Freakonomics Radio Podcast Network Gets its Own SiriusXM Channel

 SiriusXM satellite radio has some engaging channels in its lineup. After all, where else can you listen to a Beatles, Elvis, Grateful Dead, and Tom Petty channel? The lineup even includes Dave Matthews, LL COOL J, and Eminem channels, and they're not even dead!

 So it's huge news when the satellite radio giant announces a dedicated channel for a podcast network. SiriusXM has announced the launch of a new Freakonomics Radio Network streaming channel. For this channel, the first to be dedicated to a podcast, the team behind Freakonomics Radio, which is about to release its 500th episode, will curate and present episodes from its deep archive, along with selections from other popular shows on the Freakonomics Radio Network, including No Stupid Questions, People I (Mostly) Admire, Freakonomics, M.D., and new programs to be launched later this year.

 

The Freakonomics Radio Network streaming channel is available to subscribers now on the SXM App at siriusxm.us/FreakonomicsRadioNetwork.

 

 Entering its twelfth year as one of the most popular podcasts, Freakonomics Radio set a personal listenership record in 2021.

 

SiriusXM’s Freakonomics Radio Network channel is the only place where listeners can tune in 24/7 to hear not only the latest episodes of Freakonomics Radio, but also a selection of provocative classics from the show's 500-episode archive, like “Abortion and Crime, Revisited,” “The Economics of Sleep,” and “The Stupidest Thing You Can Do with Your Money.”

 

“The SiriusXM audience is amazingly large and diverse,” said Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics Radio, “and we can’t wait to get our stuff in their ears.”

 

"It's exciting to be able to take a show as groundbreaking and successful as Freakonomics Radio and give listeners, new and old, an entirely unique way to experience it," said Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM’s President and Chief Content Officer. "We can’t think of a better partner to launch this first-of-its-kind streaming channel with than Stephen and his team.”

 

In addition to its flagship show, the Freakonomics Radio Network produces No Stupid Questions, where Dubner and co-host psychologist Angela Duckworth explore the weird and wonderful ways in which humans behave; People I (Mostly) Admire, in which the unorthodox economist Steven Levitt speaks with other high achievers to ask questions that only he would think to ask; and Freakonomics, M.D., hosted by Bapu Jena, an economist and physician who explores the intersection of economics and healthcare.

 

This announcement is a step forward for SiriusXM from the morass created by their purchase of Stitcher. A recent article in The Verge, detailed the disillusionment by Stitcher podcast pros who have fled SiriusXM in serious numbers. The talent drain and exodus of legacy podcasts has many in the podcast world concerned that SiriusXM may be fumbling the purchase and messing up an opportunity to draw upon Stitcher's expertise in the podcast industry.

 

The Verge article quotes one Stitcher employee, “I was shocked by how uncurious people were there about how we had succeeded in podcasting or how we did what we did."

 

That knowledge gap made Stitcher employees — experts in the podcast industry — feel like they walked into a company that didn’t want or need their help, despite evidence to the contrary, states The Verge article. 

 

"Various employees say they had to educate the SiriusXM team on what made a good podcast," the article reports.

For Freakonomics fans, their podcasts will continue to be available on Stitcher, the SXM App, Pandora, and all major podcast listening platforms.