Broadcast area United States
Canada Owner Sirius XM Radio | First air date September 25, 2001 | |
Frequency Sirius XM Radio 73
Dish Network 6073 Format 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s Music Class Satellite Radio Station | ||
40s Junction is a commercial-free music channel on the Sirius XM Radio platform, broadcasting on Sirius XM channel 73 as well as Dish Network channel 6073. The channel mostly plays big band, swing, and hit parade music from 1936 to 1949, with occasional songs from the early 1950s. Until May 7, 2015, the station was known as '40s on 4, and programming was broadcast on channel 4 as part of the Decades lineup of stations. It was moved to channel 73 to be nearer to stations featuring similar genres of music such as jazz and standards. For the first four months on channel 73, the station was known simply as '40s, before being rebranded as 40s Junction on August 13, 2015. Channel 4 is currently occupied by Pitbull's Globalization Radio.
Contents
Both the 40s Junction name and the channel's longtime nickname, "The Savoy Express", refer to the passenger train travel common in the 1940s. It also refers to the popular 1941 jazz song Chattanooga Choo Choo. The original "Station Master" (Program Director) for the channel was Marlin Taylor, with Bob Moke as Music Director. Both have since departed, and the channel is currently programmed by Human Newman. The voice of the channel is Lou Brutus, who models his announcing style after that of Bing Crosby staff announcer Ken Carpenter. In keeping with the railroad theme, the channel's logo now features a train itself.
History
Similar to the other XM decades channels prior to the 2008 merger with Sirius, the '40s channel was originally programmed to recreate the feeling of its time period. They were able to do this through big band/swing music, recreated newscasts (in which fictional reporter "Ed Baxter", voiced by Bill Schmalfeldt, would report on a given day's top stories in a year from 1936 to 1949 as if they were current events), countdowns of the top three hit songs from the current week in a year from 1936–1949, World War II–era patriotic songs, Spike Jones joke novelty recordings, and such features as the Record Museum, which played tracks from the 1920s and early to mid-1930s. During Academy Award season, Bob Moke would regularly introduce and play all of the Academy-Award nominated songs for a particular year between 1936 and 1949.
Around Thanksgiving and Christmastime, '40s on 4 would be pre-empted for Holiday Traditions, a seasonal format devoted to popular Christmas music from the 1940s to the 1960s. From November 16-December 25, 2009, the channel was pre-empted for Holiday Traditions. In 2010, the channel was again pre-empted for Holiday Traditions, this time starting November 15 and extending through January 1, 2011. On November 8, 2011, it was announced that Holiday Traditions would appear on their own channel (147) from November 14, 2011 to January 2, 2012.
Other past programs on the channel included Harmony Square, a one-hour presentation of barbershop music that aired on Sunday afternoons and evenings; Big Band Jump, a syndicated weekly program hosted by Don Kennedy that specialized in Big Band music and the stories behind it; and a weekly program devoted to vintage Bing Crosby radio shows such as Philco Radio Time and Kraft Music Hall.
The channel was also used for XM's annual pop music chronology, IT, from 2002 to 2007. From August 2011 to August 2013, Jonathan Schwartz, formerly of XM's High Standards and Siriusly Sinatra channels, was heard daily on '40s on 4 playing a mixture of classic and contemporary pop standards recordings.
From March 26 to June 25, 2014, '40s on 4 was pre-empted in favor of the Billy Joel Channel. This change was not well received by many '40s on 4 fans, many of whom cancelled their subscriptions or demanded refunds from Sirius XM as a result.
While known as "40s", the station logo featured the previous logo, but the on 4 text was removed.
Internet Player
The internet player can be adjusted to play faster music such as swing or slower music such as traditional pop.