So, How Was YOUR Summer?

I’d like you to picture yourself in the room with Darren and me at the exact moment we found out we were no longer going to be the morning show for KBOB-FM. After some local research was conducted, our old employers determined a change was necessary and that change meant we’d be out of a job. Through all of the years we spent in that building (more than 40 if we add them together) in a variety of roles and at a myriad of different stations, we’d managed to spend ten years together on the air doing exactly the kind of morning show we would want to listen to if we found ourselves on the other side of the speakers. Now that was over. Kaput. Done.

It was the most shocking/terrifying–then exciting–moment of our professional careers.

You find yourself asking in that strangely silent car ride home from a building that you called home for so many years, “What’s next? I know what I’m good at and I’ve just been told that’s no longer an option.”

And then, right there during a red light at the corner of Kimberly and Middle road it hits you. Conditions have changed and they don’t need us. Do we really need them? Getting booted off terrestrial radio means we have freedom. The freedom to do whatever we want without limitations. No limitations on the playlist or with an FM signal that, let’s face it, presented us all with certain challenges.

What if we built a radio station that sounded exactly like you Turtles, callers, texters, listeners at remotes, and folks online told us they wanted all this time? Something that REALLY rocked. And how about a station for everyone that digs Alternative music in the Quad Cities? If you’re going to do those the right way, shouldn’t they be two totally different stations? What if we did a morning show that just captures the vibe of two guys who genuinely get a kick out of each other and aren’t just fake laughing their way to 10 AM without playing ANY music? Why not give people the freedom to listen to the music they want WHEN they want and the morning show that for whatever reason, they dig, WHENEVER they want? Why not give you all of these options?

If we build it, they will come.

This whole “internet” thing seems to be catching on. Listen to any FM station you want and see how long it takes them to BEG you to listen to them online. What’s that about? 18-34 year-olds are now more likely to listen to music online than over the air. Podcast consumers spend almost as much time listening to podcasts as to old timey AM/FM radio. Unlimited data plans and hotspots being built into new cars means taking in the infinite choices the internet provides you will become easier and easier and a whole lot faster than you might think.
It’s a level playing field, where the giant media corporations, kids in their bedrooms, and a certain homeless morning show can all present content for you.

We couldn’t be more excited to be offering you our dream project. Something that gives us as owners the chance to do all of the things we said we’d do when we were employees. The opportunity to give listeners a vaster variety than FM radio could ever provide them. Listen to Solid or Planet ALT and you’ll instantly see/hear what I mean.

Thanks for hanging in there all summer long. We hope that after you sample Nacho Radio, you’ll share the same excitement we have for it. We’re counting on you to help us work on making our new podcast, Solid and Planet ALT the best stations they can be. We’re only limited by our collective imagination.