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- Playboy Radio was an internet radio station originally launched on XM Satellite Radio on September 1, 2002. Its programming was dedicated to similar topics and celebrity personalities found in its parent publication, Playboy Magazine. It was XM's first premium station — offered à la carte on top of the base XM subscription price. Playboy Radio gained a healthy following, including a dedicated group of Night Calls fans that established a strong online presence, although some complained the station offered too little content for the monthly premium. On August 20, 2005, the XM Satellite Radio website informed customers that as of September 1, 2005, XM would no longer offer the Playboy Radio channel. The removal of Playboy Radio brought the end of XM's premium stations as High Voltage was made available free of charge to all subscribers earlier in the year. In January 2006, XM's competitor Sirius Satellite Radio announced they were picking up Playboy Radio and would be offering additional content. Playboy Radio debuted on Sirius Satellite Radio on March 1, 2006 on channel 198. Sirius made Playboy Radio free of charge, though subscribers could "opt-in" to access stream of the channel online. Sirius moved Playboy Radio to channel 102 on both services on May 4, 2011. Following the Sirius / XM merger, Playboy Radio returned to XM on September 30, 2008 as part of its "Best of Sirius" package and broadcast on channel 99. On March 9, 2013, Kevin Klein and Andrea Lowell announced on the Playboy Morning Show that Playboy would no longer be featured on SiriusXM and instead would become available via a standalone online site (PlayboyRadio.com). On March 14, 2013, SiriusXM officially discontinued the channel. After leaving SiriusXM, Playboy Radio expanded its content to add over a dozen new shows. It operated as an advertisement-free subscription service and offered paid members 24-hour-a-day programming. Playboy Radio quietly turned off its amplifiers on July 1, 2017 without public fanfare. The final capture of their Web site by the Wayback Machine occurred on December 23, 2017. Their parent company, Playboy Enterprises, has issued no word about the fate of the URL or the future of the service. (en)
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