SIRIUS XM OPENS A PANEL FOR PANDORA

SiriusXM has created its first content team to apply SiriusXM’s model of curation and programming to the Pandora platform.

The team consists of Alex White, Pandora’s VP of Content and Programming; Jeff Zuchowski, Pandora’s VP of Label Relations; Bill Crandall, Pandora’s VP of Editorial Content; and Lindsay Bowen, Pandora’s Head of Podcasts and Entertainment Content Partnerships. They report to SiriusXM Chief Content Officer Scott Greenstein.

“Creating a dedicated team of talented and forward-thinking people is the first step in delivering great content that drives usage and engagement on Pandora”, said Greenstein. “I am very excited to engage in the collaborative work ahead to create great new content for both the Pandora and SiriusXM audiences.”

The team will focus on creating original content in music, sports and talk across comedy, politics and entertainment for Pandora listeners. They will include some SiriusXM content and create original Pandora content for the SiriusXM audience.

SiriusXM, meanwhile, will premiere Howard Stern’s Saturday Soundtracks on 3/9, a weekly collection of music performances recorded recently and over the decades on the Howard Stern Show.

New episodes will air every Saturday at 9am ET on Howard 101, with replays later in the day; it will also be available via the SiriusXM app.

The debut episode will feature video of Cheap Trick doing “I Want You to Want Me” in 2006, audio of Dave Grohl’s first-ever unplugged performance of “Everlong” in 1998, Lady Gaga’s solo piano rendition of “Million Reasons” three years ago and James Taylor singing “Fire & Rain” in 2015.