more news today from XM. Seems the stock prices of SIRI and XM are converging.
KS
XM Radio's Programming Staff Grows Preparing for Commercial Launch
25 More Join The Radio Revolution
WASHINGTON, April 24 /PRNewswire Interactive News Release/ -- XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR chart, msgs) announced 24 additions to its growing
programming staff, welcoming:
* Seven new program directors: Lou Brutus, Tim Farley, B.K. Kirkland,
Mike Marrone, George Taylor Morris, Ken Smith, Johnny Williams and Dave
Zeimer;
* Six new music directors: Luis Baro, Bladerunner, Jim Bonner, Colonel
St. James, Shirley Hayes and Joel Haas;
* Nine new production directors: Jeremy Beaver, Brent Ebright, Kevin
Konyha, Aaron Lee, Jim McBean, Rick McClure, Quinton Roebuck, Curtis
Stewart and Kirk Tanter;
* And news anchors Chris Barnes and Chris Cruise.
XM continues to hire the best talent in the business. "It's an incredibly exciting time at XM, as we're populating our studios with America's brightest radio talent," said
Lee Abrams, XM's Chief Programming Officer. "XM is truly a creative oasis."
(Photo:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/XMSATLOGO )
XM will change the way Americans listen to radio by creating and packaging up to 100 channels of digital-quality sound. It will provide seamless coast- to-coast
coverage of music, news, sports, talk, comedy and children's programming, transforming radio, an industry that has seen little technological change since FM, almost
40 years ago.
Lou Brutus joins XM as a program director. He is the former drive time host of WCRX-FM/Chicago, IL, WMMR-FM/Philadelphia, PA, WHJY-FM/Providence,
RI and WHFS-FM/Washington, D.C. Brutus has been nominated for several industry awards including Billboard's 2000 Airplay Monitor Award for Best
Syndicated Show and Billboard's 1998 Best New Talent Award. He is the winner of the Friday Morning Quarterback's 1996 award for Best Afternoon Drive Host.
Tim Farley will program XM's NASCAR channel. Farley was most recently operations manager for WRVA-FM and WRNL-FM and the Virginia Radio Networks
in Richmond, VA. During his tenure, both radio stations and the network increased their NASCAR coverage and Farley hosted many live broadcasts from
Richmond International Raceway, where two Winston Cup and Busch Grand National races are run annually. XM's NASCAR Channel will feature a mix of the old
and the new, the established and the unknown. The live coverage and special programs produced by MRN (Motor Racing Network) and PRN (Performance
Racing Network) will be a prominent part of the channel.
B.K. Kirkland will serve as a program director for one of XM's R&B channels. He brings a wealth of experience from a variety of Washington D.C. stations
including WJMO-FM, WHUR-FM and WMMJ-FM. He has also worked as a programming consultant for KONI-FM/Maui, HI and KBLX-FM/San Francisco,
CA.
Mike Marrone, a radio veteran, comes to XM as a program director for XM's singer/songwriter channel. He was most recently the managing producer for iCast, an
Internet entertainment company. He has also worked at RYKODISC, one of the largest independent record companies in the world, where he was the national
director of promotion.
George Taylor Morris will serve as Program Director for one of XM's classic rock channels. George comes to XM from discjockey.com where he was
VP/Programming. George's background also includes work as Program Director of WBOS/Boston and as long-time host of "Reelin' In The Years," an award
winning syndicated radio show.
Ken Smith joins XM as the program director for the fifties channel. He was an on-air personality on KLDE-FM/Houston, TX, an oldies channel where he hosted
the highly rated "Doo Wop Sunday Night" show. Prior to that, he was an on-air personality on Houston's KQQK-FM, where he hosted a morning and afternoon
show and was also music director.
Johnny Williams comes to XM as a program director. He will program a channel dedicated to playing love songs. His career in radio started in eastern Michigan,
which took him to WTRX-FM in Flint, MI, WOHO-FM in Toledo, WYSL-FM in Buffalo, NY, and CKLW-FM/Windsor/Detroit, MI. He also hosted "Pillow
Talk" on WNIC-FM/Detroit, a segment that was rated the number one nighttime show for six years in a row.
Luis Baro joins XM as a music director for two of XM's dance channels. He will work with Blake Lawrence and Joey Swanson, program directors, to establish
XM's dance sound. Baro is credited for founding Vibeonauts, the longest running Wednesday club night of its kind in the Midwest. The club night broke new ground
within the rave community. For the past three years, he has been a buyer, event coordinator and head of promotions for all electronic music events at Metro, a
popular Chicago nightclub.
Bladerunner joins XM as music director for XM's hard rock channel. A true radio original, Bladerunner comes aboard from KATT/Oklahoma City where he
created an inspired evening show. Prior to KATT, Bladerunner worked at WNNX/Atlanta, one of the premier alternative stations in America.
Jim Bonner comes to XM as music director for XM's children's channel. Recently, he was an on-air personality for the Children's Broadcasting Corporation. He
also worked as an operations manager for KAHZ-FM/Fort Worth- Dallas, TX.
