TBT #04: Sirius Satellite Radio from 2007 (Part 2)
This is part 2 of the lookback from an old 2007 Sirius lineup.
Sunday, July 10th, 2022
Hello to all and welcome to the Throwback Thursday newsletter, on a Sunday this week. Due to some unforeseen circumstances that have thrown me on a loop that I needed to take care of right away, this had to be delayed to today.
However, we will get to it now as we take a look at an old lineup of Sirius Satellite Radio from 2007.
Yes, I will get to Howard Stern in this part since this is Part 2, looking at categories from Latin and World, all the way to Adult.
So, let’s go back to what satellite radio used to be like when there was competition.
Once again, I will offer a key or a legend as they call it. In other words… Notes to keep an eye out for when looking through this lineup.
Legend…
♦ = Stations that were available on Sirius Internet Radio
○ (any circle; light or dark) or ◊ = May be preempted for sports coverage.
Latin/World
This is an interesting category because there’s not much of a world category these days on the service. You’ll see why after seeing some of the channels since they’re all over the place in terms of its replacements.
Universo Latino ♦ was on Channel 90. Home to Today’s Latin pop, this is pretty much today's Caliente which is on Channel 151.
Rumbon ♦ was on Channel 92. This was Spanish Tropical / Reggaeton, in which most of that music today is also on Caliente.
Bande a part ● was on Channel 93. This is new French-language music that was a service of SRC: Societe Radio-Canada. It was discontinued in 2013 and has not been replaced since.
CBC Radio 3 ● was on Channel 94. Home to original Canadian indie music, the service still exists today in the Canadian category on Channel 162.
Iceberg ● was on Channel 95. Home to Canadian adult alternative music, its still around today but now only on streaming plans on Channel 758.
Reggae Rhythms ♦ was on Channel 97. Lots of Roots reggae, dancehall, and dub that’s currently not heard on the service today actually. The format has been reduced to just Reggae today and is now known as The Joint and only on streaming plans on Channel 722.
Final note… this is just a very weird category featuring music that’s not heard on the service anymore. Most of the Canadian channels are still around, of course, thanks to the Canadian category that was opened up after the merger.
Howard Stern
The King of All Media and still the only SiriusXM personality today, to not just have their own channel, but two of their own. Both are still around today, though programs on the channel have varied over the years.
Howard 100 ♦ is still the original that carries the show all day, though it used to be live from 6-10 a.m. ET (2-6 a.m. PT) weekday mornings. That has since shifted by an hour later to 7-11 a.m. ET (3-7 a.m. PT). It used to carry the live Wraupup show but that’s since been moved over to Howard 101.
Howard 101 ♦ carries the live west coast feed of the show from 7-11 a.m. PT (10 a.m.-1 p.m. ET) plus other shows like the Wrapup and Sternthology. Before, it used to carry Bubba the Love Sponge, related specials and Scott Ferrall. All are no longer there on the channel’s lineup.
I won’t say more. Howard Stern is still a dominant figure today.
Comedy/Talk
This was a merged category back then, but that’s no longer the case, which is weird to think about in today’s day and age, proof of how small the channels were for each subcategory before they’ve since exploded as a result of the SiriusXM merger.
Sirius Stars ♦ was on Channel 102. Home of original talk shows, including from celebrities, this is now known as SiriusXM Stars, located on Channel 109 which is also an XL channel.
Blue Collar Comedy ♦ was on Channel 103. Comedy for the working man, featuring comedians such as Larry The Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy. As a matter of fact, those two run today’s version, known as Jeff and Larry’s Comedy Roundup, which can be found on Channel 97, which is an XL channel.
Raw Dog Comedy ♦ was on Channel 104. Home to some of the filthiest comedy out there, its still around and still as an XL channel as a result on Channel 99.
Laugh Break ♦ was on Channel 105. This was the safe version as meant as Comedy for the whole family. Its still on the air today as Laugh USA and on Channel 98. Its the only comedy channel that doesn’t have an XL designation.
The Foxxhole ● was on Channel 106. For such a long time, Jamie Foxx had his own Sirius channel and really was one of the first celebrities to have their own channel. As a matter of fact, this pamphlet said Coming Soon on this channel which was back in February of 2007. It was in 2018 when the channel went off the air after an eleven-year run and it hasn’t been replaced since.
