Okay, I know. It's been a really long time since we posted anything to this blog. Where to begin..........

Our scheduled shows continue to showcase the diversity in our mountain habitat. We've had some great DJs come and go but the crew continues to grow with a desire to share. Working with the Colorado Community Radio Network has really helped enlarge our listening audience. It also creates a larger sense of Community. Our shows are shared on 93.1 KNED, 95.5 Boulder Free Radio and 93.1 Greenlight Radio in the Boulder Valley. We have also had two successful years of broadcasting from ground zero at Frozen Dead Guy Days with DJs from all member stations keeping the vibe going all weekend long.

Our Tech / DJ Sky Fly has been hard at work constantly upgrading the automation of station IDs, PSAs, scripts to auto reboot Chip (our computer) when the power goes down, creating a remote broadcasting platform so we can broadcast from events like we did last summer, at Boulders Big Hootenany. There's been lot's of changes that have started to streamline the functionality of this project and give us more of a "Way High" sound. We are continuously working to upgrade our outgoing stream. This has been a point of frustration for other CCRN stations that want to broadcast our shows and have had to endure a intermittent feed and also for people who can only get us online.

Another landmark event that happened this summer was our response to the Cold Spring Fire in Nederland. On July 9th, we were alerted about a fire burning in Nederland. As quickly as we became aware and prepared to broadcast information about the emergency, the power went out. Due to protocols created over the last few years, we were able to power the studio with a generator and Nedernet's internet system with a car and a power inverter. Within a half hour, we were back broadcasting and relaying on KNED. For the next 5 days, a dedicated DJ crew worked 24/7 to update people with any info available through Boulder OEM. For weeks after this emergency, we received positive feedback on our dedication to keep the Community informed. We also received a standing ovation from the Ward town government and random donations from folks in  Nederland .  This is especially satisfying due to the fact that this is fulfilling an aspect of our charter. To serve the Mountain Community in times of disaster.

Since 2014, we had two successful "funraisers", which has fueled us to this point. Both were billed as Hallowhen? .In 2015, we had an incredible / dream lineup featuring The Gasoline Lolipops and Rabbit Wilde from WA.  This time of year seemed to be a really good time to pull of a benefit until this year. With the election countdown and a challenge to secure a lineup, we finally had to shelve the benefit for this year and push the energy into next year as we celebrate our 20th year of burning up the airwaves.

Looking forward, into our 20th year of broadcasting, we foresee a year of celebrating starting with "The Mid Winter Meltdown" sometime mid winter, then we're going to bring back "Blossom" in the Spring / Summer and finish off the year with "Hallowhen? Again" These will all be "funraising" events in their own way so we can make up for doing nothing this year. We want to create some reserves to do necessary upgrades like; a new 150 watt transmitter, recording devices for doing interviews, building a newer faster Chip, getting better microphones and more.

We would like to thank all of our friends who have supported us throughout the years, local businesses and our growing listening audience. Without you we would never have made it this far in this experiment in Micro-Independent Radio. Remember, there's still alot of room for you onboard. It's fun and easy to become a DJ. As the good ship Way High continues to gather steam, we urge you to stick around for the next 20 years. We're gonna take you higher!

Sincerely grateful,
DJ Willy

So on we went through through 2014 like an express train. At every station more DJs got on like Porsche Steve, CP30, The Mystery DJ, Charlie n' Cooper, DJ Scott. The return of Nocturnatina and Becca's Kids Show. Things are good and they're only going to get better. I write this as we return to streaming. The timing couldn't be better. Already the response is exceptional and on a Saturday night with the Gumbo Show to share with the world. Ah yes we're finally starting to rock again. Check out our schedule here on the website. Mean while the old soundboard is starting to give up. It's channel roulette. The electric bill needs payin. Chip (Our Computer) needs better memory. Better sealant for the roof would be nice too. Sounds like a Santa list. Well it is and you folks are going to be our Santa by coming to the Hallowhen? Funraiser and supporting this ongoing experiment in "Pure Community Radio". Like always, we won't hold the airwaves hostage to raise money. Instead we like to throw a party with great music food and drinks and hopefully raise some funds in the process. We sincerely request your presence.

Wow, we just kinda skipped forward through 2013. Kind of a blur. The year started out preparing for Blossom, our yearly Benefit / Auction. It was a double edged sword. It was an incredible gathering against all odds of weather and more. It featured Bear, Ashley and Friends, Parking Lot, Ben Hanna, Other People Under the Sun, Blue Mountain Jam and Gipsy Moon. Local talents also appeared at our open mic  Amber, B Hawk and Ella. The press leading up to and after was incredible. Alot more folks became aware of our gig. BUT, we missed covering some of the organizational aspects of the event like collecting money for concessions. Essentially, we threw a big party and broke even, kind of. 

