BellGab.com Archive

It's a madhouse over here. Doing final Skype tests. I've been to Guitar Center only twice today.

Thanks for all well wishes. I'll try not to suck it up. Lots of last minute workflow learning.

-Amy

Storm was a bit of a (somewhat backhanded) blessing in disguise. Holy crap. I've never spent so many hours troubleshooting audio tech issues...

Everything is pretty much ready now. Queuing music. Recording ad spots. Drilling holes through the wall to run CAT6 so that the streams aren't throttled by wireless bottlenecks. Writing short copy for news. Deciding on how I'll open the show. Walk in the park.

If I didn't live by Guitar Center I'd be losing my mind by now. They should have a cable investment club. Get ten stamps and the next bizarre cable or adapter you spontaneously require is free.

Aside from that, I had to run out to Radio Shack to fix a blown fuse in the mic pre-amp which turns out to have serial humming issues anyway after the storm. Finding out power conditioners generally suck at protecting gear from storm surges made me sad. Or buying a third sound card with ground loop buzzing over USB. All this because automation and broadcast software won't recognize a really nice 16 channel board as anything more than 2 channel mono with left or right panned vocals. Good news though. At the expense of my sanity, those issues are solved. You'll get stereo audio and will want something nice in terms of speakers or headphones to play it over.

After juggling an assortment of USB audio interfaces and cables, that's all been sorted. Spent 6 hours adjusting mix/gate/compression/expander levels on one device, then balancing similar levels between multiple other devices. I think I've got the mic and show audio sounding mighty fine now. Callers will be run through all of the same levels which will be an improvement hopefully over basic Skype audio.

Recording ads and music selection are the easiest things I've done all week. Ads have been single take. Mixing takes seconds. I'll be so glad when I can just relax, do this show and have fun with it after tomorrow.

Amy

Quote from: WOTR on April 28, 2016, 01:14:54 AM
Good luck.  I have only had time to listen to some of your memory podcast so far.  If you are able to do radio like you did the 'cast, it should be great.

Thanks. Have hopefully improved a lot since then.

Quote from: 73s on April 27, 2016, 08:09:03 AM
Wow. Best of luck with that situation and glad you're ok.

Quote from: brig on April 27, 2016, 06:49:24 AM
I'm lost for words.  Glad you're OK.  Hope the damage is not extensive.

Thanks a bunch. Backyard looks unimpressive after the power company did some clean up. Some limbs scattered about, but did find a wheelbarrow and part of the neighbor's tree fort tossed against the kitchen wall. Still waiting on internet to be restored. We're expecting more of this in the region on Friday.

Hopefully for my neighborhood though, this was a ten year one-off.

Quote from: TigerLily on April 27, 2016, 12:44:42 PM
Amy. Have you checked for Dave Rats? It would be just like them to play the Weather card.You might need a fumigation.

That would be some weather mage.

For a second, it DID look somewhat like this.

UPDATE:

After assessing the situation, I've decided to start the show Thursday next week, May 5th. Still going to be on with Jack Brewer, same time (8PM-11PM Central).
Not going to put out a sub-par product, out of respect for both technical and personal considerations.

Details here
http://amyontheradio.com/2016/04/28/tornado-on-the-radio/
and here
http://amyontheradio.com/2016/04/20/thursday-may-5th-jack-brewer/

Once I have a few months of shows accumulated, I may attempt a mobile broadcast setup. At this time, I don't have a reliable network connection to interview and take calls outside of my studio back home. If it were just me talking about randomness for three hours, you'd get bored pretty fast, and that's not what this show is about.

Amy

Power out to main studio. Had a decent light show with live wires/debris/several splosions in backyard last night. They're thinking was small EF0/EF1 gustnado/tornado. Had small quake sev mins later. Going back to assess damages this morning. Have most everything needed for broadcast with me. If still no power, testing equipment at another location. For now, still a go for Thursday. Will post updates later this afternoon/evening.

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on April 24, 2016, 10:36:32 PM
Well this certainly looks promising. I'll be tuning in. Best of luck Amy.

Thanks!

Quote from: TigerLily on April 24, 2016, 12:41:13 PM
I was on the Bernie or Bust train. Then read Trump's website. *shudder* . I will vote for Hillary as a vote against the RNC candidate whoever it is.
Per the Green Party candidate. Much closer to my liking than Hillary. However, remember the Nader fiasco. He took enough votes away from Gore to guarantee Bush II won.
I wish we had viable multiple political parties but that needs to start at the local and regional level not with the President, imo.

I guess it's something to consider. Not something comfortable to consider, but something to consider nonetheless.

Quote from: VtaGeezer on April 24, 2016, 12:59:42 PM
(Amy) must be a Trump mole to push such a screwball notion.  Maybe Nader could run again too, and be a 2nd drain on HMH's chances.

Definitely not a Trump mole.
Visited the dump that was his carnival across the street from Taj when I was a kid.
First impression, lasting impression. Saw his shit in Aberdeen two years ago.
Hope Scotland pisses on that course.

