Edition #33: The latest from SiriusXM.
Edition #33: The latest from SiriusXM.
Walmart is now offering SiriusXM, Adam Schein reups, Ultra is here, all upcoming events, sports, and more.
Friday, March 24th, 2023
Hello, one and all to the SeriousXM newsletter! This is your only newsletter that covers SiriusXM on a regular weekly basis. Sorry that I was away last weekend, but I’m back at it now and I’m offering you a weekend slate of newsletter content this weekend! Tomorrow, I’ll offer news from last weekend and Sunday, I’ll be offering a catch-up version of stuff you may have missed from the month of February.
Ever since I have to deal with the death of a family member last month, my schedule working on this newsletter has been wonky and off, to say the least. Nevertheless, I’m doing my best to get back at it on a regular weekly basis and I will at some point so please bare with me for right now. I thank you for your patience, but more importantly… thank you for the growing and tremendous support that you have shown me for my newsletter ever since we BROKE THE NEWS FIRST via Twitter about SiriusXM’s plans to lay off 8% of its workforce a couple of weeks ago AND breaking the news of the end of the traffic and weather channels, all in one week. It really does mean a lot to me.
Here are my favors for you…
Regarding the last button, its only optional if you want to donate. I’m not forcing it so that this newsletter can remain free to all who want to read it. But please do so if you got money to give. It’ll help me out tremendously. Anyways, let’s get to the news.
The Latest News
Walmart wants to help SiriusXM out.
SiriusXM is always looking for ways to get new subscribers to its service. One new way of doing so is looking to Walmart to help them out.
This week, SiriusXM and Walmart came together to bring the satellite radio provider’s programming and service to Walmart+ subscribers across the nation. Starting this past Tuesday, March 21st, Walmart+ members will get six free months of SiriusXM, that’s half a year!
For a limited-time offer that ends June 19th, Walmart+ subscribers can either choose a SiriusXM in-car or a streaming-only plan, with the hopes that once those six months are up, they get converted to being paid subscribers in the long term, which is what SiriusXM wants: more subscribers to hopefully bring in more revenue, now that it has laid off 8% of its workforce.
We’ll see if customers even take advantage of this and we’ll see if any stick around and pay for it in the long term. But considering that most in-car trial plans are only three months long, this is very generous for the two to offer six months for free (Samsung Galaxy does the same thing).
Adam Schein is here for another four years.
He’s not going anywhere. SiriusXM has re-upped sports radio host Adam Schein to a four-year deal that’ll keep him as host of Schein on Sports on Mad Dog Sports Radio (SXM 82) as well as the host of his own podcast, now rebranded as Rise and Schein.
Schein was the first voice ever heard on SiriusXM back in 2004 when Sirius NFL Radio was around (remember that?). SXM was his first national media platform and has virtually been on it ever since. This new four-year deal will take him to 23 years with SiriusXM when it is all suddenly done unless he re-ups again.
He first did a show for the NFL channel, anchored its pre-game coverage, and even as a live host for its NFL Draft coverage. He’s been with Mad Dog Sports Radio since 2013 to expand his commentary beyond football to include multiple types of sports. For the last four of those years, he has hosted a show while also doing a podcast.
If his name does ring a bell for TV viewers, its because he’s one of the most popular faces of CBS Sports. He hosts multiple shows on the CBS Sports Network, including his own daily weeknight show, Time to Schein, as well as NFL Monday QB and That Other Pregame Show, both of which he has hosted for over a decade. And he is an ever-busy man as he has also been a columnist for NFL.com since 2012.
Channel Changes
This set right here is mainly temporary ones, as usual, as SiriusXM likes to do on a weekly basis.
We’re in the middle of Women’s History Month so therefore, SiriusXM has been devoting itself to special programming focusing on the impact of women across all industries, including music.
As I’ve told you before, Women of Dance and Women of Jazz were offered as limited-run channels on its platform. That has passed but they continue to run as streaming-only channels on the SXM app so give those a try. And currently, Queens of Pop and Queens of R&B are running on limited-run channels, with the Pop one on SXM 14 until Tuesday, March 28th, and the R&B one on SXM 105 until Wednesday, March 29th. There’s also a Queens of Hip-Hop channel that’s also available only on the SXM app.
Speaking of women, on one channel lower than the Queens of R&B, another limited-run channel currently exists on Channel 104. Its the Billboard Women of Pop 1,000 Countdown.
