Sirius and XM Finally Merge, Become Sirius XM Radio

Satellite radio companies Sirius and XM finally completed their merger today, combining their powers to form Sirius XM Radio Inc. The FCC narrowly approved the deal, which was first announced in March 2007, last week following a 3-2 vote for approval. Eventually, Sirius listeners will have access to XM's Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour and XM listeners will finally get an earful of Sirius' prized jewel, Howard Stern. The merge is expected to save the new company roughly $400 million and result in around $300 million in earnings. The merger also came with a three-year price cap, meaning the pay rates won't increase until 2011. A la carte and new programming packages are expected out within a few months, with interoperable receivers due out in roughly nine months. Under the merger, the new company must devote 4% of its channels to educational programming.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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