Quote from: Unscreened Caller on April 24, 2016, 01:08:35 PM
I don't think she's a mole, VtaGeezer. I'm reading this all over the internet and I've heard it firsthand from some of Sanders' supporters. Maybe it's just emotional reaction, but the consequences of not voting are scary.

It is largely an emotional reaction. NY let me down. I was mad before. Now, just exhausted.

Quote from: TigerLily on April 24, 2016, 01:12:15 PM
P.S. And we also have the reality of Ross Perot splitting the RNC voters and getting Clinton I in by a slim margin

Perot's still around? His tech company was bought out about four years ago.

Quote from: VtaGeezer on April 24, 2016, 03:13:29 PM
Supporters who are pipe-dreaming, I'd say.  Even Democratic Socialist Bernie knew better that to associate himself with Greens over the years.  Cranks come on the left too; usually wearing Berkenstocks and driving Subarus, or not driving at all so not to offend Mother Gaia.

The consequences of this election will be an inflection point for America either way, and the curve ain't going to go positive.

Just observing the possibilities. Not been a fan of the Bernie/GMO labeling thing. When his wife went on TYT before NY, she was talking about a cabinet of alt-health gurus. I cringed. I'd take a little woo-woo though over a flip-flopping fair-weather progressive with serial campaign finance issues, but it looks like we won't have much of a choice.

Quote from: Unscreened Caller on April 23, 2016, 11:24:25 AM
New companion, Pearl Mackie


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/04/23/doctor-who-pearl-mackie-is-the-new-companion/

Beat me to it!

Quote from: The General on April 24, 2016, 01:31:27 PM
I recognize bad product.
A shining example can be heard at http://www.ufoship.com/?p=2681

I'm listening. Jesus Christ. 3 mins in. Red Bull just shot out of my nose.

Quote from: rekcuf on April 24, 2016, 02:24:52 PM
Will Amy sign the 'Falkenberg Pledge of Allegiance'?

We wait...

What is this pledge you speak of?

Quote from: WOTR on April 24, 2016, 02:38:02 PM
What about aliens?  I have to admit those are the Knapp shows (and were the Art Bell shows) most likely to be turned off.  I just don't believe.  The other topics I can at least make an attempt to consider and find entertaining.  Zach Sitchen completely ruined the entire area for me with his declarations of fact (known only to him.)

As for the nature of belief, we all have / need something to believe in.  We all hold irrational views (some people understand that some of their views are not based on reason, others are completely oblivious.)  I have two rather long stories, but will leave them for another day.  One was a UFO (I don't believe in them, but spent 15 minutes "following one" on a deserted country road late one night.)  In the end, I got a good look and it was not a UFO.  The other actually relates to the time my father spent in a coma after a crash (yes, died of it.)  The last one is what made me realize that most of us are willing to believe what reason dictates is a lie...
I'm impressed that somebody can function in both forms.  I know I type far more than necessary to get a point across.  That is the reason that I have never even attempted a tweet.  That said, I was going to make the same observation... 

I see at least one strange light in the sky on road trips, usually follow it for ages, and it turns out to be a plane.

No alien "experts." Unless they want to discuss Alien. I hope Blomkamp doesn't screw the next one up.
Also just finished Alien: Isolation last week. It wasn't bad.

Quote from: littlechris on April 24, 2016, 04:27:12 PM
Maybe George Senda can be a regular on Amy's show?

What do you guys think?

After ten minutes of the Gabcast I just listened to, I don't foresee it.
(He can still call in.)

Quote from: GravitySucks on April 24, 2016, 02:44:15 PM
Play his youtubes on a loop. You will be fine. Really.

Ten minutes just did my head in. 

Quote from: WOTR on April 24, 2016, 05:32:35 PM
I think that there is enough Falkie if confined to one corner of one thread... Not only should this thread not be YAFF, but the show cannot be another bellgab.

However, maybe Nancy would fill in host when Amy needed a break?

I wouldn't have a prob w/ Nancy ever filling in, but it is "Amy" on the radio...
Nancy On The Radio?  Could work.

Quote from: Yorkshire pud on April 24, 2016, 11:33:25 AM
You're sure making up for it on here..

I write a lot. It's what I do!

Quote from: brig on April 24, 2016, 11:46:22 AM
For SURE!  Even critics are listeners, and I would go so far as to say EVERY listener counts.

Critics welcome.

If my show doesn't give rise to fodder for butt jokes though, I'll be wholly impressed.

Nah.

Riffing is always, ALWAYS welcome too. If I have time, I'll listen back and riff myself. I did it every night listening back to the news.

Can't tell you how many times I'd corpse-up reading some headlines before the show and have to just stop for a minute to catch my breath.
I'd piece it together that way. Aside from trying to emulate the national weather service on my first tsunami report, what people would describe as "robot" was the result of a very calculated and practiced read.

My aim was to read everything with as much of a straight-face as I could with subtle emphasis, so that the truly funny parts which wrote themselves through the headlines were easily riffable. While it achieved the desired effect most nights based on feedback from Twitter, one can only hope that my disconnect from here didn't deter from the occasional quip.