Having launched this past Tuesday morning, March 21st, it will run until Saturday, April 1st at 3:00am ET (12:00 Midnight PT) and is also available on the SXM app. This features the top 1,000 songs by women from 1970-2019 with the top 20 hits with female vocals from every one of those years, as ranked by performance on Billboard’s legendary Hot 100 chart and by its Greatest of All Time chart methodology.
In other words, pretty much every female artist you could think of during that time will be heard on this channel. You’re talking about Barbra Streisand, Billie Eilish, The Carpenters, Cardi B, Carole King, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, Miley Cyrus, The Supremes, Selena Gomez, Avril Lavigne, Kesha, Leann Rimes, Alanis Morisette, Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Cher, Rihanna, Donna Summer, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Adele, and way more than I have enough time to mention them all.
This is just one of a string of limited-run channels that SiriusXM and Billboard collaborated on. Just last month, it aired the Billboard Cupid Countdown featuring the best love songs, the Billboard Top 112 Songs of Christmas Countdown back in December, and even last summer when it had the Billboard Top 500 Summer Hits limited-run channel.
Events
Its time to get to all the events, entertainment and sports-wise, that’ll be taking place this upcoming week. There is one this weekend that will be HUGE if you are an EDM fan.
Ultra’s back!!!
For the 17th straight year in a row, SXM will bring listeners to live all-weekend coverage of electronic dance music’s premier event, the Ultra Music Festival from Downtown Miami.
The 23rd annual event will be in Downtown Miami’s Bayfront Park (I know where that is because its part of my home market). It begins today, Friday, March 24th with live DJ sets from so many headliners: Alesso, Armin van Buuren, Carl Cox, Kx5 (Kaskade and Deadmau5), Marshmello, Rezz, Swedish House Mafia, Tiësto, and more, all weekend long. SiriusXM will also go behind the scenes and feature exclusive interviews with Ultra performers.
As a result of this, the channel that’s usually known as Diplo’s Revolution (SXM 52) will instead become UMF Radio starting later tonight at 5:00pm ET (2:00pm PT) and will run until Monday, March 27th, pretty much the entire weekend. Monday will be the home of best-of highlights from this year’s event running all day until 12 Midnight ET (9:00pm PT).
Pandora, SiriusXM’s sister unit, already got the party started with Pandora UMF Radio which started this past Monday, March 20th, and will run throughout EDM festival season, which for those who don’t know, is months on end (because you also have other events, such as Electric Daisy Carnival, Tomorrowland, Electric Zoo, and more.).
They’ve already done preview shows yesterday, featuring sets, performances, and interviews from DJs and EDM artists across its lineup of Dance/Electronic channels that are known as SXM Electro.
Dave Matthews Band in Mexico.
If EDM music isn’t your thing, then maybe Dave Matthews Band’s music is.
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds just wrapped up an annual run of shows in Mexico and SiriusXM has been airing them on Dave Matthews Band Radio (SXM 30). The first two concert broadcasts (from 2/17/2023 and 2/18/2023) are already available on the SXM app with the third (from 2/19/2023) premiering tonight at 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT). The following rebroadcasts of that concert are as follows…
Tomorrow, Saturday, March 25th at 11:00am and 5:00pm ET (8:00am and 2:00pm PT)
Sunday, March 26th at 9:00am and 3:00pm ET (6:00am and 12 Noon PT)
Monday, March 27th at 1:00am and 12:00pm ET (10:00pm and 9:00am PT)
Tuesday, March 28th at 4:00pm ET (1:00pm PT; the final rebroadcast)
Sports
Now we get to the sports side of things for this week. Not much honestly as we still have NBA, NHL, and MLS regular seasons still going on with NBA and NHL playoffs coming up quite quickly. This week is the last of MLB Spring Traning before the regular season begins next week, and we still have March Madness taking place as we speak. Other than that, here’s what we got for this week.
🏎️: Formula One is back!
I forgot to mention it in the last edition as it was happening, but Formula One returned a couple of weeks ago for another exciting season and SiriusXM, no surprise here, is the official audio broadcaster of Formula One, one of the world’s most exciting autosports leagues.
