So long.
Don Day | October 14, 2008That’s a wrap. After five years and nearly 2,500 posts, I’m shuttering IdahoRadioNews.com. I’ve become increasingly busy and don’t have the time to dedicate to this project. I’m certainly going to miss bringing you the scoop – but I won’t miss trying to wrangle the comments.
I want to thank the people who fed me tips over the years – you know who you are, and I really appreciate it.
UPDATE: I’m going to put together one more post with a final review of the past few years. I probably should have done that today but I had to put out the word before I changed my mind. I’ll work on it this weekend. Thanks again for all your kind words – it means a lot!
Don, thanks for all the time and hard work you put into this website. You and your site truly will be missed. What is going to take it’s place on my favorites toolbar? Good luck with your new ventures.
Thanks again!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is most unfortunate. Today is a dark, cold day for Idaho. The Nation. The World! We will all miss this site. All I can say, Don, is THANK YOU for providing this service to us all these years.
Is there any chance of the reins being handed over to someone with a little more disposable time? If not, will some sort of rehabilitation be offered to help us with our Idaho Radio News addictions?
How the heck will I keep up on gossip and slander in the Boise Radio Biz? Plus, its been my one connection with Dave Arthur. ok, so no big loss…KIDDING, DAVE!
I’ll miss checking in on things in here, Don. Good Luck on the new duties!
All the best Don, and thanks for the blog, it’s always been valuable and entertaining. If anyone is going to try and fill your oversized shoes, I would like to lend a hand, it will take about 5 of us to fill in for you.
Thanks for the opportunity for the free exchange of thoughts, ideas, and opinions. This blog has reflected the true definition of freedom. You are a great American. I wish you and all my fellow bloggers the best in the future.
Rod Thomson
a.k.a. Buster Bronco
rodthomson7@yahoo.com
OMG!!! There will be countless throngs of us addicted souls ready to go off a cliff without our daily fix. OK, hourly fix. Whatever. It’s comforting to know I wasn’t alone in the addict category. But seriously, Don… the time & effort you put into this site is admirable. You did an excellent job keeping us informed, entertained (uh, Scarlet Johansen sings?) and amused with your wit and knowledge. Thanks for sharing.
Not good news…Thanks for everything you have done for us all.
Best of luck to you on your future ventures. Your site is something that I check probably 5-6 times a day!
Would you consider selling the name or turning over the domain to someone else who would keep it up? It would be sad to see it all go out the window.
Wow I am really sorry to hear that..even though I completely understand the busy thing….Thanks Don for a job VERY well done.
Good luck, Don…thanks very much for 5 years of keeping us “in the loop!” Best wishes!
Thanks Don.. You and this site will be missed.
I moved to Idaho about 5 years ago but did not discover your website until a year ago. I found it to be very informative and will miss it. Best of Luck in the future.
Dave H
That is devastating news. IRN is my favorite site. What a sad day for all of us. I hope that perhaps things in your life will settle down and maybe some day soon you can bring IRN back in some new incarnation or something. It just wont be the same world wide web without this site…. You have done so much over the past five years to allow a free exhange of ideas and opinions regarding the broadcast business in a state that relies so much on radio in general. I dont know what all of us will do to find out what is going on behind the scenes of the biz…
So I guess all I can say is a big THANK YOU and your efforts will be missed so much by all….
HAPPY TRAILS….and may all of our paths meet again someday…SOON!!!!
There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: What we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it.
Carnegie, Dale
1888-1955
Don, You Have Done All Four Ways admirably via this Important use of service for those involved with IDAHO’S RADIO INDUSTRY.
Thank-You For Your Dedication- Ricardo (RQ) Quilantan- Long Time Radio Personality-En Español…..
Partir, c est mourir un peu. (To leave is to die a little.)
“Unknown”
Whoa-Nellie! Let’s not make any hasty decisions here… any chance you could put together a few of us to maintain the site led by someone who has the insight to keep it up? (I nominate Art Gregory or Rocky)
I totally second that nomination!!!!!! I to have enjoyed this site since I got into radio more than 2 years ago. There has to be a way to carry this site on???
I sent a separate e-mail to Don yesterday, which I hope he doesn’t mind my re-posting it here:
——-
I’m saddened by your decision to end the blog, but I fully understand. Since there is a vast amount of information contained in the comments that I think are of value from an historical point of view, are you going to leave the site active for awhile so we can at least peruse the archives? I’d like to, with your permission, pull some info into the history site. Until now, I have only linked it, but I’ll need to make it more permanent if you do intend to fully close the site at some time in the future.
It’s been a great ride. You’ve done a great service.