That said, my show, albeit with the aim to be an enriching and refreshing alternative to other serious talk radio shows, won't be absent of wit. Subtle, and otherwise. The show logo is absolutely and intentionally ridiculous. I hope people get that.

I enjoy regularly taking the piss out of myself, too. This is a fact.

Please give me feedback. When people are silent, I count that as disinterest. I want this show to sound professional, but be entertaining. If I'm ever missing the much-needed humor, tell me so. If my verbal mannerisms or choice of words are difficult to listen to, let me know.

Assignment for the weekend
http://hauntedskeptic.com/podcast
If you want a jump on giving feedback, go and listen to my older podcasts. Editing out most of the uhms, ahs, and little giggles in the beginning made me grossly aware of what made for poor host verbal hygiene a long time ago. I've never found a critique of those shows, so it would help to eliminate what people don't want to hear before I start this thing. Long since worked to improve delivery based on self-critique. Always good to have another set of ears on it. This is my own observation:

Show 1 - Loved that guest. Good stories. I let him talk too much at longer intervals though. I was expecting him to ramble, but tried to make him adhere to an outline. I made little attempt to be skeptical of his encounters.

Show 2 - Great guest, but this had to be done over multiple sessions. She provided me with a verbose outline to supplement my own, with conversation sometimes all over the place. Some dialogue became repetitive. Objectivity minimal, since we agreed on most points. If I interview her again, will try to ask the tougher questions and keep technical terms to a minimum.

Show 3 - What I thought I'd encounter and what I actually encountered were two different things. This was my best show. The timing was right, the guest was great. A lot easier on the ears.

Oh, and if there are ever questions you'd definitely want to hear me ask a guest, please hit me up over e-mail. Again-- amy@amyontheradio.com

I've got to go and put the kettle on. Lots of other work to do. Will only be on here briefly for the rest of the evening.

Let it never be said I don't engage actively with listeners. You're the reason I do this.

Quote from: GravitySucks on April 24, 2016, 12:01:31 PM
As an early subscriber, I prefer that my batch of cookies arrive just before your first show, and I prefer them while they are still warm. Peanut Butter Oatmeal or Oatmeal Raisin will be fine for the first batch.

Be careful, or I'll have her showing up to my door with cookies. She's like that. You've been warned.

Quote from: 73s on April 24, 2016, 11:31:30 AM
I think as listeners we all want some sense that our feedback matters, and that negative feedback is at least considered and not rejected out of hand as hate. I feel that I can wander over to EOTR and tell Michael his last show sucked and I don't see him being personally insulted (it didn't suck by the way, lol). Some hosts take their ball and go home when seeing criticism, and the walled garden approach turns some of us away. Sometimes it's not just forum comments that are ignored but private messages and emails. We recognize things get busy and personal replies are not always possible but I think you get the idea.

It has been suggested on BellGab that hosts should not read forum comments directly because it could ruin their self-confidence or throw them off. I'd suggest a friend read through them in your behalf at least and give you a filtered summary of relevant criticism. Just my 2 cents.

No fear here in reading the comments.

I see this as an opportunity to extend the show dialogue. Never a "walled garden," from this perspective.

As I've said before, if you ever want to do me a courtesy and send me a PM on Twitter, I read and respond faster there.

If you've got a lot to say, shoot me an e-mail. amy@amyontheradio.com

I probably won't be able to keep up with all of the Bellgab comments during the show, but I'll be looking at Twitter and the area I've setup for subscribers to send me a direct message.

Fun fact: My MOM of all people reads Bellgab! And Twitter.... And Facebook groups. No joke.
She's NOT the kind of person that filters info, so when I did the news, I'd get a daily summary of my shortcomings in one oratory digest.

(Thanks, Mom. Yes, Mom. Uh-huh, Mom.)

She can be wickedly and poetically brutal.

Nearly every day I see her, she's not even through the front door before I get the, "I saw you were up late this morning," speel.

I would not be surprised if she's not already stumbled across this thread by now.

I still love her to death. You can poke fun at me for that. If you knew her, you would too. She was an educator. I've gotten used to the fact over the years that a lot of people call her Mom. She'd even bake cookies for my co-workers, so they'd call her Mom too.

So yeah. Post your criticisms. If I don't see them first, JUST KNOW that I'll be hearing them from my mother.
Your point WILL be made.

Quote from: WOTR on April 24, 2016, 03:05:31 AM

I was just thinking back to the "golden days" of RCH (when Ross was producing and somehow managed to make Hoagland interesting) and Bellahaven (before one of the hosts had "issues.")  Each had found a dedicated group here and both provided a great experience.  I don't know that I will or will not be counted among your fans, but I think you may find some support here...

I like your posting style.  You appear capable of dealing with criticism (probably necessary, if you are going to stick around here) and you are gracious (not a necessity of being here, and often seen as a weakness by the pack.)

Anyhow, good luck.

~Golden years, whooooohooobopbopbop.~ 

I'll try to be on this thread regularly. I never knew about this community until I had already started riffing the show with Art on #DMTalk.
We can be a vicious lot, but when you're working on the team it can be counterproductive to be critical of the "funny ads".
The memes would still crack me up.

