Well, it had to happen sooner or later… XM Radio channel 53 has been taken off the air, apparently indefinitely, and replaced with “AC/DC Radio”, which is, you guessed it, a 24/7 AC/DC station. Fungus was a station that played punk/ska/hardcore, and was the whole reason I subscribed to begin with. It was one of the only places you could hear a lot of that music, and I learned about a lot of new bands while the radio in my car was glued to channel 53. But now, instead of that, I get to hear all kinds of crap from the 70s and 80s that gets heavy rotation already on just about every rock station in the country… all as an elaborate marketing ploy for the next studio album of a band that should have hung it up long ago. Just goes to show that, given enough time, money will fuck up everything. I have a sneaking suspicion that AC/DC’s label basically paid a ton of cash to make that happen, and since punk doesn’t pay, Fungus was the station to get the boot. I’m pissed.
What follows is the (R-rated) letter I just sent via the feedback form on their website, expressing my, ahem, discontent. If you are offended by profanity, please just skip reading this next part. If not, and you’re among the (very few) people who feel the same way… perhaps a similarly worded letter to the powers that be will make you feel better too?
Just wanted to let you know that I think replacing Fungus with AC/DC is a big, steaming load of horse shit, and the pinheaded, cheap-suit-wearing, limp-dick executive who came up with the idea will be cursed with a decade of horrible diarrhea if there’s any God in this universe (and by the way, God just killed a million kittens as punishment for you knuckle-dragging whorebags taking his favorite station off the air). You guys have just proved to the nation that you don’t know the difference between the hand gesture for “heavy metal” and the sign-language for “love”, and as soon as baseball season is over and the Cubs have won the series, I’m canceling my service, and maybe even burning the radio and mailing the smoldering remains to your think-tank driven shithole of a headquarters. I can listen to AC/DC on the radio for free, in any radio market in the free world, every 10 minutes, like clockwork. So take your aging rocker corporate kissass deal and shove it up your collective hemorrhoidal assholes. You’ve really pissed me off, I’m done with you all, fuckoff and goodbye.
I don’t usually write emails expressing my discontent, so I guess this is what years and years of keeping my mouth shut has done to me… so learn from my experience – vent at regular intervals so you don’t end up blowing up like a steam kettle!
Chenin
oh, sweetie…. you have such a way with words *swoon*
xoxo,
chenin
Sep 16, 2008 @ 7:33 am
swill
wtf?! loved the fungus. one reason for the switch might be that with the merger with sirius they don’t need 2 punk stations. was in CO this weekend and the rental car had sirius and a great punk station.
…or they could just be douche nozzles and went for the ac/dc dollars.
Sep 16, 2008 @ 8:38 am
Emily
While I certainly don’t mean to laugh at your bad fortune, that was probably the best letter of “discontent” I’ve ever read.
Sep 16, 2008 @ 9:47 am
Pete Malone
Very, Very well put Doug!
AC/DC sucks.
But, at least they didn’t replace it with a 24 hour Aerosmith station!
I would rather be deaf.
Sep 16, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
admin
Totally – Aerosmith would have been 100 times worse.
And FWIW, I think they did the same thing to the punk station on Sirius. Here’s the (generic) response they sent back…
In other words “we’re the ones that own the satellites, so go screw yourself”. Just frustrates me that people pay their monthly subscription to help them get this whole thing to critical mass – people paying for the variety that you could (previously) find only on satellite radio. And once they had enough subscribers for people to take them seriously, they just basically turn around and begin migrating toward the same business model that ruined terrestrial radio and opened up an opportunity for them to exist in the first place. People hate the radio because the playlists get shoved down their throats by record execs, so they turn to XM and Sirius. Satellite gets popular, then realizes that the old school radio stations had a pretty good model for making money, so they just tell the people who put them on top to shove it, and start selling out to the highest bidder. Does the cycle ever end?
Sep 16, 2008 @ 2:51 pm
Kerry
I can’t help but think that Walmart’s upcoming exclusive release of a new AC/DC CD isn’t behind this, evil empire that they are!!! BTW, belated congrats on a future Boutwell baby!
Sep 16, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
admin
That’s EXACTLY what’s going on…
Sep 16, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
Pete Malone
So, it is a shame that your favorite XM station has gone the way of Generic Acme co.
But, I must thank you for reminding me of how much I enjoy Ska and old styl-iee reggae.
I’ve been listening to a Ska station on Pandora for the past few days and totally loving it.
Screw XM, AC/DC needs to go away….finally.
But Ska music….is just soooo nice.
Thanks Doug!
Sep 17, 2008 @ 7:14 am
Christina LeMarr
That letter was GREAT!! I could use something like that for a number of people and places I’d love to tell off!! That was awesome!!! haahaahaaa!!!
Sep 18, 2008 @ 10:43 am
Scott
Yup! Totally blows! Went to put it on the other day and gone!
Isn’t satellite supposed to be the true place to find ALL music? What is ska and punk? And do I really need 5 Country stations or 5 RAP stations or a ton of ‘Spanish’ stations?
BTW…I never hear SKA on Ethel. Maybe the occasional Sublime song, but thats it. Their programming is getting to mainstreamed and chosen by the authorities. I thought I would get a nearly endless amount of new music on channels, with Ethel being a fave of mine. Instead, I truely only get 2-3 hours of a variety and then repeated songs/artists.
Sep 19, 2008 @ 11:17 am
kenbo
I bought xm back in 2005 and bought a 5 year subscription. Then, the last 2 cars I have purchased came with sirius. I was pissed because there was no equal to Fungus 53 on sirius. Now xm screws me by dropping Fungus. Shit! On another topic, what’s going to happen to people like me who have two subscriptions? Fungus was honestly like listening to my cd collection. What I’ve learned in my 61 years is that every thing will change and not be the least bit like you pictured it would be.
Sep 23, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
Megan
My 8 yr old son and I used to jam to Fungus and now it’s AC/DC. I agree that you can find that on just about any radio station at any given time. Total bummer.
Sep 30, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
bobgoblin
Fungus is the only reason I subscribed to XM. I received the same form letter when I emailed asking about Fungus. They never responded to additional questions. When I called, the guy at XM put me on hold then came back to say ac/dc radio will run until January 15th. But he doesn’t know what will happen then. Plus he didn’t know that Sirius ganked their Punk channel too – also airing AC/DC Radio…
Sep 30, 2008 @ 4:46 pm
Dano
Right on! I send an email to them every week, trying to get a response. I state how they wiped out whole genres of music for a trailer trash band and since siruius wiped theirs as well, punk.ska.hc has no place to be heard. WHy not drop one of the ghetto or redneck stations for ONE ONE ONE fungus station? They have, now witht he merger, 500 stations and there’s no room for one punk station? Put a monkey to run it, sorry for Lou, but he has other stations. Russ Brown replied to my email stating they are off air with no date of return, if any.
I suggest emailing fungus constantly, everyone. I am no good at making petitions, but if we can start one, and get everyone to email them, they might bring it back…
Oct 14, 2008 @ 11:15 am
bill
.The Senior VP of Programming at XM is Jon Zellner. His direct e-mail is Jon.Zellner@xmradio.com. You can also leave a voice mail for him or his administrative assistant, Christine Butts, by calling XM corporate at (202) 380-4000 and asking for them.
You can also voice mail the Senior VP of Programming at SIRIUS, Steve Blatter. Call Sirius Corporate headquarters at (212) 584-5100 ask for him.
Nov 12, 2008 @ 8:13 am