Colonel St. James joins XM as music director for the fifties channel. The Colonel comes to XM from ABC Radio Networks where he was Program Director for
their Oldies format. The Colonel also worked at KLDE-FM/Houston and WODJ/Grand Rapids.
Joel Haas brings a barrel of laughs and creativity to XM's comedy channel. For the past three years, he has worked at WBYR-FM, an Active Rock station in Fort
Wayne, IN, a morning show sidekick, head writer and producer for the station's morning show, "The Bear."
Shirley Hayes brings more than 10 years of major market radio experience to XM as the music director for one of XM's jazz channels. Shirley comes to XM from
KBLX-FM in San Francisco where she was music director and on-air personality. While at KBLX-FM, she was also an on-air personality for the Urban AC
format.
Jeremy Beaver joins XM as a production director. His production experience includes work as an independent producer in Washington, D.C., where he owned and
operated a private recording studio, wrote, recorded and produced music for radio, film and professional recording artists. His past clients include MTV, NPR,
Virgin Records and Miramax Films.
Brent Ebright, or "Bodhi" as he is also known, joins XM as a production director. Prior to joining XM, he worked as the imaging director at WAZU, an active rock
station in Columbus, OH. He is also known for his work at WLVQ- FM, a mainstream rock station in Columbus where he was an on-air personality as well as the
imaging director.
Kevin Konyha comes to XM as a production director. Most recently, he served as the assistant production director for WGRV-FM/ Detroit, MI.
Aaron Lee will serve as a production director. Before joining XM, he worked as a host at KRAB and KDFO-FM/Bakersfield, CA. He has also worked at
KUFO-FM and KBBT-FM/Portland, OR, where he was a production director for both stations. Lee is the recipient of six Awards of Excellence in Radio
Production from the Bakersfield Advertising Club. His imaging production work at KUFO -FM was featured on FMQB's CD Aircheck -Volume 28.
Jim McBean comes to XM as a production director. He will bring more than 20 years of radio experience to XM, the last five at a top freelance production
company. He was most recently the program director and on-air personality for WLPX-FM and WISN-FM/Milwaukee, WI. Prior to that, he was the morning
personality for WISHE-FM/Miami, FL.
Rick McClure comes to XM as a production director. He has worked at Washington D.C.'s WARW-FM, a classic rock station, where he was the assistant
producer for "The Greaseman Show." He also did production, voicing and commercial producing for the 48-station Washington Redskins radio network.
Quinton Roebuck joins XM as a production director. His background includes work in commercial production and experience working with advertising agencies,
producing television and radio commercials, sound design and jingles.
Curtis Stewart joins XM as a production director. He was host and producer for Sonic Boom, a groundbreaking mix show format founded in nightlife culture, on
WKQX-FM/Chicago. He also assisted in the success of the program by implementing creative elements of programming and by featuring exclusive DJ mixes
weekly.
Kirk Tanter is one of XM's new production directors. For the past four years, he was production director for a cluster of Radio One stations that included
WKYS-FM, WMMJ-FM, WOL-AM and WYCB-AM, all located in the Washington D.C. region. He is also the producer for the nationally syndicated radio
program, "We Remember," which highlight R&B legends.
Chris Barnes and Chris Cruise join XM as news anchors. They will both work with Irina Lallemand on the XM news channels. Barnes was most recently the news
director for Maine's WXTK-AM, WCOD-AM, WWKJ-AM and WYST-AM. He has also worked at Boston's WRKO-AM and WCRB-AM as a news anchor
and writer. Cruise comes to XM with experience as an anchor on CNN Radio and CNN Headline News.
David Ziemer, who joined XM last year, has been named Program Director for XM's Movie Soundtrack Channel. Ziemer transitions from production director and
will now lend his talents to the XM channel dedicated to movie soundtracks.
XM successfully launched its first satellite, "Rock," on March 18. The company's second satellite, "Roll," is scheduled to launch May 7. Service is scheduled to begin
late this summer. XM-ready radios are being manufactured by such household names as Sony, Alpine, Pioneer, Clarion, Blaupunkt, Delphi- Delco, Visteon,
Panasonic, and Sanyo; and are available for sale by retailers including Circuit City, Best Buy, Sears, RadioShack franchisee dealer stores, and Crutchfield. XM's
strategic investors include America's leading car, radio and satellite TV companies -- General Motors, American Honda Motor Co. Inc., Clear Channel
Communications, DIRECTV and Motient Corporation (Nasdaq: MTNT chart, msgs), the company's largest shareholder. XM has a long-term distribution
agreement with General Motors to integrate XM radios into its vehicles commencing in 2001. For more information, please visit our web site:
xmradio.com .
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements in this press release include uncertainties associated with the
launch of the company's satellites, the company's dependence on third party vendors, its continuing need for additional financing, as well as other risks described in
XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.'s Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 22, 2001. Copies of the filing are available upon request
from XM Radio's Investor Relations Department
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Source: XM Satellite Radio
Contact:
Jennifer A. Markham of XM Satellite Radio, 202-380-4315, or
jennifer.markham@xrmradio.com
/Photo: Newscom: newscom.com
AP Archive: photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 201-369-3467
URL: xmradio.com |
