December 24th: Panic. We got to Bailey and her boyfriend Cory's cabin in the mountains (Big Bear, CA) at about 4:30 pm Christmas Eve. After a mild panic when Karen's Jeep Liberty equipped with her Christmas tires, started sliding backwards down the hill on Eucalyptus street in Sugarloaf, we got the Jeep into 4-Wheel Drive and managed to get to the kids' house without further incident. But then it hit. The map commercials about AT&T have some relevance at this winter wonderland 7000 feet above sea level. Bailey has Sprint; Cory, Verizon. They both have service. Mine and Karen's iPhones; not so much. Then the real horror. I still have work to do on Christmas music on http://martiniinthemorning.com/ and Cory can't find his wireless Internet adaptor. I have no phone service to get calls or text messages from Shaneh Woods, Jeff our IT Guru or Al the Engineer or the Accountants to tell me we're off the air.

No Internet! Even if I had phone service to take those off-air calls, no Internet connection allowing me, through the miracle of modern technology, to fix the problem. These kids are living in primitive conditions. Never mind the California King size Tempurpedic mattress (we sleep on an antique double bed with a mattress well beyond its "Use By" date) a kitchen stocked with far more food than we ever have at home, and every video game device known to man. No Internet connection?!?!!? How will these kids survive?

The Dawn of Christmas Morning. I'm the last one out of bed. So maybe there is something about those Tempurpedic mattresses. Although, just like when we're in hotels, I'm used to our tiny little bed. I rolled over a couple of times during the night and couldn't find Karen. Do they make Tempurpedic mattresses to fit antique bed frames? It could also be the altitude, the fresh blanket of snow and the smell of pine trees all around the house. It could be the smell of the real wood fire burning in the fireplace and the hot coffee my brother-in-law had brewing at 6 am. There is something special in the air. Maybe it's Christmas. Maybe it's a little relief from what has been the most challenging year of my personal and professional life. I've lost jobs. I've gone through divorce and become a single Dad without a clue of how to move on. None if it could have prepared me for 2009. This has been harder than anything I've ever faced. Maybe this little break in the storms of life is just what the doctor ordered. The great gift in a stable beneath a brilliant star, the gift that inspires the blizzard of gift wrap and tears of joy over the simplest of gifts, puts even the most troubling year in perspective.

We want our life back. Karen and I have been saying that for some time now. We have given everything to get this business rolling because we believe in it so much. We know we're on the right track, and our friends, listeners and colleagues reassure us we're not crazy. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But from a business standpoint, we're reassured. Everyone has sacrificed. Everyone involved in the business; our families; our friends. I know the new year doesn't begin for another week. But this bright Christmas morning full of family, friends, and the love we all share for one another, gives me hope, that this day, inspired by that new beginning so many years ago, is, as Steve Allen wrote, The Start of Something Big.

Merry Christmas from somewhere so far away from L.A., so far away from the troubles we left behind yesterday. The troubles that won't seem quite so overwhelming tomorrow. You, our friends, listeners, colleagues, and the artists whose music we play, inspire us to continue. It's been a tough year for everyone - but this this special day, inspired by that first Christmas, gives us hope for a brighter new year. Right now the smell of bacon sizzling in the fresh mountain air is inspiring me to get moving.

Thank You - and a Video Blog

So Many Generous People! Our listener community, our Lounge Lizards in Exile, are amazing. If you think about it, we've been on the air for over 3 years and while we're growing, the lack of cash from marketing means the only way the word really gets out is word of mouth. Your mouth. The good news is, through your generosity, your enthusiasm, and your belief in MartiniInTheMorning.com, we ARE growing. So thank you!

Support. Actually, if it weren't for the generous support of MartiniInTheMorning.com listeners, we wouldn't be around at all. We have a few, mostly Friends and Family, investors. But the reality is, our only income is from you. We've had a trickle of ad revenue. But that's it. Someone asked me yesterday if the record companies, music publishers and even artists whose music we play and whose concerts we publicize, have participated in any way. The answer is a qualified, UMMMM. Everyone wishes us well, hopes we succeed, and loves it when we play their music and talk about their concerts. When it comes to moral support, our cup runneth over. When it comes to REAL SUPPORT, helping us with the rent, streaming costs, phone bills, dry cleaning (ha!) it's been YOU!

Yes, we've had tons of moral support. I offered our landlord and streaming vendors some moral support when the rent and bills were due, and they weren't amused. Don't get me wrong, we DO appreciate the moral support. But for us to provide the entertainment YOU expect, and the help the industry, this genre, needs to survive and even thrive, we have to really grow in 2010. That's going to take more than moral support.

Fewer and Fewer radio stations are playing the music of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Ella and other "Classic Cool" entertainers. Not that long ago, there were over 1000 stations playing the songs of George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart, Jimmy Fields, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, all the great songwriters of the Great American Songbook. Today, some estimates suggest there are fewer than 300 broadcast stations in the US programming this music (even fewer making it FUN!).

That's what we're here for; to play The Greatest Songs Ever Written by classic artists like the ones mentioned above, and the Contemporary Cool performances of these great songs by artists like Michael Buble, Steve Tyrell, Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Tony DeSare, Renee Olstead and other talented new artists joining their ranks every day. In 2010, with your help, we'll continue to grow, and we'll reach new heights. Our goal is to double the size of our current audience - FAST. If everyone listening to MartiniInTheMorning.com right now were to encourage two people to tune in, we'll achieve our goal. That allows us access to bigger advertisers, bigger ad budgets, and more opportunities to grow our listener community.

What we WON'T do is change our approach - we're a community made up of people who happen to live across the USA and around the world - brought together by a common affection for a kind of music and the lifestyle for which it is the soundtrack. We will always maintain the connection we've built, the regular contact with you, our friends, listeners. We will never become a boring jukebox (you can use your iPod for that!) or another radio station over-saturated with commercials - we'll limit our commercial load to 4 minutes per hour, unlike the 15-20 minutes currently the average on over the air radio stations. Additionally, over the next few weeks, we will increase the interaction we have with each member of our community.

You got us here. Together we'll take this to the next level in 20010. Oh hey, speaking of new stuff and taking it to the next level...I've been encouraged (over and over and over) to do a video blog. I never had a camera to do one - but The Accountants got one, I borrowed it, and before they take it back, here's my first video blog. I'll apologize in advance. Seasons Greetings, and thanks for being one of us!