The End Of An Era

Michael Scott · Post by **Michael Scott** » 27 Sep 2011 11:25 am

SteelRadio Fans,

It is with great sadness that I must inform all of you that SteelRadio.com is closing. Since its inception in 1998 and its birth in 2001, SteelRadio has been the in the forefront of Internet broadcasting the music of the steel guitar. We were first with a live remote broadcast when no one else was approaching it; there were no books and no one to follow. After eleven years of working in Internet radio and ten years of broadcasting, I will click the mouse and SteelRadio will become silent.

This economic situation that has our country and most of the world in a death grip has finally taken its toll. Over the years, we have received donations from around the world and without those donations, we could not have lasted this long. We appreciate every one of them.

I want to thank all the loyal listeners who have stayed with us since SteelRadio’s first broadcast on December 12th 1999 when we proved that there was a listener base that wanted to hear the steel guitar. I will miss you.

I will have a few last “Big” blowout broadcasts in October; but unless a miracle happens, November 1st will mark the end of SteelRadio. Keep an eye on this thread for the final show dates.

Sincerely,
Michael Scott
Owner/Operator
SteelRadio.com

Larry Hamilton · Post by **Larry Hamilton** » 27 Sep 2011 6:05 pm

Man this news really sucks. SteelRadio is my favorite internet station. This ought to be posted under "Gone Home" :cry.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 27 Sep 2011 7:20 pm

Michael, I'm very sorry to see that it has come to this point. I know you gave your life's blood for over a decade to make this work and I, for one, thank you deeply for your contributions to the steel guitar community and for helping to grow worldwide awareness of steel guitar music. It is sad that SteelRadio.com wasn't better supported financially to be able to survive in this tough economy.

Thank you -- and your team -- for your great efforts and commitment in keeping it going this long.

Hook Moore · Post by **Hook Moore** » 28 Sep 2011 2:41 am

I appreciate you folks and Steelradio. Sorry to see it come to an end.
Hook

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 29 Sep 2011 8:01 am

Thanks, Mike, for all that you and your family have done for the steel guitar. You have made the world seem a little smaller.
Chuck

Jeremiah Hanley · Post by **Jeremiah Hanley** » 29 Sep 2011 8:18 am

I've had the privilege of being in the ministry for over 60 years and during that time I've had the privilege of being a pastor at 8 different churches. For thirty years we were on the road holding revivals and introducing my steel guitar at hundreds of churches. The last four years we've had the privilege of being a part of SteelRadio.com presenting a Gospel Program of songs that featured steel guitar and dobro and I must say, it's been one of the highlights of our ministry to be able to minister all around the world for 2 hours each month. Not many times did we come to you for any financial help, for we did not get paid nor did we pay to have this privilege. The few appeals that we made were for equipment and licensing which cost Michael Scott quite a bit of money. As I've said before, he is the only one I know of who cared enough about you and the futherance of steel guitar exposure. He has been a "gem" to work for....our fellowship with him has been completely enjoyable and most kind! Thank you, Michael, for giving us this "highlight" of our ministry. These past 4 years will always stand out in our memory as the years we were privileged to broaden our audience 'worldwide' as we lifted up the name of Jesus. Our prayer is that people were touched by the presence of the Lord and we hope we meet people in heaven who were introduced to the Lord through this gospel program. To all you wonderful listeners, and there are thousands of you that are Steel Radio listeners, you may not have donated financially, but I believe you should take the time to email Michael and thank him for all he's done to bring the beautiful sounds of the steel guitar over the internet for you. I believe we all owe him this much. There should be pages of listeners saying 'thank you'! Because of Michael, the steel guitar has been heard around the world and for many, it was probably their introduction to steel music!! Thank you, Michael, for all the work....all the stress of shouldering such a huge responsibility...and Venda and I thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for this wonderful opportunity you gave us! May God bless you!!!!!

