What are your favorite XM Satellite Radio channels?

[cognito20]

Music:

- All of the decades channels, especially during when they do IT, which basically is a month-long chronological playing, starting with January 1930, of every Top 40 song in XM's library (which from the rock era on means pretty much every Top 40 pop song in history).

- Fred (classic alternative rock - things like Fixx album tracks from the 80s, old Smiths, that sort of thing)

- XM Chill: ambient chill music great for driving. Also surprisingly good for long nighttime drives is Willie's Place, the honkytonk/outlaw country channel.

-The Rhyme: classic hip-hop, something you don't hear very much on commercial radio anymore.

Surprisingly considering my musical background, I'm kind of meh about XM Liquid Metal, which has a little too much of the cookie-monster stuff and not enough of the Slayer, Godflesh, etc. for my taste, and Fungus (the punk-ska channel), which tends to be a bit too commercial, and really doesn't play a heck of a lot of ska. They're both OK, though, just not what I expected.

NEWS AND TALK

-BBC World Service: maybe my favorite channel on the entire XM service. Absolutely outstanding. I tune in at least an hour every day.

- NHL Home Ice: the only 24-hour hockey talk channel. Caveat: it really sucks and gets repetitive during the offseason, though.

- MLB Home Plate: not as good as Home Ice during the season, but much better in the offseason. Also, XM has -exclusive- satellite rights to Major League Baseball, so they broadcast a feed of -every- game, where at least until they go exclusive next year you can't get every NHL game on XM (yet). Since baseball is the only sport that really works well on the radio, XM was smart in tying up the MLB rights.

- The Virus 202. I -like- Opie and Anthony. My major problem with them is that the guy who really makes the show for me, the real talent on the show, is not named Opie or Anthony, he's named Little Jimmy Norton. The -real- reason I like this channel is the Ron and Fez show, which takes longer to get into, but is a much more subtle, nuanced, and I think funnier show than O&A. Ron Bennington is a comic genius, and the chemistry between Ron and Fez is the best I've ever heard from a radio duo.

--Scott