Earlier this year SiriusXM announced the minority oriented broadcasters who would receive full-time audio channels as a result of deal made with the FCC in order to get its 2008 merger approved. One of the broadcasters, Howard University, is ready to go on the air beginning Dec. 1.
Howard owns and operates one of the few university-owned commercial stations in the US, WHUR-FM, which programs for a largely urban African-American audience in Washington, DC and celebrates its 40th anniversary on Dec. 10. The university’s new satellite channel is called H.U.R. Voices and will air a mix of programs produced at WHUR, like the daily public affairs program “Daily Drum,” along with new programs produced for SiriusXM.
WHUR-FM also airs some popular syndicated programming like the Steve Harvey show, which is produced by Premiere Radio Networks. I’m guessing that these syndicated programs won’t make it onto the satellite channel.
Howard University has a second channel which is planned to start broadcasting in May 2012. Its name is HBCU and the focus will be on programming from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Of the five broadcasters who were allocated SiriusXM channels, only one other has started broadcasting on satellite. Brigham Young University’s BYU Radio went live this past July.