I tried to give feedback on improving advertisers but I think I can confidently say now, most of the ads aren't at all what I'd air on my show out of principle.

Quote from: SredniVashtar on April 24, 2016, 05:03:18 AM
Talent for radio is what she signally lacks. I think most people could do a few minutes about a favourite subject on a low-rent podcast, if they had to, but that's not the same as hosting a show that requires a broad understanding of multiple topics, engaging guests in an actual conversation (rather than giving occasional cues while someone delivers a lecture) and being quick enough on your feet to handle random callers. With all due respect to her super powers, she comes across as an airhead who's out of her depth. I struggled with ten minutes of her show the other night. Supposedly she was a big fan of Prince, and she had plenty of time to prepare some things that she wanted to say about him, but I got the impression that she sat down at the mic and babbled the  first nonsense that came into her head. Art could manage that, because he was good at what he did, but it's a bit harder when you are a third-division podcaster. The Titor mess was another example of someone who hadn't done the work to check his credentials, and then bleated about what a horrible audience she had, because they grew tired of hearing the BS.

Let me introduce you to #DMTalk.

Again, most ppl there are quite vicious. At one point, they were officially labelled "worse than Bellgab."

I listened to a few of the shows earlier on and the most recent Prince show on open lines. For the most part, I can follow the Twitter dialogue and get the idea in 5 mins or less.

While I refrain from criticism of a host's style (enough people out there doing that), I will criticize a topic. There were a lot of pseudosciency assumptions on that last show, but mostly coming from callers whom can't be personally faulted for ignorance. I provided my take from an etiological standpoint to the #DMTalk group, and cleared the air about a few popular health myths. I only get snarky when ppl make confident bold claims as an 'authority', that I know to be absolutely wrong. Nowadays, #DMTalk does most of that for me without need of involvement.

I will say this. My views and opinions starkly contrast. I don't personally believe in miracles, angels, or what is largely regarded to be supernatural. For that fact, I won't even label myself Atheist because people like Asimov taught me what it meant to say, "humanist." I abhor self-proclaimed mediums and self-fashioned experts who attempt to use "less than science" to give rise to someone else's rational or irrational beliefs. See: Skeptic. Also: Baloney Detection Kit.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/

I do however find the nature of belief to be fascinating, and will make every effort in an attempt to understand nodes and origins of belief/reason in all areas of society. I love listening to people with rich stories, and have traveled abroad at times to get the stories that don't wind up on television.

Quote from: Auslandia on April 24, 2016, 05:21:29 AM

Wow, this shit spills into pretty much every thread on Bellgab.  Amy-- get ready for the swelling opinion tsunami from the world's most decorated talk radio critics.  Also be prepared to tie in HW and Art into every discussion about your show.  Welcome!

Prepared for the critics. As I said in a previous post, I will not talk about other shows on my show though.
I've pretty much covered anything insightful to be derived from my experiences with MITD in this thread already.

Quote from: Auslandia on April 24, 2016, 05:32:56 AM

Not even 1 show yet!  Wilford Brimley in my avatar is riding in to blow up your fucking barn because he's jacked up on moonshine and angry about Amy's show.

DIABEETUS!

He's got sugar rage!

Quote from: brig on April 24, 2016, 06:30:35 AM
Hi Amy!  You're a bellgabber, so I will give a listen to your show.  I hope its WONDERFUL!  I would LOVE something good and/or fun to listen to in that time slot.  It's good to see you give credit to the work of others, however, that does not necessarily mean it all ends up turning into a worthwhile product. To call criticism of a bad product 'hate" concerns me.  "Hate" and "Haters" seem to have become highly over used words on bellgab of late, and nothing more than a failed attempt to make critics feel guilty, and be quiet, instead of working on the things that could make the show better IMO.  If you can't recognize a bad product, how can you create a good one?

I'm pretty sure you are prepared for, and open to the "Critics of bellgab" otherwise you wouldn't be here.  I'll be tuning in, and hoping for the very best success to come your way!

GOOD LUCK!!   

Thanks. Only recently a Bellgabber. I was advised that it was wise to stay off when I was with the other show, even though I've been admining other forums over the course of 18 years. Good luck finding them! 

As for "bad product," listeners will always dictate that.

Again, other shows have their criticisms. For that, I refrain and retire myself in dialogue to the point of "observer."

As policy, I will only engage social media on show content if it enrages me enough from the standpoint of a friendly skeptic that knows better.

That said, it behooves one in a group of believers in bold claims not to come off as an ass if you want them to consume a point. The "you're wrong" mentality only goes as far as critic. Not ever here to judge a person's deeply held beliefs but if I can ever provide gentle objective insight with evidence-basis, it's ten times more effective at getting the point across.

It's always a goal to shift the dialogue from trash talk to intellectual discourse in places like #DMTalk when I get the chance to live tweet a show.
A lot of those people call-in and have the opportunity to shift the dialogue on-air.

Quote from: 73s on April 24, 2016, 06:56:50 AM
So are you a doctoral student in biomedical engineering then? Or a graduate? It sounds like an impressive resume.

