Flightline Radio – Closed
Greetings!
During Flightline Radio’s beginning, listener stats were doing well though not as much as some. It is difficult when there are thousands and thousands of others doing the same thing. New stations would pop up and acquire 1,000 listeners within a month or two playing the same music format. Flightline Radio never got to that point even after spending money for advertising on social media plus announcements on the station page. The money spent was not a great amount but was a way to test if advertising worked or even made a difference. The station itself sounded great – the audio was good whether on a portable device or turned up loud in the car. In automation mode, the tracks were mixed and sounded like a real radio station.
As I have read, listeners have been using other services for their music – self-recorded or copied from their own collections or online services such as Pandora, Apple, Spotify and others that “play the songs you love on your own playlist”. Those are great services but you will never hear anything different, new or an “odd” track from an artist.
I also read that LIVE shows gained a lot of listeners. My Saturday show barely had any but I still did it because I enjoyed the music and announcing them with song history and other information. Luckily, I found two DJ’s who shared the same passion for music and “presenting” with “JB In The Morning” and “All About The 80s with Rob Charles“. I am so grateful and fortunate that they joined Flightline Radio as their shows are syndicated and popular in several markets around the world. Other DJ’s submitted an application but would not respond to my Emails. I tried to add syndicated (pre-recorded) shows but the presenters could not supply a CUE file required for automation – most didn’t know what a CUE file was. Flightline Radio also welcomed, and was fortunate to have on the station, two entertaining podcasts/talkshows: “All About Wine with Ron” and “1st & 15th with Kap and Phil“.
But, while the listeners peaked during the LIVE shows, except on Saturdays (lol), it eventually dropped to zero. The last few weeks since writing this have been abysmal. And it got to the point where I had to decide to keep this station going, which at this point was for my own enjoyment, or shut it down. I mean, I was listening! There is an expense of running a station, although not too much to be considered not affordable, but an expense nonetheless. Financially, it could continue, but for what purpose? After much thought, I decided it was time to step away from Flightline Radio.
Flightline Radio stopped streaming on November 29, 2024
I want to thank the listeners who tuned in, even occasionally or rarely (lol). That’s why we’re here. I also want to thank JB, Rob, Kap & Phil, for their entertaining shows and support of this fledgling station. I wish you all continued success. (I co-produce All About Wine, with Ron, so it will continue as it has been since 2009.)
Thank you for reading and understanding.
— Mike (DJ Mike)
Now for the rant that started the top of this page originally:
Radio has been an interest of mine since I was probably 10-years-old (a long time ago), at least to be on a terrestrial station. I’ve been interested in aviation since I was 8. Anyway…I got into online “radio” streaming in 2006 after learning the process on my own – encoding audio, formats, software and equipment. After my own part-time dive into doing talk shows and indie music, I joined a few other stations throughout the years playing mainstream music as a DJ/Presenter. Some stations were better than others. One station owner put himself on a high pedestal and had a huge ego – supported by his followers. Some stations lacked communication amongst their station volunteers. I finally got tired of the ignorance and lack of communication and started my own, Flightline Radio, in February 2023. My goal was to do it right – not lie about listener statistics, not create some holier-than-everyone attitude… and communicate, welcome feedback from listeners AND station staff. One of the former stations I was on tried to stop me and any progress with this station, including the threat of legal action. Their lengthy rant on social media was, to a point, libel and slanderous. On the station owner’s page, I was called “unstable” for moving to another “radio” station and for changing my full-time job during the pandemic (COVID) after being layed off. I guess thousands of other people must be considered unstable for doing the same during that time. We have bills to pay and families to feed. Life changes. You do what you want standing on your pulpit, looking over your sheep. I left the last station due to the lack of communication and poor management.
[Edited out the rest of my rant.]