Larry Baker · Post by **Larry Baker** » 29 Sep 2011 7:05 pm

Michael, We will be among many that wish to thank you for your years of devoutment to the Steel industry, as everyone, We are deeply sorrowed that this will come to an end, but do know that we understand the financial aspects of keeping this going. May God bless you now and in the future.
Larry Baker and Jean DeVore

Chad Jones · Post by **Chad Jones** » 30 Sep 2011 8:40 am

I just saw this posting this morning..Im SO SAD to hear of Steel Radio closing down. THANKS SO MUCH for the airtime you gave to me and my steel player, as well as all the other fine steel players. I used to run the Heartland Radio Network and I know all the hard work and finances it takes to keep something like this going...

THANKS AGAIN for all of your hard efforts...Maybe someone else will pick it up!

JERRY THURMOND · Post by **JERRY THURMOND** » 1 Oct 2011 4:29 am

Mike I thank you for all your hard work,I guess it is just a sign of time, everything changes, some changes are not very good. It was good while it lasted.

Jerry

bruce fischer · Post by **bruce fischer** » 3 Oct 2011 11:42 am

thanx so much for what you gave to us mike.

Kenneth Caine · Post by **Kenneth Caine** » 3 Oct 2011 11:44 am

I'm going to miss the Steel Radio. I listen most every day. Thank you Michael and best wishes.

Dave Grothusen · Post by **Dave Grothusen** » 3 Oct 2011 1:51 pm

Michael I knew this was going to happen. I got no replies to my post about a month ago asking to send you money. I will miss steelradio a lot. I understand how this can happen. I will be sending you another donation to help you to the end. Thanks for what you have done.

Robert Grossman · Post by **Robert Grossman** » 3 Oct 2011 9:41 pm

Could you quantify how much you need and is there a way of getting subscriberships started before your projected end date? This is all news to me. I would like SteelRadio continue!

Andrew Yanchick · Post by **Andrew Yanchick** » 4 Oct 2011 8:33 am

As a newbie your radio station and this forum were the reasonI started to learn to play the steel guitar.I have it on most days.Never have I heard such beautiful music.Hanley's gospel and some of the others have kept me plugging away to achieve some measure of proficiency.I for one will surely miss this station.If I were a man of means I would surely donate all I could to keep it going.My heart felt thank you for your endeavor to bring such wonderful music to us all. Thank you from Andy.

Ron Deardorff · Post by **Ron Deardorff** » 5 Oct 2011 3:45 am

Only now am I starting to realize how much I listen to and depend on steelradio. I, for one, would be more than happy to shell out $120.00 a year to keep it going, and out of the several thousand forum members, I'd bet that a significant percentage would also be willing to donate the same amount. This is just too valuable a resource that can't really be duplicated by any other online stations.

(I've looked... If anyone knows any suitable substitutes, please, by all means, do tell...)

I realize this may all just be wishful thinking, as Michael seems resigned to its imminent demise, but hey, what the hell.

Robert Grossman · Post by **Robert Grossman** » 5 Oct 2011 4:44 pm

I would also be willing to pay $120.00 per year to keep SteelRadio on the internet.

Dennis Voges · Post by **Dennis Voges** » 6 Oct 2011 2:02 am

I would also be glad to pay $120.00 a yearto keep this great station on the air. I'm sure there would be lots of others who would be glad to help keep Steel Radio on the air.

Keep Steelin
Dennis

Michael Scott · Post by **Michael Scott** » 6 Oct 2011 6:24 pm

I appreciate all the e-mails and postings about SteelRadio closing. It’s a shame that I have to do this. There is so much music that has yet to be played. I have exclusive access to Scotty’s archives and was just getting into his vault when the hammer came down. Imagine, over forty years of unreleased and unheard steel guitar music that will sit...still being unheard. Like I said, it’s a shame.

I’ve been asked how much money it would take to keep SteelRadio on the air. That’s pretty much a loaded question. The equipment I’m using is upwards of ten years old and showing their age. The main broadcast computer is starting to fail from time to time and I have already replaced the “Source” computer with one that is even older as I can not afford to purchase a new one. The needs of Internet broadcasting are different than what can be purchased “Off The Shelf”. The in studio equipment is just about as old and needs to be updated. And there’s the licensing. I am licensed by SESAC, BMI and ASCAP. They want their money no matter what.