The season runs until November and SiriusXM will have ALL Formula One races on ESPN Xtra (SXM 81) which is the BBC Radio Five Live-produced broadcast for each event from start to finish. There is also an exclusive pre- and post-race show on SiriusXM as well called Speed City F1 which airs an hour before and after every race. That’ll also be on ESPN Xtra and so will another program, Wheel to Wheel on Wednesday nights at 7:00pm ET (4:00pm PT).
This year’s schedule will include three races in the United States, one in Miami in May, another in Austin in October, and the final one in Las Vegas in November (which also happens to be the second-to-last race in this year’s Formula One season.).
The season is currently on pause, but they’ll resume next week with another grand prix race from Australia.
⚽: Soccer this week on SXM.
There is some MLS soccer action this week that you’ll be able to hear on SiriusXM F.C. (SXM 157). All three games will be on tomorrow, Saturday, March 25th. You got…
4:55pm ET (1:55pm PT) - L.A. Galaxy vs. Portland Timbers
7:30pm ET (4:30pm PT) - New York Red Bulls vs. Charlotte F.C.
9:30pm ET (6:30pm PT) - St. Louis City SC vs. Real Salt Lake
Not only that, but the new NWSL season is about to begin as well. The National Women’s Soccer League will get going tomorrow as well with SiriusXM carrying one game from the NWSL this week on Sunday, March 26th. That’ll be…
5:00pm ET (2:00pm PT) - Orlando Pride vs. Portland Thorns F.C.
They’ll have a Game of the Week on the channel every week throughout the season. I’ll mention as much as I can in this newsletter as the season progresses.
Oh, and just in time for the season to almost begin, SiriusXM last week announced a new soccer show…
Played In with Heather O’Reilly and Lori Lindsey debuted back on Monday, March 20th, and will air every Monday night at 7:00pm ET (4:00pm PT) on SiriusXM F.C.
The program features former USWNT teammates Heather O’Reilly and Lori Lindsey talking about everything related to women’s soccer, including the U.S. team and international play. The first episode is a preview of the upcoming 2023 NWSL season, as I just mentioned.
O’Reilly competed for the USWNT from 2002-2016, playing 231 times with 47 goals and 55 assists. She’s won three Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012), the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup title, played in the first four years of NWSL’s existence, including winning two NWSL Championships, one with F.C. Kansas City in 2015 and another with North Carolina Courage in 2018, and even spent time with football clubs overseas in London.
Lindsey played for 13 years as a 10-year member of USWNT, representing the team at the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany, helped earn the 2012 Olympic Gold Medal for the team in London, has played in all three U.S. pro women’s soccer leagues (WUSA, WPS, and NWSL), and finished out her career with a championship with the Canberra United of the W-League in Australia back in 2014.
In other words, these two ladies know soccer and are excited to be talking about it every week on SiriusXM F.C.
⛳: PGA Tour is in Texas, y’all.
The PGA Tour is stopping in Texas for the next two weeks, y’all. And this is all pre-tune-ups for the biggest one of all… The Masters. Yes, can’t you believe that is two weeks away?
Anyways, for now, at least, the PGA Tour is in Austin for the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play at the Austin Country Club. This weekend, you’ll be able to hear coverage as usual on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio (SXM 92) on the following…
Second Round: Today, Friday, March 24th at 2:00pm ET (11:00am PT)
Third Round: Tomorrow, Saturday, March 25th at 10:00am ET (7:00am PT)
Fourth and FINAL Round: Sunday, March 26th at 11:00am ET (8:00am PT)
🏎️: NASCAR is also in Texas, y’all!
At the same time the PGA Tour is in town… so is NASCAR. Who knew?
This weekend, they’re also in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas. Here is this weekend’s race schedule, and of course, all of it is on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (SXM 90).
Saturday, March 25th
1:30pm ET (10:30am PT) - NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: XPEL 225
5:00pm ET (2:00pm PT) - NASCAR Xfinity Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series 250
Sunday, March 26th
3:30pm ET (12:30pm PT) - NASCAR Cup Series: EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix
This week’s Driver2Driver channels (online-only)…
A.J. Allmendinger - #16 on SXM 982.
Joey Logano - #22 on SXM 980.
Ross Chastain - #1 on SXM 981.
That’s it for this week’s edition. I’m back at it next week with another new look at the week’s news. In the meantime, I’ll be releasing two more editions this weekend so keep an eye on your inboxes for that.
Again, please bear with me in the meantime as my schedule is still off but I’m getting through it.
Thanks so much for reading and catching up this week. I’ll talk to y’all again tomorrow!
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