Ladewig.com

XM Radio has announced a number of changes to their service at CES 2004 yesterday. The biggest news was the move to commercial-free music, which is the equivalent of a kick in the stomach to their smaller rival Sirius. They also announced some lineup changes which included… Gasp!!! The elimination of Special X from the service!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Special X, this is a channel where you can go to always hear something different. And by different I mean really different. My favorite shows included The Best of Dr. Demento, Wax My Woody (surf music), and the Planet Pluto Polka Party. Where else can you go to hear hours of polka music? Don’t laugh… I like polka music.

XM says that some of the programming will move to other channels, but even if that is the case, much of their programming just didn’t fit into a single category and probably won’t ever get played anywhere else. So if you want to save Special X, send an e-mail to Lee Abrams, their Chief Programming Officer, and let him know you want to save Special X!