Some personal thoughts about Happy Station

Tonight when I got home I wasted no time. Because of the response I got from my first DX tribute show I decided to do it again. What I was very happy about is that most of the response was from new SWLs, which makes me believe that a new generation of listeners is buying and listening to SW. But the problem is we don't hear from them.

When I revived the old HSS one of the things I talked about with Tom was that I didn't just want to make it a SW show, but also to use all other forms of distribution. What I am finding is most of the audience is listening on SW, but also many are downloading the podcasts. They write to tell me it is nice to be able to also hear the downloaded version in case they can't tune in to there radio when the show is being transmitted. So my word to the DX community is we should not fear Internet feeds, but also see it as another means of distribution, which for many people listing to SW is not possible. At the same time it could also be used for the advantage of dxers. A good case in point was a letter I got  June 6th from Michael Paige a 17 year old in living in Vermont. He had tuned into a few of the webstreams of HS, found it interesting and then went out to buy a SW radio at Radio Shack to find out more about it. What I was interested about is why he listened to Happy Station. I mean he is only 17 years old.  When I talked to him over SKYPE a few days ago this was my first question. So i ask "I'm very curious, why would a 17 year old tune into Happy Station which is a very old style and format?". He told me for himself it was because it was so different and that he had never heard anything like it before. This just makes me believe more in the old saying "if you keep your shirts in the closet for a few years they come back in to fashion". No I know Happy Station could never become a number 1 show, but there is a niche market for this kind and style of radio. And now the time is right. The SW bands no longer have light entertainment shows anymore they went the way of tube radios, but because they all vanished to have one I personally think is very important. It is a good way for us as program producers and listeners to never forget the past and where it all came from. No I'm not going to change the world, but with all the thousands of hours of radio being produced daily around the world having a silly/fun 55mins a week is maybe a good thing.

The thing I promise all HS listeners is that on HS you will never hear gossip news like so many other programs are doing. You will never hear anything that offends. And the vision Edward Startz and that of Tom Meijer will continue. To bring a little PCJ Peace, Cheer & Joy.

Happiness Is the Happy Station!

Keith