——-
Don assured me the site will remain “live” for sometime and gave me the green light to move appropriate material over the “History” site. As for an on-going IRN … No one can truly fill Don’s shoes, with his insight and connections. As far as a forum for putting up news about the radio (or broadcasting in general) business in Idaho, it’s being talked about. To be honest, it’s too soon to say anything, but Art and I would be open to suggestions. Either one of us can be contacted thru the “History” site. Find the bottom of the menu and click on “Contact us”.
I will add to what others have said…This site will truly be missed, no matter what we do. Thank you, Don, for what you have done.
I’m sorry to hear that your leaving. You have a great Web site. I’m a member of History of Idaho Broadcasting, the group Art Gregory started up.
I would have to agree with Jim and Clint could you talk to Art and ask his group could or would take care of this site. It is apart of Idaho Radio and TV history.
Thank you for all the work you have done over the years, you’ve done a great job
Sorry to see you shut down this site. I’ve really enjoyed the insight you’ve provided for the Boise market. If memory serves, you started this site about the time I moved to Boise five years ago. Perhaps its an omen telling me its time to move back to Seattle.
Thank you for the five years Don. Also, thank you for pushing the idea on all of us to do an all-station wide radiothon for the victims of the tsunami. Was it the tsunami or was it hurricane Katrina? Either way, your website did more than just allow us radioheads a common place to yell, but you also did something that allowed all of us to come together as one and hopefully help a few people in severe need. And for that, all of us thank you.
Now, that said, you’re too busy?! Please Don!! We all know the truth. You hate us all, and you can’t wait to throw us to the curb now that you’re a big shot or something! Don’t forget us when you drive past us in your limo!!
Now where will I lurk while eating lunch?
This was a great way to keep up with local radio. Thanks. I’ll miss it. Glad you’re not quitting your day job.
You’re not quitting your day job, right?!?
Well Don, what a great ride of this website.. This has been a great website…
I wish you well and thanks for all that you have done.
Don, I don’t blame you for moving on. You have to put your priorities in order and if this site is low on the list you need to put your energy into the things that are important to you.
Thanks for all the work you have done for Idaho Radio News.
Don,
Thanks so much for the Local (Radio, TV & Newspaper) Insight for the last couple o years. Good luck in your future endeavors.
PS: Is this the only local radio blog thats worth anything here in Boise?
I tell you this is a conspiracy. It is all George Bush and Dick Cheny’s fault. A conspiracy I tell you, and it has Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over it. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Thanks for the time well spent by reading your website. Best of luck to you in all you do.
IRN gone..and now I hear that Ringo will no longer answer my fan mail. What is this world coming to??
Don,
Thanks for letting all of us be a part of this with you over the years… It’s been a great ride. :)
As Bob Hope once sang, “Thanks for the Memories”.
Don, all I can say is “ditto” to everyone else’s kudos. (Hey, would “ditto” be a reference to Rush on KIDO or to Rush on KBOI? And if it was a reference to Rush KIDO, which ONE? Rush on 580 or Rush on 630, where he started in 1988?)
What are we all going to do without your site? As I have told you many times, this site is the best record of Idaho Radio History – bar none – that is out there. Thanks for your time and dedication, and if there are any excess costs (like Hillary Clinton’s or Bill Sali’s unpaid ‘campaign debts’ let us know. I for one would donate a little cash personally to help you defray your costs, this site has meant that much to me.
You have provided a place for us broadcasting geeks to gather (that in itself sounds scary!) and vent and/or pontificate, all under your watchful eye, and I might add, fair and balanced policing. Opps, another KIDO reference there…sorry about that Chief.
Rockwell and I will visit and see if we can’t provide a place on the history site to continue at least some of what you’ve started. We appreciate your willingness to work with us, and rest assured your contribution to Idaho Broadcasting will never be forgotten.
I have a feeling you are not done with this. Radio is in your Dad’s blood, and hence is in your’s too. And as well all know, once bitten by the radio bug, the affliction stays with you for life.
That said, you did what any great journalist should do: you afflicted the comfortable, and comforted the afflicted! Thanks for your integrity and your honesty over the past 45 years. I know a few Radio Management type folks did not always like some of the things some people said on your site…but you were not seeking their approval, you were reporting what you knew, the good the bad and the ugly.
We on the “history” side have to do the same job…but as the cliche goes “time heals all wounds” (or wounds all heals!) so we can get away with a little more than you could, and we have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. You reported history “as it happened” in the “RECORD” mode…played back immediately. We do it “rewind” stopping the tape along the way.
So farewell and thank you Idaho Radio News. We shall miss you…but as that Tracy Lawrence song sang…Time Marches On…
Art
Correction – I meant to say 4-5 years…not 45 years! You are not that old, although you may FEEL that old after reporting about radio for 5 years.
