As you know,
enLighten! (XM's channel 34) has been broadcasting Southern Gospel music for quite some time now - and believe me, I hear plenty of fans talking about it when I'm at concerts. This satellite radio has joined our long-standing AM & FM radio stations, the Solid Gospel Network and programs like "The Gospel Greats" as an important tool in getting out the word about Southern Gospel music, and, more importantly, the Gospel message.
When word began to circulate that XM Radio was going to merge with competitor SIRIUS Radio, many people were concerned about channel 34's future - and so were those of us here at Singing News.
enLighten! has been very kind to this magazine, so we were hoping that things would just truck along as normal.
This morning, I received a note from XM's Marlin Taylor that shed some light on what's in store. So, with his permission, here is what Marlin had to say:
As some of you likely have read, following a 17-month wait, the U. S. government has given its "blessing" to the merger between XM Satellite Radio and our competitor, Sirius Radio...However, it's not likely that listeners will hear any difference for a long time, if ever. As for enLighten34, it's highly unlikely that there will be any impact upon it as a result of this corporate merger.For the Southern Gospel music industry, and for the SiriusXM corporation as well, there is a major positive factor in force here: The enLighten34 audience is huge, with latest corporate research data showing that we have an average of 40,000 persons listening at any given moment - meaning that it doesn't pay for either side to ignore the fact. If a singing group or its promoter or record company chooses not to send their recordings to us, the loss of potential sales is tremendous. If SiriusXM management were to choose to eliminate enLighten34 from the lineup, the loss of paying subscribers would be huge, as a large percentage of our listeners have told us they listen to little else on their XM radio, [and thus] would have no reason to continue paying the subscription fee.So, all in all, that appears to be good news.
It's been said that "radio is the soundtrack of our lives"... and I tend to agree. Continue to support all of those great people who play Southern Gospel music, whether across traditional airwaves, satellite, syndication - or however they might get it into your homes and cars. We need them!