Well, I would certainly take you much more seriously than Bobo17!  You're already far too articulate to be a typical talk show host.

I have to say, learning more about you really has me intrigued to check out your show. All we knew was that you briefly read news on MITD. Obviously there's a lot more to you than that.

Grad.

I try. If I'm in any way successful, you'll be way more interested in my guests, and it'll be like a two hour audio documentary with Q&A session at the end.

If people would ever venture onto Twitter from here rather than merely re-posting my pics from over there, they'd get to know me quite well (or get schooled by the group) fairly quickly.

Twitter has been my Bellgab, folks. Brevity in 140 characters or less. 

Quote from: chefist on April 24, 2016, 01:06:43 AM
Just got on...heard something about  drunk posting...what's going on?

It ain't me!

Quote from: Catops on April 23, 2016, 11:13:07 PM
</bellgab> Good on the transparency, technology, professionalism and social media fronts so far. Great choice of <pompomwave> first guest </pompomwave>.<bellgab>

Thanks! I try.

Quote from: The General on April 24, 2016, 12:27:46 AM
This is my take as well.

Just from what small interaction I had with her when she used to do segments for my podcast, she brought her A game every time.  She's got a great voice and talent for radio.  She really gives it her all, and it shows.  The people that throw so much hate at her are only doing it because A) they're jealous and/or B) she's not Art.  Neither of which she can do anything about.

Good luck with your show, Amy, I'll check it out.

Thanks again. Yep, on a normal day, we didn't talk much. She was constantly busy. When we did talk, I could tell she poured her heart and soul into laying down the elements for making a great show experience for Art and the listeners.

Quote from: 73s on April 23, 2016, 08:33:42 PM
That's cool. I was going to ask what bumper music you were going to use.

It sounds like you're pretty sharp and have some experience in another industry in tech to fall back on if this venture goes south, which is smart. Might as well give this a try if it's your passion.

Have you been the on-air talent for any radio stations or podcasts prior to MITD though? Just curious. A lot has been said about Heather's lack of time behind the mic before taking over MITD. I'm sure there's a learning curve to being a host and some native talent needed, but I can't speak from personal experience.

Are you nervous? Is there any kind of training or anything you're looking at to help with it or do you have some already?  Or are you kind of doing the baptism-by-fire route?

Thanks.

I started out doing web development when I was 14, and from there, found myself in the middle of the music industry doing promotions, booking, management, working in studios doing audio engineering, etc. Had my first brief introduction to radio around that time too.

Before I started doing news, I had my own studio in my house for recording music.

Last year, I decided to do the Haunted Skeptic Podcast. Its three episodes can be found here:
http://hauntedskeptic.com/podcast

After that, I did the Asimov show with RCH.

I'd already done voiceover work in the past.

With some training and a lot of practice, I developed better voice techniques. I upgraded my equipment.
Doing the news was more baptism-by-fire than anything.

Aside from that, I've done a lot of press interviews and public speaking. I learn and write like hell all of the time.

CS and IT are just trades. Those trades funded my college education for awhile when I thought I was going the business route. That turned into economic development, which turned into a job at a lucrative tech company. I met a lot of inspirational people in aerospace through volunteering in the community as I represented that tech company for STEM outreach. They set me on course to biomed engineering, and now allied neuro. I already had a gross lifelong interest in neuromedicine, since I had a crash course as a kid when my Dad was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor (he's okay now).

My research focal areas are cognitive and cellular neuroscience in regenerative health. They sound like two totally different areas, but for me they're not. My goal is to develop better diagnostics in measuring and mapping glial cellular structures (mapping being the holy grail for me that'll support research in glial precursors to neural network functions). Cog neuro allows me to explore those areas through functional models with neural anomalies resulting from TBI (like stroke) and psych disorders. It's currently the best way to study and measure glial cellular functions (and a lot less boring than postmortem sample studies). Endgoal is eliminating need for extraneous pharmacological therapies w/ people who are drug dependent like my father, to stay alive.

I'm doing radio absolutely for fun. It gives me a break from all of the serious stuff I do on a regular basis. My other option is attempting to dethrone Laidlaw's Galaga world record. Smug bastard. I've got a qualifying cabinet now. Someday, it'll happen.

That said, I don't take myself too seriously.
Not nervous at all.

Quote from: Meatie Pie on April 23, 2016, 09:17:19 PM
This is a superb idea. Hope it happens.

I hope so too. Hopefully after the Manos show, the Master will approve!

Quote from: Unscreened Caller on April 23, 2016, 06:47:16 PM
I don't know Amy, but I'd rather her than Trump or Cruz. I think the party has gotten the Sanders message.

Another thing is, we now have enough data from social media analytics to know just exactly how much non-MSM really affects the electorate.

Lastly, this election has revealed major exploits in social media platforms utilized by political campaigns.
It's absolutely possible to manipulate the dialogue and twist groupthink.

Quote from: Unscreened Caller on April 23, 2016, 06:47:16 PM
I don't know Amy, but I'd rather her than Trump or Cruz. I think the party has gotten the Sanders message.

But will that message fade come January?