Like that Larry Lujack joke goes when the lady talks to the GM saying “when my little boy grows up he wants to be in radio.” The GM looks back and says…”sorry lady, he can’t do BOTH.”
Bummer Don. Now I’m going to have to get my radio news from my ‘other’ sources. Mostly out of work former radio guys who make stuff up. Of course, I’ll be making stuff up too, kind of like when I was a news guy.
Best of luck and Thanks!
It’s all been said Don………..But Thanks from the Western tip of the Valley. It was always fun to hear about news from the”Big City”. Best of luck at 7 and tell everyone hello for me and I’m going to miss the news.
Dale Jeffries
KSRV AM – Ontario
Don, I too am saddened with the departure of this site!
It’s been a great run, and we’ll keep in touch, as we work in the same building.
Again Thanks
Russ Larsgaard (aka BoardOp for the Eagle)
I have been a true radio fan sense I was 7 years old. However, I really didn’t study radio until I was 14. During the summer of 1994 and 1995, I was notorious for calling radio station air talent while they were doing their shifts. I would pester them until I could get information out of them. Sometimes it worked, and others it didn’t. The truth is, in 1998, I moved to Salt Lake City. I would come up to Idaho to visit friends and family. I would listen to the radio to find what was new. But when I heard about the site in 2004, I really felt in the loupe. How am I going to know the latest in Idaho radio news now with this site. I know there was at one time a forum to discuss Idaho Radio News. Is that forum still around? If not, I would highly suggest someone create one. I would also suggest that it looks exactly like Utah Forum for Radio. I will talk to you later.
Commander Lumpy,
Your wish is my command! I am the moderator at the Utah Radio Forum and I have set up a site that will at least permit some exchange, albeit it won’t ever be as polished as Don’s IRN. I would hate to see not having a forum for all of us who love this business so much.
The URL is: gemstateradio.proboards.com
The Utah site is: utahradionews.proboards2.com
I am still in the process of setting up all the board, so it might look a little rough now.
Again, it isn’t anything compared to what Don has done, and I ask for a little patience, as I have some interesting radio news of my own to announce.
I am moving to San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico next week. Thanks to the modern marvels afforded by the internet, my boss has agreed to retain me. I will be recording the news for KBAR, KKMV and KZDX from Mexico, and will be hosting my mid-day information show from 11-1 streamed on the net to KFTA. La Fantastica will be the only Spanish language station with a live body IN MEXICO! San Miguel is an artist’s colony of sorts with 80,000 people, 10,000 of which are American ex-pats.
My decision was based upon the fact that I have been struggling for nearly 2 years to get a visa for my sweetheart (who studied here in the US and has toured here dozens of times since her youth). Bureaucracy drives the “Chupacabras” to Mexico! We will be married in December.
Rosie “La Bomba” Juarez will be taking over as PD/OM of KFTA. She is a radio veteran with over 20 years on the air and a pioneer Hispanic broadcaster in Idaho. She will do a great job.
I didn’t mean for this to conflict with Don’s great job as owner/moderator. My intent is to somehow keep a forum open for the sake of the industry.
By the way, for those groups that have banned the site at work: what a shame! I have used information here to aid the owner of my station many times. It has been a great tip sheet.
Don, Don, Don. If you shut down the site, where will I go to be shouted down and called a “socialist” by my radio peers?
Seriously, I will miss your work, Don. I hope wherever life takes you, it’s to your satisfaction.
Don,
Thank you for all of the work you put into growing this site. It will be missed and your voice on the site will be missed.
Happy trails!
-Matt “Davis” Davenport
KPVI-TV
mdavenport@kpvi.com
Facebook: Matt Davenport
Ben, Felicitaciones! (translation: congrats!) what a score! Send me an email with the details… I may have to come and visit.
Jim
Don,
Just got home from a week enjoying the fall colors of New England. (I highly recommend it for your first official vacation by the way!) Thanks for helping us to keep an eye on each other. Some liked to share their opinion, other liked to sit back and enjoy the fireworks. But for me, the best part has been to see former co-workers are still alive and kicking. Ken/Dave/Jim/Cale/Russ/Doug/Mitch/Chuck Roast and Matt Davis Davenport for example! Thanks for your labor of love, and for dealing with a bunch of teenage minds, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, through the good and the bad.
Tommy “Collins” Harleycrasher (a nod to Don’s Dad!)
tommymix106
Thanks for keeping my heart close to Boise. It means a bunch.
Kallao
Former APD/Imaging/Night guy for KQXR
2001-2003