Shares of Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) are racing higher today, and it's not because the satellite-radio operator announced that Rosie O'Donnell will host a morning show that will air exclusively on Sirius and XM.

The real push behind the company's move today is in the debt department. Sirius XM is bumping up its senior secured notes offering from $350 million to $525.8 million, as a result of healthy demand for the company's debt. The new notes will mature in 2013 and give the company the flexibility to pay down its credit facility and other obligations with earlier payoffs.

This is welcome news. If Liberty's (NASDAQ:LCAPA) bailout earlier this year didn't entirely take Chapter 11 bankruptcy off the table, this move should silence the last of the cynics holding Sirius XM tickets in the 2009 deadpool.

However, let's get back to the O'Donnell news, because it's a bigger deal than you might think. Sirius XM approached the occasionally controversial comedian after she appeared on Howard Stern's show. Once Sirius XM conceded to her demand to broadcast the show from her in-home studio, she was on board.

O'Donnell is no Stern. However, her program will give Sirius XM one more host who isn't afraid to be candid on the air. This will be a good thing for the company if it isn't able to get Stern to extend his contract beyond the end of next year. At the very least, it's likely to give Sirius XM another popular show that it can add to its app on Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store, until it finds a way to offer up Stern for iPhone and iPod touch owners.

This was a good day for Sirius XM -- it gets a refreshing double dose of positive news, after the negative fallout over launching its app last week sans Stern.

More news than static on Sirius XM: