Opinion: XM Radio to become political player

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For years, the voice of candidates has been disappearing from the networks. In 1968, the average sound bite for presidential candidate on the evening newscasts lasted 42 seconds. By the 1992 election, that had been pared down to 7.3 seconds, and it’s assuredly less now.

Now comes XM Radio, the nation’s largest satellite radio company with more than 8 million subscribers, to put a little pol talk in your morning drive. XM says that starting in September, it will offer a chance to hear speeches and other remarks by the candidates --- interspersed with commentary and listener reaction --– 24/7.

To preview the channel, XM plans to rev up Thursday with coverage of the Democratic candidate debate at Washington’s Howard University (the forum, which starts at 9 p.m. EDT, is being televised by PBS).

‘So much happens on the campaign trail on a daily basis,” Kevin Straley, XM’s senior vice president for news, sports and talk, told The Times’ Johanna Neuman. “We are letting all of this information breathe.”

Straley said XM will offer all the White House contenders free air time to speak to voters, though he added there will be restrictions to avoid having one candidate dominate the programming. Thanks to a partnership with C-SPAN, archival audio of historic moments from past campaigns will also be part of the mix.

The new channel will be at 130 on the XM dial, called POTUS08 (the acromym derives from D.C. lingo for President of the United States).

-- Don Frederick