Beginning sometime on Thursday, December 29th, KoHoSo.us will be joining the tens of thousands of people that already have been and will be leaving GoDaddy as their domain registrar and Web host.  Unfortunately, this will probably lead to some significant downtime for this website and my personal e-mail, possibly through January 2nd.  I apologize for the inconvenience but my conscience simply will not allow me to remain as a GoDaddy customer due to their participation in writing the absolutely terrible proposed legislation known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) including an immunity clause for the company.

Yes, I am well aware that GoDaddy has issued a public statement rebuking their support of SOPA.  However, they have yet to truly put their muscle behind it and, frankly, it smells just like everything else that has infected the bad side of corporate America over the past 30 years or so.

In many ways, I hate to leave GoDaddy.  I have been customer of theirs before KoHoSo.us was born in July 2005 and even prior to their first infamous Super Bowl commercial.  For me, the service has been exemplary in every way.  This includes an “above and beyond the call of duty” situation where a GoDaddy customer service representative tracked down a problem with the ISP that was serving the business where I was working.

On the other hand, it has also been embarrassing to be a GoDaddy customer.  Their marketing was cheesy even before the introduction of the GoDaddy Girl.  While the first couple of commercials featuring Candice Michelle were funny (especially and ironically in hindsight, the one where she was testifying in front of a Congressional committee), the continued use of titillation to promote the company made it easy for almost anybody to accuse owner Bob Parsons of being a misogynist.  GoDaddy has also not been a very good Netizen in how it allows people to buy up squatter domains or to set up websites claiming to be fair web domain and hosting review sites when all they are is a front for people to get a referral credit by sending people to GoDaddy.  Then, earlier this year, the GoDaddy man himself, Bob Parsons, gleefully shot an elephant for the whole world to see on YouTube.

Still, I stuck with them because of how well they have served me on KoHoSo.us plus on various business websites and even multiple ones for the online sim racing league in which I used to participate.  However, their participation in the creation of the SOPA legislation — all done while making sure they were immune from its unconstitutional and destructive provisions, then followed by their weak repudiation once the Internet began picking up its torches and pitchforks — is the last straw.

I know that some of my readers will find my decision to go through the big hassle of moving my services elsewhere to be ridiculous especially when I have truly been a satisfied GoDaddy customer.  After all, what’s the big deal when we know that almost all big companies of any type do things that we don’t like?

The big deal is that SOPA bypasses due process.  That’s not some obscure legal point; it’s a cornerstone of the Constitution of the United States of America, a document that I take seriously no matter how much our last few Presidents and Congresses have used it as their personal butt-wipe.

Another big deal is that SOPA’s provisions will make the World Wide Web less secure by breaking down the current system that is used to “resolve” Web addresses.  For those that are not hip to such things, basically, it’s what gets you to Google when you type in google.com.

Other big deals?  Giving up more general freedom as the government and Hollywood will become Internet police watching everything we download…pushing away more personal liberties just so police do not have to do a thorough investigation to make sure a suspect is actually engaging in criminal activity…more legitimate websites pulled from the Internet for a year or longer just on the say-so of a big media conglomerate…more non-computer-savvy grandmothers being fined thousands of dollars because they have no clue as to how they can secure their wireless router…the end of Internet innovation and investment as no small start-up will be able to afford the attorneys’ fees to make sure everything is legal plus fight off the frivolous claims of Hollywood….the list of bad things in this bill for everybody except big media conglomerates that want to turn the World Wide Web into a system just like cable television — with exorbitant rates to match — goes on and on.

Here’s two scenarios that could happen under SOPA.

1. A family takes a vacation to Disneyland.  They, of course, take photos which they later post of Flickr.  Disney decides they want everybody to come to their photo-sharing service so they call up the government and say that this user is posting their copyrighted material and that Flickr is supporting them in this action.  The government then sends out a signal over the Internet that not only takes down the family’s photos but also prevents everybody in the USA from accessing Flickr…oh, and its parent company, a little thing called Yahoo.

