Was anybody out there listening to the Dirt Nation podcast? They went offline a while ago stating that they took their broadcasts offline in order to switch to a podcast only format and have not come back up yet. There is a post on the site stating that they ran into a delay because of an update to their podcast software. Now I'm not claiming to be an authority but some of you might recall my experiment creating a local racing podcast. Actually, it wasn't so much a racing podcast as a personal racing audio blog. After having played music for 40 years and having learned 4 track recording the recording and sound balancing part came easy for me. I did the entire podcast and mixing using a free open source audio recording program called Audacity. I listen to a lot of podcasts on a daily basis on my MP3 player, some are among the most popular on sites such as Podcast Alley, and many of the most popular podcasts are created using Audacity. They get way more listeners than any dirt track podcast will ever get. So I don't know what they're talking about that there's a delay due to their program being updated. All one needs is the free open source program Audacity, a mic, some podsafe music from one of the royalty free music sites, a few spare hours and presto, you've got a podcast. There are even free open source RSS feed generators out there for the taking. Actually I got pretty good at mixing the sound (attributable to past music recording and sound board experience) and my podcast stacked up pretty well as far as sound quality.
Another podcast I have been listening to on occasion is the KFAN Motorsports show. I'm not particularly fond of that one (no offense to Chris Hawkey) but it's too commercialized and NASCARized for my taste. Obviously it has to be commercialized because it's a re-broadcast of an AM radio show so they have to advertise and follow the standard radio format. Part of following the standard corporate radio format is music clips that target a young audience and emphasizing the personalities of the hosts often times it seems even more than the racing. I understand the need to do that, they have to attract younger listeners and target the biggest audience possible which in racing means television NASCAR fans.
Many of you might remember that the former host was Russ Bohaty and that Chris came in as a co-host and ended up taking over the gig. Russ is a good guy, really sincere and he loves his racing, but I think maybe his love for grass roots racing over the bigger picture (NASCAR) might have had something to do with the change. I talked to Russ as recently as last Friday night and I know Chris a little but I have never discussed this with either of them. I could be all wrong so consider this my opinions, my observations, which may not be entirely accurate as far as what really happened. All I know is that I liked Russ' more locally oriented coverage better because it had less NASCAR and not as much trendy music. Just my opinion so take it however you will but when I listen to a podcast or radio show I don't want to hear banter between hosts or endless music and commercials. True podcasts, those done in somebody's home office with a PC and mic, are often much more to the point and that's what I prefer.
You're probably thinking "if you think you can do better why don't you go ahead and do it?" Like I said, I could put out a good broadcast from a sound standpoint and set it up with RSS so your podcatcher could locate new episodes. I know how to do that and have done it. I could make the phone calls, line up the interviews and cull news to report on the podcast if I wanted. I think I've got enough contacts and friends in the racing business that I could get that done. I've got a digital voice recorder that I could use to get interviews at the track and have tested it so I know how to upload them to the computer and incorporate them into a podcast. There are programs such as Skype that are used to make the long distance calls and record the conversation directly onto a computer so with a little practice I could do that.
The reason I didn't take my podcast any further is that I already have a full plate of things to do at the races. There is also a line that I drew in the sand a few years ago after we did a year of television interviews. I swore that I would never work that hard at the races again for free. Without advertising or some kind of compensation it just wouldn't be worth it to do all that work at the track. My photography is basically a hobby but I do sell a few photos from time to time so I get some hotdog and gas money out of it. If I did a podcast and chased interviews it would be too much like a job and even though the fans would enjoy it I'd just be obligating myself to do even more work. That's why I stopped posting news and results and went to news feed links on the gotomn.com website. There are text links for tracks and sanctions as well as Speednet and Hoseheads Newsfeeds right on the main page. In addition to that there is a links page. That's all you need to find what you're looking for. I don't have to post endless results on my main page where you have to scroll through 200 banner ads to find out who won. I've got most of the favorite local tracks (to my location just north of the Twin Cities) and links to the most popular message boards on my site. If you can't find what you're looking for from those sources there's probably not much more I can do to help you. Besides, my site does have some news but it's never going to be everything to everybody. No website is that good.
