Yeah, so it’s after 2:30am and I’ve been working for the past couple of hours on getting some bugs and other issues fixed on the new themes. I’ve also been trying to consolidate sections so it’s quicker and easier to make updates. I still have quite a bit to do before I’m fully happy with things, but it’s been a pretty good night of work. I just hope that I didn’t make make some things look worse

RADIO

One thing that I’ve been working on is DW Radio. I’m using software called Wimpy Player to power this listening experience, and so far, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s customizable and easy to use, though I’m still learning some of the nuts and bolts of it.

On some of the themes, you’ll see the music player in the sidebar. On all themes, you’ll see a link for “listen” in the menu. Clicking this link will open the music player in a pop up window. If you have the pop up player open, you’ll be able to listen to music, even if you’re not on my site.
[UPDATE: There is now a dedicated music section on the website that is linked to from the menu. Click on "music" in the menu and the radio is now on that page. You can access a popup version of the radio from this page as well]

I hope it works okay for everyone. Let me know if it doesn’t. I’ve had some issues with it being squished in IE, though it still plays okay. Others have said it’s fine, though. This is more or less an experiment, though. If my bandwidth gets eaten up, I’ll have to take it down or figure out another way to handle it. I don’t think it’ll get to that point, though, considering how much bandwidth my web host offers, so listen away!

CHANNELS

On DW Radio, you’ll see three “channels.” The first channel is “Now Playing.” The is the actual album listed in the Now Playing section of the sidebar. For example, I’m currently addicted to John Reuben’s The Boy vs. The Cynic, so you’ll find that album on the Now Playing channel. (I’m really liking tracks 1,3 and 10!) Every time I change what’s Now Playing, so will the music in that channel change.

The second channel is the “Spotlight” channel. This channel will be used to put focus on “new” bands that I’ve recently “found” and really enjoy, or to promote local/indie bands, or to give listeners a taste of new albums that have just been released. Currently, Switchfoot’s soon-to-be-released album Nothing Is Sound is featured in this channel. Hopefully, this playlist will change frequently.

The third channel is for “My Faves.” This channel is basically a playlist of my favorite songs - songs that move me, that echo my thoughts or that I just love cranking up and rockin’ out to. I may add more songs to this playlist over time to keep it “fresh,” but for the most part, the channel will contain the same songs.

Where words fail, music speaks.

Those words were spoken by Hans Christian Andersen and echo how I feel about this wonderful gift of music that God has given us. I hope you enjoy the songs and get something meaningful from them.

If you have any requests, send them my way and I may add them to DW Radio.

If you enjoy what you’re hearing, go buy the CD and support the artist.

I’m getting tired, so it’s time to hit the sack. Good night everyone!