Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Possible new channels for Sirius XM Radio

Sirius XM radio will soon be adding a total of 12 new channels on each platform. Six that will be awarded to non-profits who wish to provide NCE (non-commercial, educational) informational programming, and another six that will be awarded to Qualified Entities (small businesses, preferably women and/or minority owned).

My thoughts on who would make good use of such channels:
Non-profits:
1. A Native American public radio station/network such as Native Voice One or AIROS. (This one could potentially qualify as minority owned, as well. But Native Americans deserve to have a voice on satellite radio, either way.)
2. A good eclectic public music station such as KEXP or The Current.
3. A quality Christian CHR station that would clearly not overlap with either The Message or Spirit. Perhaps a group like Radio U, WAY FM (Nashville/Nationwide), WaY FM (Michigan), or Radio Y.
4. An alternative point of view station/network such as Pacifica or perhaps Free Speech TV, if they wanted to also offer a Free Speech Radio, or even Link TV might offer Link Radio.

Minority / Female Owned:
1. BTNC (Black Television News Channel) should really put together a radio station (even it's primarily an audio simulcast of their TV channel. This would offer a new voice and source for news from a different perspective.
2. Given their extensive experience owning radio stations, Univision might be a good source for a new channel or two. I'm not sure whether the minority/female block of six channels will be limited to one to a customer, as the non-profit channels will surely be. Nonetheless, Univision could probably do well programming a station with mostly music and some news breaks, funded by national advertising.
3. The Word Network - they used to be on Sirius, and I'm sure they would jump at the chance to get back onto Sirius XM radio.

Any other ideas? Please feel free to leave comments.