An Honor and an Explanation

This morning your ever-lovin' Stepfather of Soul was honored to find that none less than Radio Hall of Fame member Herb Kent had shared my initial "Soul on the Air!" feature on his Facebook page, referring to it as a "great back in the day resource." To get praise from a broadcasting legend set my little heart ablaze, but it also reminded me that I needed to do something here that I've been putting off for a loooooooooooong time: explaining what is going on with this blog.

It's probably no surprise that I haven't done much on this blog in a mighty long time. After doing hundreds of posts on a near-daily basis for a couple of years, "real life" (work, family, etc.) started to get in the way, and to write like that became very tiring. Further, as YouTube and Facebook began to grow, it provided alternative ways for the sharing of this great music. Finally, I was offered the opportunity to do a new "Get on Down with the Stepfather of Soul!" online radio show for Rockin' Radio. In light of all of those things, I decided that I would stop writing the blog in 2013.

When I made that decision, however, I found myself in an interesting position: I realized that the blog actually has two different, and not always overlapping, audiences. Rare soul fans were digging the features on individual records and the podcast, but "Soul on the Air" brought in a new audience: radio aircheck fans were interested, for sure, but more numerous were those who, in reminiscing about the radio stations they enjoyed in their youth, found the blog while doing Google searches on certain DJs and the like. I realized that this blog was a great resource for them, and so I did not pull the plug on the site itself.

Having said all that, I've decided that in 2015 I will focus almost exclusively on the "Soul on the Air" content. I've got many more airchecks to share, and this site will serve more as a repository for the airchecks than it will as a soul music site.

For those of you who enjoyed this site as a soul music site, please note the following (and for the "Soul on the Air" fans, feel free to check these things out as well):

1. I am on Facebook, and I regularly post music there. Feel free to friend me if you haven't already.

2. Since October 2012, I have hosted the "Get on Down with the Stepfather of Soul!" show on Rockin' Radio, where I join the rest of the crew there playing the "best oldies you've never heard" and sharing information about the tunes. A new show is uploaded every month on the "Now Playing" page. Make sure to check out the show, as well as those of my compatriots, Rockin' Randy Tivens, Brian Phillips (who is no stranger to this site), and Jim E. Night!

3. All soul content on this site will remain, but I will not renew dead links. If any features catch your attention, please e-mail me (jasonstone60643@gmail.com) and I can share with you any music that may be of interest.

4. Finally, though many of my colleagues in soul blogging have also retired their sites, some for the same reasons I have, there are still many who are still doing their thing. Check out the links section and you'll find that many of the sites listed are still around, especially those sites belonging to my friend Red Kelly, the "Soul Detective." Enjoy those, and forgive me for not getting around to removing dead links.

It has been a pleasure and honor to do the blog for the last nine years, and I look forward to the next chapter in its existence. Let's keep on getting on down!