Grateful Dead

I am loving this preview so far!I have had Sirius for a year and a half and I've been thinking, "if they can have a Rolling Stones channel, why not GD!! It's like having ALL dead and dead related material in a giant ipod shuffle! Except when they're playing entire shows 4 times a day or interviews!! mmm, mmmm, good! go here for details and a free preview: http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Page&c=Flex… :^D

I guess there aren't very many heads out there with Sirius!'Tis a shame I tell ye! You guys are missing some seriously great music... great mixing up the tunes and the eras! Tune in if you can! go here for a complete up to date playlist: http://www.dogstarradio.com/search_playlist.php?artist=&title=&channel=…

But I may be if Neddles keeps telling me how great it is. I hope you get a %. Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman-Song of Myself

yeah, you'd think I was a stockholder or something!But no, I just can't get over how freakin' cool it is that after 40 years of little or no airplay on radio, the Dead now have their own whole station! 24/7! I got into my car this morning and they were playing 4/16/78! What a great show... A killer Estimated into one of the fastest Eyes I've ever heard! mmm mmm good!

Too bad they didn't do a deal w/XM instead of Sirius since the GDH was already on XM.Iguess those of us w/XM are out of luck[i'm not switching].

If the stupid government would let the xm/sirius merger go through then you wouldn't have to switch!How is it that they let Rupert Murdoch buy up the Wall Street Journal with out even lifting an eyebrow, but they have their panties in a bunch over satellite radio??? sheesh...

I don't know if Ganz just doesn't give a crap about us or if he is just in his own little world, but a lot of Heads (including myself) went with XM instead of Sirous because we could catch the GD hour on XM. Now, out of the blue, they have simply cut us off and switched everything to Sirious. There are discussions to merge the two. Why on earth would they pull the plug now and not just ride it out until a merger? I'll tell you why - IT'S CALLED GREED! What ever happened to the montra that once the band is done with the music, it is the fans'. Needless to say, I am pissed. I'll just have to wait for the vampires to figure out another way to take my money from me. Have they hired Mickey's Dad to organizde this? OK, OK I'll stop now before I say something I'll regret. Peace -

It wasn't my idea to leave XM. When Rhino made their deal with Sirius, I was required to take the GD Hour off XM. I was also hired by Sirius to consult on their GD channel, which is good for me and all that but doesn't do the XM people any good. Eventually they'll merge and we'll all have the best of both worlds. Until then, I am sorry for abandoning you but I swear it ain't my fault. GD Hour blog Station list

...shall we go, you and I while we can... The federal anti-trust statute says that 4 (or fewer) companies controlling more than 50% of a market constitutes a monopoly that is not legal. This is the hold-up on the merger between Sirius and XM. Ironically, niether stock is doing all that well. The most probable outcome here is that the FCC approves the merger and a federal district court hears arguments on the approval of the merger. Since Warner Bros. (the parent company of Rhino), wishes to "join" Sirius in other projects, involving the satellite transmission of feature films into your neighborhood theater, for example, Warners may acquire both companies and represent them as a "multimedia delivery system" to avoid the monopoly issue. Then, these two entities cease to be "radio stations" (already a misnomer) and are simply companies which so;d their satellite bandwidth to Warner's along with some programming(or not). The Dead Channel would certianly remain, but reorganization like this allows for the dissolution of the separate companies and the renegotiation of all their contracts (like Howard Stern's,for instance). Under this senario, look for the price of "satellite radio" to drop dramatically and potentially to be free sooner or later. Meanwhile it's 13.95 a month, and portable. The iPod analogy is quite correct.Also there is stream capturing technology available if you wish to record from this media.

I am loving the GD preview. Listening to the 10/26/89 Miami show. Holy DarkStar!!I can't wait for the real thing!