E! Entertainment Radio ○ was on Channel 107. Home to gossip, Hollywood, and celebrity news, the channel went off the air as a result of the merger. Not a surprise it hasn’t returned since.
Maxim ♦ was on Channel 108. All about girls, comedy, sports, and music, it has had a long run since coming on the air in 2005. Back in 2008, it became a second channel of the SiriusXM Stars franchise with SiriusXM Stars Too. But, in 2013, it became known as Indie featuring a mainly independent alternative talk format, but no word today as to what happened to the channel.
OutQ ♦ was on Channel 109. Gay and lesbian news and entertainment was featured here, then it later became Sirius OutQ, and finally, SiriusXM OutQ before being dropped and closed in 2016. No replacement for it since.
Court TV Plus ○ was on Channel 110. Yes, Court TV was on it, and while the original version was shuttered, a new Court TV was born back in 2019. However, that new version is now on today’s service as the original version was shuttered in 2008 to make way for TruTV.
Final note… there are two categories now that separate these channels, Comedy, and Entertainment. Just the way it belongs.
Women/Family/Kids
Again, another category that’s all over the mess and since separated. Maybe a good idea back then to have them all together, but now… yeah, not a good look. Its all over the place.
Cosmo Radio ♦ was on Channel 111. Fun, fearless, and female, it was originally aired for Sirius at first before being added to XM as part of the merger. However, it went off the air in 2013, and no replacement has been found for it since.
Martha Stewart Living Radio ♦ was on Channel 112. All about cooking and how-to for living, it was launched in 2006 and then became a part of the merger. But just like the previous channel, it too went off the air in 2013 and has not been replaced since.
Lime ● was on Channel 114. Wow. A channel not many people surely remember but it delivered health-related programming. It was discontinued in 2007, 15 years ago. Do you think you’d remember? Probably not. The closest replacement for this that I can think of is Doctor Radio on Channel 110.
Radio Disney ● was on Channel 115. Now here’s a channel that everybody remembered, yet was one of those channels where a few years ago, it wanted to get out of business. So it did, and it hasn’t been replaced since.
Kids Stuff ♦ was on Channel 116. Home to great music and stories for toddlers and kids, its still on the air today but as a result of the merger between this channel and XM Kids, its now known as Kids Place LIVE and can be found on Channel 78.
Radio Classics ○ was on Channel 118. Home to the classic golden age radio shows back when ABC, CBS, NBC, and Mutual (you young whippersnappers don’t know what Mutual was. TL;DR - Mutual used to be one of the big four radio networks during its heyday. It hasn’t existed since 1999, 23 years now) were providing a full-service slate of shows when radio was in its most popular time during the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. Today, its still on the air but is now on Channel 148.
Discovery Channel Radio ○ was on Channel 119. Home to pretty much a simulcast of Discovery Channel, it went off the air in 2007, a year before the merger, and was never replaced since.
Final note… wow. As you can tell, all channels are pretty much defunct, with the exception of two channels… Kids Stuff, which is now Kids Place Live, and Radio Classics. The rest are either defunct or have since gone out of business. It shows that this category is no longer popular today. As a matter of fact, those two surviving channels are now under the Family and Entertainment categories.
Sports
Here comes the sports category. Its pretty obvious to see that it has expanded immensely since the merger, but when Sirius was just a service of its own, channels were few and far between.
ESPN Radio ● was on Channel 120. Not a surprise, its still on the air today but is now on Channel 80.
ESPNews ○ was on Channel 121. Its not a surprise either that ESPNews no longer airs a 24/7 sports news format. So, instead, you got ESPN Xtra on Channel 81.
Sports 1 ○ was on Channel 122. This was the early stage of what is now known as today’s Sports Play-by-Play channels that were pretty much migrated over from XM.
Sports Action ○ was on Channel 123. I couldn’t find anything regarding this channel, but the format was Sports talk and Play-by-Play so the programming here is spread around through a mixture of regular sports channels and the Sports Play-by-Play channels.
Sirius NFL Radio ◊ was on Channel 124. This was one of the flagship offerings of the Sirius Sports selections. Today, its still around but is now known as SiriusXM NFL Radio, thanks to the merger. You can find it on Channel 88.
