I really did tell you that story for a reason yesterday. I mean more of a reason than just it being NaBloPoMo. The woman I spoke of yesterday wound up interested in investing in a business with me. I had owned my own business for a decade, a chain of video stores, in the 80’s. Part of what led up to my second divorce was a disagreement over the fact that I wanted to operate a business again. My new girlfriend had a ton of confidence in my abilities. But you cannot open a business without actually having an idea of what you might want to do.Every city has an “After Dark” type of weekly newspaper that tells you what bands are playing where and generally have an incredibly liberal editorial staff. In our area it is called The Hartford Advocate. We had just celebrated the turn of the century and The Advocate had an article on webcasting. Wow, I thought. I could actually own a radio station on the internet. I started costing the proposition out. All the software and hardware you needed was under $5000. I was fairly excited. I discussed the idea with my girlfriend and she was very enthusiastic.
Fortunately when I was forming a business plan I realized two things. The first was that internet radio was so new that royalties (for the right to play the music) had not yet been established This was a VERY big red flag. You can’t start a business without knowing what your overhead will be. I also realized that the rates of advertising had to be tied to two factors. Those were the cost of playing the music and the amount of money on which I needed to live. While I knew the second I didn’t know the first. I was absolutely sure I could program music that you did not hear every fifteen minutes on broadcast radio. I hadn’t played my own songs other than on WTIT in years. It was a damn exciting proposition.
What this all ties into is the fact that I am now able to able to place a playlist of 75 songs right here on the WTIT Tape Radio Blog. I really enjoy putting together different music playlists and rotating the music. What you are actually listening to is a bit of what my vision was for that webcasted internet radio station, back in 2000. The difference is that the player merely is a conduit to licensed music. So, it is really just a link to the website that is sharing the music. A lot of the music is offered on MySpace sites of the musicians.
I never started that internet radio station. I realized that there were no limits to how many stations were going to wind up on the internet. I also was correct that when the record companies started suing webcasts for royalties most went bankrupt. Doing a business is not always about knowing the business (trust me I know radio and I know music), it is sometimes just knowing when the right business decission is to walk away. And as a footnote, the woman and I did not last a full year together, so it was REALLY good that there was no business relationship after we broke up.
I hope you take a little time to listen to our music here on the WTIT Blog. And email us , even if it is criticism. I am a big boy. In some ways though I feel I finally got my webcast radio station. I don’t sell advertising and if they stop the service, oh well. I am having a blast now and hope you like it.
That is it for the WTIT Blog on your Hump Day. We hope you enjoyed your stop here today. If you have the time come back tomorrow. We will be here with something. And of course, we will continue to be The Rock of the Blogosphere. Right here. Same time. Same blog.