DG - Sorry to take it all out on you. I realize that there will be both good and bad to come from this Rhino deal. This web site for instance, is the best thing to come out of it so far. I just feel like I am always fighting the man to get to listen to the GDH. First, we got it on in Atlanta. Then they pushed it back to the middle of the night. Then it left all together. Now the XM access is scrubbed. I also have mixed feelings regarding the satelite merger. I want it to go through so I can get the Grateful Dead station and Hour, but I honestly don't feel like it should be allowed. I feel like the Bush administration has screwed up the system so much already, its hard for me to get behind another manipulation of the system to support a monopoly. I miss Jerry and the boys screwing it up the old fashioned way - with their own label. Warner Bros is a large corporation and I can't help feeling like at some point, when something more profitable comes along or if someone like Rupert Murdoch buys them, this will all go away. PS: You sound like Jake Blues (John Belushi) lieing in the storm sewer begging Cary Fisher for his life and flashing his puppy dog eyes when you say "It wasn't my fault!" Peace

...shall we go, you and I while we can... I'm gonna bend this thread for a minute just to respond that all monoopolies are not bad, in fact most that are approved are benign. Don't think Warners is the bad guy, THE BAND WOULDN'T HAVE A WIDE AUDIENCE WITHOUT THEIR CONTRACT WITH WARNERS FROM '67 TO '73! An believe me, the money made on a Grateful Dead Channel,music CD's and merchandise is NOTHING when you compare it to the relationship with Sirius (and XM) that will get Warners the satellite bandwidth necessary to transmit first run feature movies to theaters around the world without any middlemen in the analog world. That's millions of dollars per film, my friend, and that's what this is really all about. Trust me, I did the homework. You're gonna have "satellite radio" free soon enough, so that films can be advertised on it.It costs literally nothing for the GD channel to exist.One last thing to remember,Warners/Rhino did not buy the Vault (another common misconception) they lisenced it from the band for ten years, so in 8 1/2 years, there will be a new deal to make for both parties.

I am loving the DEAD channel. I'm a little pissed they won't simply start the GD channel. They said sometime this summer...well its Mid August already. (I just think it will disapear for another month after the 9th)

...shall we go, you and I while we can... When Sirius radio announced that they formed a relationship with Warner's/ Rhino for the Satellite Station in late May,Sirius simultaneously took out an unsecured loan of 250 million dollars from Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley did not make that loan lightly. "Unsecured" means there was no collateral involved. It's easy to see what happened here. Sirius stock is down, the XM merger is taking longer than expected,right? So the reason Morgan Stanley gave Sirius a quarter of a billion dollars was to secure its relationship with Warners/Rhino and to give Sirius some cash to get the start up going in this relationship going with Warners/Rhino.in the form of the GD channel. The GD channel is a good test balloon to see how things will work, and so far everyone loves it! Two months were spent in getting things together programmatically (David Gans input, etc.) to make it a success. So I think that the GD channel goes full time August 10, or if not shortly there after ironing out any last minute wrinkles. This is the bottom line, boys and girls: Warners wants to own Sirius and XM for their satellite bandwidth, Sirius and XM want to make a boatload of money on that sale and Morgan Stanley wants the interest pay off on its loan(part of which went for a right to broadcast vault material). This is the world of corporate finance.And BTW, I'VE NEVER SEEN A MORE PESSIMISTIC BUNCH OF DEADHEADS! you're gonna have your "radio" station, soon for free, so don't worry!

On the note of Satellite radio...I saw a car kits for them in a local retail store for 28.95 with all the adapters and such. Not sure what the monthly fees are to get it going, but as a consumer without it now, it got me to look. The GD channel thread also made me look twice. I can get my shows for free off the internet, but you can only listen to NPR and the classic rock stations for so long ya know... Eric

That would be very sweet if it becomes free as it is out of my price range at present! It all sounds like a really great and fantastic thing indeed! This would really expand the Dead's audience in the international market! J :) Are you kind?

Got a great Wharf Rat playing right now...Jerry's in rare form on this one...using Firefox so I don't have the show-date info, but it's sweetly spooky. I'll reiterate what I said yesterday in the 'what are you listening to now' thread...I hope Sirius keeps this channel going for as long as possible after it officially launches. And it's good to know that Gans is helping Sirius out... "Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."

I love this preview, I drive about 10hrs aday and I haven't changed the station yet.I dont have any good thing to say about any big corperations but sometimes you just need to set back and listen to the music the deads music makes me happy and kind of hides me away from the machine.So let's just Enjoy.... Gans keep up the good work you have to be a good dude cause youre tight with railroad earth my second favriote band.

...shall we go, you and I while we can... Mel Karmakin on Fox News who said he expected the merger with XM to take place before the first of the year. The strategy is to say that Sirius and XM are competing with any music delevery system you can put in your home, car, or office, thus avoiding the monopoly issue. He also said that post-merger, "ala carte" channel purchase an other "efficiencies" would reduce the monthly cost to $6.95 per customer. So kick back and enjoy that GD channel , because it isn't going anywhere. Look for deals on receivers and adapters at stores like Best Buy and Circuit City, 'cause their cheaper there.

I've been following this in the business news for a while, and frankly will be surprised if it doesn't come to pass. I definitely have no plans to buy into either until this thing shakes out. Lots of investment news on this thing this week with the NAB whining about how they aren't buying the "a la carte" argument that Karmazin has been touting. Anyway, meantime I still enjoy XM online (thanks to my boss' subscription for his cars) and my pal Denny's Sirius online login when he's not using it. Sitting back on my lawnchair waiting for it all the shake out one way or the other before I even think about shopping! And enjoying the hell out of this Boston show at work this morning...

...shall we go, you and I while we can...Yeah, aud, you're right, waiting may have advantages except that 1) no one is thinking XM will buy out Sirius, 2) once Sirius buys out XM, Sirius will have control of the receiver market and the price of receivers MAY go up, and 3) If you buy right after the merger, it's sounding like you'll pay Christmas time rates for the receiver anyway. This deal's gonna happen, it's just too bad the lawyers aren't making good arguements for it to go through (yet). "Al A Carte" is a bad dining option and a worse marketing strategy. I'd try the "buffet" concept, myself.

So when do we get a full time GD channel?I was getting VERY used to being able to listen to this station whenever I wanted. My favorite was an interview w/ Jerry and Bob where they talked about Phil's "angular" bass playing - and then played some clips to illustrate their point. Just great "inside the music" stuff. Sorry - I will go back to work now.

That Jerry/Bob interview was really cool... and funny!Can't wait for the full-time channel...but I guess i'll have to...

...shall we go, you and I while we can...There would be a public outpouring of the people's wishes to stimulate change? You know, like the sixties? Get yourselves in touch with Sirius, and if you're a subscriber, push for the station being on-air ASAP. If you're thinking about subscribing, Let them know you want assurances about the GD channel first. If you have programming feedback, provide that ,too.Wishing and writing about it here won't make it happen.

I've been listening to the Dead Hour for about 5 years on XM. I just switched over to Sirius two days ago, but didn't know about the dead channel. I just thought I would try something different. I'm glad David is putting the new Dead channel together. Who knows how the merger will work out for consumers. They are offering more selective channel selection from both after the merger, but they are just making that suggestion to see the deal through. There is nothing stopping each of them from offering a more selective programming now. Sirius and XM also have different compression so you would need a new receiver to listen to both. So that isn't going to happen for years. XM used to have better programming, live music channel, that they did away with. Also doesn't Clear Channel own most of the XM channels? The merger is going to be all about cutting corners and limited programming so the fat cats can make more cash. You might see a good offering in the first few years after the merger then they are going to hit you up. Well, any way it's good to see David here. I have enjoyed his show!

I disagree with the idea that the customers are going to lose out from this merger. Xm and Sirius are not just competing against themselves. There are only 15 million people that have the sevice in North America... that still leaves A LOT more folks out there listening to regular radio and ipod and cds, etc. These other forms of entertainment are the REAL competition. Why would the merged satellite companies start screwing their customers then? Believe me, they want new customers. They want to tap into the huge markets that they are barely scratching the surface of now. Satellite radio is a VERY expensive business; the satellites are very pricey, the receivers need to be developed and produced, and Howard Stern needs his 500 million! Why should these 2 companies have to compete against each other when most of the continent is listening to free radio and ipod? Bring on the merger and bring on the Grateful Dead Channel!!!!!

The Grateful Dead Channel is on Sirius, so that doesn't have anything to do with the merger. I think the merger will go through, but I'm not convinced it will improve our service. Just look what Clear Channel has done to regular broadcasting. There will be one satellite provider, so they can do whatever they want, raise price, cut channels, whatever, and if you don't like it then yeah, get an ipod that plays MP3s or play CDs. Even on XM why was there only one hour a week for Dead music? I meant to ask David that question. Then Sirius decides to play an entire channel, so all the Dead heads will go to Sirius. That's how good competition works. Anyway I feel lot safer with two sat companies. The merger will just be a bait and switch. Sirius is shaping up nicely with the Dead Channel, live music and XM might take that away, or cut programming. I hope you guys are right, but I'm used to heads crying foul, when they don't get what they want for nothing. peace out

