During the duration of my talk show, Musicology, I realized in a very short amount of time that subscriptions to this tiny Sunday night show's podcasts were growing at an exponential rate.

In April, when things regarding the show's future were growing seemingly dire...I started throwing out the idea of continuing a revamped version of the show on podcast form. Seeing as I was the resident tech geek, nerd, well-read individual on the show...it was shunned. Understandable. I've always been a bit of an early adopter when it comes to technology. My Atari 800 vouches for that. And so, the idea stayed an idea for the moment.

So fast forward through the next couple of months, we know what happened and much like Jay Z, we're On to the Next One.

What I'm trying to say is that when Musicology ended, we had the better part of 2600 subscribers to our podcast. There's something there. In that short run for that tiny show, it suffered a regime change when Timmy left, cutbacks when James was let go and when it comes down to it...to see that we built a tiny community based around the love of music that quickly is touching.

This podcasting idea has something to it. And I want to participate in it more.

Obviously, we can't do Musicology as it was. Too many rights issues and I really don't need the RIAA raising cane with me at the moment. But I do plan on including music. Along with games, media, satire, interviews (you can bet I still get interview offers...) and various other odds and ends. This is a start of something new.

So please add this to your bookmarks. www.kristenbowie.com The podcast will be live in just a few short days...but there will be updates continuously. I still have things like the RSS feed and Itunes to get through. There are a few bugs to sort out, so give me time and ignore the slight formatting issues as I attempt to resolve them as quickly as possible.

Hey you. Yes, you. You're still using Myspace?

I know I've neglected this for way too long. Sorry. I've moved on. It's been fun, myspace...but you're slightly too..what's the word? Clogged. You're too clogged for me anymore. I like my living spaces clean and organic. You're like watching cable tv, but I can't change the channel. Or record it on a DVR to get past the horrible ads.

I started a new blog. :) Check it out.... http://www.kristenbowie.wordpress.com

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/kristenbowie

Twitter:

www.twitter.com/kristenbowie

see a theme? I've missed you people. Come hang out with me in slightly more sophisticated venues.

*hug*

Quick note, friends:

Radio is a hard business. Especially right now. The Musicology news desk now sits empty...and we're once again trying to find our footing after we've lost fifty percent of our talk show.

Please don't forget that James, our valued newsman, is sitting in the ether without much to do right now except wonder about the future. If you'd like to get a hold of Mr. Sugar James Robinson, you can do so at www.myspace.com/tatercat. Also hit up Facebook and search for James Robinson.

He's been involved in many projects- CBS radio theatre, Musicology, occasionally Rick Emerson's show, and he ran Leykis during the week.

Please be sure to remember your fellow unemployed newsmen.

First off, I know I'm behind on the podcasts. You should see the list of things I have on my 'to-do' list. It's definitely one of them. I promise. This week, we'll be caught up.

I need you guys more than ever. Musicology has the possibility to continue onward--but I need your help!

                 1.)  Review the show on Itunes. It takes only a moment.

                 2.)  Tell your friends about it.

                 3.)  Talk about it on message boards.

                 4.)  Spread the word!

I'm in the midst of attempting to design my own website. We'll have more soon on that.

Seriously, I don't care if you're my friend, a listener, fanboy, lover (You can just tell me how great I am at home...), whatever.

I will make you cookies and buy you puppies.

So everyone who reads this knows that I broke my ankle, and the times after that were kind of hard for me. I appealed the almost 10,000$ that they said I owed...because, ya know, no health insurance. They dropped it down to 5767.18$...and then refused my 75$ a month offer because I had suffered cuts at BOTH of my jobs. One being in the mortgage industry (when the bubble started popping last year with refi's) and one being in radio.

I had gone down from 2500$ a month (at least) in income to a measly less than a grand in about 2 months. So I appealed that decision under the advice of my financial counselor at Providence...and provided the information requested- a letter of appeal and pay stubs from the last three months, even though they had already gotten those a month previously. I asked about bank statements, they said that they didn't need them.

After a long time of not hearing from them (they're remarkably slow...go figure. So this was about a month-month and a half later...meaning a full almost 3 months after my accident.) I called them and got informed that they request more information, bank statements and pay stubs- AGAIN!

Fuck, hadn't I asked them about this previously? But staying ever-diligent (I had promised myself that I wasn't going to handle this like my ill-fated attempt with credit cards when I was 18...what a fucking disaster.) I sent that in.

They never received it.

Sent it in again.

Nope. Instead, they transferred me to collections.

I talked to my counselor in January after this...and sent it in again.

GUESS WHAT?! They never got it. Go figure.

Now, the collection agency has given me a summons. I got that last night. I called the hospital this morning and SURPRISE SURPRISE...now they have a fax machine. And they gave me that number. And it worked perfectly. So now, I have been approved for a 70% deduction off of a 9645$ bill.

They tell me to call the collection agency to set up a 'temporary payment plan' which I do. The horrible woman on the phone tries telling me that they could just take 30% off of the 5767$ balance to equal the total discount. Now, I don't do well at math. I had to ask Crystal Kash at KUFO how to help me figure out an equation earlier. But I do know that 30% of 5767$ is going to be considerably less than the full 70% of 9645$. Then she tells me there's nothing they can do and that it's up to the legal management.

Then I call the hospital and they tell me there's nothing THEY can do. That it's up to the collection agency to accept the new amount.

When it shouldn't even be in collections to begin with because I UPHELD MY END OF IT.

Basically, I'm a hard working responsible human being that was trying to abide with every ridiculous request...and by some twist of fate, I get fucked. I'm not a victim, I don't play the victim...I try to do right. I think I'm a good person. Why am I being treated like a criminal when I did everything in my power? Why aren't they being held accountable at all?

I rarely get this upset to air my dirty laundry all over teh myspace. I rarely am in this position by DESIGN.


I don't know what to do.

I'm going to hunt down my sewing machine this weekend and finish my messenger bag.

The original idea for the flap was to put a fuzzy rendition of my lady, Saffy's (www.myspace.com/jenyoseph) crazy bunnies art.

But, I'm just angry with the embroidery part! I bought the fake fur and all that jazz...that bitch is hard to embroider well! I'm frustrated and willing to consider other options.

There's a litany of things that I could imagine on something as rad as a messenger bag....

...but I am not quite sure what. And this project has been sitting for way too long. I've moved twice, had surgery, half knitted a bazillion things and a million other life changing things since the start of the bag.

Gah.

Feel free to send suggestions my way.

less than three!

...listening to the last live show of Tom Leykis. Today is the last day of his 15 year run doing one of the most successful talk shows ever.

Tom's show is the first talk show I listened to. He angered me, he made me examine what my values were...but the most important thing: he made me want to listen. The media, like most other industries, has taken a fucking hit over the last year. It's so unstable (even for radio) and has not been pretty.

I'm kind of emotional about my job, and I won't lie...this recession has made me tear up several times. I'm such a creature of habit and I have such a deep bond with this industry that yeah, I do take the layoffs that we've had in this recession seriously. The people I work with are my friends. The shows I spend my time on mean a lot to me. Anything I've ever laid my hands on, I've given a part of myself to...even if it isn't on the air.

The airwaves are going to feel fairly empty without Leykis on the air. We've lost a bit of art. A great.

There are those that don't see radio as an art. That's unfortunate, but I can understand. There's a lot of hackery on the air, a lot of bad shows. I'm fortunate enough to be doing good things with a great radio station.

But this sucks.