Tuesday, November 17, 2020

SHR Media: what next?


The only consistent thing about Life is inconsistency. 

The other thing? Change. You can't stop it. 

Some people love it, thrive on it. Some people dislike it. Immaterial. Change occurs.

Such it is with the SHR Media Network.

I wrote this back in 2018:

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there were two friends. They didn’t grow up together. They didn’t play hockey or conduct waterboardings together. They hadn’t discovered themselves in a dark, seedy bar with a one-legged owner named “Monopod” in downtown Murmansk. (Do you know how long it takes the Pepsi distributor to change out the tanks absent adequate bribes in Murmansk?)

So they thought: why can’t we translate our musings to an occasional social media burst? Maybe even a podcast? Upon such things is brilliance born. The Sack Heads Radio Show was created on the foundation of the good and political thoughts of Sack Heads SHAUN and Sack Heads CLINT. Because of their jobs they can’t reveal their full names. They are in industries that KILL freedom of speech though, “officially,” they don’t. Sack. Heads.
Two guys with a great idea: sit around and talk politics and Life. Why not do it on the air? As the Sack Heads said, in order to “give voice to the voiceless, hope to the hopeless and clues to the clueless.”

A once a month show became a once a week show which became the official Sack Heads Radio Show.

Then they asked: “hey, if we’re Conservatives, maybe there are others who would like to have an audio soapbox?” They both decided to create the SHR Media Network, with Conservatives of all paint jobs welcomed with open arms.


And into this cacophonous maelstrom stepped an ancient, obese and fuzzy interloper, Sack Heads BZ. He was beaten like a bad bass drum for a year as the SHR rookie and then allowed to broadcast in the SHR Media Studios. He too had a like background of service but brought stunning geriatricity, along with a major infusion of, literally, thousands of dollars in order to upgrade equipment and software via an appreciation of sound he’d acquired from having worked in terrestrial radio in the 1970s. SHR leaped into the 21st century.
Fast forward to today. The SHR Media Network occupies an actual rented studio with a bathroom and a kitchen and ancillary rooms that are utilized in the promotion of such stellar radio hosts as Melanie Collette, Shannon and Michael Wright, Jeff Dunetz, Joe Antrobus, Lonnie Poindexter, Dave Milner, Ron Edwards, Ralph Chittams, the Sack Heads and BZ. And more.
Just to name a few.
“Conservative Media Done Right.” It’s not just a phrase. It’s a dedication.
Ours is the United States of America. It’s “a Republic, if we can keep it.” Our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers died to support the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights and this grand experiment we call the United States of America. We’re not relinquishing those God-given rights to anyone for any reason.
Be forewarned."
Fast forward a number of years. It's now 2020 -- quite likely the worst year most everyone will remember, at least for a while.
Things change. And so will SHR Media.
It's no surprise that Sack Heads CLINT hasn't been on SHR Media for some time, the last show being February 26th of 2020. Here it is.
The last official Sack Heads Radio Show is here, with SHAUN, CLINT and BZ. I wrote about it here on my own blog. The day was April 4th of 2018. Lord. It seems like yesterday.
Since then, we know that Sack Heads CLINT hasn't returned, nor will he. His job and life situation is such that appearances are no longer feasible.
It is the same for Sack Heads SHAUN. His life situation has likewise changed, but he's occasionally been available to be on the air in 2020. He has -- and for this SHAUN has my everlasting thanks and respect -- continued to be the Tech Support that, naturally, due to his Techno Luddite status, BZ needs desperately.
That too is changing. Everything is changing.
The SHR Media Network has been notified that the area they rent, a portion of a residence (see, I told you it was a studio and not someone's basement), will be sold come January. The entire home will be sold including that portion which is the SHR studio.
This means, well, that SHR will be without a studio. A home base. Sack Heads CLINT will not be returning to SHR and Sack Heads SHAUN will not be returning to SHR due to any number of reasons.

That leaves me, BZ.
I will have to figure out the future of the SHR Media Network.
At this point I cannot say with certitude that there is a future for SHR.
Make no mistake. I want desperately to keep it. I love doing my show. I love our SHR hosts. They all have great voices that should be heard.
But I will soon have no studio and must look elsewhere.
I have to be honest. Sack Heads SHAUN can no longer stay in Kalifornia. He is looking to move. He, like me, despises Kalifornia.
I don't want to stay in Kalifornia. I am in the process of identifying states and areas in which to move. That will require a great amount of time to look at houses, work with realtors, coordinate the sale of two houses and the movement of two households.
I desperately want to keep SHR. I desperately want to keep all our hosts. They are wonderful people.
But I now have to take the reins of SHR and attempt to determine: what next?
How will I keep my show? How can I keep all the other hosts? How can I migrate all the software and the hardware? How can I move all this gurp from the studio? Where will I put it? How much rent can I afford?
And further: how will it hurt my heart and leave a hole when I go back to the studio and see the wonderful photos on the walls of SHAUN, CLINT and myself in happier times? Twice at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas? Knowing that Wednesdays were the most special days in our lives at the time. Certainly in my life.

They sure were for me. To be loose and free and laugh like I'd never laughed before in years.
What incredible history we have made here. What incredible progress we have made here. What technological updates in sound and video we have made here.
And more: it hurts my heart to leave my friends, SHAUN and CLINT. Or have them leave me and the studio. Perhaps we are all leaving each other due to circumstances beyond our control.
Clearly, beyond our control.
The only consistent thing about Life is inconsistency.
2020 turned everything upside down.
I have to somehow resurrect all of this. Salvage what I can.
In the limited amount of time I have before I kak . . .
I'm going to give it a shot.
BZ



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