Let's get Fungus 53 back on XM?

Question

Check it out...The Senior VP of Programming at XM is Jon Zellner. His direct e-mail is [e-mail]. You can also leave a voice mail for him or his administrative assistant, Christine Butts, by calling XM corporate at [phone] and asking for them.
You can also voice mail the Senior VP of Programming at SIRIUS, Steve Blatter. Call Sirius Corporate headquarters at [phone] ask for him.
I know this is going to be hard for a bunch of pissed off punks, but I would suggest being somewhat polite, since we don't want to alienate anyone.

Answer 1

I can't believe with all of the crap on XM that they decided to axe Fungus 53. I tried e-mailing and calling the numbers provided. Let's cross our fingers that enough people are pissed to get them to put it back on. There's a petition online now to get Fungus back on the air. Please sign it to show them how many of us are pissed!



http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/bringbackfungus53

Answer 2

This is the email i recieved back from Jon Zellner:



Thanks for the e-mail, Josh. I do appreciate hearing from you and empathize with your situation. I also recognize the fact that you're passionate about music. I am as well.



The fact is that the decision to pre-empt or discontinue a channel is never easy. We struggle with these challenges on a daily basis because of the limited space on the network. If space wasn't an issue, we'd offer hundreds of more channels covering every musical genre imaginable. The challenge with Fungus is that is was consistently one of the lowest performing music channels on the network. That doesn't mean the channel didn't have fans or that it wasn't great (I actually listened to Fungus quite a bit and my son did as well), but as our subscriber base grows to nearly 40 million listeners, channels that reach limited audiences become harder to justify.



I hope you take the opportunity to surf through XM's other 170 channels and find something you like. There may be a channel you may have missed in the past.



Again, thank you for writing. I'm sorry you're unhappy with the decision and I hope you'll stick around as a subscriber. And, it's my hope that we will be able to find a home for punk music on XM in the future.



Best regards,



Jon

Answer 3

I will definitely call and will also share this info with friends. I was so upset that they took Fungus off the air that I canceled my and my husbands XM subscriptions. The customer service guy told me my subscription was over in November and my service would stop then... I told him to cancel now and I want a refund. He asked how he could get me to stay a customer and offered me a cheaper rate. I told him I would stay if they get Fungus back on the air.

I am so bummed, there is no other station out there quite like Fungus.

Answer 4

Just emailed Jon Zellner a very polite (but firm) email to reconsider. Here is his response:

................................................................................

From: "Zellner, Jon"

To: [e-mail]

Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 4:04:53 PM

Subject: Re: The Mysterious Dissapearance of Fungus53



Thanks, Scott. Actually, there aren't any channels (except the foreign language channels which we have to keep) that consistently had a smaller audience than Fungus, but we will do what we can. Appreciate the e-mail.



Jon





Jon Zellner

Senior Vice President

Music Programming

Sirius XM Radio

1500 Eckington Place NE

Washington, DC 20002



Everybody repost this Question above on MySpace, Facebook, wherever you can. I find his response hard to believe.

Answer 5

If you email Lou, he sends out Jon Zeller's email. I have attached it below for those of you who haven't emailed in. There is CS is still telling people that Fungus is coming back in 3 month s and will give you 3 free months (or similar) to wait for it to come back but I really doubt they have any intention of bringing it back. I would guess you will see a $hitty mix of their alternatives as a solution.



From Lou>>>>>>>>



Thank you for writing in about the demise of Fungus 53.



I’ve copied the letter regarding the elimination of the punk format from our SVP of Music Programming Jon Zellner below.



Hope this answers your question about the cancellation. If you have any other questions please feel free to write back.







Thanks so much for taking the time to write with your comments on XM 53 Fungus.



We recognize and appreciate the fact that Fungus and punk, ska and hardcore has loyal fans like you, but because we have limited space on our platform for music channels, we’re often faced with having to make difficult decisions when it comes to what’s available on our channel line-up. Fungus was one of the channels that had a very loyal but also a very limited audience.



Some of the music heard on Fungus can be heard on other XM channels including Fred (XM 44) and Ethel (XM 47).



Again, we appreciate you being a fan of Fungus and hope you listened to enough other XM channels to stick around as a subscriber.



Thanks again for writing and for being part of the XM Nation.





Best regards,





Jon





Jon Zellner

SVP Music Programming

Sirius XM Radio





If you have any other questions please feel free to write back.





Thanks,



LOU BRUTUS

Senior Program Director Active Rock Cluster

Mandatory Metallica Fungus 53 The Boneyard Liquid Metal XM Led

Answer 6

What a coincidence that last Thursday AC/DC announced they are going on their first world tour since 2001 and tickets go on sale this weekend. $95 each is what I heard.



I bet that AC/DC is paying to get channel 53 or XM is getting banners at their concerts or some crap like that.



Siyonara XM radio.

Answer 7

I'll be canceling my XM as soon as it expires if Fungus doesn't come back. **** XM! I supported the merger with Sirius because I thought it would increase programming then they turn around and stick it in their customer's ***! I hope they go bankrupt and have to sell their children into prostitution!

Answer 8

I found out that Fungus was canceled on Monday and canceledon Monday. XM didn't even try to talk me out of it. Sirius has also replaced their punk channel with AC/DC. They can blow it out their ***. I will not pay for crap radio and the merger is certainly turning satellite radio into crap. My advice, buy a new IPod 8Gb Nano. You can load it up and hit shuffle. You are in control for $149.

Answer 9

I just called to cancel my subscription and was told Fungus will be back on January 15th. I cancelled and asked about reactivation fees and was told that they would waive my reactivation fee since I was cancelling because of a temporary programming change.

Answer 10

Complete failure. No market research. Horrible programming decision. No national brotherhood for punk rockers. I'm seeing red.



Very pissed in Northern Nevada

Answer 11

"Actually, there aren't any channels... that consistently had a smaller audience than Fungus"



Oh LOL! Now there will be. Do they really think there are more people who want to listen to AC/DC AC/DC AC/DC AC/DC AC/DC than there are people who want to listen to a variety of punk, ska, and surf? REALLY?

Answer 12

I just sent them an E-mail. They won't read almost any of them, but if they see enough e-mails in their inbox they'll see something is up

Answer 13

I'm with you. I like AC/DC and all, but I don't need to listen it twenty four hours a day.

Answer 14

i plan on e-mailing and calling customer service as many times as i have to. until they capitulate! keep your chin up, let's turn this thing around.

Answer 15

This is the reason I cancelled both radios yesterday.

Answer 16

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/bringbackfungus53