Edition #14: Labor Day Weekend at SXM.
This edition is MASSIVE. Another lawsuit, a dropped sports program, lots of new channels, and plenty of weekend events. Its a long one this week.
Friday, September 2nd, 2022
Hello. How are you, today? It’s the SeriousXM newsletter. The THREE-LONG DAY Labor Day Weekend is upon us! We got all good kinds of vibes this week in our events section to celebrate the long weekend as Monday is a federal holiday and the unofficial end of summer.
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Without further ado, this week’s news.
The Latest News
Another day, another lawsuit for SiriusXM.
It looks like SiriusXM is getting sued left and right because its another week where another lawsuit against SXM gets going.
This time, its actor James Van Der Beek who’s suing the company for pulling out of a podcast deal that was apparently signed with him before the company backed out of the deal. Value? $700,000 for 40 episodes of the podcast with SXM and its podcast platform, Stitcher.
The Varsity Blues star said that the company is “skirting” its end of the deal and are refusing to pay the actor.
According to The Blast, Van Der Beek explains that after getting an email that said, “we are ready to call terms officially closed” — someone from upper management stepped in and shut down the deal. Last month, the actor says during a zoom call with the company, they “reneged” on the deal — claiming they have a “new policy of having their finance team review the deals, and the finance team rejected this deal.”
Van Der Beek’s team still wants SXM to pay $700,000 for the deal as he claims it has caused him damages, including those who wanted to work on the podcast. He and his team are asking for a judge to order the companies to pay that amount plus other monetary damages.
The case is currently ongoing and we’ll update you if anything changes as a result on Twitter @SeriousXM_News and on a future edition of the newsletter.
The Pat McAfee Show is no longer on SXM.
Well, one of sports radio’s most-popular shows is now looking for a new radio home.
SXM this week has pulled the plug on The Pat McAfee Show. McAfee told the New York Post that SXM “never made an offer to continue our partnership” but says that they’re “no ill feelings“ between the two.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo broke the news of the split on his sports radio channel, Mad Dog Sports Radio (Channel 82), saying McAfee and SiriusXM parted ways amicably, according to Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina on Monday.
For several years, in partnership with sportsbook provider FanDuel, McAfee, who was a former NFL punter and kickoff specialist for the Indianapolis Colts, had his own radio show airing live from 12 Noon-3:00 p.m. ET (9:00 a.m.-12 Noon PT), while also airing on YouTube. Its a massive hit and even more so after FanDuel signed a $120 million deal last December to sponsor the show.
However, it may not be out for long… you see, the show is partnered with FanDuel, and FanDuel is launching the new FanDuel TV network (which is currently the horse racing network TVG) and the streaming platform FanDuel+ which are both slated to launch later this month, and McAfee’s company, PMI Network, will be producing content for the provider, so the show may not be entirely out for too long, and may head outside of satellite radio to expand that audience. Stay tuned.
Let’s Go! for another season of the football podcast.
The popular football podcast Let’s Go! is back for a second season, featuring five-time NFL Super Bowl MVP quarterback (currently with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) Tom Brady, former All-Pro wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and Hall of Fame Emmy Award-winning broadcast Jim Gray.
Tune in this Monday, September 5th for the first episode as it will air weekly throughout the upcoming 2022 NFL season. All this while Brady will play in his upcoming 23rd season in the NFL, and his third with the Buccaneers while looking for his eighth Super Bowl title.
It will provide the latest NFL news plus conversations about their lives away from the football field.
It will air every Monday during the season at 6:00 p.m. ET (3:00 p.m. PT) on Mad Dog Sports Radio (Channel 82), then repeated again at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) on SiriusXM NFL Radio (Channel 88).
After that, episodes will then be released wherever you get your podcast audio, including SXM’s podcast platform, Stitcher. It will also be on its YouTube page, in an audio-only fashion.
Farm Aid is back for the 13th consecutive year on SXM.
Farm Aid 2022 is back on SiriusXM for its 13th straight year in a row after announcing yesterday that the music, food, and farm festival in North Carolina is sold out.
Farm Aid is an organization that helps build a system of agriculture across the country and includes artists and board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and Margo Price. The annual festival helps raise funds to support their work with family farmers and to inspire people to choose family farm food, you know like mom-and-pop stores that sell these goods.
Not only Willie, John, Dave, and Margo will perform at the event, but so will Chris Stapleton, Sheryl Crow, and Lukas Nelson, among others.
