Deep Cuts at XM Satellite Radio

HOW DID THEY FIND OUT? 75 employees in music programming at XM Satellite Radio could be getting budget cut soon. And they're discovering their potential fates via a human resources computer glitch. People were finding out their last day by logging into the payroll system and under the benefits page it would list their last day.

From DCRTV The Washington, DC based website reported that XM Satellite Radio was on the verge of making massing cuts following its summer merger with rival Sirius.

On Tuesday evening, DCRTV received this from an XM source: "All the great people that are gone from XM radio, may we all RIP... Let's go back and take the terrestial world by storm... Gone but not forgotten: '50s Channel PD Ken Smith, '50s Channel MD Matt The Cat, '60s Channel PD Pat Clark, '80s Channel MD/afternooner Kandy Klutch, Cross-Country PD Jessie Scott, Decades Channel Senior PD Kurt Gilcrest, Cafe PD Bill Evans, all of XM Urban accept three people."

Also among the 50-ish employees cut Tuesday: George Taylor Morris of Deep Tracks, '70s-On-7's John Clay; Billy Zero and Tobi from XMU, Ethel's Erik Range and Rick Lambert, and Bill Hutton of Lucy.

DCRTV reports that another round of cuts could be coming in early November. The word is that Sirius XM suits have abandoned plans to continue separate line-ups for each service, and instead will feature one common channel line-up on both systems. With the Sirius music channel versions probably being offered on both.