2. A husband and wife set up their own business and, of course in this day and age, put up a website.  They start to become successful.  An already established and larger competitor sees this new business eating into their market share.  The older company calls the government and claims that the new company has posted material that they do not own.  The government sends out a signal over the Internet to block the new business’ website.  The new business is then forced to carry on without a Web presence plus spend at least a year if not longer going through all of the legal hoops to get back online.

If anybody thinks that is far-fetched, I can tell you that it is already happening under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  SOPA only makes it worse and, again I stress, makes it all happen without any need to go before any serious judicial review or have any sort of independent investigation.  One is considered guilty before being proven innocent, another absolute rape of a cornerstone of our Constitution and, to put it mildly, kind of a big reason why we fought the British for independence.

Worst of all, SOPA will not stop the vast majority of serious software or media piracy (since most of it happens outside of the country) and will use the same methods to block material as are used in wonderful democracies as Red China, Iran, Syria, and other such lovely vacation spots (and don’t think for a minute that the government won’t eventually expand the “War on Piracy” to also block anything it finds embarrassing or inconvenient).  Other than laws from over two centuries ago regarding slavery, this is pretty much the worst bill ever brought before Congress that actually has a chance of passing thanks to the unlimited amount of money that Hollywood can spend on election campaigns.

Yes, for me to leave GoDaddy when they have been so good to me is a big gamble.  I have dealt with bad providers before and it is indeed a nightmare.  My next provider might even be more expensive in the long run.

There just comes a time when one has to stand up and do what is right regardless of the cost.  To me, it is very similar to Wal-Mart.  Yes, I could shop there and bask in its convenient locations, hours, and prices.  However, I know what the true cost of Wal-Mart really is in higher taxes (because they pay such low wages and provide little healthcare) and loss of American jobs (because I defy anybody to find anything in Wal-Mart other than food that is made in the USA).

GoDaddy is now the same thing.  They will say whatever they have to to keep fooling enough people to think they are acting in their best interests and only want to fight online piracy.  They will use every distraction — including boobs — to make people feel they are just reg’lar folks.  All the while, they are working behind the scenes to take our privacy, choice, and freedom.

Whether it is a losing battle or not, I will not stand for it.  Even if SOPA or something equally evil eventually becomes law, I will be proud and thankful that I along with tens of thousands of others, both liberal freedom-lovers and conservative patriots, stood up in a truly bipartisan effort to try and stop Hollywood from being able to police the Internet and, most of all, to do so in such a blatant slap at our beloved Constitution.

If there was ever a time to do so, do it now and stick it to The Man…because The Man doesn’t like you to be able to compete against him, have other choices, or even just to have a little fun.  Sorry, GoDaddy, but you are now The Man.  Goodbye.

As for my readers, KoHoSo.us will be back in a few days.  Until then, I wish you a safe an peaceful New Year’s Weekend.

For those that do not follow my Twitter feed or my Tumblr blog, I got yet another chance to get really pissed off at the big radio conglomerates.  As a big feature of this particular blog is my list of what I consider to be the only good English language radio stations left in this world, I thought it would be a good thing to reevaluate the few “corporate radio” stations I allowed on that list, remove ones that no longer warranted inclusion, and explain why the ones remaining stayed put.

Before I continue, hardly any commercial radio station on my list is a single-outlet enterprise.  Many are traditional as the owner holds one AM and one FM licence.  More are held by some of the new local groups where an owner might hold three or more licenses in a market.  A few others are regional where the owner concentrates on many stations in a single state or other well-defined area.  Regardless of that type of ownership, I look to see if such a station is still connected to the community, is not on automation or playing syndicated programming for more than a fraction of its broadcast day, and — of course — plays a good selection of music in its chosen format.

