BPM - Under Remodel?

[JWPinVA]

Has anyone else noticed the complete lack of jingles/sweepers/positioners/personalities on BPM over the past several days? It's been a total jukebox...one track into the next...

Is Mel doing more cost cutting? Has the BPM crew been shown the door? ???

~JWP

 

[IT_Guru]

Has the music gotten any better? I cancelled XM in Jan. but when I was with a friend of mine who still had it in March, BPM sounded so bad that I couldn't even listen to them for 5 minutes.

 

[TonySantiago]

I've heard that more layoffs were happening.

But on another board (hint: for fans of XM), the outcry for BPM to revert back to pre-merger is getting louder and louder! The one thing that that we are trying to do is to get the powers that be to actually bring back "The Beat". That would take the dance hits/pop/older recurrents out of "BPM" with the hope that the station can bring back the "charts" on the BPM website and keep the sound as edgy as it has been before the merger ruined things. "Area" would remain the same as is.

 

[PhDance]

Tony, again I continue to admire your passion for improving the dance offering on Sirius. I admit I have not read through all the threads on that board, but it certainly seems you are in the minority of people who want to both a) bring back the Beat and b) fix BPM. I think you're sending a completely mixed signal by doing that or a variant of that. From what it seems, most people are on board with fixing BPM, however. It's the "bring back The Beat" part that is very disheartening. Again, Sirius won't dedicate bandwith to even dedicating channels to the different subgenres of Dance as they once did (e.g., breaks==boombox, trance=area, house=house party, ambient=chill). Why would they, then, dedicate two channels to the same positioning (dance hits)?? Regardless of your stand on what you want BPM to do, any executive who doesn't have more than a passing knwoledge of dance music (which I'm betting is all of them) will research The Beat adn find out its positioning is the same as BPM- that is, Dance Hits. They're going to say "appease these fans by making BPM MORE like The Beat". That's the only net effect I see this "campaign" having.

The reality of it is that BPM right now _IS_ The Beat. It's the same recurrents, same out of place selections (new wave, Bananarama, Aretha Franklin(!!)), reliance on remixes (waiting for them to bring back "Remixes on the Sixes") and lack of liners. I'm sorry, but if Sirius wanted my opinion on another channel to bring back- I have a few I'd like to see, but The Beat is VERY last on that list. I would, however, support bringing some of the recurrents from The Beat over to Strobe (esp the new wave or Bananarama or Madonna's).

I would think that it would be ideal for us to have a unified goal in the message we try to send Sirius' higher ups. We should think of ourselves as triage nurses, though. Let's face it, BPM (and the rest of the dance offerings on Sirius XM) is (are) [a] very sick patient(s). Just as the triage nurse who doesn't bring every patient in the e.r. in at once, we need to focus on one or two core suggestions. Right now, it's fix BPM by removing anything that isn't a reflection of the current (that's April 26,2009) top airplay charts for Dance (that's Dance, and not alternative nor pop). That is what I expect from a channel billing itself as Sirius' home for Dance HITS. Once that is accomplished, I'm with you on trying to bring back another channel or modifying Strobe's product mix.

You've got quite a voice and a way for mobilizing people, Tony. All I hope for is that you consider these thoughts.

 

[nd2023]

Why not just simulcast Pulse 87 on Sirius XM? Put it on XM channel 87 ;-)

 

[radiodog2]

Why not just simulcast Pulse 87 on Sirius XM? Put it on XM channel 87 ;-)

That space belongs to the Verge XM 87.

 

[JWPinVA]

Interestingly, late yesterday evening I started hearing positioners/imaging again and at least two different personalities throughout the day. Maybe everyone just had the last few days off and left BPM on autopilot.

I have to say that I (think) agree with PhDance. Pre-merger, The Beat was a trainwreck. The channel was completely unfocused with lots of tracks that just didn't belong. I recall one long drive across Texas in a rented Jeep Grand Cherokee and remember hearing "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama (on the dance station???) TWICE in the same afternoon and immediately considered the possibility that I'd suffered a mild stroke.

