XM Opens Its Jazz at Lincoln Center Studios
By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 6/6/2005
New York — XM Satellite Radio and Jazz at Lincoln Center celebrated its partnership to allow the satellite radio service to use the institution's recording studios and house broadcasting facilities there with a special VIP reception last Wednesday night.
The event, which featured performances by Jazz at Lincoln Center's artistic director and renowned jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and vocalist India. Arie at the facility's Allen Room, celebrated the multiyear agreement. XM will broadcast live daily from the studios at Jazz at Lincoln Center's new location at Frederick P. Rose Hall, on Broadway and 60th Street, said XM. The company will also record and broadcast select live concerts hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center and both will co-produce new shows.
Hugh Panero, president/CEO of XM, celebrated his eighth anniversary with the company that night and told his appreciative audience, “If local radio does not support jazz, rest assured that we will support this art form the way it should be supported.”
And he noted that XM is “kind of like jazz ... it's collaborative, creative, structured, but you can express yourself in a variety of ways. [XM producers] have the freedom to program their shows the way they want.”
Among the VIPs in attendance were: Tony Bennett (Who told the audience that he loves XM because “There are no commercials.” And he added, “There are only two things that this country has truly invented — baseball and jazz. That's our legacy.”); legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry; XM on-air talent Bob Edwards and Jonathan Schwartz; author and expert on American music standards Will Freewald; and celebrity painter Leroy Neiman.
Separately XM Satellite Radio chairman Gary Parsons commented at a Freeman Billings Ramsey analysts meeting last Thursday on rumors that XM has switched satellite manufacturers to Loral Satellite Radio Holdings and dropped supplier Boeing, which produced its current satellites. Parsons said that XM is in the final stages of its procurement process for a satellite manufacturer going forward and will announce the results shortly. — Additional reporting by Amy Gilroy
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