Sirius is owned by Mel Karmazin and from the interwviews with him that I've read, he has never been concerned with XM and what they're up to. He never talks about wanting to take away their listeners or monopolize the satellite market. All I hear him talk about is about how many people out there would enjoy this service and how to tap into that enormous market. Of course it's all about the money; it always is in the end. But I really think that the CEO's involved are thinking long term, to the millions that aren't hooked up yet. If they can make Satellite more attractive to all, more people sign up and profit goes up. They don't do that by raising prices and cutting programming.I probably sound terribly naive, but I do believe in this service and the industry. I'm not a stockholder (thank god!), but I'm coninually amazed by how good it is compaired to standard radio. In terms of the Grateful Dead Channel, I've seen both the Who Channel and the Rolling Stones Channel come and go, so I am prepared to be dissappointed. But this channel has had so much hype on Sirius that I'm just going to enjoy it for as long as it lasts... if it ever gets started!!!

...shall we go, you and I while we can... The GD Channel will be a reality. Like with all new products, after test marketing comes the revision of the content through the surveying of focus groups and feedback from listeners. There will be a merger between the companies, as niether can survive very long alone. Antitrsut law will not be applicable if this gets to a federal court, which will happen. The channel has only been off the air for 10 days! RELAX. Warners/ Rhino want to do lots of business with Sirius around the transmission of feature films involving hundreds of millions in revenue. The GD channel is only the beginning and beginning are slow. LOOK HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR THE BAND TO GET STARTED!

I don't know if it's been officially announced, and it's not my place to say, and I don't know if the last info I got is the final story, but I am pretty sure the GD channel launches for real before the end of this month. And from all I have heard in my dealings with the people at Sirius, this is intended to be a permanent, ongoing channel. GD Hour blog Station list

Hey DG!I am so pleased to hear this news! I can't wait to hear what you all have planned, the preview was such a tasty tease! Good luck with it!

Caught a bunch of the and loved the live shows and interviews can't wait for the channel to launch ! Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile .....

I attempted to try the free 3 day trial w/ Serius. I had gone through the entire rigamaroll 4 times, & it would not accept my GIVEN passwords. I called someone at thier "offices", using the toll free no.. They responded w/ a SORRY, try again approach. Supervisor unavailable.Then I tried again 2 times. then I emailed someone, who responded w/ SORRY, try again. "IT SHOULD WORK>" no way, although I did try. I had done the same 3 day free trial w/ XM radio a year or so ago. That went as smooth as silk. No problems...with XM, PLUS, they have Dylan! Maybe THEY should get The Dead>???

but what is this Serius thing y'all are talking about? With different channels and mergers and stuff. Sattelite? Somebody fill me in please.

But seems to be a serious matter anyhow:-)

They should have the dead but somebody at XM fell asleep at the switch and let Sirius have em instead.

TigerLilly, Yes, XM and Sirius are the two sattelite companies. They are posed to merge. XM was the first. They had about half a million subscribers when I started five years ago. They had great programming, with Bonnaru and Merlfest live, so it was like being at the concert all weekend. They went up to 4 million in no time flat, then started cutting their programming. Sirius signed Howard Stern, not sure if that helps or hurts. They also have more live recordings and new artist. Sirius also has better sound quality. It sounds like lossless music. Although to be fair I had an older XM tuner. hwkn, I've only been on Sirius for a few weeks but it seems better than XM. The sound is better, and they have good live recordings of all the favs, Dylan and Young, Dead, as well as newer artist who also good covers of the classics, as well as good new music which XM used to have more of. The only channel I liked on XM was fine tuning, otherwise Sirius has them beat for what I like. You can call the 800 number for new subscriptions and tell them you want the free trial offer. I had to call this number to find out about the rebate. Your mileage may vary For me I like a lot of music I haven't heard before. There have been some great live recordings of Dylan and many others. Hopefully it wont get redundant like XM did.

