The Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine (November 1995 – August 2006)

August 13, 2006

Greetin’s Cretins,

I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve decided to retire The Wayback Machine after almost 11 years on KDHX. The main reason behind this decision is I need to free up some time for my family and personal life. When my son was born three years ago it became increasingly difficult to find the time necessary to continue producing what I would consider a great radio show while also performing my necessary duties as husband and father. In the past, I would spend many hours a week seeking out and reviewing new music, digging up old stuff, and creating my playlists for each show (not to mention posting the playlists online, emailing them out to hundreds of bands and record labels, email lists, etc.). But after my son was born and life became a lot more hectic, that time started to dwindle.

Then, to make matters worse, about a year ago Bill Streeter and I decided to start a podcast at GaragePunk.com. At first it wasn’t that big of a deal, but as time went on and more people jumped on board, we started posting shows more frequently, until sometime this past winter when it became a daily podcast. Once that happened, time was again at a premium as I would spend probably about an hour every day downloading, reviewing, and posting each submitted show, several more hours each week managing and promoting the station, and then even more hours every couple of weeks producing my own podcast show, Savage Kick.

As time went on I knew something would have to give, and I’d be needing to make a decision soon about what I really wanted to continue doing. The whole podcasting thing is very exciting, and I’ve become a lot more involved with it than I have been with my regular radio show as of late. Because of that, I feel The Wayback Machine has begun to suffer. The quality of the shows has decreased considerably over the past several months, mainly because I haven’t been able to dedicate the time to it that I need to produce a quality show like in years past. I found myself getting more stressed out over the whole thing, causing anxiety, lack of sleep, family tension, the whole 9 yards. I just feel that I need a break from it all, and I think I can free up a lot of my time and relieve a lot of the stress involved with producing a two-hour radio show every week if I just hang it up for now.

So that’s what I’m doing. I’m not saying it’s permanent. Who knows, the whole podcasting thing may fizzle out in a few years and maybe then I’ll take another stab at a show on KDHX. But as of right now, I can’t continue to do it all, so I’m throwing in the towel and will retire the old girl. She’s seen a lot of miles with a grand total of 560 episodes on KDHX spanning several different time slots, each of them unique, fun, and exciting.

Thanks to everyone who has helped out with the show over the years: Jaimz Fete (couldn’t have done it without you!), Jeff Hess, Jason & Ann Rerun, Bill Streeter, Scott Lasser, Ryan Katastrophe, Beatle Bob (heh, JUST KIDDING!), etc. Thanks also to everyone at the greatest radio station on the planet, KDHX FM 88.1, and especially to all of the fans, bands, and record labels that supported me and the show over the years. I literally couldn’t have done it without any of you. We gave it a helluva good run and I hope the local music community benefited from it being on the air during these years.

It will be up to the Program Committee to fill the vacated spot that I’ll leave open on Monday nights, but I’m sure they’ll either move another current show there or introduce another great new one to the KDHX roster (or both). It would be great if that show also had somewhat of a garage rock slant, but frankly, I’m not holding my breath.

So while the demise of The Wayback Machine may signal the end of an era for KDHX, myself, and the local music community, I feel that the podcast more than makes up for it by ushering in a fresh and exciting new era of great rock’n'roll available daily. So I’ll still be around, just not on the airwaves in St. Louis.

My last episode will be Monday August 28.

Thanks again for everything, and stay sick!
kopper