XM Radio has officially launched POTUS, which provides 24 hour a day coverage of the race for 2008. It is free to anyone and everyone, even if you don’t subscribe to XM radio. In fact, if you have a car radio that is XM ready, but if you don’t subscribe, you can still pick up the channel on 130.

I was up all night last night, and listened to it all night long. Some of the programs include: a fascinating show on polling hosted by none other than Zogby himself. One particular highlight is National Journal On Air. All of our posters here at race42008 are regularly quoted on the National Journal’s blogometer, so maybe Kavon will get interviewed! On their very first morning show, they interviewed Newt Gingrich live, and also interviewed Tom Tancredo, and Chris Dodd. They also aired one show last night out of Chicago called Beyond the Beltway. They had a panel including a former IL Attorney General who is a delegate for Fred Thompson.

Here is the official Press Release that introduced the channel earlier this year:

XM Satellite Radio today announced it will launch a new radio channel dedicated to the 2008 presidential election, marking the first time that a national radio channel has been devoted to a presidential campaign. The 24-hour, commercial-free channel, created in association with C-SPAN and other media outlets, will be called “POTUS ‘08.” The channel’s name (pronounced POH-tus) is the acronym used by government insiders for the President of the United States.

The channel will be “free to air” on XM, meaning that it will be broadcast free to all XM radio receivers. If a consumer has an XM radio but opts not to subscribe to XM, the consumer can still listen to the presidential election channel.

The presidential election channel will feature news updates, candidate interviews, complete speeches, debate coverage, latest polling results, fundraising status, and live call-in shows. The channel will provide free airtime for presidential candidates to speak to voters. Non-traditional media outlets, such as bloggers and podcasters, will provide content for the channel. It will also air archival audio of historic moments from past campaigns, tapping C-SPAN’s rich political archive. Additional content will be announced prior to launch.

XM will preview the channel in June 2007 with live XM original coverage and a re-broadcast of candidate debates hosted by CNN. The channel will formally launch in September 2007 and air through November 2008, when voters go to the polls to elect the 44th president. More than 8 million customers listen to XM on satellite radios for the car, home, and portable use.

“This channel is a unique public service opportunity to provide our listeners with a commercial-free and politically neutral destination that is focused solely on this important presidential election,” said Hugh Panero, chief executive officer, XM Satellite Radio.

“C-SPAN and XM Radio have been long time partners and are pleased to join forces to bring radio listeners up-to-date information about the historic and competitive 2008 presidential election,” said Susan Swain, President and co-Chief Operating Officer, C-SPAN.

“POTUS ‘08″ will be located at XM Channel 130. The channel is the latest in a series of temporary XM channels devoted to special programming. These “microchannels” on XM have included the Live 8 concerts, holiday music channels, and Red Cross Radio, which provided daily information to Red Cross workers in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina. “POTUS ‘08″ is the most ambitious microchannel on XM to date, and the first devoted to a major news event.

Featured Highlights:

• Morning Briefing
  Weekdays | 6-9AM ET

  This is a your daily wake-up call of news and opinions, including highlights of candidate speeches, special events, and listener forums. Anchored by Scott Walterman, the Morning Briefing sets the tone and schedule for the unfolding events of the day in the campaign for the Presidency.

• Press Pool
  Weekdays | 11AM-1PM ET

  Continue following the campaign through the mid-point of the day with a roundup of top reporters covering the election nationwide. Anchored by Tim Farley, the POTUS Press Pool updates the daily stories that are making headlines and the ones that the mainstream news outlets don’t have the time to cover.

• POTUS Live
  Weekdays | 2-3PM ET

  Hear live updates of the stories making headlines including live event coverage and a roundup of candidates’ daily activities on this edition of POTUS Live anchored by XM’s Joe Mathieu.

• 1600
  Weekdays | 3-6PM ET

  Each afternoon, Rebecca Roberts focuses on the campaign stories and news with in-depth interviews, unfiltered candidate messages, and commentary from the world of political bloggers. Whenever possible, 1600 will take you live to speeches and debates so you can hear your candidate. Add your commentary to the mix by emailing or calling TBA.

• Zogby’s Real America
  Mondays | 1-2PM ET

  Find out what America is really thinking when the guru of polling and statistical pulse-taking, John Zogby, hosts a live weekly show that includes fresh survey updates, listener calls, and Zogby’s interpretation of the data. Polling from shore to shore, and in 70 countries around the globe, John Zogby is “America’s smartest pollster.”

• The Heritage Foundation
  Tuesdays | 1-2PM ET

  One of the premiere policy groups in Washington will offer an exclusive hour of opinion and analysis from the conservative point of view.

• National Journal On Air
  Fridays | 1-2PM ET

  The highly-respected journalists of National Journal have developed a unique and exclusive one-hour weekly program in which they will report and analyze the latest presidential campaign news. They also include updates from National Journal reporters traveling with the presidential candidates.

Here is a link to listen online. If you sign up for a free trial, you likely can continue to access the channel, as it is free.