Fresh Listen: SiriusXM’s The Blend

I got feedback I didn’t expect when I wrote about the adjustment of SiriusXM’s The Blend to a softer AC station last week, part of a bigger package of channel changing. I expected positive response from the many Soft AC fans among ROR’s readership. But I also got a few “my wife hates it now” comments. One was from a programmer in his early 30s. But another was from a reader a generation older.

SiriusXM likely got comments, too. If you listen to The Blend this week, you can hear adjustments. Some soft ‘90s titles have been filtered back in. The ‘70s are still represented, but without the goofy early ‘70s pop that had been part of the mix last week.

This was The Blend as heard on Nov. 3:

• Oliver, “Good Morning Starshine”
• Anita Baker, “Sweet Love”
• Firefall, “Just Remember I Love You”
• Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton, “We’ve Got Tonight”
• Bellamy Brothers, “Let Your Love Flow”
• Moody Blues, “Your Wildest Dreams”
• Olivia Newton-John, “Have You Never Been Mellow”
• Quincy Jones f/James Ingram, “One Hundred Ways”
• Peter Cetera w/Amy Grant, “Next Time I Fall”
• Yvonne Elliman, “If I Can’t Have You”
• Tierra, “Together”
• Tony Orlando & Dawn, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”
• Chris de Burgh, “The Lady in Red”
• Mouth & MacNeal, “How Do You Do?”
• Smokey Robinson, “Being With You”
• Joe Cocker, “You Are So Beautiful”

Readers began tweeting me about the changes yesterday, Nov. 9. Here’s The Blend around 9 p.m. that evening: 

• Marc Anthony, “You Sang to Me”
• John Waite, “Missing You”
• James Taylor, “You’ve Got a Friend”
• Rod Stewart, “Rhythm of My Heart”
• Billy Joel, “Tell Her About It”
• Billy Preston & Syreeta, “With You I’m Born Again”
• Chicago, “Just You And Me”
• Roxette, “It Must Have Been Love”
• Patrick Swayze, “She’s Like the Wind”
• Genesis, “Taking It All Too Hard”
• Jon Secada, “If You Go”
• Olivia Newton-John, “Physical”
• Barry White, “You’re the First, The Last, My Everything”
• Elton John, “Circle of Life”
• Diana Ross, “Upside Down”
• Peabo Bryson & Celine Dion, “Beauty and the Beast”

As you might expect, there have now been tweets from other readers who liked the station as it was last week. There has always been a typically busy online community of SXM subscribers with strong opinions on the channel lineup, but it speaks volumes about the satcaster’s influence that each change prompts an Marvel Cinematic Universe level of discussion of the sort only generated by broadcast radio format changes when they involve the demise of a heritage radio station.

You would expect this with a product that people are paying for. In this household, the SiriusXM subscription was driven largely by two channels, On Broadway and the Triple-A channel, The Spectrum. But SXM also siphoned off the listeners who could never be satisfied with a hit-driven, ratings-conscious mainstream radio station, including many of the consumer press music writers who loved it from the start. Those listeners were vocal then, and they’re vocal now.

It’s notable that I get more feedback from broadcasters about satellite radio now. For a while, radio people felt the need to assert their disinterest in any competitor. Last week’s article generated more response than usual from those still on the broadcast side. But SXM fills a need for them, too. Satellite radio arrived in the early ’00s amidst Lee Abrams’ threats to make traditional broadcasting obsolete. Now The Spectrum or 70s on 7 are where you hear the sound of classic radio, hosted by jocks who remember what that sounded like.

Beyond that, one of the things we’ve seen for years is that heavy radio users have also been the ones most enthusiastic about delving into competing media. The same passion for music and radio drives them to seek out even more of it on other platforms. It makes sense that some radio people would be among that group.