A Letter To This Week In Amateur Radio.

Bill,
.
I used to listen too TWIAR every week on my way to work and totally loved it of course... well I don't exactly know what happened a few months ago which caused your team to stop making POD-CASTS but really do miss you all!!! Any plans to start up again or what is the scoop over there that lead to going off the air on? I used to also have your POD-CAST playing due VE TESTING sessions here every month so future HAM's would hear some latest HAM NEWS while going through the testing process. I know the international version is still going on but don't listen to that one.

.
Please if you have a few moments can you let me know...
.
Jeffrey (...callsign and e-mail address held)

.
Hi Jeff,
.

Many thanks for dropping me a line concerning This Week In Amateur Radio. You should know that you are not alone in asking these questions. The short story is, that I believe TWIAR, TWIARi and TWIAR-NEWS HEADLINES are now in the full autumn of their run. While this is one man's opinion, here is the background on the programs' current state...and eventual fate.

.
Up until about two years ago, George Bowen W2XBS produced This Week In Amateur Radio each Friday night and Saturday morning with such an amazing professional consistency that you could set your time piece upon it's arrival over local repeaters around the country. It would be actually be a big deal if the show was released a day late, albeit rarely, with George's affiliates clamoring at the e-mail inbox.

.

In late 2004, This Week In Amateur Radio expanded from the original ham radio service with the inception of This Week In Amateur Radio International, which was more entertainment oriented. The special features like the Ancient Amateur Archives, the Random Access Thought and Leo Laporte The Tech Guy plus some additional musical content moved more toward center stage mixed in with a twenty minute news block and a broader technology-based news reporting style. Soon after TWIARi, George began production on a one-hour news-only version of TWIAR for those organizations, clubs and repeater owners who wanted just the news and not the special features and expanded additional tech coverage.

.

The bottom line is that George was now generating three programs each week instead of just one. Failures to meet program deadline began when George gained employment in a job where his weekly schedule varied dramatically from week to week, thus putting pressure on the ability to produce. Around the same time, George decided to reacquaint himself with personal health and fitness, something he had been big on in his twenties. You may notice now a special feature revolving around the overweight state of many amateur radio operators. This feature is a sonic manifestation of that change in lifestyle.

.

George has also joined a local YMCA and now applies the same zeal to cardio that he once had for TWIAR. His wife says that he is largely burnt out. After seventeen years, it would appear that he may be thinking of letting go of the franchise, but who knows for sure? I have had several discussions with him suggesting maybe a bi-weekly or once-a-month program but there has been no real response to these any of these thoughts. He continues to speak as though he is still producing big time.

.

I think too that George may been affected by the fact that he was never able to "sell" the TWIARi program. Since that show is carried over WBCQ, a stateside shortwave station, along with the matching Internet podcasts, there have always been promotional requests running within the presentation for interested advertisers. Due largely to the sad state of the economy and a clear difficulty in being able to demonstrate actual listener numbers, there have been no takers. I believe George had high hopes that TWIARi could generate a few dollars, something that the ham-only shows can not do because of legal restriction.

.

So in the end, it is my opinion that the future does not look good. I hope I am wrong. George produces shows when he has the available time and often it is the International that makes it out the door. Currently on the website, there is an announcement indicating that TWIAR is on summer hiatus. I believe the last two weeks were no shows for any shows. I know that George was going to prepare a music-only program for air over WBCQ on the fourth of July and I already had an all-music Random Access Thought in the can to go with it but...

.

Perhaps the saddest part of the story may be that the TWIAR programs may just end at a untimely point when no one will be around to listen and to notice.

.

I decided to go in depth in answering your letter because I thought someone such as yourself, a loyal This Week In Amateur Radio listener, should know.

.
Thanks again for writing.
.
Bill N2FNH