New Name, New Channel, Same Show
Okay, even if you haven’t heard the show in the last couple of days, the new look of the site should tell you that Pete’s show(s) made it through the merger, and his potential audience has doubled. Raw Dog has been picked up on XM, and Indie Talk is now POTUS — Politics of the United States/People of the United States. The show is now 3-6pm, and the replays have moved, too (check the right-hand column).
Pete will be blogging on the matter soon, or so he has promised, and I’ll hold him to that. But for now, let’s hear what long-time listeners think about the changes. And more importantly, welcome to all the new XM listeners. We are confident you’ll grow to love Pete as much as we do.
Well, I hope Pete doesn’t mind me sharing this message I sent to him:
“All the hand wringing from the listeners on the changes is a testament to
just how much they loved your show on Indie!
They will come around I’m sure. I doubt you’ll lose any real fans due to a
name change and 1 hour later start time. I was a bit pissed at first but then
everything was O.K. once the show came on.
Love you pal, just hang in there! They’ll come around. The suits must really
have faith in you and your potential.”
I just want to add that my main concern at this point is that Sirius XM survives and we can continue to listen to shows like Pete’s.
Labels or not, if satellite radio goes away all I have left is very red terrestrial radio.
ditto on Steve’s comment here. As of this point in my life i will not be calling the show Stand Up, but will continue to refer to it as what it is, PBM - Best show ever! Alex and Joe will prolly be reading their blogcasts a little more carefully for the first little while as i’ve noticed that neither have screwed up the ending with the name and channel changes that they both say so fast. I’m sure Pete makes good use of the extra hour now between his shows, although he’s now got less time between PBM and the Colbert Report, right? Pete, comments??
I guess everything good needs a facelift from time to time, and i’m sure the content, structure and what the show stands for will not change.
I told Pete back in Feb. 08 that this show was the start of something big, and if that were not true, it may not have survived the merger like many other shows.
Thanks to Pete for sending out the email to personally inform us long time listeners of the changes. Much appreciated. This is the kind of thing that XM listeners should expect from Pete and this show. Welcome to the PBM “family,” and enjoy an interactive radio show like none other, anywhere.
Prepare to laugh, learn, and above all, be heard! (offer not valid if you are Todd in Florida, or Charles in Phoenix). jk Todd.
E.
I think Todd and Charles both had strokes after Barack got elected. Haven’t heard from them since.
B.C. Weasel Reply:
November 14th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
good one, but I know that Todd is still alive. Hopefully Charles did have the aforementioned stroke, and has lost motor control of only his mouth and fingers. whoa! that was aggressive.
And he still won’t respond to my emails… i’m so sad. I don’t know what to do any more… just like before.
David from BC Reply:
November 15th, 2008 at 12:10 am
You have to think about how many emails he must receive every day. I shudder to imagine. He does not reply to me either, so don’t feel bad. I’m sure there are lots he does not reply to.
B.C. Weasel Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
only Pete knows whether he reads them all or not. I’d be inclined to take him at his word. Even then, by the sheer volume he must get as you’ve said, even forgoing one sentence replies must save him a lot of time. I’d guess him and Val have gotten into the odd argument over this split in his loyalties. He has on many occasions replied to me though, just not lately. I won’t expect that to change since the audience’s recent expansion.
Either way you’re doing a kick-ass job Pete!!
E.
B.C. Weasel Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
who?? Todd, Charles, or Pete?
John from Cleveland Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Ha… no, Pete.
When I first saw the name change from Indie talk to Potus I was furious and ready to cancel my sirius service. There was no way I was gonna pay to NOT listen to Pete and co. I’m glad ya’ll are still aroun.
Thank you Pete for being a voice of reason.
Nick from Iowa Reply:
November 14th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I agree. I am glad that the show made it. What happened to Vinnie?
davefrom north dakota Reply:
November 14th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
vinnie got moved to ch 108 starting monday.same time as before
I have to be at work way too early in the morning—for me, since I am NOT a morning person. I must function on autopilot until sometime after 9:00 in the morning, when my mind finally wakes up and joins my body at work. My autopilot impressively gets me through the routines of getting dressed, getting teeth and hair brushed, getting to work, and getting through the first few hours of work. My autopilot does not have “check email” scheduled anywhere in the morning routine…
…so I didn’t actually see the email from Pete and his team the morning of the 12th (although I saw it at the end of the day). Since I’m on the west coast, my routine involved switching to Indie Talk every morning at 11:00 for Pete’s show—only this time he was not on the air! Just before the top of the hour there was some new show called Press Pool with Joe Mathieu, AND HE WAS STILL THERE INTO THE NEXT HOUR!