Sirius NBA Radio ○ was on Channel 127. Another one of Sirius’ great sports offerings. Its still on the air today as SiriusXM NBA Radio and that’s on Channel 86.
Sirius NASCAR Radio ○ was on Channel 128. Its different from the NASCAR offerings that XM offered separately. Today, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio is on Channel 90 and still offers in-race car driver audio on select weekends, up to three at any given time.
Hardcore Sports ○ was on Channel 186. This was a service of theScore Canada, later rebranded as theScore Satellite Radio. But while the brand still exists as a top-rated sports app, it no longer operates this station, as it went defunct in 2011, nor its sports television network which went defunct in 2013 in favor of selling it to Rogers and turning it into today’s Sportsnet 360.
Final note… as you can see, major changes but the majority of channels are still around today. Its funny to see ESPNews there but it no longer serves its mission today.
News
Now here’s the news-heavy category. All of them are still around today in some way, shape, or form, with very few exceptions.
CNBC ● was on Channel 129. Its still there today but on Channel 112.
Bloomberg Radio ○ was on Channel 130. Its still there today but on Channel 119. This one is not a full simulcast of Bloomberg Television, but rather its own service with simulcasts at times.
FOX News ● was on Channel 131. The simulcast is still there but now on Channel 114.
CNN ♦ was on Channel 132. Still there, but now on Channel 116.
CNN Headline News ● was on Channel 133. Still there, but now on Channel 117 and way different from the format it used to air back then.
NPR NOW ● was on Channel 134. NPR used to have two different services for satellite radio, this being one of them. This was more of NPR’s news and headlines service where you’d hear Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Here and NOW, and more. Now, that programming has been merged with those from NPR Talk to create one single NPR channel today on Channel 122.
NPR Talk ● was on Channel 135. This is the other one of NPR’s services for satellite radio, this being their talk and analysis service, compromising of Tell Me More, Talk to the Nation, The Dian Rehm Show, and more. As already mentioned, programming here has been merged with NPR NOW to form one single NPR channel.
CBC Radio One ● was on Channel 137. One of CBC Canada’s services, this network is a straight simulcast of the one in Canada with a few exceptions since the network allows local stations to carry local programs while this is a pan-national SiriusXM feed to carry more national programming in place of those local programs. Its still available today but on Channel 169.
Premiere Plus ● was on Channel 138. This is the French version of CBC Radio One, but it also offers a special feed for SiriusXM to air national programs in place of local ones. You can still find it on Channel 170 under its current name, ICI Radio-Canada Premiere.
WRN ● was on Channel 140. While its still around today as the World Radio Network, it no longer airs on the service. A GREAT replacement for it is PRX - the Public Radio Exchange on Channel 123. It airs programs and podcasts similar to those you hear on NPR as it and NPR are both major public radio platforms and providers.
BBC World Service ● was on Channel 141. Its still around today but is now on Channel 120. This is the special SiriusXM feed of the network as the broadcaster provides several different feeds depending on where you are in the world.
ABC News ○ was on Channel 143. Its still one of the only big four news operations, outside of FOX News, to have its own channel on Sirius. It was also known as ABC News and Talk for a time, but since 2007, it has been discontinued and no replacement has been added since.
Final note… a side note to the last channel: will ABC News come back with its simulcast of ABC News Live or will CBS and NBC have their streaming channels of their own (CBS News and NBC News NOW, respectively) finally come to SiriusXM? We have talked about this before, but nothing has come through tuition yet. Only time will tell…
Talk
This was a separate category back then, but mainly the same channels you’ll find here are still on with the exception of one.
Sirius Patriot ◊ was on Channel 144. Conservative/Right-Leaning Talk. Today, its now known as SiriusXM Patriot and is on Channel 125.
FOX News Talk ● was on Channel 145. Talk radio from FOX News, the network discontinued the service back in 2019 and was never replaced on the lineup.
Sirius Left ◊ was on Channel 146. Liberal/Left-Leaning Talk. Today, its now known as SiriusXM Progress and is on Channel 127.
Road Dog Trucking Network ○ was on Channel 147. This is the network that survived past the SiriusXM merger and is still on the air today. It can be found in just one channel spot under, Channel 146.
Final note… not need to say more. All of these channels are still on today with the exception of FOX News Talk which no longer exists. The political channels are on Politics while Road Dog is under Entertainment. Just please talk politics civilly. Its hard to see discussions around it with anger and hatred now these days.
