Extreme XM

Infobox Radio Station


airdate = 2001-09-25
name = EXTREME XM
frequency = XM152
area = United States
format = Talk radio
owner = Clear Channel Communications
branding = "EXTREME XM"
affiliations = WLW News
Fox Sports Radio
slogan = Talk to the extreme
class = Satellite Radio Station
sister_stations = XM11, XM21, XM22, XM24, XM154, XM157, XM158, XM161, XM165
website = [http://www.xmradio.com/programming/channel_page.jsp?ch=152 Extreme XM] |

EXTREME XM, branded on air as Extreme 152, or Extreme Talk during news breaks, is a talk radio channel on XM Satellite Radio featuring terrestrial show simulcasts from across the United States. It is one of the oldest talk channels on XM. Until 2005, this channel carried an xL designation.

Extreme XM is one of three talk channels produced by Clear Channel Communications exclusively for XM Radio, the others being Talk Radio 165 and America's Talk 158. The channel is programmed out of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was programmed by Sean Compton until 2008-04-01. Advertising sales are handled by Premiere Radio Networks.

History

Radio Crazies!

Extreme XM launched in 2001 as a showcase for different morning radio shows from across the country. A lot of shuffling went on, but for the most part the channel kept its theme for a while. Such shows as Regular Guys (Atlanta, Georgia), Bubba the Love Sponge (Tampa, Florida), Lewis and Floorwax (Colorado), Drew Garabo (Orlando, Florida), Jamie and Danny (Los Angeles, California), The Love Doctors (West Palm Beach, Florida) and The Monsters of the Mid-day (Orlando, Florida) populated the lineup. Clear Channel also threw in their segments of Clear Channel News, which eventually went away a couple years later. While Extreme XM was for morning shows, Buzz XM picked up the afternoon-evening slack with a different variety of talk shows. Some of these shows would later appear on Extreme XM.

Changes, Departs, and the FCC

In 2003, Clear Channel news ended, and in the middle of the year, Lewis and Floorwax lost their PM drive slot to the third Orlando show (from the same station nonetheless) to grace the lineup: The Philips Phile. The Love Doctors also soon fell off the schedule as Regular Guys slid into graveyard shift, allowing Bubba the Love Sponge to have complete control over morning drive. "Guys" Larry and Eric weren't happy about this, and badmouthed XM and the fact that they weren't paid by XM for the exposure. Having shot themselves in the foot, The Regular Guys were soon wiped clean off the XM dial. While a number of the shows on Extreme were now live, the quality still varied among listeners from show to show. Monsters, Philips, and Drew were all out of one Orlando station, and Bubba was out of nearby Tampa.

2004 came, and with it came the demise of Buzz XM, as Clear Channel took it in a different direction by turning it into a conservative talk channel to compliment XM's new America Left liberal talk channel. Los Angeles' David Lawrence was added into late night shift on Extreme and Los Angeles' Phil Hendrie was moved to evenings, bouncing Drew Garabo off the lineup. With the addition of shows that weren't as "extreme," many considered why the channel was still even called Extreme XM. After the 2004 Super Bowl halftime incident, the FCC pressure came hard and fast, and an Extreme staple since day one, Bubba the Love Sponge, was fined for an on-air obscenity incident and subsequently fired by Clear Channel. Bubba became the poster child of the FCC, explaining to all jocks what happens when you get out of line. For a while, Extreme had to run replays of nighttime shows in the morning slot as Bubba was no longer on the air. Soon enough, Clear Channel stations dropped Howard Stern's show after another FCC fine. One of the stations fined was WTKS-FM in Orlando, carrier of Extreme's Monsters and Philips Phile. With Howard gone, the Monsters were moved into morning drive on all affiliates, and a new show emerged on both WTKS-FM and Extreme XM: The Shannon Burke Show. At the same time, former Extreme show The Regular Guys were yet another casualty of the FCC and Clear Channel on their home station WKLS.

Not So Extreme Anymore

It was Summer 2004, and Extreme XM had become a whole different entity from what it used to be. It was no longer a "Radio Crazies" channel for morning shows all over the country. The lineup now consisted of 3 Orlando talk shows, and 3 Los Angeles talk shows. Not only that, but except for the now Monsters of the Morning, the lineup was completely different from the channel's origin.

2005 came, and more changes along with it. First off, ESPN's Tony Kornheiser was to begin a new late-morning show out of Washington, D.C., and Extreme had it ready for debut. In addition, G. Gordon Liddy also announced a new show coming on at the same time. Extreme planned to have both shows added to the lineup, both on tape delay, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. respectively. This, of course, meant the end of Shannon Burke on the lineup. Shannon didn't seem too happy, and bashed XM's talk show Opie and Anthony in the process, resulting in a hoarde of O&A listeners pummeling Burke's program for 2 days. Shannon never did return, and he continues to broadcast out of WTKS-FM in Orlando. Extreme, albeit still less extreme, was beginning to branch out to other cities once again.

