Sirius XM Pops is a

Sirius XM Satellite Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius ...

online station devoted to popular

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

. It was formerly available on XM channel 75 (previously 77),

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channel 75 (previously 79). Until February 9, 2010, it was heard on

Direct TV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

channel 866. Preston Trombly, Paul Bachmann, Vincent Caruso, Martin Goldsmith, Carol Ford and Lauren Rico were the channel's principal on-air voices. The channel launched on XM in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

as XM Pops on channel 113. It moved to its channel number 77 and acquired its current name after merging with the SIRIUS Pops channel on November 12,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. It also acquired the same logo from its old Sirius counterpart. In addition, it is the only Sirius XM classical channel that was XM-exclusive until the channel merger. On

Sirius Canada Sirius Canada was a Canadian company, a partnership between Slaight Communications, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Sirius Satellite Radio, which was one of three services licensed by the CRTC on June 16, 2005 to introduce satellite rad ...

, the channel retains the Sirius Pops name. On July 10, 2014, Sirius XM announced that Sirius XM Pops was to be removed from broadcast service on July 17. On July 17, 2014, at 12:00 a.m. Eastern, Sirius XM terminated broadcasting the Sirius XM Pops channel during a performance of Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 just after playing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor. Sirius XM Pops programming has merged with Symphony Hall. However, Sirius XM Pops remains as an online-only station at channel 755.

Holiday Pops

The channel was pre-empted each year for a "Holiday Pops" format featuring vocal and instrumental

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ...

. This format change generally ran from shortly after

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

weekend through

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

. However, beginning in 2014 with the relegation of Sirius XM pops to an online only station, Holiday Pops was also relegated to an online-only channel except for a short period beginning December 24 through

, where it preempts the regular Symphony Hall programming on Satellite service. Its new number is online channel 783 and usually airs from the first Monday in December until Christmas Day. Since 2014 it is now completely separate from Sirius XM Pops which also continues to air online during the full run of Holiday Pops. The regular Symphony Hall programming airs online only on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when Holiday Pops takes its place on the satellite service. In 2018, "Holiday Pops" aired online throughout the season starting in November.

Pops On Film

Pops On Film was a specialty weekend program hosted and produced by Vincent Caruso. It aired Friday nights and was repeated Saturday nights and focused on film soundtrack and video game music suitable for a classical music and classical 'pops' music format. It ended when Sirius XM Pops was removed from broadcast service on July 17, 2014. The show was transitioned to SiriusXM's SymphonyHall (Channel 76) and renamed as "Classics On Film", with Vincent Caruso continuing to host and produce the show.

Holiday Pops

Pops On Film

References

See also