The BPM of old (pre-merger, Alan Freed timeframe) was laser focused on TODAY'S DANCE HITS. They were lean, mean and clean to the theme of the format. Every once in a great while they'd drop in some gold (carefully selected, surrounded by bumper imaging to make it clear - I think they used the term "Backspin" to highlight their gold), but for the most part they were completely focused on the currents and re-currents. They even took the time to chart what they were playing, and built a show around that chart. It was personality driven and very high quality - and it's what kept me as an XM subscriber for a very long time.

<sigh> I wish we could somehow get back to that, but I fear that with the cost axe constantly in motion in the house that Mel built, we'll never be able to get back to that quality of broadcasting. :'(

 

[TonySantiago]

Tony, again I continue to admire your passion for improving the dance offering on Sirius. I admit I have not read through all the threads on that board, but it certainly seems you are in the minority of people who want to both a) bring back the Beat and b) fix BPM. I think you're sending a completely mixed signal by doing that or a variant of that. From what it seems, most people are on board with fixing BPM, however. It's the "bring back The Beat" part that is very disheartening. Again, Sirius won't dedicate bandwith to even dedicating channels to the different subgenres of Dance as they once did (e.g., breaks==boombox, trance=area, house=house party, ambient=chill). Why would they, then, dedicate two channels to the same positioning (dance hits)?? Regardless of your stand on what you want BPM to do, any executive who doesn't have more than a passing knwoledge of dance music (which I'm betting is all of them) will research The Beat adn find out its positioning is the same as BPM- that is, Dance Hits. They're going to say "appease these fans by making BPM MORE like The Beat". That's the only net effect I see this "campaign" having.

The reality of it is that BPM right now _IS_ The Beat. It's the same recurrents, same out of place selections (new wave, Bananarama, Aretha Franklin(!!)), reliance on remixes (waiting for them to bring back "Remixes on the Sixes") and lack of liners. I'm sorry, but if Sirius wanted my opinion on another channel to bring back- I have a few I'd like to see, but The Beat is VERY last on that list. I would, however, support bringing some of the recurrents from The Beat over to Strobe (esp the new wave or Bananarama or Madonna's).

I would think that it would be ideal for us to have a unified goal in the message we try to send Sirius' higher ups. We should think of ourselves as triage nurses, though. Let's face it, BPM (and the rest of the dance offerings on Sirius XM) is (are) [a] very sick patient(s). Just as the triage nurse who doesn't bring every patient in the e.r. in at once, we need to focus on one or two core suggestions. Right now, it's fix BPM by removing anything that isn't a reflection of the current (that's April 26,2009) top airplay charts for Dance (that's Dance, and not alternative nor pop). That is what I expect from a channel billing itself as Sirius' home for Dance HITS. Once that is accomplished, I'm with you on trying to bring back another channel or modifying Strobe's product mix.

You've got quite a voice and a way for mobilizing people, Tony. All I hope for is that you consider these thoughts.

Unlike what appears to "cries unheard" on the BPM board on Facebook, I am listening to everyone's thoughts on this. I have been getting e-mails, phone calls, chats to consider what we have to do and I REALLY AM listening and taking everyone's thoughts into account.

I do understand why people would feel apprehensive about my thoughts on this. I had Sirius and HATED "The Beat" with a passion. However, there were fans of that station (though admittedly I have seen very few speak for its behalf). The only reason why i would suggest "The Beat" to return is so all of those pop-remixes/recurrents can go there while BPM would stay on the edgier currents that we all love and hope to get to some pre-merger point, and "Area" is left alone. To have "The Beat" with "BPM" was a mistake because of the differing programming philosophies and that is the message we have to convey to the execs, that "The Beat" AND "BPM" are different, despite being "dance" and by combining both, it was a mistake and pushing on that further would get more subscribers to cancel.

Someone on that forum said "The Beat" should be pop, and I am inclined to agree with that person. No different than having two "pop" stations that sound similar on Sirius XM (as is the case with 20 on 20 and Kiss XM21). That would be the ONLY reason why "The Beat" should exist....especially for those not as "advanced" in dance music as those of us are here in this forum. Let that be "dance 101" and people can "graduate" to "BPM" when ready. They could make "The Beat" that women-friendly, 'KTU sounding station while we have our fanbase. But agreed, "BPM" HAS to be fixed, and right now it is in the "emergency room" basically on life support.

I also think "The System/Boombox" and "The Move" should come back as well....but at this point, one step at a time.

