Please note that the link to our online stream has changed. You should be able to listen to Q107 by clicking on the Shoutcast logo on our Listen Live page. The sidebar player may not work at this time.
I just want to take this time to relay an update for our listeners. I am happy to say that a shutdown is not imminent. However, the streaming audio will be down intermittently for a few weeks beginning on April 9th. The reason for the shutdown is so that we may upgrade the Q107 server, and provide your favorite 80s music even better than before. Unfortunately this switchover to a new server is going to take longer than originally planned. But, the result will be a smoother sound, and extra capacity.
For the past 4-1/2 years, Q107 has been running from a machine that is quite ancient in technical standards. The machine is an old, reliable Dell Dimension with a 450MHz processor. This workhorse has been running practically 24/7 for over 4 years with absolutely no hardware problems!! Hopefully we’ll receive the same reliable service from our new server, which is an HP with a 3.0GHz processor.
Hello audience. Q107 has been proudly bringing 80s hits to it’s listeners for over 4 years. I hope that all who have listened to Q107 have enjoyed it. I know that we have enjoyed bringing you the best songs from the best decade of music. Unfortunately, Q107 is soon becoming a casualty of the poor economic situation that this country, and the world, is facing. It costs real money to bring these 80s hits to our listeners online all over the world, and locally over-the-air. Q107 has logged listeners online from all over the globe including UK, Australia, Brazil; and even places like Trinidad, Tobago, and Hounduras. They don’t call it the “World Wide Web” for nothing!!
No revenue is generated from running the station though. This is a hard decision to make, trust me. But you know the saying, “All good things must come to an end.” I hope to be able to bring Q107 back online (and on-the-air) at some point in the future. As of now, a date to take the stream and the website down hasn’t been determined. When it happens, it happens. That’s all I can say at this point.
My name is Joel. I have to confess to you that Q107 is mostly a one-man operation, operated by myself. Q107 was born as an outlet for me to express my taste in 80s music. There are a lot of songs that I remember from the 80s that you just can’t hear on the radio anymore. I like to play those songs for you, the 80s music lover. However, I just don’t have the time or the money to devote for operating Q107 any longer.
Q107 has been running for nearly four years now on a budget borne entirely by my personal finances. As everyone is probably aware, the price of practically everything is going up, but wages are not keeping up. The cost of things like electricity, fuel, food, communications, and taxes have all gone up. This weakened economy is definitely impacting the operation of the station. We were offering a syndicated show called ‘Back To The 80s’. It was a professionally produced show that offered a throwback to 80s music and culture. However, the producers of that show were also feeling the pinch of the economy and required more money to carry the show. That was money that just wasn’t in the Q107 budget, so the show had to be discontinued. In addition, our transmitter experienced another catastrophic lightning surge. The money just is not there to repair it. So now we can only offer an online stream.
In addition, my kids are getting older and I feel the need to spend more time with them. Plus, I have devoted much of my spare time to serving God and my church. So, in addition to the money not being there to operate Q107, neither is the time.
What I’m trying to say is that I’ve been contemplating whether to cease the operation of Q107. I’d like to know if you think Q107 is really worth listening to. Q107 seems to have a loyal listenership, but I have long wished for a way to translate that to a small income for upkeep of the station. I’m not asking for the world, just a way to recoup the expenses for operating the station. Please send us your comments using the ‘Contact Us’ link above. Tell me whether losing the variety of 80s music you find on Q107 would impact you. Also tell me whether you would be willing to support Q107 financially. I know these days just about every website you visit is asking for money. You just have to ask yourself if you’d be willing to devote your financial support to keep 80s music alive.
Once again, a static surge has made it through to our transmitter. Now our transmitter is down. This is the third time this has happened. A few months ago we sent it back to the manufacturer to add some protection against this. This protection consisted of an enhanced inductor coil. Well, evidently that wasn’t enough. I’m thinking that we should go with a transmitter other than the Ramsey FM25B. This transmitter is entirely too sensitive to any static surge. I hope someone will post with suggestions on a better transmitter that’s affordable.
We have good news. Our low-power transmitter is about ready to go live again. This means that you’ll finally be able to enjoy your favorite 80s music on your radio in crystal-clear stereo. Our transmitter was down for several months because we were unable to disconnect the transmitter before a lightning surge hit the area. We are doing some modifications to it so hopefully this won’t happen again.
Q107 is proud to say it now uses Wordpress to create its website. We just upgraded the core files to the newest version 2.5. Upgrading wasn’t very difficult. We just had to be sure and backup our existing files to a hard drive and follow the instructions at http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress. Plus, you can always follow the more detailed instructions at http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress_Extended. The instructions tell us to deactivate the existing plugins. We did not do this prior to the upgrade, but still have not experienced any difficulties.
If you’re using Wordpress and haven’t upgraded, now is the time to do it. Wordpress version 2.5 includes many new features and a friendlier user interface. To quote the fine people at Wordpress the upgrade brings “multi-file uploading, one-click plugin upgrades, built-in galleries, customizable dashboard, media library, and an all-new design that’s easier to use than ever before.” Upgrading is not difficult if you know how to use FTP.
Jeff Healey has died at the age of 41 in Toronto. He was a Canadian guitarist, singer and songwriter most noted for his band’s album “See The Light” which spawned the 1989 hit and wedding standard “Angel Eyes”. Mr. Healey also had a passion for playing old-time jazz, the trumpet and clarinet.
Jeff Healey was born and raised in Toronto. He developed eye cancer at the young age of one, which rendered him blind. He learned to play guitar at a school for the blind. In 1985 he formed the band with his namesake, and in 2003 he formed a Jazz band.
Jeff Healey is survived by his wife Christie; his daughter, Rachel; and his son, Derek.
I love hearing that the musical artists of the 80s are still alive and working on new tracks. One of the biggest eighties hair band rock artists, Motley Crue is working on a new album called The Dirt. Nikki Six thinks it will be their best work in a decade. So far Motley Crue has 10 songs finished for it. Titles of some of the songs include “A SCAR ON HOLLYWOOD BLVD”, AND “THE SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES”. As far as I know they haven’t set a release date for the album yet. I’ll bet it’ll be released early this year.
You are probably surprised to see this new format for our site. We know there’s not a lot of content yet. Just give us some time, and we’ll get some of our old content back. This new site will be a work in progress for the next several months.
For years we had been using Microsoft Front Page to manage our site, but lately it hasn’t been working well for us. In addition, Microsoft quit distributing the software and hosting providers will probably be pulling support for it as well. Now we’re using Wordpress which is free. For the forseeable future we will be using this ‘blog’ type format for our site which is quickly gaining in popularity.
In case you don’t see it, the Listen Live link is to the right.
If you have suggestions for Q107’s new site, please add a comment to this post and we’ll take a look at your request.
