We interrupt our regular programming for a bit of exciting news: In two weeks, Slicing Up Eyeballs will debut a new weekly specialty show on Strangeways Radio, a commercial-free web outlet devoted to ‘taking alternative back.’

This week’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave featured less-played selections from The Smiths (‘I Know It’s Over,’ ‘Barbarism Begins at Home’ and ‘Meat is Murder’), as well as a welcome dash of Die Warzau (‘Funkopolis’) and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult (‘And This is What the Devil Does’).

Heavy on The Cure and The Smiths, tonight’s episode of “Dark Wave” on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave also featured lesser-played artists such as Acid Horse and Vicious Pink, plus an excellent one-two punch of Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Lightning Man’ and Martin Gore’s ‘Compulsion.’

As promised, Sirius XM’s classic-alternative hub 1st Wave celebrated Halloween on Sunday by devoting half the day to a hugely expanded 12-hour version of its weekly ‘Dark Wave’ show.

With his new album, ‘National Ransom,’ out in the U.K. this past week — and due to arrive on these shores on Tuesday — Elvis Costello dropped by the studios of BBC’s Radio 4 on Thursday to chat with host John Wilson and play this track, ‘Jimmie Standing in the Rain,’ off the new record.

In honor of Halloween, Sirius XM’s 1st Wave will expand this Sunday’s ‘Dark Wave’ to 12 full hours, a veritable ‘goth-a-thon’ promising ‘darker classic alternative music from artists like The Cure, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and more.’

High points of tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave include Depeche Mode’s greatest B-side (‘Dangerous’), a rare album cut off Morrissey’s solo debut ‘Viva Hate’ (‘Dial-A-Cliché’) and the opening cut from The Jesus and Mary Chain’s third album, ‘Automatic’ (‘Here Comes Alice’).

Notable spins on tonight’s installment of ‘Dark Wave’ include not one but two cuts off The Teardrop Explodes just-reissued 1980 debut ‘Kilimanjaro,’ a track from Bauhaus’ 2008 reunion album ‘Go Away White’ and a lesser-played Yazoo album cut.

Tonight’s installment of “Dark Wave” featured a few nice surprises, including a live version of Depeche Mode non-album cut ‘Death’s Door,’ rare appearances by Fad Gadget (‘Collapsing New People’) and Misfits (‘London Dungeon’), and, as requested last week, a House of Love track that’s not ‘Christine’ (that would be, this week anyway, ‘Destroy the Heart’).

Tonight’s episode of ‘Dark Wave’ — the weekly Sunday night show on Sirius XM’s classic-alternative station 1st Wave — managed a nice selection of lesser-played album cuts from a host of big-name players, including Depeche Mode (‘Sacred’), Siouxsie and the Banshees (‘Night Shift’), Morrissey (‘Disappointed’), The Jesus and Mary Chain (‘Teenage Lust’) and The Cure (‘Disintegration’).

Tonight’s episode of ‘Dark Wave’ — the weekly Sunday night show on Sirius XM’s classic-alternative station 1st Wave — manged a few nice surprises, including not one but two of long-forgotten U.K. synthpop duo Vicious Pink’s 1985 singles (‘Fetish,’ ‘Cccan’t You See’), and a dash of avant-garde electronic artist Anne Clarke (‘Our Darkness’).

Highlights of tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave included a rarely-heard Depeche Mode B-side (‘Breathing in Fumes’), a pair of songs from The Cure’s ‘The Top’ (‘Shake Dog Shake,’ ‘Birdmad Girl’) and Joe Strummer’s great contribution to the ‘Sid and Nancy’ soundtrack (‘Love Kills’).

On Oct. 6, 1990, The Cure made a second attempt at a pirate-radio broadcast in London to promote its upcoming ‘Mixed Up’ remix album; this one went off successfully, and we’ve got edited audio from that night of the band being interviewed and spinning records.