Will people still be excited enough to participate so vigorously in political discourse and hold her accountable, or will it die with the Sanders campaign if he doesn't get the nom?

I see the same thing happening with Trump if the RNC establishment somehow keeps him out of the nom, or he doesn't win the general.

And I doubt people will really be rioting. It overestimates the attention span of the voters. I think if Clinton gets the nom and gets elected, we'll all be back to business as usual, with the occasional social justice movement here and there not getting enough media coverage to matter much on the national scale. People are angry now but I don't see people having the energy to stay angry when there's no campaign to cover.

Quote from: Mind Flayer Monk on April 23, 2016, 06:43:39 PM
Nice. Saw DWTD last night in LA.

I saw that posted to their Twitter. Wish I could have been there!

Quote from: Unscreened Caller on April 23, 2016, 06:42:11 PM
This is something that bothers me. I don't want to wake up to a president who is going to limit women's reproductive rights, turn back LGBT or workers rights, and a thousand other arguments including crucial SCOTUS appointments. Life isn't perfect and it isn't fair sometimes. I like Bernie,  but even with all his promises, without a congress working with him, it's all meaningless.If he doesn't get the nomination, I won't take my toys and go home and leave my future to a dimwit. I'll vote for the person whom I can trust to best represent my interests and protect my rights. This is too important an election to sit home, and it won't go unnoticed by the Democratic party how much Sanders has changed the political landscape. The infighting between the Sanders and Clinton camps is depressing as hell.

There's that too.

But exactly how different would it be under Clinton?

Quote from: Mind Flayer Monk on April 23, 2016, 06:28:41 PM
Can you play some Lazerhawk in your bumpers?

I'll have to ask. Would be killer.

DWTD agreed to let me play them in bumpers in exchange for a 60 second ad spot on my show.
The ad was my idea since they're independent and I'm not paying for the major music licensing.

Quote from: West of the Rockies on April 23, 2016, 06:21:12 PM
Amy, it's a weak-sauce argument, but a non-vote for HRC is a vote for whatever excrement the RNC puts forth.  Are you willing to risk four years of Trump or Cruz policy?

It is a scary thought.

Like I said, wish we had more polling surrounding that model so we'd know if a third candidate like Bernie on the Jill Stein ticket could even work. I think it's too late, as they say on TYT, to ~whisper of a dream~ now for the dem nomination. It would take a goddamn miracle and I don't think Bernie is seriously going to get the superdelegates. He'd probably have to win every primary from here on out by a landslide. Pennsylvania will probably be split, as well as California so I don't see that happening either.

Quote from: TigerLily on April 23, 2016, 05:15:39 PM
No matter where his campaign stands, I will vote for him in June.  If nothing else he will be a great political gadfly to the Corporate Democrats and should have enough power to influence Hillary and the Democratic platform

He's already massively changed the political dialogue surrounding this election, but I've pretty much decided that I'm not voting for Hillz if she gets the nom. I just can't bring myself to vote for her. Just feels like a violation of personal ethics. I think I'll vote Jill Stein before I'll vote for HRC.

I see Bernie caught right now between his public commitment to the Dem party just as a candidate in this primary and the option of running independent with Jill come November.
I don't think she'd be opposed. Bernie could take the general that way. Wish we had some polling around this model, though.

Quote from: Gruntled on April 23, 2016, 04:04:55 AM
Good luck Amy.
I enjoyed you before . You have a good voice.
Nice PC!

Muchos gracias!

Quote from: 73s on April 23, 2016, 09:42:48 AM
I truly wish you luck Amy and it's cool you're back on BellGab. Don't let the inevitable negative comments that may get posted online get to you.

What you describe about MITD is more or less what I gathered it was like. Interesting to get your perspective though.

Oh no, I don't.

Thanks.

Quote from: SredniVashtar on April 23, 2016, 09:50:48 AM
I think "I wish them all the best" is radio code for "fuck these dicks for firing me, but I want to look magnanimous because I don't want to get a reputation in the industry as a whiny troublemaker". I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people in radio say "I wish them all the best" in response to getting fired.

Haha, no it's not like that at all. I really, genuinely wish them all of my best. Especially Heather.

Whatever anyone wants to say about Heather---whatever criticisms or critiques or downright unfounded ugliness spewing hatred at wholesale, she's the absolute most dedicated person I've EVER known, to her role. When I'd take weekends, she didn't. She was a producer 24/7 and now, not only is she doing the show too, she's gonna do five hours of it. She just rolls that way. I totally admire her for that, and hope I can at least be half of that in trying to produce and do my own show.

That being said, I could not do a five hour show. Long ago I would have said, "yeah let's do this," but for me now, it's crazytalk. My ass doesn't want to sit in an office chair that long anymore. Like Art, I've got back problems. Two years ago, I flipped my car coming back from a 10,000+ mile road trip. Was run off the road 2 hours from home. I broke my neck and totaled my car. That sucked. I have a family to think about too and also, school. Point is, I just couldn't do it.

