27 December 2024

Thanks For Your Support

Normally this would be an off week for TechByter Worldwide, two days after Christmas, and five days before the new year begins; so it’s 2 minutes and 39 seconds of audio followed by silence. That’s normal, but this year there’s a difference: This is the end.

I’ve been talking about technology for so long that I can’t remember exactly when it started. After working as the overnight announcer for WTVN in the 1960s, I returned in 1982 as a journalist. In the mid-1980s Joe Bradley had the Sunday morning slot. We talked about adding a segment that would be “about computers”. That’s about as far as the mission statement went.

We called our little program segment Technology Corner and started with a 15-minute slot. It expanded to an hour and continued until 2006 even though I stopped working for Clear Channel in October 1998. WTVN was once a Taft Broadcasting station, but ownership passed to Great American Broadcasting, Citicasters Communications (after Great American went bankrupt), Jacor, and Clear Channel Communications over the years. Since then, Clear Channel Communications has become IHeartMedia.

When Technology Corner ended its on-air run, I changed the name to TechByter Worldwide and set up a website. “Worldwide” was a hat tip to the ability of a podcast to be heard anywhere on the planet with internet access. By comparison, WTVN’s signal covers Ohio and can be heard in parts of Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. Substantial, but not quite worldwide.

Now, after 19 years of producing a podcast and more than 40 years of covering technology, it’s time to hang up the mouse and pay more attention to the cat.

So thank you for coming along, and I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

The outcome of the recent election is not responsible for my decision. I had determined in August or September that this would be the program’s final year. Still, the nation’s decision to support the worst possible man instead of electing a well-qualified woman reveals how out of touch I am with the United States as it is today. I strongly recommend the following books regardless of your political point of view.

• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
• The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Good night and good luck. (Edward R. Murrow’s sign-off line)

The Final Podcast Recording Setup