Original Cast of ROOTS Set for SiriusXM Exclusive Town Hall Event Today

By: Feb. 05, 2013
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Sirius XM Radio announced today that original cast members from ROOTS, the groundbreaking television mini-series, will participate in an upcoming installment of SiriusXM's "Town Hall" series. LeVar Burton , Leslie Uggams, and Louis Gossett, Jr. will sit down for a Q&A session with a select group of SiriusXM listeners at the SiriusXM studios in New York City.

Hosted by longtime civil rights activist and SiriusXM host Joe Madison , "SiriusXM's Roots Town Hall" will commemorate the start of Black History Month. Madison is the host of a live, daily call-in show about politics and social activism on SiriusXM's African-American talk channel, The Power.

"SiriusXM's Roots Town Hall" will air live Tuesday, February 5 at 2:00 pm on The Power, channel 128. Throughout the hour-long special, Burton, Uggams, and Gossett will take questions from audience members, and reflect on what it was like to break ground as black actors in the 1970s and how their experience compares to working in television today.

The special replays on SiriusXM The Power channel 128 today, February 5 at 4:00 pm, 8:00 pm, and 12:00 am; February 8 at 4:00 pm; February 9 at 2:00 pm, 6:00 pm, and 9:00 pm; and Sunday, February 10 at 7:00 am and 10:00 pm and on SiriusXM Stars channel 107 February 9 at 6:00 pm and February 10 at 12:00 pm. All times are ET.

"Roots made television history when it originally aired in 1977, and its cultural impact and influence remain powerful today," said Scott Greenstein , President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM. "We are excited to have members of the original cast of Rootsin Our Studios with a live audience. Joe Madison 's dedication to civil rights and social issues and his ability to put history into context for a wide audience of all people makes him the ideal host for this special event."

After the broadcast, "SiriusXM's Roots Town Hall" will be available on SiriusXM On Demand for subscribers listening via the SiriusXM Internet Radio App for smartphones and other mobile devices or online at siriusxm.com. Visit www.siriusxm.com/ondemand for more information.

"SiriusXM's Roots Town Hall" with LeVar Burton , Leslie Uggams, and Louis Gossett, Jr. , is part of SiriusXM's "Town Hall" series featuring intimate gatherings with iconic entertainers and figures sitting down with a studio audience of SiriusXM listeners. Previous SiriusXM "Town Hall" specials have featured Bruce Springsteen , Cardinal Timothy Dolan , Carol Burnett , Tom Petty , KISS, Coldplay, Ringo Starr , Roger Waters , the surviving members of Nirvana, Renee Fleming , Gregg Allman , Usher, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and Tony Hawk .

Check out video clips and learn more about SiriusXM's "Town Hall" series at www.siriusxm.com/townhall.

Joe Madison , "The Black Eagle," is a human and civil rights activist, abolitionist against slavery in Southern Sudan, television commentator, columnist, lecturer, labor and corporate spokesman, musician and athlete. He is the former executive director of the Detroit NAACP and was later named director of the national NAACP political action department. Madison's live, daily, call-in show airs weekdays from 6:00 - 10:00 am ET on The Power.

LeVar Burton , Leslie Uggams and Louis Gossett Jr. , and Ben Vereen will be appearing in an upcoming episode of Pioneers of Television, PBS' Emmy Award-nominated series that brings to life the stories of television's most beloved stars. The premiere of "Miniseries," the final installment of the PBS series "Pioneers of Television," airs Tuesday, February 5 at 8:00 pm ET (check local listings). For more information, visit www.pbs.org/pioneers-of-television.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. is the world's largest radio broadcaster measured by revenue and has 23.9 million subscribers. SiriusXM creates and broadcasts commercial-free music; premier sports talk and live events; comedy; news; exclusive talk and entertainment; and the most comprehensive Latin music, sports and talk programming in radio. SiriusXM is available in vehicles from every major car company in the U.S., from retailers nationwide, and online at siriusxm.com. SiriusXM programming is also available through the SiriusXM Internet Radio App for Android, Apple, and BlackBerry smartphones and other connected devices. SiriusXM also holds a minority interest in SiriusXM Canada which has more than 2 million subscribers.



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