I am going to try something first and if that gets us nowhere, I do have a "Plan B" and that gets all of us involved!

 

[PhDance]

Great posts, Tony and JWPinVA. Tony, I'm actually glad you brought up XM21 Kiss; I say this half jokingly, but I've almost got a better chance of hearing newer dance music (if you count remixes) on Kiss than BPM! Having said that, I wouldn't want to discount Kiss as an option for someone looking for a safe pop dance station (which also plays dance leaning hip hop).

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

I'll Chime IN:

I am content w/ bpm!
yes, im "serious" and no i am not endorsed to
say this; i listen to baseball...on xm,
(for those that dont know, i LOVE) dance,and local radio..
-
i will put my xm_on and turn to 'regular radio' to have an update for the
score...(baseball), or radio/CD on - and leave it on bpm, and when
a song is ON! i want to hear / pause the CD/terrestial FM, and
ease drop...then switch back...

Here is the reason why:
when i was a new subscriber to xm
i listened all the time, enjoyed backspins
w/bouche(?sp/sry)...but NOT the
ferry corsten(?sp) top10/countdown...
-
i listened to BPM/alot!*(near alan F,preMerger era),
and yes it SIZZLED *BUT
....wasnt for me....exactly.

-until the VERY NEW SONG, that was premiered on bpm,
made its way to z103/toronto...wkse/buffalo, on the
weekend mix show...(8 months later)...

-also: the BPM/liners, TOH ID's, position statements, etc..
ya hear 'em, over and over, (Well,that is every station)...
and xm/81 was no execption.

 

[IT_Guru]

I also think "The System/Boombox" and "The Move" should come back as well....but at this point, one step at a time.

Tony, I am so glad you mentioned that you think The System should come back. Before subscribing to XM in 2004, I listened to the dance channel offerings on both Sirius and XM for several hours and found that the dance music was far superior on XM. The main stations I listened to were BPM, Chrome and The System pre-merger but after the changes to the channel lineup on Nov. 12, 2008 I felt like I had been "screwed" as an XM subscriber. That day to my dissatisfaction I found that we went from having 5 dance channels down to only 3 and even they were so bad I couldn't stand to listen to any of them for more than 5 minutes.

I gave Sirius/XM until the middle of January to see if they would fix things and even though they gave us back The Strobe, it just wasn't enough to make me want to continue paying for the service.

At this point, the only way I would even consider resubscribing to XM would be if BPM was brought back to the way it was pre-merger and the Alan Freed days as well as bringing back The System. I appreciate every thing you are trying to do to help make the dance channels better.

 

[TonySantiago]

Tony, I am so glad you mentioned that you think The System should come back. Before subscribing to XM in 2004, I listened to the dance channel offerings on both Sirius and XM for several hours and found that the dance music was far superior on XM. The main stations I listened to were BPM, Chrome and The System pre-merger but after the changes to the channel lineup on Nov. 12, 2008 I felt like I had been "screwed" as an XM subscriber. That day to my dissatisfaction I found that we went from having 5 dance channels down to only 3 and even they were so bad I couldn't stand to listen to any of them for more than 5 minutes.

I gave Sirius/XM until the middle of January to see if they would fix things and even though they gave us back The Strobe, it just wasn't enough to make me want to continue paying for the service.

At this point, the only way I would even consider resubscribing to XM would be if BPM was brought back to the way it was pre-merger and the Alan Freed days as well as bringing back The System. I appreciate every thing you are trying to do to help make the dance channels better.

Thank you, but you know, it's about US! Everything you and others tell me I take into consideration and want to do what is right. But with everyone's help, WE can make a big impact. Heck, all I am doing is "coordinating". It's about everyone taking action and in that sense we are all in the same boat

If SXM for some reason DOES listen and subscriptions pick up again with the dance offerings, as things go back to what they were (at least with "The Beat" - to satisfy those fans that may not be as core as us - and a pre-merger sounding "BPM") at that point it would be the right time to approach about "The System".

There IS a sizable crowd that loves dance music. We just have to let them know

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

Think, bpm is...well not "fixed" but
at least - tolerable- for the true,
passionate dance fan * and for me,
it is enjoyable, the POP/cross-over/covers,
are at a mininium....