We learned a whole lot from that event. You would think after all these years that we would have it a little more together by now. You'd think....Blossom was bigger than anything else we had done , in many ways. There was also other underlying challenges. But, hey we pulled it off and many new seeds were planted. From that point on the summer flew by under cloudy skies ending with The Great Flood of 2013, in September. It was our first big test of providing for the Community in the event of an emergency. Personally, I (DJ Willl E) feel that we failed miserably. Essentially, we had no plan, and when the electricity went off, we were "dead in the water", so to say. So, we're working on it. A generator has already been dedicated and a ham radio is on the way. We just need to coordinate with our local Police and Fire Department.

Another bump in the road in 2013 was an on going misunderstanding with a DJ that has caused some major misunderstanding of how and why this radio is run. In response we created printed guidelines called "Everything You Wanted to Know About Way High Radio". You can find them here on the "Guidelines for Volunteers" page.  It still hasn't completely solved the misunderstanding so let me say this; We have few rules on this ship, mainly respect each other and our listening audience, team players only. Defying these simple things WILL get you thrown overboard.

The year ended a on an upswing with the creation of The Colorado Community Radio Project. This project is a network of existing Pirate Radio stations that will eventually have a website that allows us all to share our shows in real time or stored format. It creates a cohesive bond between the member stations and their respective communities. Although still a concept, we have begun show sharing with Greenlight Radio KGLR 97.1 /95.3 in Boulder and KNED 95.3 in Nederland and Rollinsville. It's pretty cool to be driving down Broadway in Boulder and hear our DJs shows. Another aspect of this project is a loaner transmitter program and we were the first to be gifted. Right around Christmas we received a 75 watt transmitter from KNED as they upped theirs to 150 watts. Since then, we've been trying to fix the kinks in the thing. It worked great for KNED til they unplugged it. We are determined and we will jump to 75 watts in the near future. We will be passing the faithful "Mighty 10 Watt" on to Planet Mind so they can put their signal back out in Ned. It only seems fair after all the support they've given us over the years.  This leads us to one last thing ......

We will be switching to 90.5 FM as soon as we get the 75 watt transmitter up. Transmitting at 75 watts on 89.5 will definitely crush KUVO 89.3 and Grace Broadcasting 89.7 out of Loveland. We don't want to do that.  We will try and let our local audience know when we move. This upgrade should push our signal to Bar K, Hidden Lake, Upper Brainard, south to maybe the outskirts of Ned and maybe even Gold Hill. So the days of 89.5 FM are coming to a close. Stay tuned for the New 90.5 Way High Radio! And that's it for now! We thank all of those folks who continue to support this on going experiment. You know who you are...........

Well here we are at the end of 2012 so we should bring you up to date with where we're at. Near the end of October we moved the studio over to the Catholic Church site, plugged in powered up and everything went wrong. Bad signals , power failures = NO FUN! So we went back before the Town Council on the 3rd and were given until the end of the current Mayor's term (April 2013), at which time we need to go back before Council or bring our situation to referendum. We have offered to do whatever it takes to appease peoples' concerns (within reason). Current concerns are parking issues and the fact that the studio is........ugly. So, we have had offers to put a mural on it or we can hide it behind a fence. We have been dealing with broadcasting issues up until today that were literally solved with a flick of a switch. At this time we are transmitting better than we ever have (Thank you Forest) and we are also streaming at wayhighradio.com (Thanks Skyler). We recently purchased a internet phone number so folks can call in to the studio (303)532-489.5.  We also succeeded in getting approval to move the Free Box (which is the real culprit of the trash situation). The Free Box will be moving to the Old Catholic Church site, into the Tuff Shed. That way we can better trash out and recycle stuff, because that area is becoming our Trash / Recycle / Compost Center. 
Skyler and Oliver have been using their Way High Radio energy as an internship for high school.  DJ Jake has become our most frequent DJ at the studio, bringing in a  whole new audience on the internet. Other locals have begun djing. What about you?
We are proud to announce that we have begun to fulfill our commitment to give back to the community. In September WHR submitted a $200.00 donation to the Ward Artist in Residence Program to help with much needed repairs. The deal is this; once we figure out what our operating needs are and what a good buffer is, we donate the rest back to the Community in one way or another. Anyone interested in seeing how their donations were spent is welcome to request to see our books, all purchases are accounted for. So far we have purchased new cords, CD/Tape player, computer, streaming service a phone number, mic and stands, misc. hardware and more. Thanks everyone for your support as we revive our community radio station 89.5

 We are going to be moving next to the old Catholic Church by October. It's the deal we made with the Town. They were gracious enough to let us be in front of the Town Hall to get started but this location has more parking, it's own electricity, and we have some great future plans that will further benefit the Ward Community. Thanks to the amazing turnout for the "Revival" on July 1st, we raised enough money to pay for the necessary upgrades to our equipment. THANK YOU WARD!  And thanks to all the people and businesses that contributed to this extremely successful event. One of the things we're looking forward to is our Way High Radio Presents Series which will start later in 2012. These will be intimate events that will feature a wide variety of local talent . Another fun event will be our Acoustic Pancake Breakfasts. Start your day with good food n' great music. Lot's of cool ideas and we want to know yours too. If you're local, become a DJ or volunteer your talents in some other way. It's easy. Contact us.