Back in the late 1990s, XM was just an idea. Our skeleton crew is growing day by day, but we’re not on the air yet. One of the challenges was telling the story of the programming task. There’s no shortage of people who view XM as an “audio service,” a generic set of white-bread channels that have… all the soul of an audio service.
In fact, this is not the case. We envision XM as an organic, living, breathing collection of channels, each with a distinct identity and culture. XM “sound” isn’t something you hear on every channel, but XM SOUND is a collection where each channel sounds different, and the result is a rainbow of different approaches that, as a whole, are unique, revolutionary, and Unique “sound”. The offset trim is 180 degrees with the ADD on the 20, and when you put them together, you get the XM sound. Some channels will have DJs interacting with armies of listeners across the country…other channels will be DJ-free, relying on intoxicating production and non-stop music. In a previous blog post, I talked about how we must liberate ourselves and everyone who comes into contact with programming from clichés and assumptions in bootcamps. Initially, you tend to “assume” that all channels need a DJ. Incorrect. The appeal of some channels is that they are non-stop music. On other channels the DJ is an important partner to the music, providing intelligent narration… The DJ adds a 50s or 60s authenticity on other channels and we strive to recreate the Top 40 sounds of that era. The point is, XM SOUND is built on the idea that each channel has its own point of view and playbook, resulting in a variety of styles, but all tied together by the platform with a unique feel and vibe.
Expressing this internally and externally is not easy. There’s never been anything like XM before, so we need to explain the plan.
A few months ago, gonzo blogger Bob Lefsetz visited XM. As he was wandering around my office, he asked what this big diagram with circles on it meant, and I explained that it was a way to graphically illustrate XM’s diversity and how the channels fit into different cultural areas. Then he said, “Okay, let’s listen and watch and sing.” So – I pulled out the chart and looked at it. If you read Bob’s blog, you’ll notice that he thinks XM programming is great, but no one knows about it, and insisted that I record it and post it. So I did.
If our staff had to see this again they would probably throw up because this has become one of my clichés, but if you want to watch a video of the famous “circle” demonstration
Interestingly, even though the roots of this demo are 7 years old, it’s still the backbone of our live efforts. Do we deliver? Not always. Shall we give it a try? Yes. Some channels are dead…others are close…some not so close but we have over 160 channels and it’s not easy to get them all firing on all cylinders at the same time…but as long as we keep a balance we can make it happen This goal is XM as a business and XM as an electronic media art form.
We have the talent here…it’s all about executing the high standards we preach, evolving but staying on schedule.
www.leeabramsmediavisions.com
Astra and Aspera
