As a devoted SiriusXM listener I am outraged by the changes they’ve made to some of their channels today.
Soul Town, ch 49, which played “Classic Soul and Motown,” has been moved to 74 and rebranded Smokey’s Soul Town, for Smokey Robinson. Soul Town was sensational because it played a deep field of great R&B, not just Motown. I’m hoping the new name is just re-branding, but I fear the playlist will now focus even more heavily on Motown, not including Atlantic, Stax, and dozens of small labels that had key R&B classic hits. Much as I love Smokey Robinson, I don’t want to hear just those songs 24/7.
Rolling Stone’s David Browne reports that Deep Tracks, aka classic rock, has been punted from channel 27 to nowhere. It won’t be on most Sirius XM radios if at all. What nerve! These are the great album cuts that made rock and roll. The largest part of any audience is still Boomers, I’m afraid. This is Sirius’s way of trying to screw that audience.
A few things remain unchanged: The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Underground Garage all remain intact. Howard Stern, of course. But it does seem like a lot of channels, like Soul Town, now have celebrities’ names attached to them. Not just Smokey Robinson, but Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Ozzy Osbourne, Diplo, etc. I guess Sirius felt like the listeners wouldn’t go to stations without these names and just listen to the music. I hope it works.
But again, if the Dells’ “Stay in My Corner” and JJ Jackson’s “But It’s Alright” aren’t played as often as “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” and Ken Spider Webb isn’t on 24 hours a day, they’ll be hearing from me!
