Ex-XM Executive’s Memoir Recalls Satellite Radio Launch Delayed by 9/11

Balle Balle Radio™ Entertainment Desk

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks postponed its debut, a founding XM executive has released a memoir about the satellite radio company’s launch. "They Pay for Water: Building XM Satellite Radio from a Paper Concept to Millions of Subscribers," by Dan Murphy, went on sale August 17 in ebook, paperback and hardcover, according to the announcement.

The company was set to launch its inaugural U.S. satellite radio service on September 12, 2001, in the Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego markets. Murphy and the executive team flew out of Washington, D.C. in the early morning hours of September 11, per the announcement. The launch was pushed back, going live September 25 and expanding nationally by that November.

After joining Sony as a 24-year-old with minimal prior experience, Murphy spent 15 years helping to capitalize, build, and launch XM’s satellite infrastructure, create its receivers, and establish distribution channels in retail and automotive sectors., the announcement states. "After Walkman, Discman, I was looking to join the next big audio innovation when a recruiter called," Murphy said. "It sounded perfect. It was going to be radio the way it should be."

The volume addresses the company’s funding rounds, satellite deployment, distribution challenges across retail and automotive channels, programming strategy, customer economics, multiple Chapter 11 threats, and its ultimate acquisition by Sirius., according to the announcement. "We had spent years getting ready for the biggest launch of our careers, and then the country stopped," Murphy said. "For weeks afterward, I did not know whether anyone would still care about satellite radio."

Positioned as both corporate history and personal narrative, the book targets audiences seeking insight into the construction of major consumer-facing ventures requiring substantial capital investment. — a framing the announcement ties to ongoing debates in the audio industry over subscription economics. It is Murphy’s first book and is available now on Amazon.

Read more People’s Choice stories on Studio CarryOnHarry. Reporting via Live News Vault.

Press Releases at Studio CarryOnHarry