In mid-2005, another conflict came along between The Philips Phile and XM's own Opie and Anthony, to which O&A accused Philips of ripping off a bit, sending listeners to call his show in the process. Philips responded with claims such as that he was the most listened to show on XM (not possible because XM does not have ratings), that Opie and Anthony had to pay to be on XM, and other comments that only caused Opie and Anthony listeners (called The Pests) to take over the phone lines for another week. Weeks later, listeners of O&A bought a billboard close to the WTKS-FM station saying in yellow letters: "Mr. Philips, The Pests Win, You Lose! Good day, sir!" After this, the battle between the 2 shows ended.

In late 2005, Extreme began their first original show: Left Jab, which is only one hour long and airs Sunday mornings at 9 a.m.. Despite the minuscule show and invaluable timeslot, Extreme gave it plenty of promotion. Soon, Clear Channel announced the hiring of former Cox Radio show Lex and Terry, who Clear Channel promised to add to many more stations. One of which was Extreme. Lex and Terry debuted, albeit truncated and tape delayed, on Extreme in November taking G. Gordon Liddy's slot, who was moved to Ask! at a live time. With XM's addition of the Fox News Talk channel, some extra space was available on Ask! and Air America Radio for a couple shows to occupy. On weekends, Extreme was home to Indy Car Racing. As of March 2006, IRL racing has been relegated to its own channel on XM145 in the Sports category. Races are also covered on sister channel America Right.

Tony Kornheiser also announced in Spring 06 that he would be voluntarily leaving his radio show (possibly temporary) to concentrate on his Monday Night Football position at ESPN. As a result, his show was put on hiatus, and lineups shuffled accordingly. At the same time, Extreme XM found this as a convenient opportunity to conduct another lineup shuffle.

Purging and Relocating

As part of the [http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/fetchFilingFrameset.aspx?dcn=0001193125-06-044177&Type=HTML arbitration settlement] between Clear Channel and XM Radio, XM decided to move all of Clear Channel's programming on the platform into Clear Channel's own facilities instead of having it programmed via XM. This meant that the 9 channels that Clear Channel programs on XM would be engineered directly by the company and not by XM. Since the move, the channel has had infrequent technical difficulties.

On April 26, 2006, evening talker Phil Hendrie surprised the radio world by announcing his retirement. Phil claimed that he could no longer do his show under the business of terrestrial radio, and that were he to return to the radio medium, it would be a satellite broadcast. Phil also wanted to concentrate on his character acting for television, including the TV series Teachers, of which he plays a billed role in. Phil announced that his final broadcast of his radio show would be June 23, 2006. He was given well wishes by people including Matt Groening, Ann Coulter, and Howard Stern.

Extreme XM got yet another big lineup sweeping in May 2006. Nighttime talkers John and Jeff went off the XM radio platform, and David Lawrence was moved to a tape-delayed slot on XM's Open Road channel (keep in mind Lawrence once had his own channel with replays all day). Now Extreme XM has become 100% Clear Channel content. The departure of Tony Kornheiser allowed Extreme to give Lex and Terry back the hour that they normally lose, as well as an additional hour (for whatever reason, since The Philips Phile is still missing one hour). Lex and Terry therefore moved from 1-4 p.m. to 11-4 p.m., still tape delayed. The show is also replayed in place of John and Jeff. A new addition to the channel was The Schnitt Show, hosted by Todd Schnitt out of WFLA in Tampa, Florida. The show is currently on tape delay from 7-10 p.m., while Phil Hendrie was moved to a live timeslot (albeit too little too late) from 10 p.m.-1 a.m.. Schnitt claims that his show will move to a live timeslot down the road, and with Phil Hendrie's retirement, another lineup shuffle is expected in the early summer. On May 22nd, the afternoons were shuffled around as Schnitt was moved to 4 PM, ending the 3-year run of The Philips Phile on XM Radio. In the 7-10 PM slot, the station added an encore of Glenn Beck's mid-morning program, which can also be heard on Talk Radio 165. Following in Glenn Beck's steps was Rollye James, which took the Lex and Terry replay spot from 1-6 AM. Upon the retiring of Phil Hendrie, a replay of The Schnitt Show was added into the 10-1 timeslot, making the Monsters, Lex and Terry, and Schnitt the only 3 unique shows to the channel. In late August 2006, Philips Phile returned to the lineup (albeit on tape delay), while Schnitt was moved later to support the arrival of Ed Schultz, whose show was truncated to an hour. Syndicated hosts Bill Handel and Jesse Jackson were moved off their original home, Talk Radio 165, onto Extreme. The shows, once taped on 165, now run live on 152.

Beginning Monday October 2nd, USA Radio Network had their news coverage dropped in favor of news from 700 WLW and Fox Sports Radio's "Fox Sports Report." The :30 news portions were produced by Clear Channel Worldwide News, but have since been taken over by WLW News. Ed Schultz moved to mid-days nationally in late 2006, and beginning February 19, 2007, the show will move to noon live on XM channel 167. Right now, all weekday shows on channel 152 are tape delayed, except for the Monsters.

The week of February 26, 2007 featured more changes to Extreme's lineup, including the move of The Schnitt Show to a live timeslot. Long-running Monsters in the Morning had their show truncated to 4 hours. Weekend programming also got a modification, as the newly syndicated series , from Premiere Radio Networks, was added to the Extreme weekend lineup. Dr. Dean Edell has since returned to a nightly timeslot at 10 PM. The 11 PM to 1 AM timeslot on weeknights featured The Power Hour, a brokered talk show that began on the channel in March 2007. The show ran on the channel until July 13th, 2007, as they could no longer afford the timeslot.

ix Left

In October 2007, Clear Channel announced the launching of a new XM channel, America's Talk on XM 158, which will begin on November 12th. With this, it was also announced that weekend and weeknight programs on Extreme that are not The Monsters, Lex and Terry, The Schnitt Show, The Philips Phile, Jesse Jackson, or The Bald Truth would be moving to the new channel. On 2007-11-19, the new channel was launched, leaving Extreme with only six shows. Four of these shows consume the vast majority of the schedule.

Personalities

Current

* The Monsters - The Monsters consist of Russ (Triple R) Rollins, Dirty Jim, Bubba "Whoop-Ass" Wilson, Rev. Daniel Dennis, Tuddle, Drunky The Bear, and Tiffany. They host "The Monsters In The Morning", a local Orlando, Florida show simulcasting from WTKS-FM.
* Lex Staley and Terry Jaymes - The hosts of "Lex and Terry", a hot talk morning show. The show is syndicated to over 20 stations by Clear Channel-owned KEGL.
* Todd Schnitt - Host of the afternoon current events talk show, "The Schnitt Show", syndicated through the southeast by Clear Channel-owned WFLA.
* Jim Philips - Host of the afternoon talk show, "The Philips Phile", a local show in Orlando, Florida simulcasting from WTKS-FM.
* Jesse Jackson - The famous civil rights activist who is also host of "Keep Hope Alive" every Sunday morning, which is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks.
* Spencer Kobren - Founder and president of the American Hair Loss Association, and host of "The Bald Truth", a hair-loss and men's lifestyle show airing late Sunday nights. The show is self-syndicated.

Former

*Bubba the Love Sponge - Former morning show host based out of Tampa's WXTB, who was fired by Clear Channel. He's now on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101 channel.
*Shannon Burke - Mid-day host on WTKS-FM who was simulcast on Extreme during the period where 13 hours of time was simulcast from that station. His show was dropped for Tony Kornheiser and G. Gordon Liddy.
*Tony Kornheiser - Mid-morning host on WTEM, who left to become a sportscaster for Monday Night Football. He has since returned to XM Radio on XM Sports Nation.
*G. Gordon Liddy - Mid-morning conservative talk show host whose show moved to Ask?!, and then to America Right.
*Drew Garabo - Nighttime host from WTKS-FM whose show lasted a little over a year on the platform. He has since left Clear Channel and works for a rival CBS Radio station.
*The Love Doctors - Mid-day hosts from WZZR. They openly hated being on XM due to not receiving any sort of compensation. They eventually got their wishes and were removed.
*Regular Guys - Morning hosts from WKLS who tolerated being on XM until they were shuffled to overnight tape delay. They too were not happy with not being compensated for XM exposure. They have since been fired from Clear Channel, twice.
*Ed Schultz - Was on Extreme for less than a year after being ported over from Talk Radio 165. He has since moved his show to a live timeslot on Air America XM 167.
*Phil Hendrie - Late night talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. Phil retired from his show in 2006.
*John and Jeff - Overnight self-syndicated talk show. The show was dropped from XM Radio in 2006.
*Lewis and Floorwax - Morning show based out of Colorado that aired on tape delay. No explanation was given for its removal.
*Danny Bonaduce and Jamie White - Morning duo on KYSR who aired tape delayed on Extreme. The show was eventually cancelled.
*David Lawrence - Nighttime self-syndicated technology talk show. The show was moved to Open Road.
*Mark Walsh and Dave Goodfriend - Hosts of Left Jab, the only original radio show to ever air on Extreme. They were moved to XMPR and then to Air America channel 167.
* Joyce Riley and Dave vonKleist - The hosts of the Versailles, Missouri based morning show, The Power Hour, syndicated by Genesis Communications Network. Their show aired tape delayed at 11 PM.
* Dr. Dean Edell - Hosts a 30-year-old medical and health advice show on weekday afternoons. The show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. He moved to America's Talk XM 158.
* Bill Handel - Host of the Saturday mid-morning "marginal legal advice" show, "Handel on the Law", syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. Handel also hosts a local weekday morning show on KFI in Los Angeles, California. He moved to America's Talk XM 158.
* Leo Laporte - Former personality on the now defunct TechTV, and still present on G4techTV Canada, who hosts "The Tech Guy", a formerly local Los Angeles, California technology talk show now syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. He moved to America's Talk XM 158.

Lineup

Weekdays

External links

* [http://www.xmradio.com/programming/channel_page.jsp?ch=152 Extreme XM]
* [http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/extreme_schedule.pdf Extreme XM Lineup] - Printable PDF grid featuring the complete Extreme XM lineup.