Heather and I do such a great “live” show every Thursday Night at 7PM EDT.
Shameless Self Promotion.
Got to Love it!
We call it The Morning Show at Night and we even offer an “Encore” presentation Friday Night at 9PM EDT.
We do it “live” from the Swisssh Radio Studios high above the skyline of Downtown Orillia. Hard to believe that Swisssh Radio- and I know I say it many times but I am proud of the fact, has been on air for 5 years now.
Heather and I have a great time.
We work well together.
We play music. Different kinds of music.
We talk about “local” stuff.
We bring in “Live” guests or have a conversation over the phone with a guest.
The Morning Show at Night was born out of terrestrial radio. Heather was the “Queen” of morning radio in the Orillia area during the EZ Rock, Lite FM and JACK FM years. Even though the “brand” name changed, we did the broadcasts from the same, small studio in an industrial park area of Orillia.
Stupid place for a radio station that broadcasts to people.
Anyway, I would slide in behind the mic on the morning show- with Heather on the other side of the glass, for a few weeks every year when her full time “on air” partner was away or on vacation. We always seemed to click- even though I hated getting up to do morning radio. Heather didn’t like getting up in the morning either but she coped better than I did. After the show, I was always in a buzz for the rest of the day and I would even have to have a small nap in the afternoon to make it through the day.
These days both Heather and I are not employed by Terrestrial Radio. I got pissed off about 5 years ago when employed by The New CHAY. I simply came home one day and told Tom- “That’s it I am through with radio!”
Heather kind of got dumped by Larche when they bought the Orillia station and moved their Country Format to Orillia and the Pop/Rock format to their Midland station.
So here we are today. Two hours a week “live” isn’t much but it’s a start. As a matter of fact these days it’s the only “live” hours on Swisssh Radio. Other programmes on air are recorded for presentation at another time. To tell you the truth our audience numbers are not through the roof but as I always say- it beats opening the window and yelling out to a passerby on the street below.
If we had a huge budget we could advertise like crazy so people would know we are still here doing something we really love. Right now we do it all for free. We have no specific sponsors and Swisssh Radio is truly non-profit- not that we want it that way.
Living in Orillia it’s a tough go to convince people to advertise with you. Net Radio- not just in Orillia but in all of Canada, just isn’t as huge as it in in Europe. As a matter of fact during many day parts there are more listeners from the United States than from Canada.
Case in point, again this week I told someone how to listen to Swisssh Radio- or Starlite for that matter. In this day and age it should be second nature. After all I’ve heard for years now that Internet Radio is the wave of the future- maybe not in Canada.
Look, we all have cell phones or tabs or pads. It’s very easy to listen to Internet Stations like Swisssh. Just go to www.swisssh.ca and all will be revealed. Just read it. Swisssh Radio even plays when the site loads. How easy is that? I wonder why there is such hesitancy. Now, I am hearing that internet radio will take off once Net Radio is available in vehicles.
Really?
I am not holding my breath.
I would love to have Swisssh Radio hit the heights but I don’t know if it ever will.
I do have ideas.
A storefront location in Downtown Orillia is a dream I covet. I’d have “live” broadcasts throughout the day. It would be an open studio set up on a raised platform. The rest of the room would be peppered with chairs and tables for people to drop in and listen and see what is going on. The coffee pot would always be on and we’d invite listeners- audience members, to bring in their lunch or afternoon snacks and enjoy the shows.
I think it would work.
I would sure like to try it.
I don’t have the funds to bring that dream to life but here’s the scary part- if I don’t move on that dream soon I’ll just simply be too old.
Time stops for no man- apparently.
Suddenly, I am wondering why am I writing this? Gee, I guess it’s because I want more listeners. I would like Swisssh Radio to be successful both with listener numbers as well as financially.
Am I going to close Swisssh Radio down?Maybe at some point just not right now.
After all I started another station- Starlite, just a few months ago so I guess I still have the interest and love of broadcasting.
Heather and I will continue for now doing two hours of “live” radio a week with guests such as Steve Clarke and Laurie Herd and Tyler Knight and Steve Caston and Scott Hurst and all the others who have guested with us.
We’ll try to be local and do what we love.
Swisssh Radio will just keep ambling along and hope for more listeners and maybe some new advertisers too. Somehow we just need to get the word out. Someone told me this week that they have trouble listening to terrestrial radio where they work because of all the steel and crap that goes into making a building. I explained that if one were to listen to Swisssh Radio there will be no hiss and drift because we are an Internet Station.
The next day Swisssh Radio was on all day long.
Tell your friends.
Swisssh Radio could become an Orillia phenomenon.
Yeah!
