So When Are The New Regional Talk Channels Coming On?

[JoeMorris]

Any idea from anybody on here as to WHEN the new regional talk channels (134-139) will start airing on XM? Also, is there any idea as to which stations have been selected?

 

[arnoldevns]

I think they have been purposefully vague about this. The original press release said something to the effect that the new channels would appear "over the summer" - or "next few months" - something like that.

My guess is they're trying to figure out what stations to air and trying to work out deals with some talent to make it happen.

 

[marker102]

The original press release said something to the effect that the new channels would appear "over the summer" - or "next few months" - something like that.

"Late Spring / Early Summer" was the term they used (back in March). So technically they have a few more weeks....then they better get going. Though it is Clear Channel we're talking about here.

 

[CTListener]

For what it's worth, all references to the regional news/talk channels have been deleted from the latest .pdf channel lineup at xmradio.com. The Oprah & Friends channels is still listed as "coming in September," so this isn't just a case of XM limiting what it advertises on its lineup page to channels that actually exist. No press release has been issued since the original announcement, so your guess is as good as mine if these channels will ever appear, but it certainly seems that the spring/summer scenario has been abandoned.

I've wondered from the outset how Clear Channel is going to fill its regional channel for the Northeast. Boston and New York have no locally originated Clear Channel talk programming, and Hartford has only a limited amount, all sports talk on WPOP. I'd imagine the Northeast channel would have to carry some VERY local talk from such stations as WHYN Springfield, WELI New Haven and WGY Schenectady just to make a go of it, unless CC's play is to originate satellite-only programming for underserved areas (yeah, right).

 

[XMFan1]

"Late spring/early summer" is still on the Regional News and Talk Page

 

[JoeMorris]

For what it's worth, all references to the regional news/talk channels have been deleted from the latest .pdf channel lineup at xmradio.com....

No press release has been issued since the original announcement, so your guess is as good as mine if these channels will ever appear, but it certainly seems that the spring/summer scenario has been abandoned.

I just went to look at the .pdf again, and THEY ARE OFF THE TABLE. Wow! I didn't see that coming. I was waiting anxiously for those channels (134-139) to appear. But now it looks like they won't...for now anyways.

 

[CTListener]

There's a posting over at XMFan.com that reports remarks by a Clear Channel exec at a shareholders meeting. Basically, the exec said CC is not bullish on satellite radio anymore and would rather focus its efforts on HD Radio, which he thinks will explode once the manufacturers come down below the $100 price barrier. The sat-radio growth slowdown probably has a lot to do with that sort of thinking.

The impression the poster got was that CC doesn't give a crap about the proposed regional news/talk channels anymore, since satellite radio is in the process of "jumping the shark," if it hasn't done so already.

 

[AZJoe]

Its actually terrestrial radio that has "jumped the shark' and HD so far is a bust... signal doesnt reach as far, the quality and bleedover is bad.... ahhh such a pity.

 

[The-Major]

Hearing that satellite radio has 'jumped the shark' in 2006 sounds very familiar to what I heard about 20 years ago in 1986 - that Cable TV had 'jumped the shark'.

The Hollywood movie industry apparently 'jumped the shark' as well way back during the early-1950s when the popularity of television exploded !

THE MAJOR

 

[arnoldevns]

Hearing that satellite radio has 'jumped the shark' in 2006 sounds very familiar to what I heard about 20 years ago in 1986 - that Cable TV had 'jumped the shark'.

The Hollywood movie industry apparently 'jumped the shark' as well way back during the early-1950s when the popularity of television exploded !

THE MAJOR

I don't recall anyone saying cable was headed downhill in 1986. (FYI - the term "Jumped The Shark" comes from a website that's less than 10 years old)

Here's the thing about satellite radio: there were a lot of people who saw the explosive growth of XM over the past few years and figured it would continue at the same rate for years to come. That was just plain silly. Early on, Sirius was not much of a competitor for XM. Now they are. As XM's growth rate slowed, Sirius' growth rate increased. Overall, the growth of satellite radio is probably not quite what it used to be, but it is still quite strong.

Like HDTV, satellite radio is still a very new technology for most of the public. When it matures, I suspect it will be a very big player in the overall radio industry.

Clear Channel invested in satellite early on as a defensive measure. Now they want a return on their investment. That's why they've started the commercials on some channels and tried to do these regional talk channels. I suspect the trouble in figuring out how to do those talk channels is why they have abandoned those efforts.

 

[The-Major]

I don't recall anyone saying cable was headed downhill in 1986.

I do. I remember when video stores were popping up everywhere during the early-to-middle-1980s. Suddenly movie lovers no longer had to wait for their favourite movies to show up on (any given) cable station. They could simply walk, run, bicycle, or drive to their neighbourhood video store, rent a few flicks for the night, return home, and pop them in to their brand new state-of-the-art VHS VCR. There was no need for Cable TV. It had 'jumped the shark' per se. The video revolution had arrived !

(FYI - the term "Jumped The Shark" comes from a website that's less than 10 years old)

TRUE - But the actual phrase 'jump the shark' refers to the particular "Happy Days" episodes of about 29 years ago, and television critics and other related occupations and outlets of the media were using the phrase (or variations of it) as early as the early-1980s to describe anything that had run its course, peaked, and was on its way back down again. I was personally using the phrase as early as 1988, and I obviously heard it from somewhere on TV or the radio. The web site you mention merely 'jumped on the bandwagon' in 1997. Perhaps the web site 'jumped the shark' as soon as it was launched ?

