SIRIUS Left
Encyclopedia
SIRIUS Left was Sirius Satellite Radio
's liberal
talk
channel. It featured personalities such as Lynn Samuels
, Bill Press
, Alex Bennett, Mike Malloy
, Ed Schultz
, Thom Hartmann
and newcomer Mark Thompson. It was also one of the Sirius XM-owned channels to be exclusive to Sirius and not heard on XM (along with SIRIUS Hits 1
.) In June 2008
, Sirius Canada
added Sirius Left to its lineup (along with the now-defunct Hot Jamz
).
After the Sirius XM merger, the co-owned America Left
on XM Satellite Radio
did not join the Sirius lineup on November 12, 2008. Likewise, SIRIUS Left did not join the XM lineup. Instead, both channels were added to the online streaming services, and were accessible to online subscribers of both services including the iPhone
and BlackBerry
apps. The two channels merged to become Sirius XM Left May 4, 2011. Alex Bennett and Mark Thompson can still be heard on Sirius XM Left. Lynn Samuels
has moved to Sirius-XM Stars 107. Her show airs live every Saturday and Sunday from 10am-1pm.
Political analyst Andy Ostroy has criticized Sirius Left and liberal talk radio in general in the Huffington Post. Ostroy disliked Sirius Left's three in-house hosts Alex Bennett, Lynn Samuels, and Mark Thompson. Bennett was described as, "an ungracefully-aging hippie himself, offers up more gratuitous profanity than intellectual political thought", Samuels was summarized by, "any random listen could be whining about anything meaningless", while Thompson had the least critical description of, "while a smart, passionate guy, has a program so mellow in tone that it can literally put you to sleep. His voice is so smooth and jazzy that he'd be much better off cuing up a Miles Davis album." He said that Sirius Left should have more 'ass-kickers' on the network, like Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes and Stephanie Miller.
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...
's liberal
Progressive talk radio
Progressive talk radio is a talk radio format devoted to expressing liberal or progressive viewpoints of issues, as opposed to conservative talk radio...
talk
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
channel. It featured personalities such as Lynn Samuels
Lynn Samuels
Lynn Margaret Samuels is an American radio personality based in New York City who currently hosts a weekend talk show on Sirius XM Stars channel 107.-External links:****...
, Bill Press
Bill Press
William "Bill" Press is a US talk radio host, political commentator and author.-Career:Press has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Niagara University and Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg. He started his broadcasting career in Los Angeles for TV stations KABC-TV and...
, Alex Bennett, Mike Malloy
Mike Malloy
Michael Dennis Malloy is an American radio broadcaster from Atlanta, Georgia. Previously his show has been carried by WSB Atlanta, WLS Chicago, the I.E. America Radio Network, the Air America Radio network, Nova M Radio and the On Second Thought network. He is now self-syndicated...
, Ed Schultz
Ed Schultz
Edward Andrew "Ed" Schultz Is an American television and radio host and a liberal political commentator . He is the host of The Ed Show, a daily news talk program on MSNBC, and The Ed Schultz Show, a talk radio show, nationally syndicated by Dial Global, promising "straight talk."-Early...
, Thom Hartmann
Thom Hartmann
Thom Hartmann is an American radio host, author, former psychotherapist and entrepreneur, and progressive political commentator. His nationally-syndicated radio show, The Thom Hartmann Program, airs in the United States and has 2.75 million listeners a week...
and newcomer Mark Thompson. It was also one of the Sirius XM-owned channels to be exclusive to Sirius and not heard on XM (along with SIRIUS Hits 1
SIRIUS Hits 1
Sirius XM Hits 1 is an alternative rock-leaning Top 40 radio station on Sirius XM Radio channel 2 and Dish Network channel 6002. The channel was formerly known as US-1 until 2004, until acquiring the current name. All three names are parodies of VH1, which originally meant Video Hits 1...
.) In June 2008
2008 in radio
Several events occurred in radio in 2008.- Events :* January 2: WWFT finished Christmas music stunting, rolling out the red carpet for Adult contemporary music branded as "Warm."...
, Sirius Canada
Sirius Canada
Sirius Canada is a Canadian company, a partnership between Slaight Communications, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Sirius Satellite Radio, which was one of three services licensed by the CRTC on June 16, 2005 to introduce satellite radio service to Canada.On November 24, 2010, following...
added Sirius Left to its lineup (along with the now-defunct Hot Jamz
Hot Jamz
Hot Jamz was a XL Hip-Hop and R&B station on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 50 and Dish Network channel 6050. On February 2008, Sirius Canada dropped the channel, but it was reintroduced in June 2008....
).
After the Sirius XM merger, the co-owned America Left
America Left
Sirius XM Left is located at channel 127 on Sirius XM Radio and carries a progressive/liberal talk format. The channel is programmed by Don Wicklin.-America Left :...
on 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...
did not join the Sirius lineup on November 12, 2008. Likewise, SIRIUS Left did not join the XM lineup. Instead, both channels were added to the online streaming services, and were accessible to online subscribers of both services including the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
apps. The two channels merged to become Sirius XM Left May 4, 2011. Alex Bennett and Mark Thompson can still be heard on Sirius XM Left. Lynn Samuels
Lynn Samuels
Lynn Margaret Samuels is an American radio personality based in New York City who currently hosts a weekend talk show on Sirius XM Stars channel 107.-External links:****...
has moved to Sirius-XM Stars 107. Her show airs live every Saturday and Sunday from 10am-1pm.
Political analyst Andy Ostroy has criticized Sirius Left and liberal talk radio in general in the Huffington Post. Ostroy disliked Sirius Left's three in-house hosts Alex Bennett, Lynn Samuels, and Mark Thompson. Bennett was described as, "an ungracefully-aging hippie himself, offers up more gratuitous profanity than intellectual political thought", Samuels was summarized by, "any random listen could be whining about anything meaningless", while Thompson had the least critical description of, "while a smart, passionate guy, has a program so mellow in tone that it can literally put you to sleep. His voice is so smooth and jazzy that he'd be much better off cuing up a Miles Davis album." He said that Sirius Left should have more 'ass-kickers' on the network, like Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes and Stephanie Miller.