XM Satellite Radio Expanding Country Operations

October 4, 2005

"Nashville" on-air personality Shannon McCombs and Charlie Daniels.

XM Satellite Radio Senior Program Director of Country Music Programming Ray Knight and Clint Black. Photo courtesy of XM Satellite Radio.

XM Satellite Radio Expanding Country Operations

By Edward Morris

Buoyed by its nearly 4 million subscribers, XM Satellite Radio has announced that it will add two more studios to the one it has operated at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum since 2001.

The expansion is a clear indication of Country Music's continuing importance to the company's programming. "We use that studio a lot," said XM Satellite Radio corporate spokesperson Anne-Taylor Griffith. She noted that more than 800 Country artists have performed and/or been interviewed there. "Logistically, if you're having artists come in and record shows," she added, "it can be difficult if you just have one space to do those things."

Griffith was mum on whether the new studios will spawn additional Country channels. Currently, there are seven of them: "America" XM 10 (classic Country), "Nashville!" XM 11 (Country from the 1990s onward), "X Country" XM 12 (progressive), "Hank's Place" XM 13 (traditional), "Bluegrass Junction" XM 14 (bluegrass), "The Village" XM 15 (folk) and "Highway 16" XM 16 (current hits).

Grand Ole Opry star and Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Anderson has hosted his own interview/records/live performance show on the "America" channel since XM was launched. "Bill Anderson Visits with the Legends" has richly lived up to its title. Anderson estimates that he has chatted with "about a hundred" of the biggest names in the business, among them Merle Haggard, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson, the Oak Ridge Boys and Dolly Parton. Occasionally, he brings in record company executives - such as RCA Label Group Chairman Joe Galante - to talk about how the record industry operates behind-the-scenes. "We try to touch on a little bit of everything," Anderson said.

In 2003, XM released a three-CD box set of music and talk excerpts from Anderson's in-studio encounters with Haggard, Nelson and the Oak Ridge Boys. It, too, is titled Bill Anderson Visits with the Legends.

XM plotted out a number of ambitious Country specials for this year. One was a six-part series that aired in August and September on Shania Twain's life and music, with Twain as the host entitled, "Forever And For Always."

One feature that is currently running is "The Long Haul: The History of Modern Country Music." Narrated by Anderson, Brad Paisley and Marty Stuart, this mammoth undertaking plays every Top 30 Country hit from 1940 through 2004.

To celebrate the release of Reba McEntire's next album,

which it will premiere, XM intends to play every song McEntire has ever recorded. This marathon event is booked for later this fall.

In announcing XM's studio expansion, Eric Logan, Executive Vice President of Programming, urged Country Music creators to be adventurous and forget about the constraints imposed by commercial radio. "You produce great music," he said, "and we will play it."

Under an agreement reached between the two companies in April, America Online has begun carrying selected XM channels as part of its online radio service, including a station that features the best of the 2005 CMA Awards nominees. AOL and XM are also running a promotion on their site for a listener to win a trip to the CMA Awards in New York City when it airs live from Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15 at 8:00 PM ET.

"If you are an AOL subscriber," Griffith explained, "you have access to 70 XM channels, which (includes) all of our music channels, in addition to the 130 channels that AOL offers. They will also be made free to everyone - you don't necessarily need to be an AOL or XM subscriber - a scaled-down version that includes 20 of the XM channels."

XM Satellite Radio is broadcast live daily from studios in Washington, D.C., New York City and Nashville. XM's 2005 lineup includes more than 150 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: 67 commercial-free music channels; 64 channels of premier sports, talk, comedy, children's and entertainment programming; and 21 channels of the most advanced traffic and weather information for major metropolitan areas nationwide. XM Satellite Radio is the satellite radio leader in sports programming, offering thousands of live sporting events every year. XM is the official satellite radio network for Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the Indy Racing League, the PGA TOUR, and the college sports conferences ACC, Pac-10, and Big Ten.

XM provides satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan and Volkswagen/Audi, is available in more than 120 different vehicle models for 2005. XM also is available in Avis, National and Alamo rental cars. XM is the exclusive in-flight entertainment service for AirTran Airways, and will soon be available on JetBlue flights. Consumers can experience XM on the Internet through XM Radio Online at listen.xmradio.com. Recently, XM and AOL launched the world's largest combined digital radio network to be promoted to an audience of 100 million consumers online.

On the Web: www.xmradio.com