Hard Starboard Radio  

I'll admit that I'm new at blogcasting, and will never be in the ranks of superstars of the art like Limbaugh, Hannity, Hewitt, et al, or even on BTR itself like Ed Morrissey or the other esteemed hosts on the Political Conservative channel.  And that's okay, because Ed's audience comes from his blog, which has over thirty MILLION hits in four-plus years, which exceeds my own humble little establisment's traffic by a factor of approximately seven hundred and fifty to one in only about a year's additional time.  I'll admit I'm jealous of his traffic, as I consider myself to be just as good a writer (in my own inimitable style), and at least as good a blogcaster as well.  But as Ron White once said, "If life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.  Then find someone whose life has given them vodka, and have a party."  Aside from the vodka part, I can endorse that.  The same is even more true of catching lightning in a bottle, and I don't begrudge Ed any of it for a moment.

Hard Starboard Radio, however, is, much like the blog that gave birth to it, a premee in an incubator, the latter being in this case my own stubbornness.  I joke to myself that I write a blog hardly anybody reads (which is a bit of an exaggeration; what it really is is a blog nobody will link to anymore, for heaven only knows what reason, as it's the same stuff that's been disgorged daily for the last three years) and do a BTR show nobody listens to (which is also an exaggeration as the podcast gets hundreds of downloads a week).  I also realize that mid-day on Saturday is not the best time to try to attract a sizeable live audience.  I knew all of this going in, and my expectations were set accordingly.  I'm nothing if not the realist I claim to be.

All that being said, today's show had no live listeners.  Z-E-R-O.  Which means not even my Republican Forum colleagues were online as they had been the previous four editions.  I even tuned in my other PC, whether or not my kids would actually be attentive listeners.  They must have turned it off.

I've said and will freely admit here that talking is not my forte, though through sheer repetition each week I am getting better at it.  But I also freely admit that I signed up for this gig to promote my blog, and if HSR has already hit its peak....

Well, is bloviating into a literal vacuum worth staying up half the night before doing show prep?  And might it actually be turning off what readership I do have left?

My first attempt at a website back in the '90s was dismissed by an online enemy as "a vanity site".  Looking back on it, I suppose that was true, though that could have been said of any homepage.  I suppose that can also be said of blogs today.  But part of what feeds the vanity is the expectation that one has a readership that will follow them over to an endeavor like BTR.  It would appear I have nothing left but the empty shell of conceit.

Hence my stubborness.

But even muleheadedness can only last for so long, even with ego riding shotgun.

Wow.  A jam-packed hour so crammed to bursting with immigration amnesty crapola that not only did I have no dead air, or not suffer from none of my RepublicanForum colleagues making it onto the show for the second straight week, but time ran out before I could get to the Mark Steyn reactions to Trent Lott going over the cliff yet again.

I'm thinking of scheduling a fifteen minute overtime segment tomorrow - say, at 2 PM Pacific - to get that in.  Or, if I can get a commitment from at least one of my RepublicanForum mates, maybe a half-hour.

I'll be sure to let everybody know by no later than this evening.

UPDATE: Came down off the post-show high, figured it was only worth doing with one or more RF guests, none of them could make it (natch), didn't bother.

I'm beginning to notice a trend here, in more ways than one.  But Jenber, my blogging partner at Hard Starboard, says she'll be debut on-air next week, so we'll see.

Did better on the technical aspects today - I got my close in!  Mostly it was through learning that no sound clip will play without a minute-or-so's-delay, which is a real pain as I need clips to play when I click "play" in order not to disturb my fragile on-air train of thought.

None of my Republican Forum colleagues showed up, one of which I knew wouldn't because his third grandchild just arrived yesterday - great news, Rich! - so I "Limbaughed" as best I could.  Which, for me, wasn't too bad at all, especially compared to last week.  Guess it does pay to be prepared.

Maybe that can add an element of episodic suspense to the show: "Tune in to find out whether the host is left twisting in the wind!"

Heck, if it'll get people to tune in, I'll wear a chicken head and stick my ears in a toaster - maybe even at the same time.