Say what you will, but from my gross observation, Heather is superhuman. She has always lived and breathed Midnight. She is in many ways a hero to me. She had all of two hours to prepare for the role she's in now before being plunged into the seat of host. I just couldn't do that. It's been four months on and I'm STILL prepping to do that on my own terms. She's done a damn fine job giving these extreme circumstances, if you ask me. Not saying that just to be professional or cordial. She's truly one hell of a lady.

As I said before though, me leaving the show from a cost perspective was only logical. The minute I joined the team, my goal was to only stick around as long as I was useful to the cause. Compensation was a bonus. I'd already done a month of work on news (wrote 80+ articles, played editor to the 3rd party DMN site, and was already helping with creating a database of affiliate contacts)-- all 3rd party work for no pay.

Art was more than generous. My only concern was doing whatever I could do to help everyone and make Art's life easier. I didn't do it for myself; I did it for Art. When I didn't think he'd seriously even consider putting me on-air, he did. The thought of doing news initially made no sense at all to me when he could have picked someone else more qualified to do it. I was prepared to just turn over the database of affiliates I had been helping with and say, "Good luck. I'm rootin' for ya," but Art wanted news, so I made it happen. If it weren't for Heather I probably wouldn't have had that opportunity; she didn't know me from Adam, but as I understand, she was the one who made the case to Art.

Cold Boring Facts About Cost of Doing Business
Prior to my role in MITD, I had an extensive background in managing cost centers for a fairly sizable tech corp. This part will probably bore the hell out of everyone. My job then was to justify cost of tech support through measuring and enforcing metrics like audits, policy, engineering, optimal fixes for a product line, and tech behaviors.

At the end of the day I made the shitty decisions like whether or not a line of business on the tech side or a product was feasible (defining product End of Life or EOL), as every call and service dispatch was a non-revenue generating expense. There's a lot of math and data that goes into it, but MITD was a LOT smaller scale so I only had my own metrics to choose to develop and account for. Most people know the basic formula for financial accounting in business: Revenue (R) minus Expenses (E)=Profit (P).

My Role as an Expense
If you want to look at it this way, the "news" product was a total cost center or expense (E), and comprised 50% of my role (attributing to the total the cost of goods sold, which Keith only knows). The other 50% of my role was terrestrial affiliate sales (the term 'sales' being a total misnomer). This is where it gets complicated.

With affiliates, you have two types of ads that are aired: (N) for Network and (L) for local inventory. For the most part, this was also split 50/50 between MITD and the affiliates. Affiliate coordination ('sales') only generated revenue POTENTIAL, as long as network (N) ad inventory was being aired. Sometimes larger markets didn't even air our ads, but it increased potential when marketing the show to other stations to say, "we have thus and such big station which just signed on." Again, only attributing to X.

While I don't know the entire ins and outs of the advertising side, I do know that being able to say, "we're on this many stations in these major markets" did have a large impact. In other words, it was all dependent on ad sales, so I didn't personally generate revenue. Just revenue potential (X). Defining and leveraging the rest of X was my job, through an even more complicated matrix of variables, which if I wanted to, could spit out reports to show where X's opportunities lie. This defined my personal metrics. Not going to get into all of that here.

So there you have it.

This largely made my job 100% a non-revenue cost center to the organization (with return on investment being a very marginal outlier at the end of the day after changes in the business). I knew that it would be a total cost center going into the role, so I did everything I could to leverage revenue potential and help the organization from my limited standpoint. I even made Keith invest in software to help me with this, because the marginal expense was worth it at the time.

Personal Cost-Benefit Analysis
On the other side of that, there was my own cost-benefit analysis of time invested doing news versus impact for ad sales and subscribers. Most affiliates didn't carry my news in the markets that would have mattered. News in that sense mostly complimented internet streaming for the network.

Doing the news took away roughly six hours of my day from research/fact checking to writing about 2,500 words of copy, to organizing everything down into packaged three minute segments, to doing the read, to what you heard on the radio.
Compared to the rest of the show, it wasn't that important. It was one more thing to have to manage, and by that point, I was already personally exhausted.

Keith left it open-ended for me (like the remote possibility of adding back news in the future) but at that point there was so much ambiguity that I just pretty much said, "It's cool. I think I'll do my own thing and not be a burden."

I saw it this way: The products I supported had a useful life that had expired. Again. No drama. No hard feelings. No F-U's.
Just. Pure. logic.

As an aside, I got the Keith stamp of approval on Twitter when I first announced that I was going to do my own show awhile back--- and that's saying a lot. He told me I was perfectly capable. That too, meant a lot to me. I never asked to be on DMDN because at that time, he was cutting other live shows. Again--- I absolutely did not want to be a burden. He's got enough on his plate. That's why I'm on DTRN.

I'm absolutely not being disingenuous when I say, "I wish them all the best."  I really do.

Quote from: Darth Sandra on April 22, 2016, 11:30:42 PM
Have Hoagland as a guest. He owes you since you were a guest on his show. And when he's a guest ask him for dirt on DMDN. Ask him if he ever cussed out Keith!

He wouldn't want me to interview him. I'm a cordial interviewee but remember that part where I questioned torsion fields? It would prob be that for 3 hours straight. Nobody really wants to hear that.

