Today was a milestone for CKDS Radio – after more than ten years, we finally went live again! But this wasn’t your typical grand relaunch; it was a semi-secret experiment to see if we could even get the station back on the air. And trust me, there were plenty of reasons to be skeptical.
For starters, our mixer had been filled with water. The laptop running the transmission laptop had previously been on fire. We had zero experience with the software we were about to use, and honestly, we weren’t sure if anything would work. We’ve put together a wishlist for replacement parts here: Amazon Wishlist.
Somehow, against all odds, we made it happen.
The Chaos Behind the Scenes
We ended up going live with a piece of software called BUTT, which my son **Jack **found absolutely hilarious. If you’ve never heard of it, well, neither had we. But it worked, and that’s all that mattered.
Jack, who had never been on a live broadcast before, took his role very seriously… by excitedly yelling out every time the screen showed 1, 2, or 3 listeners tuning in. The goal was to have as few as possible while we worked out the kinks, so we didn’t tell anyone beforehand. Instead, we quietly tested the gear and, once things seemed stable, I messaged the old inner circle to invite them.
86 Listeners and Counting
We expected a handful of people at most, considering we hadn’t promoted the broadcast at all. Yet, by the end of the hour-long session, we had 86 listeners. Not a massive number, but way more than we anticipated for something that wasn’t announced.
The broadcast itself was a mix of technical troubleshooting, reminiscing about the early days of CKDS Radio, and playing some music, including Blink-182, Neffex, There I Ruined It, and a happy song to round things out. The first 10 minutes were a bit rough as I walked Jack through how everything worked, but once we found our groove, it felt like old times.
The Road Ahead
While today’s broadcast was a success, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Our equipment is far from perfect, and if we’re going to keep this going, we’ll need to make some upgrades. In time, as we broadcast more regularly, we’ll look into funding options like sponsors and ad revenue, just like in the pre-365 crash days.
Another challenge: our old YouTube channel is locked to an inaccessible email account. That means we’ll have to manually port our old content over to a new channel. It’s a process, but we’ll get it done and link everything on the website once it’s ready.
The Bottom Line
It felt damn good to be back on the air. The vibe was right, the tech mostly worked, and we had a blast doing it. This was just the beginning – we’ll be broadcasting again soon, and who knows? Maybe this little experiment will turn into something bigger.
Stay tuned.
– Stephen ‘Bossman’ Driver