Are you kidding me?!
Yeah, I freaked. But, thankfully, less than ten minutes later Joe the Mathieu mentioned that Pete would be coming up in the next hour—but with a show called Stand Up? Um, excuse me? What happened to Pete’s Big Mouth? At any rate, I eventually caught on, and Pete finally came on and (sort of) explained to his listeners what was happening. (I had to investigate online to find out the full story, and to find out what happened to the other Indie Talk shows.) So yeah, I’m coping better now. I would have been absolutely Furious At Sirius if my mornings no longer had Pete’s show—and Alexandra’s dreamy voice doing blogcasts.
Once again, congratulations on surviving the merger. It’s just one more piece of evidence that you are running a highly superior program, Pete. And now with your new audience at XM, your show is going to become even more popular much more quickly. I am genuinely happy for you and your whole successful team. You guys are awesome, and apparently Sirius acknowledged that.
There is one downfall, though. I had called in today (Friday) to nominate Pete for “Douche Of The Week” and, for the first time ever, had to battle an incessant ‘busy’ tone! Damn all these new listeners/callers! But I guess that’s to be expected. I’m just really happy about your show’s success.
(I had nominated Pete for “Douche Of The Week” because yesterday he referred to himself as being “a silly goose” while today he teased that one caller about her Palin-ism “T.G.” and “okie-doke.”)
Tessa from WV Reply:
November 15th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
lol same here, i was very upset before pete emailed me and let us know that the show was still on, just a time change and a channel name change, i freaked…lol, what can i say, im addicted….lol
and the lines have been busy as hell, have to aggree with you there too
B.C. Weasel Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
David, the exact same thing happened to me that morning at 11am. huh? wtf? that email could have come out a few days prior i guess.
E.
Don’t have Sirius any more so I haven’t heard the show in a while. Proud and happy that Pete made it through the merger. Pete’s voice and what his show represents adds positively to political discourse.
I can not stand at every blog cast or commercial break they say “POTUS people of the United States/politics of the United States” I simply hate the word “POTUS”. Of course I’ll still listen and thankfully Vinnie is going to be on again Monday on Maxim I hope his show is the same format as it kicks the crap out of “The Morning Breifing” I just woke up I don’t need a nap, Vinnie is a great way to wake up and as a truck driver unless I wake up prior to 5:00 central time the first thing I do is turn on Vinnie. I’m psyched for those who survived the merger but am irrate that “The Blog Bunker” is gone, Joe Salzone is a brilliant young mind and like Ron Silver an hour show was not enough. I can’t imagine someone fighting through New York subway or cab or otherwise to do a one hour show! I’d like the number of how many people lost jobs in this merger. As I’m glad XM listeners can listen to new show and visa-versa. Theres show on XM my brother tells me about that are not on with the new merger that I’d love to hear. I just wonder how much longer it will be until SiriusXM raises subscription prices and what happened to those with Siruis who bought a life time subscription and are they still available? I guess the change will take getting used to, I wish the best to Joe Salzone since he got cut down.
steve, jasper Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I told Pete I think the name “POTUS” sounds like some kind of herbal compress.
I don’t think he saw the humor in it.
“Come here honey and let me put a potus on that cut”.
Oh well, a name’s not everything. It just sounds funny to me.
Big Brother Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Hahaha, that’s funny. Cuz it’s like pummus. Pete would not get that, but I enjoyed it.
steve, jasper Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Yea, and there’s also something called a “poultice” that sounds very similar also.
Glad you can appreciate the humor.
I thought Pete was supposed to be the funny one.
I have what they call a “dry sense of humor” and I think Pete doesn’t know how to take me sometimes.
Big Brother Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Pete can do dry, but I’m definitely the funnier one. He’s just the one who harnessed it into a “career”.
Kevin Reply:
January 1st, 2009 at 6:54 am
I totally agree with the comment about POTUS. And, don’t forget “President of the US” is yet another alternate meaning. Every time they mention POTUS #X, it’s as though my mind gets momentarily thrown into neutral. I suppose it’s clever on some levels, and maybe I’m just having difficulty adjusting to change, but for now I’m nearly embarrassed to mention the name to others and I cringe every time I hear it.
“I just wonder how much longer it will be until SiriusXM raises subscription prices.” At least three years (i.e., 2011) because part of the conditions of the merger set out by the FCC and its chairman Kevin Martin was a freeze on the current rates of subscription-plan pricing for three years. There were a number of issues that Sirius XM had to confront in order to avoid antitrust complications.
Scott the Trucker Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Well, thats good to hear I understand in time rates will change I’m just glad to hear it won’t be anytime too soon and just after people get used to the merger, thanks for the info.
I love listening to Pete and I know how open-minded and outspoken he is and even though I don’t agree with all he says, he says things how ever he wants and I love it, but if I notice that to change I’ll know something is up. I’ve listened since he came on and he and his show have matured and grown largely. Also about the show, the topic of civil rights specifically gay marriage also the topic of religion has been the topic for too long. I’d love to hear more about topics of education as well as maybe a show of debunking conspriricy theories.
People Of The United States.
What about the Loyal Canadian listeners eh?
What aboot us?
This isn’t just aboot a name change.
This is a aboot recognition and aboot respect.
B.C. Weasel Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
lmfao!! Heavy. You’re right, that’s exactly what it’s aboot!!! I wit yoo!!
See the change is hurting our loyal listeners to the north as well! I just came from Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and they are the nicest damn people I have ever met in my life, no lie. And they could relate to Indie Talk but they truely can not relate to POTUS. A topic I want to mention is the topic of the American auto makers, something both Americans and Candians can relate to please check out this site for how a $25 billion loan can prevent a $156 billion loss in only 3 years and how the United States government can save 3 million jobs in 2009. This bail out will save jobs in Canada as well. Please take less then $ minutes out of your day and watch the video.
B.C. Weasel Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
hey Scott, far be it from me to question too deeply here, but how much of this info. is confirmed accurate?? this IS a GM site, whose interests are obviously invested.
Big Brother Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I haven’t looked into all the details on GM’s claims, but I do have to question the source. These are the same folks who were cranking out slick propaganda in 1993 about how wonderful NAFTA would be for Americans, and how GM wouldn’t move any jobs to Mexico as a result. They are definitely not to be trusted. The thing to remember is even if all of the Big Three were to collapse outright, that wouldn’t mean everyone would completely lose their jobs at all plants. So the 3 million figure is kind of beyond believable — but even a million would have a MASSIVE impact on the economy, so it’s not to be taken lightly.
Scott the Trucker Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
My father in law is a GM employee and when Amrican Axle went on strike earlier this year he was on his couch at home. It may be a GM source the the video tells a pretty good story. Theres a plant in Reedsburg, WI (Grady Foundry) that makes cast iron parts for automakers and also in Reedsburg is DRM Electrocoat that electrocoats those parts, Grady is the largest employer and DRM is quite small but combined in a town of 10,000 that could be as much as 15% of the towns people out of a job. And thats a small part. Now, I do feel things like the employee pricing back in 2005 helped lead to this problem but people are saying GM is paying too much to their employees!! In a society that complains it isn’t being paid enough I feel this will be an ongoing battle. And for those who support the foreign market, you didn’t help any. People want warrenties and fuel milage? I have a 2005 Dodge Stratus that gets 33 mpg and came with an 80,000 mile warrenty, it has just over 60,000 miles on it and is due for its recommended over haul, I will probably gain 1 mpg or more, so those who say Toyota and so fourth are better for their 30-35 mpg, I got that and supported Detroit. And while in 2005 made maybe $26K, it was affordable. But back to the video, they can either loan $25 billion to companies that won’t promise huge retirement and awesome vacations or they can lose 6 times that in the next 3 to 4 years. The governemnt coculd also do something about the 12 million illegals and collect on that to but that would be too much work.
NOW i can catch Pete when i run into an overlap of Stern that i already heard:) Don’t really see what WE are getting from XM though…looks like the XM listeners are getting MORE from Sirius than vice versa.
Scott the Trucker Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I agree my brother has an XM and when we talk about the switches he seems to have more. Also I called the show yesterday (11/17) and they asked if I was an XM or Sirius caller, are they surveying?
David from BC Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Probably not officially. They probably just want to get a sense of how many new listeners the combined channel lineup has garnered, e.g., “We are getting a truckload of new callers; how many of them are new XM listeners?” I am really excited about this show’s popularity and increased audience size, but… I am really irked that I can rarely get through anymore. Pete no longer responds to (at least my) emails and every time I’ve called the show since the change I get nothing but a busy signal (except once, Friday last week, when I got to talk to Alex for a bit… *happy sigh*). I still love the show, it’s just… I wish I could get through like I used to with my thoughts on the issues and questions Pete raises. There has been a couple of times where I thought I had the perfect answer to a question he was asking, but gave up trying to call after the 15th attempt. I’m at work during that time, so I can’t spend all my time redialing.
EminemsRevenge Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Actually, i was talking about the talent & programming—Sirius has Stern, Artie Lange, the NFL and the Foxxhole and XM has half an hour of Dylan[?], Okrah, and nothing much more!