As we lead up to “Floydian Slip” Show #1,000 the week of June 8, we’re digging into the archives to share relics from the show’s past.
“Floydian Slip” was at a crossroads in Summer 2009: After nearly 14 years of producing the show as an employee of WCPV “Champ 101.3” in Burlington, Vt., the show was dropped when Champ switched formats.
There were three ways to proceed: Retire the show, find another station to hire me, or begin producing “Floydian Slip” independently and try to syndicate to multiple stations.
The first option was the easiest, and I considered it, briefly. After 701 shows and 20 years, maybe it was time.
The second option would take a little more effort, but leave me in the same position I’d been in at Champ: No way to substantially grow the audience and limited revenue possibilities.
The third option would take loads of effort, but offered the greatest benefits if I succeeded.
I’d explored the possibility of syndication 20 years earlier, but it didn’t make sense. Without an instant and cheap way to market and distribute the show to stations — in other words, without the Internet — it seemed like a great way to lose a lot of money: Burning programs onto CD at about a buck a piece, snail mailing them to stations, overnighting copies that got lost or damaged in the mail … it just wasn’t practical.
But now it was different. Everyone and their mother was online. With floydianslip.com as a hub to market and distribute the show — it helps when your show’s host is a full-time web developer — why not?
The cost to entry was pretty low. I needed a broadcast-quality mic, an interface to get my voice onto harddrive, a little soundproofing and I was in business.
It was a little more involved than that, actually. I needed to build a network of stations interested in carrying the show.
We signed the first station — a netcaster in Burlington — to our Random Precision Radio Network in mid-September 2009. Our first FM affiliate followed a month later when Burlington’s WIZN 106.7 FM “The Wizard” came aboard.
The Wizard’s support meant a lot to me. As a broadcasting student in the ’80s, WIZN was the station I aspired to be a part of.
Still, syndication didn’t feel “real” until Jan. 21, 2010, when a station a thousand miles away, with no prior knowledge of the show, signed on: WRBA “Arrow 95.9” in Panama City Beach, Fla.
WIZN and WRBA (now “Classic Rock 95.9”) are still part of our network — along with more than 60 other stations.
Here’s the opening of our first syndicated show: #702 from Sept. 19, 2009:
It has been awesome reading the history of “Floydian Slip”. I think I picked up on the show in early 2011 online. And then I scurried for an easy way to somehow DVR the show so I could listen to it whenever (usually on my commute in the morning… usually Monday mornings). Thats when I found DAR.fm that allowed me to record radio programs across the country (though I’m sure there’s probably some solution that would allow me to do the same thing for netcasters). Still waiting for a radio station in the DC area to pick you up… but until then, I’ll keep recording ya via DAR.fm and lovin’ my Monday morning commute!!