A year ago, today, I shut down my radio station, VWRadio. It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made in my life. We had a stellar first year, and we were poised to start partnering with advertisers and start bringing in revenue when the pandemic hit. I just couldn’t see any way forward, but for me it wasn’t just shutting down a radio station. For me, it was shutting down a dream.
Growing up in Denver in the seventies, there was only one station that everyone listened to – KIMN Radio. I lived and breathed music, and the fact that the call letters were my name, was a big fat cherry on top. I was a devout KIMN listener.
In my junior year of high school, we took a tour of the KIMN Radio Station and we got to meet the KIMN chicken! One of the hosts of the tour asked if any of us wanted to work for a radio station. Everyone answered “yes,” except for me. My answer was, “I don’t want to work for a station. I want to own a radio station.” A few people laughed when I said that, but I wasn’t joking.
Of course, at that time, I was imagining my own brick & mortar building, shaped like a “K”, of course. I was planning on going to Colorado University and studying Media Broadcasting, but my parents moved our family out of Denver between my junior and senior year. I never went to college, and the dream of my own radio station got buried by life’s happenings.
Many years down the line, I ended up in an internet radio station chat room and made friends with the DJ that was hosting the show. When he branched out, and started his own all-independent radio station, he asked me to help him recruit indie artists to play on his station, and I agreed. Within our first year, we had recruited over 200 independent artists and our listenership was growing every day. After a year in recruitment, I was promoted to Station Manager. I loved the station, the listeners, and especially the artists, but at the end of 2018, I quit to focus on building my own station, and in June of 2019, Virtuosity Worldwide Radio aka VWRadio was born.
Last year, after I shut VWRadio down, I received hundreds of messages from artists and listeners offering praise and support for what VWRadio accomplished during the short time it was live. Many of them said, “you’ll be back!” but I couldn’t see how it could be possible.
I made peace with the loss of the station, by focusing on the fact that I did accomplish what I had set out to do. Even though it didn’t last long, it was successful while it lasted. I had finally succumbed to the fact that was the end, and I has happy and grateful that I was able to make VWRadio happen at all.
Sometimes the universe whispers ideas in your ear, and sometime the universe thumps you on the head. A few weeks ago, I was having a rough day – one of those “everything that can go wrong, goes wrong” kind of days. I decided to turn on some tunes and soak up some rays. The first song that played was “Hold On” by Amy Gerhartz. As I soaked in the sun, the music, and the lyrics, my spirit lifted. The lyrics,”It’s not a break, it’s just a bend,” hit me hard. I’ve lived my whole life in a constant state of starting over, so why not start over again? It’s what I’m used to.
After I came in from that afternoon of sun-soaked music, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, when I see that Amy Gerhartz had posted a quote on her page, “It’s not a setback, it’s a sidestep.” I knew that message was meant for me.
That night, I drew up a new business plan for VWRadio, and decided to try again.
The VWRadio re-launch has not been easy. It has been one sidestep after another – had to start over on a new broadcasting platform and had to rebuild the website from scratch, BUT the new music library and website are even better than they were before, so there’s the silver lining.
It really is true. If there’s something you want in your life, it’s just a matter of setting your mind to it. And, most importantly, not giving up when the sidesteps hit, and they will.
We’re about to celebrate the one month anniversary of our VWRadio’s re-launch, and I am grateful and excited for what the future has in store. They don’t call me TenaciousK for nothing! Thank you, Amy, for your lyrical message and thank you to all the VWRadio listeners, artists and supporters out there – I LOVE YOU! <3