SXM will air the event on Willie’s Roadhouse (Channel 59) and Dave Matthews Band Radio (Channel 30) on Saturday, September 24th starting at 12:00 Noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT).
We’ll inform you again once its closer to the event date so you can catch the broadcast yourself, if interested.
New Channels/Channel Changes
We got a list of new channels to tell you about! There’s also one change that was announced last month but it was only yesterday that it finally took effect. There were also more channels that got into the lineup last week but forgot to tell you about, but better late than never! Here’s what you need to know.
Last Week
SXM added eleven more College Sports Play-by-Play channels of their own, featuring games and sports from all Power Five conferences: the ACC, BIG Ten, BIG 12, PAC-12, and the SEC. Those channels are online only and can be found on Channels 953-963 on streaming plans. This is in addition to the eleven channels already available on traditional plans from Channels 190-200.
This Week
Volume (previously on Channel 106) is FINALLY gone from that channel slot as of yesterday morning after announcing the move for almost a month but remained on Channel 106 this entire time. It has finally moved to the online part of the lineup on Channel 780.
Channel 106 has now been converted into SiriusXM’s fourth pop-up channel for traditional radio listeners, joining Channels 14, 104, and 105. More on the latter two later in the newsletter.
FanDuel Racing has been added to online streaming plans on Channel 994. The channel carries a huge amount of live horse racing every single week, but will probably soon carry more sports betting information as this is expected to be a part of a rebrand from its previous life as TVG2, a sister to the TVG Network, which is expected to rebrand as FanDuel TV as well. Will SXM carry a simulcast of FanDuel TV too? Only time will tell…
Other than all of this, no other permanent channel changes were made to their lineup.
Pop Up Channels
There are some new temporary pop-up channels that are coming up soon and I thought I’d tell you about those as well.
The David Bowie Channel in September.
The David Bowie Channel is back, folks! Thanks to a new biopic that details and focuses on Bowie’s life that’ll soon hit movie theaters, the limited-run pop-up channel is back again with more of Bowie’s hits, remixes, live performances, special guest DJs, and more.
All September long, The David Bowie Channel is on the SXM app PLUS it will be available for an almost two-week run on Channel 14 (one of SiriusXM’s pop-up channels) from September 9th-21st, overtaking Yacht Rock Radio which will move back to its year-round spot on Channel 311.
Moonage Daydream takes a look at the late singer’s creative, musical, and spiritual journey through his view and his own voice. It’ll be released in theaters around the world on September 16th with 48 music tracks, mixed from their original stems.
MasterClass on SiriusXM.
It started yesterday but for the next two weeks, SiriusXM is giving MasterClass its own limited-run channel.
Available now on Channel 104 until September 15th at 3:00 a.m. ET (12:00 Midnight PT), the channel will feature programming from the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world’s best artists, leaders, and icons across a wide range of subjects. All programming will consist of the MasterClass Hour program that’s already heard weekly on SiriusXM Stars (Channel 109) at 8:00 a.m. ET (5:00 a.m. PT) on Saturday mornings (with repeats throughout the weekend) and Business Radio (Channel 132) at 7:00 a.m. ET (4:00 a.m. PT) on Saturday mornings as well (repeats throughout the weekend as well).
Examples of such instructors include…
Hillary Rodham Clinton on The Power of Resilience
Metallica on Being a Band
Steve Martin on Comedy
Issa Rae on Creating Outside The Lines
RuPaul on Self-Expression and Authenticity
Gordon Ramsay on Cooking
Malala Yousafzai on Creating Change
Sara Blakely on Self-Made Entrepreneurship
Howard Shultz on Business Leadership
Anna Wintour on Finding Your Voice and Succeeding
Elaine Welteroth on Designing a Unique Career Path
Bob Iger on Business Strategy and Leadership
In addition to airing on both stations, select lessons will be available as podcasts on the SXM App.
As a result of this and the temporary channel Good Vibrations now ended, the other limited-run channel, Whole Lotta Red Hot, has moved to Channel 105, but remains year-round in its permanent home on Channel 315.
Events
All right, here we go! This may end up being our longest events list yet as its the long Labor Day weekend and SiriusXM will pretty much have programming for everyone. From music to pop-up channels and sports, here’s what you need to know. Before we go to any new events, here are some of the events we’ve covered before that are taking place this weekend.
Labor Day Weekend
Phish’s Labor Day Weekend concert is on Phish Radio every night on Channel 106 starting at 9:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. PT) that’s running until Sunday, Sept. 4th.
