Listen Up And Soon…….HOTG Radio Is Going Away

The separate but affiliated webcast known more or less as Home of the Groove Internet Radio has been streaming music from my archives for going on 7 years via LoudCity, a service provider who made the “station” available to online listeners and paid licensing fees/royalties for the music to the proper authorities. Recently, LoudCity, which has assisted many small webcasters since early this century, announced that it would cease operations by the end of February, if not before. So, while the stream is still up today, in a matter of hours or days, it will be gone. Catch it while you can. I can’t say for sure at this point if it will be back.

While certainly affiliated with this blog, the webcast was originally set up by an old friend of mine out West as an experiment. When he told me what he was doing and asked what I thought about using the audio tracks from my blog posts as the core programming, I immediately signed on to the project. From jump, my cohort, Larry, has administered the streaming technicalities, and instigated the accompanying hotg.org website to display the full blog posts or photos associated with the songs as they go by. I’ve simply provided the musical content for the stream, continually updating the playlist with recently featured blog numbers, plus other choice tidbits out of my vinyl and digital collections. We amassed nearly 40 hours of content over the years.

At least in the short term, there is no Plan B* for HOTG Radio. Unfortunately, Larry is currently in the midst of a serious health crisis. His recovery is top priority right now. So, let’s just say the webcast is going on hiatus and hope we can find a way to get it back online once he is up to it. I’ll let y’all know of any status change, since, knocking wood, this blog will go on in its usual unpredictable fits and starts.

I want to thank everyone who has supported the station over the years with donations and other encouragement. Wish we could have made it through Mardi Gras, again. But, hey, if you don’t already do so, connect with WWOZ’s online broadcasts from New Orleans. You can also find some choice obscurities from these parts (a few I which I don’t even have) on Mr. Fine Wine’s great weekly WFMU show, Downtown Soulville, and archives. Of course, there are other great New Orleans-related broadcasts going on around the web as well. Search away

Be of good cheer and hang in, I’ve got more Mardi Gras-inspired tunage coming soon to this location.

*If you have any suggestions for a viable webcasting option, email me at the address on the sidebar, or leave a comment.