XM Live
Encyclopedia
Specials is a part-time satellite radio
Satellite radio
Satellite radio is an analogue or digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations...

 channel which plays select special events and shows for Sirius and XM. When the channel was XM Live, some special events were broadcast in XM HD Surround
XM HD Surround
On December 28, 2005, XM Satellite Radio announced that it had teamed up with Neural Audio Corporation to introduce XM HD Surround, XM HD Surround broadcasts XM channels in 5.1 digital surround sound. For a time XM broadcast a variety of special shows and live music performances in this format...

, which was a 5.1 surround sound audio/CD quality stereo feed. XM Live broadcast musical events, concerts, sporting events, and weekly talk shows. The channel is available to XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...

 customers on Channel 120,
And to Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...

 customers on Channel 113.

History

When Specials first began on XM as XM Live, it was part of the hits section on XM26 (The Pulse
The Pulse
- Radio :* The Pulse , a hot AC channel on Sirius XM Radio* The Pulse , The original Sirius incarnation on channel 9 until November 12, 2008* The Pulse of West Yorkshire, a UK radio station originally known as Pennine Radio...

 now sits there). Its original purpose was to play live musical events (live as in on-stage, since most were recorded). Special events at the time were a part of Special X
Special X
Special X was a channel on XM Satellite Radio that played random music with a "weirdness" theme. In its early days, the channel was hosted by a character named Generalissimo Stacio Ortega, a creation of station programmer Lou Brutus...

. On September 14, 2002, XM Live was moved to channel 168, where its format stayed the same for a couple more years. In 2004, the channel was moved to 200, and the live performances format was dropped so that XM Live could be a multi-purpose special events channel. The channel would play select sporting events, concerts, and some of XM's exclusive series such as Artist Confidential and Then...Again...Live!. In 2005, XM Live was doubled into 2 channels (the other on XM201) for the Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...

 multi-cast on XM. Since early 2006, XM Live has not played the Artist Confidential or Then...Again...Live! series', instead leaving those for the music channels in which they simulcast on. XM Live has also opened itself up to exclusive talk show programming, starting with 60/20 Sports with James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...

 and Luke Russert
Luke Russert
Luke Russert is an American television and radio personality. He has followed in the footsteps of his father, Tim Russert, who was prominent in the television news industry. His mother is Maureen Orth, special correspondent for Vanity Fair. He has co-hosted a sports talk program on XM radio with...

. In July 2006, XM Live began airing The Agenda with Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese
Joe Solmonese is president of the Human Rights Campaign of the United States and its affiliate the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. He was appointed to this position on March 9, 2005. A native of Attleboro, Massachusetts, Solmonese lives in Washington, D.C...

. The Agenda currently streams through XM Radio Online channel 137

In April 2007, XM Live moved to XM channel 120 to make more room for XM's college play-by-play channels. Big East Conference
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

 games had been broadcast by channel previously.

Since its move the channel has been more focused on niche programming, such as special weekends of music devoted to a specific theme, usually coinciding with a holiday i.e. Labor Day (songs relating to cars), 4 July (music with a patriotic theme). While special events have all but moved to music channels, or to XMX. The channel also occasionally broadcast news events, or programming relating to it.

On September 30, 2008, XM Live was deleted from the XM lineup. XMX handled most of XM's special event programming. XM has not indicated whether or not they would continue their micro-channels.

On November 12, 2008 XM Live Returned to the lineup as Specials. The channel was also added to Sirius (SR 113) following the XM/Sirius Merger. Also, XMX was dropped from the XM lineup.

List of shows and events Specials had broadcast when it was XM Live

  • 2004 National Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony with Bob Edwards
    Bob Edwards
    Robert Alan Edwards is a Peabody Award-winning member of the National Radio Hall of Fame. He was the first broadcaster with a large national following to join the field of satellite radio...

  • Vote For Change Concert
    Vote for Change
    The Vote for Change tour was a politically-motivated American popular music concert tour that took place in October 2004. The tour was presented by MoveOn.org to benefit America Coming Together. The tour was held in swing states and was designed to encourage people to register and vote...

  • Indianapolis 500
    Indianapolis 500
    The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

  • An Evening of Restoration: Music City Comes Together for Tsunami Relief
  • FIFA World Cup
    FIFA World Cup
    The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

     Germany 2006 Soccer team draw
  • Coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II
    Pope John Paul II
    Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

     and the naming of Pope Benedict XVI
    Pope Benedict XVI
    Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

  • Live 8
    Live 8
    Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...

  • From Be Bop To Hip Hop
  • US Open
    U.S. Open (tennis)
    The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...

  • XM Nation: Operation Helping Hand Live Broadcast
  • 20th Anniversary Farm Aid
    Farm Aid
    Farm Aid started as a benefit concert on September 22, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, held to raise money for family farmers in the United States...

     Concert
  • Mozart 250th Commemoration Concert in Salzburg
  • 2006 & 2007 Grammy Awards
  • Rock in Rio
    Rock in Rio
    Rock in Rio is a series of music festivals held in three cities: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Lisbon in Portugal and Madrid in Spain.Four incarnations of the festival were in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001 and 2011, four in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, and two in Madrid in 2008 and 2010....

  • 60/20 Sports (moved to XM Sports Nation
    XM Sports Nation
    Sirius XM Sports Nation is a work-in-progress channel on Sirius XM Radio, and is mainly the result of a merging of Sirius Sports Central and XM Sports Nation, and a couple programming changes with sister channel Mad Dog Radio....

    )
  • Artist Confidential Series (moved to music channels)
  • Then...Again...Live! Series (moved to music channels)
  • Before the Music Dies
    Before the Music Dies
    Before the Music Dies is a 2006 documentary film that criticizes the American music industry and the increasing commercialization of the art of music over the past thirty years...

     documentary
  • XM/Sirius merger investor phone conference
  • XM Green: Radio Ireland
  • Big East conference games (moved to channel 203)
  • Play Ball!
  • Virginia Tech massacre
    Virginia Tech massacre
    The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...

     local radio relay of WFIR
    WFIR
    WFIR is a News/Talk formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the Roanoke Valley. WFIR is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc.-Programming:...

    , WXLK and WSLQ
    WSLQ
    WSLQ is an Adult Contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, serving the New River Valley and Southwest Virginia. WSLQ is owned and operated by Mel Wheeler, Inc.-Power Distinction:...

    .
  • Memory Almost Full
    Memory Almost Full
    Memory Almost Full is the 14th studio album by Paul McCartney, released in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2007 and in the United States a day later. The album was the first release on Starbucks' Hear Music label...

    : Paul McCartney
    Paul McCartney
    Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

    's New CD
  • XM Summer
  • Fade...To...Black
  • Uncle Sam
  • Christmas in July
  • 2007-08-08 Endeavor Space Shuttle Launch
    STS-118
    - Crew notes :Astronaut Clayton Anderson originally was slated to be launched to the ISS on this mission, but was moved to STS-117. His replacement was Alvin Drew....

  • Car-B-Q
  • 2007 U.S. Open
    2007 U.S. Open (tennis)
    The 2007 US Open was held from 27 August to 9 September 2007, at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, New York City....

  • Igor
  • Mardi Gras
    Mardi Gras
    The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...

  • Christmas Mass in Rome
  • Party City
  • Pope Benedict XVI
    Pope Benedict XVI
    Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...

     in America
  • The Agenda
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