Kurt Busch #45 - Channel 981
Ross Chastain #1 - Channel 982
Other sports…
Unfortunately, nothing major is happening. You still got ⚾ season in full swing, so that’s on a lot of channels, including the hometown broadcasts on online-only plans, and ⚽ - MLS season is in progress too with six matches this weekend and all can be heard on SiriusXM F.C. (Channel 157).
All right, that’s all we got for this week, folks. Thanks for hanging in, sticking around, and supporting this newsletter. It really does mean a lot to me.
Tomorrow will be the delayed Throwback newsletter. I promise you that.
In the meantime, if you wanna support this newsletter and my work, donate here: Buy Me A Smile. Every dollar counts and goes towards this operation, in the hopes that one day, I can turn this into an actual full-time job. For now, I appreciate all the donations that come my way. Keep them coming!
Also, have any questions, comments, suggestions, news tips, or old lineups to share? roly4266@gmail.com is the email you’ll want to send them to. I receive and read them all.
Until tomorrow, enjoy your weekend.
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Don’t they all sound like they’re current Me-TV programs?