Satellite Radio Speculation and SiriusXM's The Loft

In November 2016, SiriusXM announced its new channel, Eagles Radio, a collection of hits and pre-recorded segments on the famous band, would replace The Loft, a live-DJ, modern eclectic station, in its programming lineup, as available to satellite receivers, through January 2, 2018. While The Loft would remain available via the online streaming service, in-car receivers would be unable to access The Loft. A Facebook group dedicated to listeners of The Loft erupted in commentary; many described their experiences of contacting SiriusXM for partial refunds. On December 31, 2017, SiriusXM announced it would be continuing Eagles Radio through early February 2018. The post below was first published in the closed Facebook group The Loft on January 2, 2018. 

In the past month or so, I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments about music and radio. This post seeks to contribute to this discussion on (or at least brainstorm about) the future of satellite radio and our beloved "boutique" satellite radio channel. Before anything, let me say THANK YOU to Mike Marrone and his team, for so many adventures in listening through the years. I love music, and The Loft has only made that love more abundant in my life! (Full disclosure: I paid $499 to become a lifetime member in 2005, and I pay yearly for online streaming services. I am also a programmer at a non-profit low-power-FM/streaming community radio station in central Vermont).

I am very interested in thinking more about how the only successful (?) satellite radio company has changed through its history. Investors and celebrities like Howard Stern may have had a lot to do with how Sirius has changed, but so has politics and culture, and maybe what execs think will sell to a general audience (the expansion of dedicated left, right, and 'center' channels; the addition of celeb channels like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and yes, Steve Bannon's Brietbart). Since The Loft disappeared, I’ve been wondering to what extent SiriusXM Radio sees itself as committed to speech that supports a specific version/view of our culture and society (like, say, HBO)? Sirius is even more interesting in that it (probably) relies on long-term financial and content partnerships with existing media outlets, from CNN to Entertainment Weekly; at one time, I thought of it as a digital newsstand, but now I’m not so sure. I wonder if/how these partnerships have had influence over more than one channel (like, when Oprah Radio started and Howard quit trashing her). Replacing “boutique” channels like The Loft in favor of channels with mainstream megastar names attached affects the content available to subscribers, and to some degree expects existing subscribers would be willing to adjust. I was less shocked to hear that The Loft would remain on hiatus in favor of Eagles Radio when this struck me: Sirius is the same company that temporarily replaces traffic/weather stations with professional sports games. The discussion among us of how/if to obtain refunds when The Loft was first discontinued was fascinating, but I wonder now if their larger business model is to ever-attract new subscribers. Sirius is going to continue to make financial decisions that they believe will help keep it afloat, and those decisions may affect both the form and content of the service.

Musically, the long-term removal of The Loft—perhaps the result of financial influence/investment by record labels—may have in it some statement about the dominance of “mainstream” musicians and their ‘brands’ in our culture. With channels curated by Willie Nelson, Eminem, and so many more, I wonder what this platform will look like in a few years (I don’t think we’ve yet to see Bob Marley Radio, Lady Gaga Radio, Beck Radio, Michael Jackson Radio, or even Phish Radio). But as with Phish, some artists’ have/are developing online platforms to provide listeners new content directly across on-the-ground wifi streaming services. I wonder how such artist-direct services might these affect Sirius: Warner Brothers Radio, featuring their catalog? Oldies.com Radio, with quarter-hour website promos? Phil Spector Radio? Or will Cousin Brucie physically and contractually outlive them all, and truly become the last DJ?

Thanks again to Mike Marrone, Meg, Chris Muckley, David Johansen, Lou Reed (RIP) and Hal Wilner, and all of the programmers at The Loft, for years of truly life-changing radio, in CD quality, coast to coast. Thanks too to all reading this; I am glad to be starting the year by writing to a community of listeners who appreciate authentic modern music. It is great to know you’re out there. Auld lang syne, and forward into the past!

x

Should Old Memes Be Forgot, And Never Brought To Mind?

In September 2017, my thirteen-year-old son coined the phrase, "for every meme, there is an equal and opposite meme." In the first year of the Trump administration, the meme has continued to serve as a viable act of visual rhetoric: a portable digital artifact that, by nature, requires effort, rudimentary skill, and access to a social media presence. How these image files have and may continue to affect political and social norms and views is important to a larger understanding of the Internet, as a place that fosters creative and unique human expression. 

Memes are ill-defined: taking a screenshot of another's tweet or twitter exchange with the intention of sharing has become a somewhat common practice, as has the repurposing of individuals' facial expressions, to provide a comment and sentiment regarding a given topic. Memes range from relevant to absurd; the form has no requirements, no vetting process. I am interested in how meme creators have begun to use anonymous individuals' images, as well as those of celebrities, movie stills, etc. Characters from The Simpsons, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Heath Ledger's depiction of The Joker, and other cultural icons have become immortalized within memes over the past year, but so have individuals who were previously unknown and unrecognized by the general public. The role of the stock photograph in our digitized culture invites larger examination, to better understand the intersection of cultural studies, digital media, and social platforms that encourage the sharing of content. 

Political media organizations-- some with explicit political motivation-- have created memes included in this collection (Act.tv, NowThis). Other organizations' affiliations, and the sources of many memes, are less clear. The shareability of image files via social media invite the anonymous meme: a visual/textual carrier pigeon bearing quick and visual satire, delivered to unknown persons in unknown ways. Further understanding of the role memes played during the 2016 Presidential election and Trump's first year may come to include (and identify!) memes created by foreign agents-- outright propaganda, seeking to appear as if created by some anonymous American Photoshop novice. This understanding, which may not become clear for months or years, will eventually inform how, during the first decade of widespread social media accessibility, digital media was created with the intention of promoting specific parties, positions, policies, and politicians. 

Memes related to the election of Doug Jones in Alabama-- and the unconceded defeat of Judge Roy Moore-- provided meme creators a clear and present foil, as has the continued revelations related to sexual assault and misogyny in Hollywood, Washington DC, and in the mainstream press. The extent to which a given meme asserts or assaults a specific ethical stance is interesting: the meme as presentation of a moral argument. At worst, these memes (collected here and on other posts on this blog) may represent something of a political spiritus mundi, from which both our nightmares and dreams come true. 

This author does not endorse any of the rhetorical statements inherent in these memes (though I agree with some wholeheartedly); rather, they are presented here, as memes have in the past, to serve as a 'snapshot' of political and social rhetoric alive in American culture during the last quarter of 2017. As for my son's comment, it may or may not be true: I have yet to see a wellspring of conservative and/or Republican memes. Understanding how these images have and may contribute to our culture may reveal a larger truth about ourselves, and how we educate each other about what we believe.