What I am talking about here are the big media conglomerates like Clear Channel, the behemoth that has set the pace for the ruination of having radio be a local service (although no CC stations have ever been on my list and, thus, need to be removed…they are simply the best known example).

The first group of stations I need to explain are owned by Entercom Communications Corporation.  Entercom is usually one of the better behaved radio conglomerates in the United States but that isn’t really saying much.  It is probably my disappointment with what Entercom did to one of my favorite stations that makes me want to purge as many of their outlets from my list as possible, and I will get to that in a moment.

Click on the logo to visit the WKQK website.

The first “keeper” I have from Entercom is WKQK that serves the Memphis, Tennessee market out of the suburb of Germantown.  So far in my searches across the Internet for good radio, it is the only station I have found playing the “classic hits” format not owned by an even more detestable conglomerate or, perhaps even worse, using the hideous no-DJ “Jack FM” type of presentation (known in some cities under other names like “Dave FM,” “Bob FM,” etc. and even used on country stations with monikers such as “Hank FM” or “Willie FM”).  For a format where the station obviously picks from only a set amount of songs, they do a very good job of it…yet another thing that is often so frustrating about Entercom stations in how they can do one thing so well but screw the rest of it up (again, more on that below).

Click on the logo to visit the KNRK - 94/7 - Alternative Portland website.

Entercom also stays on the list for another station that is also the only type of its format that I have found passable for sharing, KNRK that serves the Portland, Oregon market but is licensed to Camas, Washington. In this case, it is the “modern rock” format which has truly lost its way at almost every other station I have found still attempting to play it.  I cannot completely fathom how KNRK might still be good other than the fact that, if a station in a city that is proud to call itself weird gives itself a secondary name like “Alternative Portland,” it had better come through.

Click on the logo to visit the KSEG-FM - The Eagle website.

The last of the Entercom stations remaining on my list is KSEG-FM in Sacramento, California.  This is an admittedly personal selection because anybody looking at my Radio list can easily see there are several “classic rock” format stations to choose from.  This station has a lot going against it as it runs the syndicated morning atrocity known as the Mark & Brian Show and is what seems like one of over 9000 outlets in North America that has nicknamed itself The Eagle.  What saves this station is that it is located where I went to junior high and high school and is one of the only two that has some of the great disk jockeys of “my time” left on the air (60s & 70s oldies station KCCL being the other).  These are not just men that bring back fond memories, they are among the very people that made me want to get into the radio business myself and continue to have an appreciation for what makes a good announcer and overall show.  Of most note to me on KSEG-FM are Tom Nakashima who was a staple on the old KXOA-FM “K-108 The Mellow Beaver” soft rock station (back when “soft rock” meant singer/songwriter type stuff instead of glorified pop) and especially Bob Keller and his signature lunchtime segment, The Café Rock, that goes back to the late, lamented, original KZAP.

Now I come to the two Entercom stations that I felt had to be removed from my list.  Perhaps one of the greatest disappointments in my entire life of radio fandom was listening to how Entercom ruined KQMT in Denver and its other “The Mountain” branded stations including KMTT in Tacoma/Seattle.  This was especially true of KQMT because it became my favorite station in Denver even before I moved there for a while in 2004.  It was everything I could ever ask for out of a commercial radio station — distinctive promos, bumpers, and station IDs that were effective without being overwhelming…disk jockeys that were connected to the community, knowledgeable about music, and that talked like real people…and, most of all, a rock format that was a great blend of old, new, and obscure.  It was the kind of station I had not experienced in years — one where I would not mind sitting though a song I did not like as something good was surely coming up next.  Even though KQMT got very good ratings, Entercom couldn’t help but try to make it “better” and, thus, fucked it all up every which way from Sunday.  They went to a strict classic rock format that was not much better than their Clear Channel competitor down the dial, alienated most of their best talent (most of whom seem to have escaped to “adult alternative” stations up in Aspen and Vail), and are now to the point where there are now only two live hosts with the remainder of the day being automated while churning out what now sounds like a crappy iPod.  I don’t think the fall at KMTT in Tacoma/Seattle was quite as bad as they kept a little “AAA” around plus one more disk jockey.  Still, what happened on these and all of Entercom’s other stations branded “The Mountain” ripped listeners’ hearts out who originally flocked to these stations in droves as an oasis in an otherwise barren radio landscape.  I simply cannot in good consience steer my readers to them anymore even if they do still have times of occasional competence.  The other “classic rock” and “adult alternative” staions on my list are just too much better to leave KQMT and KMTT up on my Radio list.

