Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI): The Year In Review Part 3 -- The Year Of Music

Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI): The Year In Review Part 3 — The Year Of Music

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Posted 31 Dec 2010
Category Sirius XM (SIRI) News

This is part 3 of a multi-part review of the milestones and achievements of Sirius XM during 2010.

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By Brian Newman Rayl

Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) plays host to many commercial free music channels with a large variety of categories and niches. The amount of music programming on the air is truly phenomenal and the content that Sirius XM provided during 2010 in addition to its regular programming would take pages upon pages to list, so I’ll just go over the key highlights here.

January 7th: Sirius XM launches Mary J. Blige Week
February 2nd: “The Who Channel,” a limited run channel dedicated to The Who with exclusive in-depth interviews with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. The channel also featured a live broadcast of the band’s NFL halftime performance at Super Bowl XLIV.
April 7th: Sirus XM announces Alan Jackson’s “Freight Train Radio” dedicated to and hosted by Alan Jackson and featuring highlights of his 18-album career and playing some of his favorite songs of his as well as his favorite artists including George Strait, Randy Travis, Lee Ann Womack, Hank Williams Sr., Hank Williams Jr. and George Jones.
May 14th: Don Was, music producer and Outlaw Country host interviews members of the Rolling Stones, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts coordinated with a re-release of the Rolling Stones’ legendary album Exile on Main Street,
May 24th: Sirius XM kicks off Summer programming for Memorial Day Weekend across multiple channels and feature star guest hosts such as Katy Perry, Jack Johnson, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ray Price, The Rascals, Brooks & Dunn’s Last Rodeo Radio, Jimmy Buffett, the Rolling Stones, James Murphy, Nancy Whang, Pat Mahoney, Usher, Trace Adkins, special Elvis Presley programming, and many, many more. (If you want to see the full list of programming that was available, you can find it HERE).
June 8th: Brian Williams hosts Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Radio channel.
June 16th: Sirius XM honors the 2010 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees and honorees.
July 4th weekend: Sirius XM celebrates the 4th of July weekend with extensive programming options. (Full programming list HERE)
June 24th: Sirius XM announces live, continuous, and commercial free coverage of the Electric Daisy Carnival.
July 28th: Sirius XM debuts Mike Posner’s new CD ’31 Minutes to Takeoff’ with Posner’s own Sirius XM show.
August 10th: Sirius XM Celebrates Elvis Week, broadcasting live from Graceland.
September 22nd: Sirius XM announces special coverage and programming for Hispanic Heritage Month with special performances and interviews by Shakira, Daddy Tankee, Ruben Blades, Emilio Estefan, Jon Secada, Cristian Castro, Poncho Sanchez, Alonda de la Parra, and many others.
October 2nd: Sirius XM announced live coverage of Farm Aid 25 with special concerts and interviews by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and many others.
October 15th: ‘Elton!,’ a limited-run music channel launched to feature exclusive interview with Elton John and Leon Russell to publicize their new release “The Union.” The interview was conducted by director Cameron Crowe and guest DJs included Robert Downey Jr. and Andy Roddick.
October 22nd: Pearl Jam Radio debuts with a live concert recorded on the band’s 10th anniversary and featured archived concerts from throughout the bands 20 year career and unreleased material from the band’s personal music library.
October 25th: Sirius XM declares “Keith Richards Week” with a week-long celebration honoring the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards. The programming included Rolling Stones music, history, and a special interview of Keith Richards by “Little Steven” Van Zandt.
October 26th: Gospel and R&B Music Star BeBe Winans launches weekly show on Sirius XM.
October 28th: Neil Diamond Radio launches featuring concerts, rarities, and a look into Neil Diamond’s new album Dreams.
November 11th: Sirius XM announces 5 channels dedicated to holiday music, commercial free.
November 16th: Celebrating the milestone of surpassing 20 million subscribers, Sirius XM announces a live concert available to subscribers only by Paul McCartney at the historic Apollo Theater, along with a special month-long “Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run Radio” channel.
December 23rd: Sirius XM announces numerous live New Year’s Eve concerts and events.