The Heat (2024)

The Heat is the name of Sirius XM Radio's urban-leaning rhythmic contemporary channel, on Sirius channel 46 (previously 50) and XM channel 46 (previously 68).^[1] The service signed on April 17, 2006.

At the start The Heat was a Rhythmic Top 40 outlet and had played Rhythmic hits, but during the Sirius XM Merger on November 12, 2008, it changed to a more hit-driven R&B, urban pop, and melodic Hip-Hop channel.

History[]

Prior to its debut as "The Heat" in 2006, it was originally called "The Eye" (XM26) and it was only available online and on DirecTV from November 11, 2004 to April 16, 2006. On November 12, 2008, The Heat replaced Sirius' Hot Jamz on channel 50. It also shifted its direction to Urban after the changes were made, to replace XM's former urban contemporary channel, 67 The City. Due to the failure of their urban contemporary experiment, in March 2009, the channel's playlist became more rhythmic once again, however, this time, it seems to be more of a rhythmic contemporary, not as much of a Rhythmic Top 40 like it was prior to the merger, because of Sirius removing Pop2K (now exclusively on XM channel 30, and many Pop2K artists are played on The Heat. Most of the rap tunes were dropped, unless it has melodic elements such as in the songs "All the Above by Maino or "Whatever You Like" by T.I., as its sister Hip-Hop Nation and Shade 45 channels play them. The Heat also plays new songs too, such as "Leave The Door Open" by Silk Sonic or "Girls Want Girls" by Drake. R&R still lists the channel as an urban-formatted outlet. As of late 2009, the channel (despite still listed on Mediabase's rhythmic top 40 panel) decided to not focus on hip-hop music, although The Heat is now described more of a hot rhythmic adult contemporary channel. It took the former playlist of the now-defunct Hot Jamz channel that was on Sirius 50 pre-merger.

The station plays clean versions/dirty versions [sometimes] of songs and has DJs, just like a terrestrial station, however, the channel is commercial free. As of October 17, 2014, the channel has a new logo which shows only the word "heat" engulfed in now red flames. In 2016, the blue flames were brought back. In early 2022 the red flames return with a whole new logo preference.

Current on-air personalities[]

• Swaggy Sie: On Air Mon-Fri 6am-12pm (Saturdays 4pm-9pm)
• Dion Deezy: On Air Mon-Fri 12pm-6pm (Hosts The HOTNESS on Saturdays)
• Mina SayWhat: On Air Mon-Thur. 6pm-12am (Fridays 6pm-11pm) (Co-hosts The HOTNESS on Saturdays if needed)
• Deja Vu: On Air Saturdays 10am-1pm (Co-hosts The HOTNESS on Saturdays)
• DJ Steel: Hosts The Friday Nite Fire Mix 12am-2am and The Saturday Nite Lit (same time) (On Air Sundays 8am-12pm) (Co-hosts The HOTNESS on Saturdays if needed )
• Herkules: On Air Sundays 3pm-7pm (Co-hosts The HOTNESS on Saturdays if needed)
• PosterChild J1: Hosts The Top Shelf Show on Fridays 11pm-12am
• Top Shelf Show Every Friday night PosterChild J1 gets all the new songs that were released earlier in the day. You'll hear new music from Drake to Doja Cat or new and up and coming artists like Honey Bxby to Bobbi Storm.
• Heat Workout Every Saturday morning The Heat provides Hot R&B and Hip-Hop joints for workout routines (On Air Saturdays 7am-10am)
• The HOTNESS Weekly Top35 Every Saturday The Heat has their Top 35 Songs of the week. As they count they're way up to the #1 song requested the most on the radio. They'll throw in a few throwbacks from Fetty Wap to Eminem and new music from Drake to Cardi B plus celebrity interviews on The Heat (Start Time 1pm-4pm, 9pm-12am, Sundays 12pm-3pm, 7pm-10pm)
• My Hot 5 Listeners get the chance to takeover The Heat for 1 hour and play their favorite top 5 Hot R&B and Hip-Hop joints

Previous logos[]

References[]