Like I said in another thread, not talking about other shows on my show. No gossip to reveal. Everything you know, I know. Your guess is as good as mine.

Just to clear the air, because I'm sure people are still going to call into my show and ask...

It's really not as exciting behind scenes as it's made out to seem on social media and on-air. I promise.

Here's the boring inside insight into the inner workings of DMDN: Prepare to be shocked and amazed

Keith runs a business. We all know that, he knows that, he's not going to sugar coat anything. Keith is Keith. People DO however, expect a lot of him. He works his ass off just like anybody else does. That being said, he can be an extremely easy guy to work with most days, contrary to popular belief and the way he comes off on the radio or social media at times. It's pretty much that is that. We weren't BFF's but we got along bc my work ethic is solid and I was always focused on justifying my own cost through metrics. In other words, I logged and made track of almost every call and minute I put into the show, because I wanted to (not because he demanded it)-- and most days, my reporting on it in length became more of an annoyance than anything.

What mattered at the end of the day was writing and producing 9 mins of news then just reporting new affiliates when they went online. My part on the show was really small potatoes.

When Art Bell calls your phone

Calls with Art were spontaneous and usually short (sometimes lasting less than a minute), just wanting to know a quick status update or affiliate details. We would occasionally talk about relevant news to the program. Guests and callers generally will get a longer conversation with Art because when he's busy, he doesn't have time for bullshit and fluff.
In the words of a famous poet, "Aint nobody got time for that." Art never poured his heart out to me, told me about his Ouija experience, or shared the details of the late Bugs' bigfoot stash. One can only speculate.

Still, working for Art made the experience no less surreal or nerve wracking seeing "Art Bell" on the caller ID. I'd always see it and immediately say aloud, "Oh shit, it's Art calling. Gotta stop everything and answer." There was an unspoken policy that if any of us had a call from Art while we were on the phone with each other, we'd almost always immediately hang up and take the call. I can think of maybe two instances that I didn't do that, both involving being on the line with major affiliates.

Leaving the network

When the show shifted, cost demanded my departure. Affiliates were in limbo. News wasn't worth that whole cost, and I'd rather have been freed up to do my own thing on my own time. It was logical and as simple as that with no hard feelings or emotions. I said, "Welp, that sucks," and moved on. They took a chance on me. Thankful to have had that experience. When my job was done it was done.

I was more concerned for Art and Heather than my own ass taking up space before I left. Again, there's nothing left to that story that hasn't already been relayed by Art or Heather themselves. Keith allowed me to finish out December at my own request, which was nice of him. He didn't have to do that. I wanted to support Heather during the transition. I still think about them a lot but haven't spoken to any of them personally in ages. I enjoyed working with the whole team, while it lasted. As always, I wish them all the best. Even RCH.

Quote from: trostol on April 22, 2016, 10:15:35 PM
also..and you probably already know it and have it planned out..mix up guest genres..

Yes.

It's kind of like the news. Whether ppl noticed or not, I had a distinct formula.

Hour 1 - World news, news of import

Hour 2 - Science, educational, a little weird

Hour 3 - Weirdest news, because most people will either be falling asleep or drunk and don't want a buzzkill with the latest world threat.

Quote from: littlechris on April 22, 2016, 10:09:23 PM
Hi Amy!!

We're all rooting for ya!!

Don't worry about the blunders when you first get on the air, there is always that learning curve.

You'll be fine.

Can't wait for you to DETHRONE Heather Wade!!!

Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!

-Chris

Thanks.

For the most part, the studio is acoustically sound, but not sound-proof. There's the absolute chance you'll hear my wiener dogs or my loud-ass Boxer-Beagle bellowing her head off if someone passes on the street. I'm running the noise gates at their max without clipping consonants. The SM7B does a great job with noise isolation too. Barks, maybe. Chair squeaks, nope. Stomach growls, nope. I'll try not to belch into the microphone but can't promise I won't burst into random song improv.

Not looking to dethrone anyone though. I have my own show, on a different network, at a different time, very intentional--- so people can tune-in to both. As always I wish her all of my best.

Quote from: coaster on April 22, 2016, 10:07:43 PM
Now that would be a great show.

We'll see. Definitely going to try.

Quote from: coaster on April 22, 2016, 10:02:13 PM
update them usb ports.
/brapp

Gotta have the use-bees. Nah. I think I updated the BIOS and chipset drivers about two months ago.

This is my rig in the dark.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Studio update: The Mothership is about 50% operational. Waiting for more pieces to arrive. (Racks not pictured.) pic.twitter.com/qirnZ96Qxq</p>&mdash; Amy On The Radio (@HauntedSkeptic_) January 17, 2016
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I've got the Presonus desk running through a firewire PCI-E card. Multitracks to 24 bit/ 44.1.48 khz.
It's a beast. (There's my synth crap in there too. Pardon the mess.)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My desk right now. Working on intro music for the show. (Outro finished!) pic.twitter.com/pE6i7fPDjf</p>&mdash; Amy On The Radio (@HauntedSkeptic_) April 7, 2016
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