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Sirius XM creates The Pink Floyd Channel

Posted May 21, 2012 by Floydian Slip

Satellite radio company Sirius XM will debut The Pink Floyd Channel on May 25.

The 24/7 service devoted to the band will begin on Deep Tracks (Channel 27) May 25 through 28, and then move to Sirius Channel 142/XM Channel 43 from May 29 through July 9.

Starting June 29, the service will also be available online and through the company’s mobile app for “an extended period,” according to a news release.

The channel, hosted and curated by Jim Ladd, will feature music from Floyd as well as the band’s members.

Sirius XM has created temporary channels devoted to other artists in the past, such as Paul McCartney, The Who, Metallica, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and many others.

It appears uncertain whether The Pink Floyd Channel will become a permanent offering, such as the company’s channels devoted to Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley and Jimmy Buffet.

Come on in, Sirius XM … the water’s fine.


Posted in Jim Ladd, Misc, Personnel | 23 comments

Radio KAOS’s Jim Ladd coming to SiriusXM

Posted December 4, 2011 by Floydian Slip

Legendary Los Angeles rock radio DJ Jim Ladd, who was an integral part of Roger Waters‘s 1987 concept album “Radio K.A.O.S.,” will take a job with satellite radio provider SiriusXM.

Ladd will host a nightly show on the service’s “Deep Tracks” Channel 27 starting in January. It’ll be the first time Ladd will be heard nationally.

“Traditional FM radio has turned its back on the very thing that made rock radio the magical experience it was intended to be,” Ladd says. “SiriusXM is kicking down the doors of the stagnant, preprogrammed fodder that passes for radio today by encouraging me to do my free-form show so we can all share this experience live as it happens.”

Ladd played the part of the DJ on Roger Waters’s “Radio K.A.O.S.” album, conversing with the album’s protagonist Billy, a Welsh boy living with this uncle in Los Angeles who can talk with communication satellites.

Cumulus Radio Inc. abruptly fired Ladd from Los Angeles station KLOS at the end of October after a 14-year run.

L.A.’s KFI 640 AM made news when it allowed Ladd on the air Nov. 5, shortly after leaving KLOS, so he could air a three-hour farewell show. Ladd was the inspiration for Tom Petty‘s “The Last DJ.” Ironically, KFI is owned by radio giant Clear Channel Communications, which banned Petty’s song from its 850 stations for being “anti-radio.”

Petty told a crowd at a Oct. 29 benefit concert, “Jim Ladd was fired for having an imagination.”

Ladd will be selecting all the music he plays on his SiriusXM program, something nearly unheard of in today’s over-the-air market. “I will be playing everything I want, from Pink Floyd to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, from The Doors to Moby Grape, freely and with no play lists,” he says.

SiriusXM broadcasts more than 135 satellite radio channels of commercial-free music, sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather, and data services to more than 21 million subscribers.

Shine on, Jim!


Posted in Jim Ladd | 2 comments