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How did this site get started?

J

JH_Radio

SO I've been around these parts for a while but I think I missed something.
SO this entire thing started with radio-info.com and Doug Fleming right?
Then he died and his parents ran this site for a while.
then radio-info got sold and some company baught it, and not sure what happened to this forum then.
At some point everybody talked of moving to this forum software from Simple Machine.
Meanwhile Radio-info.com is gone now I think?
Then for some time this entire site j just went offline.
then frank and Dave somehow you are now running it?
So what did I miss because I've been around since the Dug days.
I know Lance Venta has RadioInsight, but that's different than this.
So is that forum a competitor to this?
I thought that lance started his because of something that he didn't like from here?
but I have no idea.
Thanks,
John
 
Wouldn't it make more sense to ask me directly since you seem to already believe you have facts instead of asking people who weren't around or don't know the true story?

I started what would eventually become this when I launched "The Mid-Atlantic Radio Board" in July 1997.

In 1999 myself, Tanim (who ran a Phoenix area board), and Doug would launch Radio-Info.com which Tanim and I managed gradually growing nationally over the next couple years. A few years later Tanim would drop out and Sam Michaels joined me running the site. There was a brief aborted sale to Zeo Radio Networks in there. Now here's where history has been rewritten, after Doug died in 2006 his parents seized the site because the domain registration was in his name and because us being idiot twentysomethings there never was anything in writing that actually noted that I was the one who truly operated the site and paid all the hosting bills. But Doug was NEVER involved in the day to day operations of the site outside of owning the domain registration.

His parents seized the site on a Saturday night in 2007, and within hours I had launched RadioInsight to keep the community I launched afloat not knowing what their plans were and taking what I had built over the previous decade without even speaking to me. (They simply sent me a threatening letter after the fact).

They tried to turn Radio-Info into a full-fledged trade publication, but then Doug's mother decided to shut it all down. They sold the Radio-Info.com domain to Talkers Magazine and rebranded the boards as RadioDiscussions before selling them to RadioInk. I don't know the full details obviously of any of that. But there was a time that the site was shut down and I did relaunch boards on RadioInsight, but those are now gone (except for two that are about to be shut off).

RadioInsight quickly evolved from a discussion board into what is now the most read radio industry news publication.
 
Hey Lance,
I knew I didn't have all the facts but writing to you directly never once occurred to me. Sorry about that. That plus I didn't think you were on this forum anymore.
I wonder how come everybody had all of this stuff when Doug died about how he did this and that since you were the one running it?
That doesnt make sense to me.
So then how did Frank and Dave get involved with this?
So your site is more for the news, and this one is where people go to talk radio?
That's how it seems to me.
John


SO ok, now that
 
This is a brief history:

In 1998, Doug Fleming's dream to harness the passions and dedications of like-minded radiophiles came to reality with the formation of the Radio-Info discussion forums. Over the next 7 years, Radio-Info provided a place where broadcast professionals and fans alike could come together and share ideas, news, and opinion. As one of the most visited sites on the internet, Doug's vision helped to revolutionize the way people talked about the radio industry. In 2005, as the business model of the site was just beginning to flourish, Doug Fleming tragically passed away. He was only 27. Focusing her grief, Diana Fleming endeavored to nurture and grow the site per her son's blueprint. Under her direction, the Radio-Info brand became a media powerhouse. Alongside its heavily-trafficked discussion forums, Radio-Info boasted an outstanding online news presence. After 7 years at the helm of this top tier online publication, Diana Fleming decided it was time to retire and began looking for someone to carry on Doug's legacy. In May of 2013, with the Fleming family's blessing, Streamline Media acquired RadioDiscussions.com. In March of 2019, General Manager Frank Berry purchased RadioDiscussions from Streamline.
 
frankberry said:
This is a brief history:

