MIX (XM)

MIX

Broadcast area	Off-Air
Branding	Today's Mix
Slogan	The Best Variety of the '80s, '90s, and Now!
Frequency	XM 12
First air date	September 25, 2001
Format	Hot Adult Contemporary
Class	Satellite Radio Station
Owner	Clear Channel Communications
Sister stations	Nashville!, KISS-XM, The Music Summit, Extreme XM, National Lampoon Comedy Radio, ReachMD, America's Talk, Sixx Sense, Talk Radio (XM), Fox Sports Radio

MIX, often branded on-air as Today's Mix, was a Commercial-free channel on XM Satellite Radio playing the Hot Adult Contemporary format. It was located on XM 12 ^[1] (previously 22) and plays a mix of hit songs from 1980-present day, except for urban music. MIX was one of 5 channels on XM's platform that plays commercial advertisements, which amount to about 3–4 minutes an hour, and were sold by Premiere Radio Networks. The channel was programmed by Clear Channel Communications, and was Clear Channel's most listened to channel on XM Radio, in both cume and AQH, according to the Fall 2007 Arbitron book.

Artists heard on MIX included Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Lenny Kravitz, Jewel and Nelly Furtado; and groups like Maroon 5 and Blues Traveler. One can also hear top chart hits including songs from Train, Alanis Morissette, 3 Doors Down, Evanescence, Dave Matthews Band, No Doubt, Santana, Matchbox Twenty, and U2.

On June 8, 2011, this was replaced by a simulcast by WHTZ, licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serving the New York City area. ^[2]

KHMX (2001-2003)

As part of an investment deal with Clear Channel Communications, XM agreed to simulcast some of Clear Channel's FM radio stations until they were able to afford their own programming. MIX was one of those channels, simulcasting KHMX from Houston, Texas, titled Mix 96.5. Due to low subscription count at the time, the audience didn't concern themselves with the Houston locality of the station. XM's priority was getting the working signal into people's homes and vehicles. Eventually, Clear Channel began to slowly divest from XM, and the stocks diluted, so the Clear Channel FM simulcasts went away.

Mix (2003-2011)

On December 1, 2003, the KHMX simulcast was dropped and MIX developed its own identity. It retained the MIX name, but was now completely jockless. A month later, MIX, in addition to all XM music channels, went commercial free, making the station auto-piloted 24/7 by music. There were no plans to add DJs to the channel in the future, despite of being one of the few on XM that remained jockless, and the fact that most of their XM sister stations were no longer jockless.

In March 2006, according to a 10-k filing, XM Satellite Radio mentioned that Clear Channel programmed music on XM would begin carrying commercials, including MIX. This has been done to fulfill an arbitration settlement between XM and Clear Channel. In response to this, XM Canada, DirecTV and AOL Radio removed this channel on 4/17/06 in favor of XM's commercial free equivalent. Since then, MIX displayed a "cm" next to its name on the XM unit's pad data to indicate that it is a commercial radio station. This channel has also changed formats to Adult Hits. However, since the launch of The Pink Channel, the channel has segued back to hot AC. The Pink Channel is now an adult album alternative station, and as of today, Mix remains hot AC, with a similarity to XM's Top 20 on 20 and Pop2K top 40-formatted channels.

For a short period of time, MIX did not display song information on the XM unit's pad. Originally, Clear Channel opted to have static pad data on all of its channels, but due to complaints they acquired the hardware to properly display individual track information on the units.

May 4 Channel Lineup

On May 4, 2011 at 12:01am EST, Mix XM relaunched as "Today's Mix", moving up the XM dial to channel 12.

References

1. "XM Channel Lineup" (PDF). 2011-05-04. Retrieved 2011-05-02.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
2. "XM Channel Lineup" (PDF). 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2011-06-17.^{[ permanent dead link ]}