Sirius Traffic and Weather
Here are the channels you can never get online because they’ve never been available online. Not back then, not even today… Sirius’ own traffic and weather channels. The pamphlet doesn’t say who powers the traffic and weather for each segment, but safe to assume it had credible traffic and weather sources to power these channels, 24 hours a day. Also notice here, unlike XM where each market had its own channel, Sirius had some of the markets jointly together, I guess as a way to save some bandwidth or something. Anyways, here are the markets that were available back then…
New York City • was on Channel 148. Its now on Channel 133.
Philadelphia/Boston • was on Channel 149. Its now merged with D.C. to form Channel 134.
Los Angeles • was on Channel 150. Its now on Channel 136.
Chicago/St. Louis • was on Channel 151. Chicago is now merged with Dallas and Detroit to form Channel 135 while St. Louis is no longer served.
Baltimore/Washington ○ was on Channel 152. Baltimore is no longer served while D.C. is with Philly and Boston.
Miami/Atlanta ○ was on Channel 153. Both markets are no longer served.
Dallas/Houston • was on Channel 154. Dallas is now with Chicago and Detroit while Houston is gone.
Detroit/Las Vegas ○ was on Channel 155. Detroit, as mentioned, is with Chicago and Detroit while Las Vegas is out from the service.
San Francisco/Seattle • was on Channel 156. Both markets are no longer served.
Phoenix/San Diego • was on Channel 157. Both markets are no longer served.
Orlando/Tampa ○ was on Channel 158. Both markets are no longer served.
Out of all of these channels offered as you see here, there was actually some exclusives between both services. XM had Pittsburgh and Minneapolis/St. Paul as its exclusive market while Sirius had its exclusive market on Las Vegas. Other than that, all the other markets were available on both services, just offered differently to fit their needs.
Religion
This section is pretty one of the smallest, still to this day. What’s more amazing is that all three channels are still available on Channels 129-131.
The Catholic Channel ◊ was on Channel 159.
EWTN ♦ was on Channel 160.
Christian Talk ● was on Channel 161.
Nothing has really changed with the exception of adding The Billy Graham Channel years later to Channel 460.
News/Public Radio
Again, another interesting category is listed here because this is like the other category in the main News category, except they put it here since I guess there was no space to put it in the main category? I’m not sure why but oh well. This was mainly other-language news, weather, sports, and information.
ESPN Deportes Radio ○ was on Channel 181. Sports radio in Spanish, the network actually went off the air back in 2019 and the service hasn’t been replaced since.
BBC Mundo ● was on Channel 182. Yes, there was a Spanish-language version of the BBC World Service. However, it was dropped in 2006 and it hasn’t been replaced since.
Radio Korea ● was on Channel 183. This service still exists today but is now known as Korea Today and is on Channel 144.
Sirius Weather and Emergency ● was on Channel 184. It was similar to the XM effort offered there as well. It became SiriusXM Weather and Emergency after the merger but it was discontinued just two years later in 2010. No, it hasn’t been replaced since.
Final note… its weird to see all these channels together in one group when pretty much all channels, except for one, are no longer on the air. They would’ve been better positioned in their respective categories had these former channels still survived today.
Playboy
Yep… Playboy had a section all to its own with just their one and only channel. However, if you wanted this channel, you would have to first activate it for free via the internet or your telephone, weird to think about it but it makes sense now that smartphones have come into existence.
Playboy Radio ♦ was on Channel 198. It was free but needed to be activated first, which makes sense, to avoid you know, unwanted moments of children listening to the channel. XM also offered it but you had to pay $2.99/month for it. Playboy had a long run on satellite radio before finally going off-air for good in 2017.
And that’s it. It took me forever to get to it, but there you go. Part 2 of our look back from 2007. Thanks for being patient with me and there’ll be another Throwback Thursday newsletter next week, and hopefully on Thursday too.
If you have any old lineups, videos, or audio of the service that I want to showcase for my subscribers here, then email them to me at roly4266@gmail.com. Also, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or news tips, send those my way as well.
Thanks so very much for reading the newsletter this week. Back on Thursday with another Throwback Thursday newsletter, and I’ll talk to y’all then.
SeriousXM is a newsletter service of TheRolyPoly Productions.