I have tried soliciting donations. I’ve tried running a fundraising marathon. I’ve tried a survey to find out if any of our listeners would be interested in a subscription broadcast. All have been less than favorable. Nothing seems to work. Everyone wants it as long as it’s free. I have paid well over $100,000.00 of my own money over the years making sure SteelRadio keeps running. But the minute I ask for contributions, I usually get the cold shoulder. I’ve received some donations and they helped when times were tough and money was tight. And I appreciate every one of them.

The bottom line is this. For SteelRadio to stay on the air, it will need $25,000.00 to keep broadcasting for the next few years. If anyone reading this has an idea, is a salesman, or knows about getting grants...I would love to talk to them. My e-mail address is: steelradio@charter.net.

It was fun and I enjoyed every broadcasting minute. My DJs loved doing their shows and I enjoyed going places and airing the live music that most of the world does not get to hear. Some of the best in the business have had the opportunity to play for an audience that is larger than they could ever imagine. My daily listener base is a tribute to the music and the players of one of the finest instruments in the world. YouTube.com is a great source for steel guitar. But they do not have as much rare, unique and diverse steel guitar music as what can be found in my database.

Michael Scott
Owner/Operator
SteelRadio.com

Randall Meeker · Post by **Randall Meeker** » 18 Oct 2011 10:04 am

They could use a good country radio station and I prefer yours over most of their repetious programming. Steel Radio on the Satellite.
Booyah!

Michael Scott · Post by **Michael Scott** » 31 Oct 2011 9:09 pm

Well, its gone! SteelRadio.com is off the air. Just before I clicked the mouse to stop my broadcast, I checked my server to see how many hits there were. I was surprised at how many were tuned in to the bitter end. I captured the countries list and the total hits for 2011. I thought I would make this available to you all so you can see what kind of a listener base SteelRadio had. I’m not sure if I can post this list here so I will make the full hits accounting available as either a PDF file or a web page on the SteelRadio web site so you can see it for yourself. I will do this in the next day or so. In the meantime, here’s the totals...

Total hits counted on 10/31/11 at 11:55:26cst were 267,730
The total yearly hits for SteelRadio.com in 2011: 9,444,448 (with two months to go)

So you can come to your own conclusions as to what could have been done to keep SteelRadio on the air. I received $1,340.00 in donations and pledges. I received some great e-mails and there were some wonderful postings. I also received some hate mail and phone calls that were less than supportive. I hold no ill will towards the negative responses as I sort of expected a few of them.

I’m going to miss being on the air and bringing the best steel guitar music from around the world to listeners around the world. It was fun doing live broadcasts and bringing this music into your homes when you didn’t have the opportunity to go hear it in person.

Thank you all again for tuning in and making SteelRadio the largest Internet radio station of its type in the world.

Sincerely,
Michael Scott
SteelRadio.com

Andrew Yanchick · Post by **Andrew Yanchick** » 1 Nov 2011 4:16 am

I really don't know what to say.As a relative newbie to the forum at 73 I found music like I remembered as a kid.I thoroughly enjoyed it.Now 3 days before my 74 birthday it's gone.So many listeners,so few supporters.Do you all want to support something like steel radio?Because if you do you have to prove it.If Michael says it would take 25,000 for it to continue surely that is not an amount we can raise without much pain for all interested.If we have at least 500 of the thousands of listeners willing to subscribe to steel radio at 5.00 per month on a yearly basis of 60.00 per year perhaps we can revive steel radio.What say Michael?
I will start a list to pledge 60.00 per year (5.00 per month)

1.. Andy Yanchick

Come on fellow steelers add you names and let's get this thing going

Ted Smouse · Post by **Ted Smouse** » 4 Nov 2011 7:25 am

I have enjoyed listening to Steel Radio over the years immensely, and listened until the last minute. -"Take The A Train" - Jimmy Day?

Keep hope alive, I have some ideas and am going to talk to Michael to see if there is a way to resurect Steel Radio and keep it going.

What ever happens, if there is a way to bring it back, it will require financial support by listeners and those who value this type of broadcast.

Stay tuned,

Ted

The Steel Guitar Forum

The End Of An Era

The End Of An Era

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