Hey there,Am I the only one that feels this way or is the sound quality of Sirius way below FM quality? I got Sirius for Howard Stern and I am very excited about the dead channel. For talk radio I don't really care about quality but some stations the treble has a tinny sound that feels a little "audiostreamy" if you know what I mean. I have been in rental cars with Sirius installed and it doesn't sound any better than my system with either the radio transmitter or hooked in to the little ipod jack. I have also wondered if some stations get more bandwidth than others because some music stations sound good some of the time but other times I feel that the listening experience is watered down. Now that everyone is moving on to mp3's in seems that in general standards and expectations for sound quality have just gone down. Am I nuts? Also, are we going to hear Jerry live or is all that stuff protected. More than anything I am frustrated that I can't find good recordings of early 80's Jerry when he had alot of energy in the shows. I hope to hear more of that on Sirius. It seems like there are whole swaths of Jerry band where there are no master soundboards at all and only some fairly scratchy audience recordings.

I have been pretty impressed with the sound quality. When the "sneak preview" started on August 1 I was listening via the Dish network, and it sounded fine. Then my receiver arrived and it sounded just as good. I don't know if there are differences in the quality of the audio transmission on different channels, but Sirius seems committed to the success of this one, and I can personally account for the high quality of the material they're broadcasting because I prepared several of the complete concerts personally. As got Jerry Band shows, we're hoping to have all the band members' other projects represented in the flow of things. GD Hour blog Station list

Go here: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070829/nyw034.html?.v=101 For the 'official' press release regarding the launch of the channel. It's about time, eh? Have fun, kids!!

Thank you for posting that link! I'm so stoked for this channel to get going already - I can finally stop listening to those surreptitiously downloaded Taper's section mp3's... ;^) And to answer another post, there is definitely a difference in the audio quality of the stations. I am a Stern fan myself and I'm able to keep 48 min 34 sec of his channel in pause on my little starmate receiver. But when I pause Jam On (for instance), I'm only able to keep 42 min. or so... And when I wrote to ask about this incongruity, the answer I received was that the bandwidth is higher on music stations than talk radio... seems reasonable... I think the Sirius suits are just spreading the bandwidth where they need to... and hopefully they understand that The Grateful Dead Channel needs lots of bandwidth!!!

that rocks!!can't wait 4 the dead channel 2 start on sept 7. listened to the preview of the dead channel. was totally cool. changing speed a little bit. i did hear that if sirius and xm r allowed to merge there will be best of xm or sirius available 2 both services. so it is possible that an xm subscriber could get the dead channel if it is offered in the best of sirius on xm cool dead channel promo on sirius website http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Page&c=Flex… if u want sirius and xm 2 merge take the time to voice you're opinion. only takes a minute http://www.petitiononline.com/satmerge/petition.html

we are deprived of this whole phenomena. Is a U.S. only thing, from what I can tell. Is this correct-Sirius is only available in America?

Sirius is available on an internet stream around the globe, but the receivers only work in North America.

This morning on NPR's Markplace USA there was a spot for the show with 'Box' playing in the backround. Very cool.... Cant wait... Eric

Compare and contrast. 1. Interview with Bob Weir re 3FTV on music.msn.com Q. How involved are you in the archival releases? Do you actually participate in the process, or do you just sign off at the end? A. The guys in the band really aren't all that involved. We all have different, ongoing projects that take up our time: I have my band Ratdog; Mickey and Phil have their own things going. So I think I can speak for everybody that we look at our archives as our past accomplishments -- we're happy with them, proud of them, but not really all that concerned about them. There's only so much I'm going to be able to enjoy going back to that stuff. 2. Quote from Bob Weir re launch of Sirius "This is gonna be one fun channel," Weir said in a statement. "We, the guys in the band, get to be involved as much as we can, and we'll make sure it's fun. We want the fans to be involved as well." Anyone care to comment?

Well, read into Bob's statement about Sirius; "We, the guys in the band, get to be involved as much as we can" I love Bob, but that's a little ambiguous... Most of the guys in the band have much better stuff to do than hang out with some program directors at a radio station! And notice he didn't say that the guys in the band ARE GOING to be involved as much as they can... Sirius gave them an open invitation to come by when convenient... I presume that the band won't be super involved, but I think they will drop by from time to time for an interview or something.Further, I don't need Bob to be the one sifting through the vault! Usually the artists aren't the best judge of their own work, in my opinion. my 2 cents!

The band members have said they will contribute from time to time. No one is expecting them to do regular features. GD Hour blog Station list

I'll be grateful for whatever they contribute to the Sirius radio show but they can't be making music (touring) and be committed to everything else, from the vault to this new radio show, at the same time. I prefer to see them live, everything else is bonus. The Dude Abides!