Click on the logo to visit the WVVR - The Beaver website.

Getting back to a radio conglomerate station that will remain on my Radio page, this one is owned by Saga Communications which, for some reason, seems to fly under the radar as far as making news for itself.  They own one of the two country stations that I can still tolerate, WVVR that is licensed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky and serves the overall market of Clarksville, Tennessee.  I am not keeping this station on the list just because it’s in my home state of Kentucky and the mascot leads itself to an almost infinite amount of double entendre jokes (which the station uses to perfection even with it lying in the heart of the Bible Belt).  The Beaver truly is a good country station, something amazingly lacking in North America considering it is the most popular music format found on the radio dial.

Click on the logo to visit the KZOK website.

One more station owned by a conglomerate that will remain on my list was a surprise to me when I spent two weeks being able to listen to it over the air in the summer of 2010.  KZOK is a “classic rock” station in Seattle and owned by CBS Radio.  Not only is the music selection not as repetitive as many of their ilk, KZOK is one of the last stations even in a big city to have a live disk jockey on at all times except during its very few syndicated programs and specials.  While many might find this surprising, KZOK recently hired Danny Bonaduce as its morning man.  For those not aware of this, the former “Danny Partridge” has been in radio for a while now and I thought he did a very good job during his time in Los Angeles on KYSR and never understood why he was let go.  After a stint in Philadelphia, it will be interesting to see if, on KZOK’s second attempt to do so, Bonaduce is the man to fill the shoes of the person that was on mornings at KZOK for ages, Bob Rivers, who most people know as the guy that does funny Christmas songs.  Aside from all that, KZOK is the only decent thing I can find in the CBS Radio stable that is not an all-news station.  It might not be my first choice for streaming a “classic rock” station, but it is still worth recommending.

Click on the logo to visit the KSLX website.

The final station owned by one of the “big boys” that will remain on my list is owned by Sandusky Radio.  KSLX is a “classic rock” station licensed to Scottsdale, Arizona serving the greater Phoenix area.  I don’t know why other Sandusky outlets of a similar genre can’t do the same, but KSLX is deeply embedded in its community.  It is also one of the few stations that still retain a “live “graveyard shift” disk jockey.  Like KZOK, it does a lot better than most at not being too repetitive with its song selections.

So…why do I even bother with these very few stations held by radio conglomerates?  While my Radio page does focus on smaller and non-commercial stations, I think it is also important that it focuses on good radio.  Despite the owners, these stations are good.  While I am certainly a supporter of the movements going on these days against too much centralized power of all types, I also believe it is only fair to point out that not every big corporation is always bad and not every small one is always good.  I also believe it is important to recognize when a big company does something well as there might be a small chance it takes hold and they start doing better everywhere they do business.

All of that being said, I would not be honest if I also did not say that all of the stations featured above are always on a very short leash with me at all times.  With the owners of these outlets more beholden to the whims of all too many overly-selfish shareholders instead of the public (or, at least, the audience ratings), they are always in danger of turning bad on a moment’s notice.  That’s one reason why I so often close my posts on this blog by saying, in one form or another, keep sticking it to the man…because — especially in radio which has always been a flighty business — if you don’t stick it to him first, he will surely stick it to you.  If you don’t believe me, just ask Jim Ladd and “The Tribe” that used to listen to him on KLOS.