Doug Stewart, who hasn't been able to procure a gig on the AM/FM dial for two years, last month started his own radio show online.
It airs weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m but is also available in podcast form.
"I control everything," Stewart said. He said his producer Trei Taylor convinced him to do it.
Stewart is currently in his third week and has received more than 11,000 listens to date with 567 followers as of 11:13 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 9.
You can listen to his show here. He is trying to make it sound like anything you'd hear on radio, including ad breaks. (He is seeking sponsors to pay the bills.)
From a content standpoint, he blends sports and entertainment.
Here's today's show, where he's talking Roger Goodell and the new ABC sitcom "Black-ish," among other topics:
Here's Doug's take on the Gurley situation on Friday:
His brother Ryan, part of the original 2 Live Stews on 790/The Zone from 2001 to 2012, chose not to join him for now. "He's like Mr. Mom now," Doug said. "He's going to be a soccer dad, raise his kids for now. He still does some work for the Falcons."
For now, it's "One Live Stew," so to speak.
Ryan and Doug enjoyed more than a decade of success on 790/The Zone, with a stint in syndication and regular visits to ESPN. But that work evaporated quickly and they were out of a job by September, 2012. They expected offers to roll in when their non-compete clause was over by July, 2013. It didn't happen despite the presence of a new sports talk station at 92.9/The Game.
I spoke with both in April pondering why no local radio broadcaster has hired them. They were both equally befuddled.
Without the platform of an AM/FM station, Doug is having to do "guerrilla marketing," he said, with plenty of social media.
Stewart isn't the only former radio personality hosting-on-air shows minus traditional radio. Steve McCoy, Vikki Locke and Tom Sullivan, formerly of Star 94, recently started one themselves.
Eric Von Haessler, formerly of the Regular Guys, has been doing his own show on ericvonradio.com for several months with Autumn Fischer and Gregory Russ.
And last week, syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz started a subscription-based podcast on Andy Dean's www.connectpal.com
Plus, Margot Chabonian, former music director and night jock at the now defunct 92.9/Dave FM, has been running her own adult alternative station EAV Radio for the past 20 months.
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