No, this isn't about the merger (which just went through, I believe). No, this question is about programming.

You see, my wife and I are rock fans, and most of the presets in our car are for rock stations, 47 and 54 being our first two, followed by 9 (which isn't rock, but is part of my complaint).

Here's a fact: if we go anywhere in our car, there is a 95% chance that at one point, one of the three aforementioned stations will be playing U2. There is an %80 chance that one of them will be playing the Red Hot Chili Peppers. There is a 33% chance that one will be playing Social Distortion. [these figures are precise measurements ]

Then there's other weird things. For instance, the White Stripes have a lot of great albums (IMO), but on these stations, 95% of their White Stripes programming is "I'm a Martyr for My Love for You."

So I guess what I'm saying is that the variety on XM leaves something to be desired. When my wife was driving home last night, she found that 47, 54, and 9 were all playing the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the same time. Different songs, but still, that's crazy. For the most part, we really like XM. We listen to other stations that seem to have good variety.

I think it would be easier to stand if I just knew an explanation for why there are so many songs being programed by just those bands. Does anyone here know why, or know of some special Google-Fu to find out? I've done my best, but haven't found anything.