Yet another sad day on XM ... Baseball Beat signs off

If you're a baseball fan and you had/have XM, nothing was better than Charley Steiner's Baseball Beat show on the MLB channel, which ran from 1 to 3 p.m. on weekdays.

Steiner had a great rapport with all of his guests and the show had the feel of a bar conversation more so than a traditional talk show. It was informative, it hit most every team, it was entertaining, it had great bump music, it was a must-listen.

And if you were driving? It was like crack cocaine straight from God's own stash.

XM deemed it fit for cancellation, its last show ran today. I didn't even know it until I listened to it today.

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/xms-baseball-beat-signs-off/

What a fucking shame. Apparently, XM will add on yet another annoying-ass traditional style talk show, as its already done in some of its other time slots on both MLB and another channel I formerly loved, POTUS.

There's no justice in the world when Rob Dibble is still employed and co-hosts a show and Steiner doesn't. The ONLY thing keeping me from cancelling XM at this point are the baseball broadcasts themselves. Don't fuck with those, XM.

Godspeed and RIP to Baseball Beat.

 

Dibble is abominable. I have absolutely no use for Steiner, granted, but he remains more useful than Dibble by a large multiplier.

 

That multiplier being infinity.

 

My guess is that XM's problem with Steiner was that he misses so many shows during the season because of his Dodgers obligations.

Or that's probably the reason they gave when they didn't want to pay him what he wanted.

 

That really sucks. I loved that show when I had XM - he had a lot of great beat writers on there, and there wasn't the hype and garbage that permeates so much of sports-talk radio these days.
On a slightly related topic - I have Sirius now (bought a new car and it had free Sirius in-dash through 2010, so I bit and cancelled my XM). I have the "Best of XM" package with XM's sports packages, but does anyone know if they'll be picking up the MLB live broadcasts this spring?
They have MLB Home Plate on there, but I haven't been able to find out any info on whether they'll have the games or not.

 

I have Sirius, too, and the last time I asked a Sirius employee, they told me .... "Uhhhh, I'm not sure."

They fucking better have it.

 

Here's an update I found online.
The gist of it? They're trying.

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/mlb-home-plate-now-on-sirius-is-there-more-to-come.html

 

That sucks big time. That was the most informative baseball show going. Always topical - it seemed like Charlie could get any writer he wanted to appear. Loved the music they played.

 

One of the major plusses of the XM/SIRIUS combination is that they'll now have all the major sports.

 

Charlie always did his show, even if he was on the road.

 

Let's put it this way . . .

They. Had. Better.

The lack of closure regarding MLB remains a nagging toothache.

 

You clowns were actually paying to listen to shit like Charlie Steiner?
PT Barnum was right.