Another thing that bugs the hell out of me is dirt track racing sites that require registering a user name and password to view content. Now I understand why people need to register to use message boards and that sort of thing but no way anybody should have to register to simply enter the site. Heck, I can see photos, video, and all kinds of stuff on places like YouTube and major news and sports websites. Who do these dirt track site webmasters think they are that their content is so valuable users should have to establish a user and password. As a webmaster I know what the reason is, sponsor statistics, demographics, market share, all that commercial sh*t. Now I realize that there's a time and place for corporate mumbo jumbo but when I come home from a day of that stuff at the office I don't want to deal with it when I surf my favorite dirt track sites. I think with the worsening economy and tighter advertising dollars some of these self serving money hungry folks that thought they could get a piece of the dirt track racing pie are going to find out that it's not the cash cow they imagined. There are a few, and I won't say any names, that have come along during the last five or so years and were gonna' whip the dirt track world. One even suggested that I shut my site down and go to work for them "and do it the way it should be done." Some no longer have a presence on the internet, they came in like a flash in the pan and ran off with advertiser's money. Their sites are gone and mine (the one that wasn't doing it right) is still out there.
So if anybody comes on the message boards and says they're the next new dirt track site that's gonna' whip the world give it the test of time. If it's still there in a year then just maybe there's something to it. I think most racing fans can see that type of deal as clearly as if the webmaster had a sign on their forehead that says "I'm only in it for the money."
Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking. I used to run a few banner ads but those businesses approached me and offered to help me with my website expenses. I never solicited any advertising and when some of them started making demands I said to hell with it and discontinued the banners. I'm appreciative of all the help I got and I got to know a few business owners through the banners that I still see sometimes but it just wasn't something I wanted to continue. Other things I tried years ago was selling photo CD's and gotomn decals but I probably caused more hard feelings by doing those things than it was worth. I never made much doing it and all I was ever wanting to do was supplement my gas and hotdog expenses. Now that I have put more emphasis on the photography (and hopefully gotten pretty good at it) that's how I make a buck or two but even that isn't much. Mostly I do what everyone else does, hold my expenses down wherever possible and spend every spare penny I can muster to go racing.
And now that I'm not hung up on the financial end of it I'm having a lot more fun with the racing. I learned a lot of lessons over the past ten years. I alienated some people and made some bad decisions but now my website and my racing are coming out of pocket and I do as much or as little as I can. I'm happy and my only regrets are that I might have pissed someone off in the past and that this season is winding down too fast. One thing my experience and mistakes taught me is to be suspicious of any new internet jockey that comes out of college thinking they're going to set the racing world on fire. When I taught myself how to create a website in 1996 I was already 45 years old and building computers and learning graphics and simple web design was just for fun. I didn't have any formal training and now I'm going to be 57 in a few weeks so I don't know for sure how much longer I'll stick with it. I always told people I don't want to be hunched over a computer doing this at 60 year old but that's only three years away so now I say 70 because I'm not ready to quit yet. I'd be willing to bet that gotomn gets more hits per month than some of the supposed commercial sites because it's been around for over ten years. I just don't blow my horn as loud as some people so nobody knows I'm out here half the time. I want to give something back to racing and not take away from it so I'll continue to have fun with this as long as possible.
This Saturday I'm planning on attending the IRA race at Rice Lake. I enjoyed the show last year so it should be a fun night. Rice Lake is a high banked speed bowl and the racing there is very exciting. Hopefully Red Cedar canceling won't affect the car count too much as some teams might not travel for only one night of racing. IRA usually schedules two nights when they travel in order to make it worthwhile for the teams but RCS pulled the plug without telling anyone.
That's going to do it for tonight, gotta get some rest before another exciting day at the office...
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