I had a blog before they were called blogs.
It was January 1999 and I was starting a new website to use in promoting my radio activities. I was free-lancing at the time, doing news for WBUR Boston and talk for WBZ Boston. I figured the website would help my little group of fans find me on the dial and that some program director might think it was cool that I had a website and it might help me get a job. This was in a time when most radio stations did not have a website.
My site, RadioSteve.com didn’t “open officially” until May but it had been online since January as I learned how to run it, edit it, tweak it, write HTML, etc. I had a page about my WBUR work and a few pages about my WBZ work. I wanted to have a few other pages that weren’t about radio.
In March, I started, My Boston Red Sox Page, which was basically a Red Sox fan’s diary of the 1999 season. I’d just post analysis and opinion about how the Sox were doing, thoughts about any Sox issue in the news or things I’d been thinking about or stuff I’d noticed from watching the games.
In early June my radio free-lancing ended when WBZ hired me fulltime to host the overnight show. I immediately became too busy to keep up with my Red Sox page. I tried to put one entry a month up for July through September and then I killed the page over the winter. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
A few years later, blogs were in and every time I’d see my boss he’d try to talk me into starting one for the station’s website…and every time I’d refuse. He wanted me to do it basically because it was the “in” thing to do and the station’s website needed some original material (that they wouldn’t have to pay for). He’d tell me it was easy and I’d tell him it was not. I know he thought I was being anti-web but I wasn’t and never have been. I think I was only able to win this argument because I could say, “I had a blog before they were called blogs” and tell him about My Boston Red Sox Page and show proof of how I didn’t have time for a blog. If I didn’t have time to write about what everyone thinks is my favorite topic (it’s not), how would I have time to do a multi-issue blog?
What am I going to say to him when he finds out I’m writing this blog?