Fungus, branded on air as Fungus 53, was a punk/hardcore/ska radio station on XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite Radio

XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...

, launched in early 2004. The channel was one of nine on XM that is marked with an xL, indicating frequent explicit language. The channel was programmed by Lou Brutus, who is also host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Harddrive, and former program director of Special X

Special X

Special X was a channel on XM Satellite Radio that played random music with a "weirdness" theme. In its early days, the channel was hosted by a character named Generalissimo Stacio Ortega, a creation of station programmer Lou Brutus...

. Lou and Russ Brown were the two DJs on the channel.

Shows That Were on Fungus 53

• Rancid Radio - A weekly, hourly show hosted by the members of the group Rancid.
• Kingdom of Swine - Fungus' longest show, Kingdom of Swine dedicated three whole hours to industrial music
  Industrial music
  Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
  
  .
• Oi!sters - Two hours a week dedicated to Oi!
  Oi!
  Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
  
  .
• Complete Control Radio - Joe Sib hosts a weekly radio show, where he picks the tracks from his punk library at his Los Angeles
  Los Ángeles
  Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
  
   studio.
• Hee-Haw Hell - Airtime devoted to rockabilly
  Rockabilly
  Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
  
   and cowpunk
  Cowpunk
  Cowpunk or Country punk is a subgenre of punk rock and New Wave that began in the UK and California in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It combines punk rock or New Wave with country music, folk music, and blues in sound, subject matter, attitude, and style...
  
   music, some of which is also heard on XM sister channel X Country
  X Country
  X Country was a channel on XM Satellite Radio that specialized in playing progressive country music. It was available on channel 12 on XM and channel 810 on DirecTV....
  
  .
• Duped - A show devoted to punk and ska covers.
• Slam-a-lot - Hardcore music for a whole hour.
• Skanorreha - An entire show of ska
  Ska
  Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
  
  , which mixes in several older songs from the 1990s and 1980s that are not usually rotated into the channel's daytime playlist.
• Kowabunga Uber Alles - A weekly show devoted to surf music.

In popular culture

The station was the subject of the first half of the Fungus/I'm a Really Huge Fan of Bad Religion

Bad Religion

Bad Religion is a punk rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1979. Their current line-up consists of Greg Graffin , Brett Gurewitz , Jay Bentley , Greg Hetson , Brian Baker and Brooks Wackerman . Gurewitz is also the founder of the label Epitaph Records, which has released almost all of the...

song from one of NOFX

NOFX

NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...

's 7" of the month club program. Fat Mike expresses his thoughts on the station, mentioning that "I hate the radio but I like Fungus/The only punk rock station, it's humongous".

AC/DC Radio and the end of Fungus

Between 2008-09-15 and 2009-01-15, the channel features the music of Australian band AC/DC

AC/DC

AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...

 24/7. This is the first single artist micro-channel that is preempting channels on both the XM and Sirius platform. Punk

Punk (Sirius)

Punk was a Punk and Ska radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 29 and Dish Network channel 6029. In its time it rivaled Fungus 53 on XM Satellite Radio. It was added to Sirius Canada on June 24, 2008....

 on the Sirius platform is being preempted as well. It is being reported that the channel Boneyard will replace AC/DC radio on channel 53, meaning Fungus 53 has been retired from the Sirius XM lineup. Faction became Fungus's successor on November 12, 2008, although Faction is now XM channel 52.