Branding xL XMLM First air date September 25, 2001 | Frequency XM 42 | |
Broadcast area Off-Air (Now Lives As Liquid Metal) Slogan Undiluted, industrial-strength metal Format Heavy metal, extreme metal | ||
XM Liquid Metal (or XMLM for short) was a channel on XM Satellite Radio channel 42. This XM Radio Channel is Uncensored and had an "xL" Marking, which Means it had Explicit Language. The channel played a variety of Hard Metal and Extreme Metal from yesterday and today. The channel has been with XM Radio since day one, and has gone through a few phases since. On November 12, 2008, as part of the Sirius XM Merger, XM Liquid Metal merged with Hard Attack to form Liquid Metal.
Contents
Online banishment
XM Liquid Metal was part of the basic service since the beginning of XM Satellite Radio's launch, but with the incoming of Major League Baseball and XM's MLB Home Plate talk station, XM Liquid Metal had to be removed from the satellites for extra bandwidth. On February 15, 2005, the switch was made. With the change, XMLM DJ Ward Cleaver moved to XM 48 SquiZZ to do mid-days. Unfortunately, unlike other XM Online channels, XM Liquid Metal was not carried of other services such as DirecTV or AOL Radio. For about a year, there were various complaints on XM online forums, and ones that were sent to XM themselves. A website was set up called XMLM Underground for all the metal fans on XM. This continued well into 2006.
On March 22, 2006, head of programing, Eric Logan, dropped hints on the Opie and Anthony Show on High Voltage that Liquid Metal will be returning soon. An official announcement on the Opie and Anthony Show was expected the following day. Logan confirmed it on the Opie and Anthony Show of March 23 that XM Liquid Metal will again be broadcast via the satellites on all 5 of XM's musical outlets (US sats, Canadian sats, DirecTV, AOL Radio, XM Radio Online).
Return to space
On April 17 at midnight EDT, XM Liquid Metal resumed broadcasting on channel 42. This was part of 10 new channels by XM in a push to be the satellite radio provider with the highest amount of commercial-free music channels, since they are no longer able to claim 100% commercial free music. XMLM re-launched by playing a montage of angry callers and the first song was Slayer-Payback. Ward Cleaver returned to XMLM along with Boneyard DJs Manny, Taz and Coolguy. Manny has since left XM, along with Taz. Katie Brutal has also joined and hosts Mercury at 6pm EST.
On December 11, 2007, Liquid Metal was taken hostage by Psychostick, Screaming Mechanical Brain and Indorphine. The bands took over Ward Cleaver's show as one of their stops on the Holiday Hate Tour. During this time Ward insisted the bands all get drunk via the Black Tooth Grin. Psychostick also recorded some live tracks which, after being mixed and mastered, will become part of Liquid Metal's arsenal of trophy gems.