Walk The Dog - Week 5
Sounds: Top US pop/R&B/rap hits of the moment
Positives: I've always heralded this as a channel that if you take just 90 minutes out of your day you'll be up to date on the hottest hits out right now that the kids are listening to...
Negatives: ...and that you'll hear ad nauseum if you don't wait 2 more months to tune into the channel again because yes there is a fair bit of repetition on the channel (they take care of that somewhat by airing the countdown every 3 hrs now instead of the 90 mins previously), they're not playing anything that most of us can't get on regular radio (although my closest hit music outlet is a spotty DC signal, and there are commercials on most of the times I tune in). The music is censored which detracts away from the experience
Blastability: Medium to high. Some pretty good borderline nu rock/pop hit stuff is out right now that deserves some listens
Overall: I'll continue to use this channel as my occasional source to see what's hot, and maybe even snag some of the tracks that strike me for my own show.
Sounds: New dance music that's already a hit or is destined for hit status, classic dance hits mostly from the late 90s to early 2000s
Positives: The first channel I ever listened (for a straight year!) to when I got XM in 2002 still has a great (just new) playlist. The only thing that was missing from the channel back then was a more hyped up, energetic delivery (which PDs were told by XM to keep it low key) and there are now a lot more bells and whistles thanks to the merger.
Negatives: Unfortunately something that the channel kept that I've never been able to decide whether it's good or not is chopped versions of all their songs; that is, the leader and outro beat parts on the songs usually used to sync them up so they can live mix with other songs have been removed causing an abrupt transition from one song to the next (sometimes seamlessly if the songs have the same beat or they throw a station ID right between the songs to mask any rough edges and sometimes just god awful and awkward), obviously so they can keep the channel moving and play as many songs as possible. This genre kinda lends to repetition on its own too (even though I didn't hear any repeat songs), as I did notice most songs followed the except same beats per minute and had the same staticy beat that I've even been noticing in most of the songs on a syndicated dance show PARTY FM broadcasts.
Blastability: Very high. Shakin mah ass!
Overall: Don't get me wrong with all my negatives, as soon I turned the channel on, great memories of my first moments of XM came flooding back, and I didn't want to turn the channel off! I think it's going back on my presets (used to be preset 2 after UPOP before O&A came along in 2004 :))
Coming Next Week - Sirius XM VS Slacker Classic Holiday Music Battle
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