icycool7227 said:
I am trying to go to the radioemporium.net site for logos and found that's not there anymore. What happened? Did they move?
Icy,
I got ahold of Safford Black today. He was the former owner/proprietor of radioemporium. He said I could repost this here:
Over the last 18 months, I have had my passion for radio go from almost an obsession to one of listless indifference. The late '90s and early 2000s were filled with consolidation, divestitures, move-ins, big personalities, and seemingly-endless format flips. I would drive for hours on end to record a new station, or an existing station that I knew would soon set its eyes on a larger market. It was a time of great excitement.
When I turn on the radio now, what I hear is stale and placeless. For years, we'd all talked and debated about "cookie cutter radio," and I personally feel that it has hit critical mass. Sure, the occasional radio news story probably piques my interest more than most, but it's nothing like it used to be.
Maintaining a content-rich and labor-intensive web site when one's interest is waning is a tough proposition. Even with frequent updates, traffic on and revenue from the site started to slip drastically early last year, which only further fueled my apathy. When the site came up for renewal towards the end of 2007, I made the decision to put it to bed, ending a nearly ten year legacy. I briefly toyed with selling the site content, but decided that I would rather power it off myself than have someone else run my creation into the ground.
I have the entire site saved on my hard drive and still have a 6'x6' shelf in my basement with hundreds of airchecks. I hope one day to resurrect my interest in radio, and if I do, the site will return with me.
For those who soldier on in the world of airchecks, transmitters, bumper stickers, and, yes, the occasional misanthropic banter about why station A will never overtake station B, or why 12+ numbers do or don't make a difference, I salute you. It's a proud hobby (and/or career), and I wish you all the best.
-Safford