Zappa.com

XM recently launched an all Led Zeppelin channel. As far as I know that's the only artist dedicated channel on XM. I wonder if Zappa fans in North America - I'm not sure how far south XM broadcasts reach - would petition XM to give us an all Zappa station would work? Between all his music, the various cover and tribute bands, ZPZ, to say nothing of the huge supply of bootlegs there has to be far more material than Led Zeppelin has amassed. To suggest to XM operations that an all Zappa channel would inspire many who haven't already made the leap to satellite radio to do so ala the boost in Sirius listeners when Howard Stern went there could get someone's attention. Just think - coast to coast Frank Zappa, 24 - 7 in CD quality sound! MMM-MMMMMMM!

What do you think???? Worth trying???

If there's interest I'll post back with XM contact information.

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My new purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

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and why would that be? do you think XM is like pirate radio or something? if there were legal issues with ZFT they would be handled. that's why corporations have attorneys.

if it was my comment on playing bootlegs you don't recall Zappa himself encouraging people to get their tape recorders ready when he played what was to be the Edison Player bootleg Lather release. i am not an expert in the law here , but even sans bootlegs there is more Zappa material than Led Zeppelin stuff. besides, how do you think Zappateers' site stays up? because they don't allow copyrighted material and the rights to what they do allow aren't "owned".

if your comment is in regard to the lyric content you don't know enough about XM to make the statement you did. since it's a subscription service and requires specialized equipment they aren't bound by FCC public broadcast regulations AM and Fm stations must adhere to. to appease john q morality XM labels explicit content channels and offers channel blocking.

i will never understand why are people always so quick to come up with why something potentially good can't or won't work rather than why it would or should. it's like boner pills for their egos or something. geez.

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My new purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

good idea BUT no commercial potential. unfortunately.

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XM sucks. Well, it will until it merges with Sirius.

that's the beauty of it- XM's music channels are commercial free. believe me, there are music channels there whose formats make you wonder who listens to that kind of stuff. i have to believe there are enough Zappa fans who would listen, especially if the host was somebody who knew about Zappa and added factoids and commentary along with the music.

so you wouldn't listen to or have any interest in such a station and wouldn't contribute an email to ask for one?

that is what i'm asking, not if it's commercially viable, if XM is better or worse than Sirius, or anything else. I had planned to email XM management and suggest it and then ask for support from the Zappa community thru this forum to back up my contention that people would listen.

so far all i hear is i'm wasting my time and there are all the "safe" reasons to not get involved and put down the idea. is this another case of Zappa fans acting like Seattle/Athens music fans when they loved wallowing in the obscurity and lack of any wider airplay of the bands they followed? it seems that people keep finding their way to this forum so the fan base continues to grow. why does nobody believe or seem to care it would grow bigger and wider if there was a place to hear Zappa where ever you went? why would providing a place to hear uncensored, complete, non commercial potential music by one of our favorite artists be something to naysay? if there was a noticable increase in Zappa music sales maybe ZFT would release more stuff from the vault because their income would go up. Dweezil would have a place to put his work out there for the public. if XM was willing to take the chance i see NO downside to it. i really don't get this negativity.

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My new purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

yeah yeah yeah, and my gang hates your gang and my school hates your school and you drive a chevy and i drive a ford.... everybody wants to be in a gang so they can feel superior to the other guy.

if what you said had any factual basis Sirius would have a bigger subscriber base than XM, better gear than XM, and the merged company would be called Sirius. except for Air America on XM, Stern on Sirius, and different sports coverage there are few programming differences between the two.

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My new purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Underground Garage (Sirius Channel 25) occasionally plays Zappa, along with surf, rockabilly, blues, punk, psychedelia, soul, girl-groups, British invasion and most of what's interesting recorded since 1950. No commercials (except for Sirius), the jocks are pretty good and they mix in movie sound clips which can be entertaining. My kids first heard the Kaiser Chiefs and the Raconteurs there. They hate it when I mention that...

Or http://www.zappa.com/zapparadio/index.html is great - until the Zappa Family station breaks start to repeat themselves. Unfortunately this takes 5-10 minutes, sometimes less. Cute the first time through...

Incidentally, I don't think Sirius has merged with XM yet. Still pending FCC approval I believe. Mel Karmazin vs. the Mothers of Prevention!

FC

i don't mean no potentional for commercials. I have XM. I mean few people will listen to it. The fact is, of my friend group I am the only Zappa freak. My friends have all heard prime zappa by proxy and just don't really care for him. Zappa will never be Zeppelin because he requires too much of his listeners and covers so many genres that he is more easily dismised through narrow minded approaches. XM operates at their maximum bandwith, in fact over the holidays many stations disappeared because they had to make room for the seasonal channels. They can't just add stations they have to sacrifice another one and the truth is they probably can't justify it for such a small audience.
Personally I think they should get rid of that Zeppelin station and instead have that station play one and only one GENERALLY ACCEPTED AS CLASSIC band a month. (ie beatle,s rolling stones, zappa, who, dead, etc etc etc) a zappa month is far more feasible. Personally that Zeppelin station has made it so I never want to hear another one of their songs again.

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I agree with you on some points. Like you, I'm the only other Zappa fan I personally know. But it does seem that we come out of the woodwork whenever he toured and it seems ZPZ is meeting with success. There is obviously enough demand for his music still that his whole catalog is available, boots and original recordings still fetch premium prices on eBay and record conventions. New stuff is still released although not fast enough for me.

I agree full on with the Zeppelin station comments you made. I have not listened to it as the commercials for it are getting older than something in heavy rotation on an old top 40 station.

It still hasn't dampend my enthusiasm for the idea of a station. In fact if you add to the initial mix of Frank and his kids, commentary, cover bands, and then add to that solo works by various band alumni and I think you have an entertaining, diverse, and far reaching mix of music. There could be a show that played his more accessible music for new of first time listeners. There could be classical segments for those who liked that sort of music to hear the Master. I swear I believe the potential is there!

If XM would try it and it failed, so what? It isn't like the gubbmint goons are going to take all our Zappa recordings away. We won't get sued or lose our jobs. Before the plug gets pulled we get Zappa and Zappa and friends of Zappa and lots and lots of good music. Maybe we get new fans, continue the legacy as it were. As fans we all know that there's more to the music than dirty lyrics and comedy rock. Most of us have at least made one convert over the course of being fans of his music. If XM would do it I would listen. I would ask others to listen. We can't know it will fail and it doesn't matter ultimately if it does. It's still worth a try.

Viva Zappa!!!

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My new purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

Ditto!
The family has such a tight reign, understandably so, that to put together something like this with their permission would be virtually impossible as far a I can tell.
Fun just the same of case though.

They attempted that with the Lab awhile back and played Zappa, Beefheart, Todd Rundgren, Yes, etc. I listened to it off and on. A shame they pulled it in order to get a bunch of baseball stations on there.