In 1998, Doug Fleming's dream to harness the passions and dedications of like-minded radiophiles came to reality with the formation of the Radio-Info discussion forums. Over the next 7 years, Radio-Info provided a place where broadcast professionals and fans alike could come together and share ideas, news, and opinion. As one of the most visited sites on the internet, Doug's vision helped to revolutionize the way people talked about the radio industry. In 2005, as the business model of the site was just beginning to flourish, Doug Fleming tragically passed away. He was only 27. Focusing her grief, Diana Fleming endeavored to nurture and grow the site per her son's blueprint. Under her direction, the Radio-Info brand became a media powerhouse. Alongside its heavily-trafficked discussion forums, Radio-Info boasted an outstanding online news presence. After 7 years at the helm of this top tier online publication, Diana Fleming decided it was time to retire and began looking for someone to carry on Doug's legacy. In May of 2013, with the Fleming family's blessing, Streamline Media acquired RadioDiscussions.com. In March of 2019, General Manager Frank Berry purchased RadioDiscussions from Streamline.
Click to expand...
Frank,

No offense, but that is 100% revisionist bullshit from the Fleming family.
 
JH_Radio said:
I wonder how come everybody had all of this stuff when Doug died about how he did this and that since you were the one running it?
That doesnt make sense to me.
Click to expand...
Every hear of revisionist history or the expression "to the victor goes the spoils"? Doug's parents rewrote the narrative to fit their story of honoring their son, at the expense of one of his closest friends who they had no history with.
 
lanceventa said:
Every hear of revisionist history or the expression "to the victor goes the spoils"? Doug's parents rewrote the narrative to fit their story of honoring their son, at the expense of one of his closest friends who they had no history with.
Click to expand...
The unfortunate thing is that the site suffered from the transition to his family; I even resigned and returned later with a different name!

Some of us go back to the radio group on Compuserve and the boards on usenet... rec.radio.broadcasting and, particularly, the San Francisco board. All have had their ups and downs.
 
frankberry said:
Lance and David,
If you will get together and write an accurate history of this website, I will post it, replacing the version that I inherited.
Frank
Click to expand...
Good idea! And we need a little "history" tab on the site anyway.
 
When you do, please don't forget to mention the Los Angeles radio discussion board which was merged into Radio-Info under Lance and Sam. My having been a moderator there was how I became one at R-I.
 
lanceventa said:
Every hear of revisionist history or the expression "to the victor goes the spoils"? Doug's parents rewrote the narrative to fit their story of honoring their son, at the expense of one of his closest friends who they had no history with.
Click to expand...

No Lance can't say I've heard that expression.
Hopefully no hard feelings.
John
 
JH_Radio said:
That's a good idea writing a history.
Maybe something good will come out of all of this yet!

John
Click to expand...
Even the history of these radio forums would be good to know. I used the old Airwaves Online, which I believe was rec.radio.broadcasting turned into an online forum. That board disappeared with the untimely passing of Bill Pfeiffer, and no one else had credentials to enter the website as I recall.
 
gr8oldies said:
Even the history of these radio forums would be good to know. I used the old Airwaves Online, which I believe was rec.radio.broadcasting turned into an online forum. That board disappeared with the untimely passing of Bill Pfeiffer, and no one else had credentials to enter the website as I recall.
Click to expand...
Yes, that was part of the issue.

I used to give my older hard drives to Bill when I upgraded. He used SCSI drives at the time, and I also used them as they were faster and had a better MTBF than the consumer products. But, even as his health deteriorated, he did not offer to share his access to the online accounts.

IIRC, he was running his web board off a server he had at his residence in a mobile home community. I'm guessing that his death brought on a removal of all his possessions as the site quickly disappeared. Or, it could simply be that nobody was there to pay the ISP.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Yes, that was part of the issue.

I used to give my older hard drives to Bill when I upgraded. He used SCSI drives at the time, and I also used them as they were faster and had a better MTBF than the consumer products. But, even as his health deteriorated, he did not offer to share his access to the online accounts.

IIRC, he was running his web board off a server he had at his residence in a mobile home community. I'm guessing that his death brought on a removal of all his possessions as the site quickly disappeared. Or, it could simply be that nobody was there to pay the ISP.
Click to expand...
As I recall it, Bill died in a car accident doing pizza deliveries. His girlfriend did not have access to get into the website and neither did anyone else. But I've slept since then.
 
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