The Top 100 End-Of-Summer Cassettes countdown is on Classic Rewind (Channel 25) starting today at 12:00 Noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT) and lasting all weekend long.
60s Gold (Channel 73) will have Labor Day’s Greatest Hits of the ‘60s, a Top 60 countdown starting tomorrow, Sat., Sept. 3rd at 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT), and again lasting throughout the weekend.
Yacht Rock Radio (Channel 14 until Sept. 8th at 3:00 a.m. ET/12:00 Midnight PT) / Yacht Rock 311 (Channel 311 year-round) will have the Yacht Rock of the ‘80s Countdown.
The Top 1,000 of the 70s countdown will be heard all weekend long on ‘70s on 7.
The Top 31 Pearl Jam Songs of All-Time countdown can be heard on Pearl Jam Radio (Channel 22).
This is your last chance to check out the Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits limited-run channel on the SXM app until this long holiday weekend. After that, its all gone, probably until next summer.
For EDM Music lovers: Electric Zoo 3.0 in New York City.
This weekend, SXM Electro is gonna turn it up in full gear with Electric Zoo 3.0, New York City’s premier EDM music festival from Randall’s Island Park.
It starts later today on Diplo’s Revolution (Channel 52) with live coverage throughout the long holiday weekend. Sets from Armin van Buuren, Diplo, Porter Robinson, Tchami, and many others will be heard. Plus, BPM (Channel 51) will also have Armin van Buuren and Diplo, plus Carl Cox, Jauz, Surf Mesa, and more.
If you wanna see a list of this weekend’s broadcast schedule, then click here.
A celebration of Mitch Hedberg on SXM’s Comedy channels.
This weekend, SiriusXM is honoring late comedian Mitch Hedberg, whose classic 2003 album Mitch All Together, has been recently certified RIAA Gold for 500,000 units/sales. The celebrations began on Monday and continue this weekend.
Mitch Hedberg UnMasked
Today, Friday, September 2nd at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. PT) on Comedy Greats (Channel 94; XL).
Also today at 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. ET (7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. PT) on Raw Dog Comedy (Channel 99; XL).
A marathon of Mitch Hedberg’s comedy and docs.
Tomorrow, Saturday, September 3rd at 11:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. PT) on Raw Dog Comedy.
Multiple blocks of Mitch Hedberg’s stand-up routines.
This entire weekend at 3:00 p.m. ET (12:00 Noon PT) on Laugh USA (Channel 98).
A Mitch Hedberg documentary, followed by Mitch All Together
Today, Friday, September 2nd, at 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. ET (1:00 and 2:00 p.m. PT) on Comedy Central Radio (Channel 95; XL).
Usher’s Las Vegas residency all this weekend.
This weekend, if you like Usher, SiriusXM FLY (Channel 47; XL) will have broadcasts of Usher’s performances at his Las Vegas residency at Dolby LIVE at Park MGM.
You’ll hear his hits like “Confessions”, “OMG”, “Yeah!“ and more.
It will air this weekend at the following…
Today, Friday, September 2nd at 7:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. PT)
Tomorrow, Saturday, September 3rd at 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT)
Sunday, September 4th at 12:00 Noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT)
Labor Day, Monday, September 5th at 11:00 p.m. ET (8:00 p.m. PT)
A celebration of Dancehall/Reggae music.
Tanya Stephens is a legend in the Dancehall/Reggae music category with over 30+ years of hits. Yesterday, Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong Radio (Channel 19) interview her and delivered a live performance from Jamaica.
For the rest of this month, in celebration of her new album, her 10th studio album, Some Kinda Madness, you can hear the interview and performance on the SXM app starting later today at 12:00 Noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT).
Hosted by ZJ Sparks (of ZIP FM and Tuff Gong Radio), the live broadcast will feature an interview and exclusive performance by Tanya Stephens, debuting songs from her new album and revisiting her classics.
Sports
Now we venture into the world of sports. Only one dominates this weekend’s events: College Football. It really starts getting into the swing of things this weekend. But there are other sports too so let’s cover them all here.
🏈: College Football is back in action.
As mentioned last weekend, College Football is back for another season and SiriusXM’s college sports channels are ready to deliver.
For this weekend’s opening weekend schedules, click here.
ESPN-U Radio (Channel 84), SiriusXM ACC Radio (Channel 371), SiriusXM BIG Ten Radio (Channel 372), SiriusXM PAC-12 Radio (Channel 373), SiriusXM SEC Radio (Channel 374), and SiriusXM BIG 12 Radio (Channel 375), plus a few other sports channels like ESPN Radio (Channel 80), ESPN Xtra (Channel 81), FOX Sports Radio (Channel 83), and a handful of Sports Play-by-Play channels will carry all the action from day to night.
🏈: SXM is holding a party to kick off the NFL season.
Let’s Hang and SiriusXM is kicking off the NFL season with a can’t-miss virtual watch party for the opening match of the NFL season: Buffalo Bills-L.A. Rams on Thursday, September 8th from 8:20-10:30 p.m. ET (5:20-7:30 p.m. PT). Instead of watching the highly anticipated game alone or just with family and friends, hang with professional athletes, analysts, and more as they interact with you virtually while viewing the matchup live.
During the watch party, they’re giving you the chance to join Andre Reed, Todd Gurley II, KJ Osborn, Chase DeMoor, Harrison Phillips, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Joseph Robert, Rich Gannon, and Bruce Murray which sounds awesome and unique.
They’re giving away FREE tickets to this event so click here for more.
🏀: The WNBA Playoffs continue.
The WNBA playoffs are still at it in the semifinals. Both series right now are tied at 1 apiece heading into their respective Game 3s on Sunday with Game 4 on Tuesday, and if necessary, Game 5 next Thursday. SiriusXM NBA Radio (Channel 86) will continue to carry all the action.
Sunday, September 4th
1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT) - Chicago Sky vs. Connecticut Sun
3:00 p.m. ET (12:00 Noon PT) - Las Vegas Aces vs. Seattle Storm
Tuesday, September 6th
8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT) - Chicago Sky vs. Connecticut Sun
10:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. PT) - Las Vegas Aces vs. Seattle Storm
Thursday, September 8th’s games are still TBD depending on whether or not any of these series will extend into a fifth and final game as its the best of five.
🎾🏁: Tennis and Motorsports
Here are the other sports covered here. For once, the PGA Tour is on a two-week break after their recent season just concluded last weekend.
🎾 - The U.S. Open continues this weekend and shockingly enough, Serena Williams is still at it in the tournament. She has won the first two games in her run-up to a possible tying 23rd Grand Slam title. LIVE coverage of the U.S. Open will continue all weekend long starting at 11:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. PT) on one of the Sports Play-by-Play channels: Channel 392.
🏁 - IndyCar action resumes this Labor Day weekend. There’ll be practices all weekend before the main events on Sunday, September 4th: the Indy Lights Race at 1:10 p.m. ET (10:10 a.m. PT) and the Grand Prix of Portland from Portland (OR) Int’l Raceway at 3:00 p.m. ET (12:00 Noon PT). All of it will be heard on SiriusXM IndyCar Nation (Channel 160).
🏁 - NASCAR’s first race of the Cup Series Playoffs is in South Carolina at Darlington Raceway. There’s also an Xfinity Series race as well. Of course, all the action will be on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
Tomorrow, Saturday, September 3rd
NASCAR Xfinity Series - Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at 2:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. PT).
Sunday, September 4th
NASCAR Cup Series - Southern 500 at 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT).
This week’s in-race audio car drivers are (reminder: these are online-only channels)…
Denny Hamlin - #11 on Channel 980.
Kevin Harvick - #4 on Channel 981.
Joey Logan - #22 on Channel 982.
🥊🤼 - One more thing before we go…
SiriusXM Fight Nation (Channel 156) will be in Chicagoland for its program Busted Open tomorrow, Saturday, September 3rd as they’ll be LIVE from All Elite Wrestling (AEW)’s All Out Fan Fest that’ll go from 11:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. ET.
Dave LaGreca and Mark Henry from Busted Open will deliver live coverage ahead of AEW’s 'All Out' PPV telecast. Listen in throughout the day as they're joined by a bunch of special guests and a whole audience of pro wrestling fans.
And that’s it. That’s finally it. A very long edition of the SeriousXM newsletter for this Labor Day weekend comes to a close. You are now all caught up!
However, if I still missed something and want to provide news tips for me, plus any questions, comments, or suggestions, then email them to me at roly4266@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing and reading them from you!
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I’ll stop here so y’all can go out there and enjoy the next three days we have as we’ve reached the unofficial end of Summer, with lots of BBQ, beach, traveling, fun, and sun on the horizon.
Thank you so very much for reading this week, and for supporting my newsletter! Until next week, have a great long three-day Labor Day weekend!
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When I saw only the top part of the "let's go" banner, I was half expecting it to say "Brandon" underneath 😁.