Here's the thing about satellite radio: there were a lot of people who saw the explosive growth of XM over the past few years and figured it would continue at the same rate for years to come. That was just plain silly. Early on, Sirius was not much of a competitor for XM. Now they are. As XM's growth rate slowed, Sirius' growth rate increased. Overall, the growth of satellite radio is probably not quite what it used to be, but it is still quite strong. Like HDTV, satellite radio is still a very new technology for most of the public. When it matures, I suspect it will be a very big player in the overall radio industry.

I totally agree with you. Satellite radio has not 'jumped the shark'. I also don't think that old-fashioned terrestrial radio has 'jumped the shark'. It's been in existence for exactly 100 years (this year), and it'll be around infinitely.

THE MAJOR

 

[jegrant]

If there is actually some bandwidth reserved for Clear Channel sitting idle on XM, maybe they could find a few formats at their "HD Format Lab" that don't duplicate XM's existing offerings, and stick those up. Commercials or no, I'd be interested in more format variety.

 

[livingfruitvirus]

If there is actually some bandwidth reserved for Clear Channel sitting idle on XM, maybe they could find a few formats at their "HD Format Lab" that don't duplicate XM's existing offerings, and stick those up. Commercials or no, I'd be interested in more format variety.

I don't think Clear Channel wants to give XM that opportunity.

 

[CTListener]

According to a couple of posters at xmfan.com, Jon Zellner is now sending out a form-letter e-mail to people who inquire about the regional talkers, telling them that Clear Channel ("one of our content partners") decided to deep-six the project several months ago and has no definite plans for the bandwidth, which I guess will just remain idle -- and off limits to XM itself -- until the contract ends.

Lowry Mays and his boys must be having a good, evil giggle over all the headaches and bad publicity they're causing for their XM "partners" -- kind of like kids laughing as they burn ants with a magnifying glass!

 

[arnoldevns]

According to a couple of posters at xmfan.com, Jon Zellner is now sending out a form-letter e-mail to people who inquire about the regional talkers, telling them that Clear Channel ("one of our content partners") decided to deep-six the project several months ago and has no definite plans for the bandwidth, which I guess will just remain idle -- and off limits to XM itself -- until the contract ends.

Lowry Mays and his boys must be having a good, evil giggle over all the headaches and bad publicity they're causing for their XM "partners" -- kind of like kids laughing as they burn ants with a magnifying glass!

Wonder what it would take for XM to nix that contract and get their bandwidth back? It seems to me that they had to have some kind of agreement to actually provide programming, not just keep XM from using bandwidth.

 

[livingfruitvirus]

Wonder what it would take for XM to nix that contract and get their bandwidth back?

I don't think XM can do much except try to buy their way out of the contract, which isn't really the best thing to do. I read that Clear Channel has the option to settle in cash to escape the deal, but I think both companies will just play the waiting game. Clear Channel seems to only see this as a way to squeeze out some more money from advertisers.

 

[CTListener]

Wonder what it would take for XM to nix that contract and get their bandwidth back?

I don't think XM can do much except try to buy their way out of the contract, which isn't really the best thing to do. I read that Clear Channel has the option to settle in cash to escape the deal, but I think both companies will just play the waiting game. Clear Channel seems to only see this as a way to squeeze out some more money from advertisers.

Well gee, they've got 1,200 AM and FM stations in a ton of markets with zillions of listeners a day, and they're all trying to squeeze as much money out of their advertisers as they can. Why shouldn't their XM channels, with their relatively puny potential audience of 6+ million, be doing the same thing?

Obviously, programming six regional news/talk stations would require much more time and money from Clear Channel than inputting playlists for four mainstream music formats into a computer would, and that might be part of the reason the project was dropped. But I have a feeling the fact that Clear Channel just doesn't do much news/talk programming in certain areas of the country may have figured into the decision as well. The Northeast channel, for instance, would have to use local-yokel shows from places like Springfield and New Haven and Schenectady instead of using A-list talk from Boston and New York, because CC doesn't do locally originated talk in either Boston or New York.

It's too bad this had to happen. It was the one really good thing that I thought would come out of the arbitration loss. Now we're stuck with WLW, WSIX and four music formats that XM was forced to create clones of just so Sirius couldn't put its negative spin machine into high gear and come down on XM for not having as much commercial-free music as the Dog.

 

[livingfruitvirus]

It's too bad this had to happen. It was the one really good thing that I thought would come out of the arbitration loss. Now we're stuck with WLW, WSIX and four music formats that XM was forced to create clones of just so Sirius couldn't put its negative spin machine into high gear and come down on XM for not having as much commercial-free music as the Dog.

Fox Sports Radio, Extreme XM, and Talk Radio are also Clear Channel controlled channels on XM.

 

[CTListener]

It's too bad this had to happen. It was the one really good thing that I thought would come out of the arbitration loss. Now we're stuck with WLW, WSIX and four music formats that XM was forced to create clones of just so Sirius couldn't put its negative spin machine into high gear and come down on XM for not having as much commercial-free music as the Dog.

Fox Sports Radio, Extreme XM, and Talk Radio are also Clear Channel controlled channels on XM.

Right, but they've been on XM for a while. The others appeared after XM took CC to arbitration and lost.

 

[TheDingo]

There's a posting over at XMFan.com that reports remarks by a Clear Channel exec at a shareholders meeting. Basically, the exec said CC is not bullish on satellite radio anymore and would rather focus its efforts on HD Radio, which he thinks will explode once the manufacturers come down below the $100 price barrier. The sat-radio growth slowdown probably has a lot to do with that sort of thinking.

The impression the poster got was that CC doesn't give a crap about the proposed regional news/talk channels anymore, since satellite radio is in the process of "jumping the shark," if it hasn't done so already.

good, that bandwidth can go to a better use anyway.