GEORGE STRAIT - STRAIT GETS DEDICATED RADIO CHANNEL

Veteran country star GEORGE STRAIT is to be honoured by a U.S. radio station - after bosses gave him his own dedicated music channel. The station - named Strait County - will launch on 31 May (08), and will feature songs, interviews and exclusive programming about the star, to coincide with the release of Strait's 37th album, Troubadour. He says, "It's always a thrill to hear one of your songs played on the radio, but to have XM Radio dedicate an entire channel to my music is just amazing." Eric Logan, of XM, says, "George's tremendous achievements and body of work transcends musical genre and will make this channel a must-listen for all music fans across the country." Strait is only the third artist to whom XM has dedicated a station - Michael Jackson and Led Zeppelin have previously been honoured by the channel.