Press Release:

NATIONS ONLY LIVE WEBCAST INTERNET TALK SHOW DEBUTS

On August 14, 2000, Carla Emery and Don DeLong launched their mutual dream--a three-hour, weekday nights (7-10 pm, Arizona Standard Time), live talkshow on the internet. They broadcast (audio only) from a homemade "studio" in the addition built onto their trailer which is parked in the desert just outside tiny San Simon, Arizona.

Don and Carla met only three months ago on June 1. That was the day they fell in love (Carla had been single 15 years, Don for 32) and the day Don quit smoking. Don already was working on the concept of a webcast talk show. Carla, a professional writer and veteran public speaker (www.carlaemery.com), liked the idea and so Don made it "The Don and Carla Show." Don is the shows techie and a witty, wise, and passionate commentator and teller of stories from his long and colorful life. Carla is secretary, researcher, and another story-teller. Both are keen intellects, but with very different backgrounds and life experiences. Don is bluecollar, single most of his life; Carla is a country girl with a college veneer who raised 7 children. They sometimes have the audience laughing, sometimes in tears, usually stimulated to think, and often also learning.

Sherry Van Allen of Willcox, Arizona, is Webmistress and has created a dynamic website which is getting an astonishing number of hits from all over the world. Just in the last week, it has been viewed by computer users from Argentina, Chile, Hawaii, Western Australia, Central Europe, Russia, South Africa, Western Europe, Greece, and Iceland. Check out the website for yourself at www.donandcarla.net where you will find bios (and a webcam photo) of both Don and Carla, and the posted show topics for the next couple months. Each night they try to stay close to the assigned topic. The listening audience is encouraged to participate and does so via e-mail messages which Don or Carla read aloud, or by phone calls.

The technology is cutting edge and both Don and Carla and their listeners sometimes struggle with it. A download of Real Player (available free in the Basic 8 form from the shows home page) is necessary to hear the show, and, of course, also an audio card and speakers for the computer. The broadcast signal fails an average of once a night. The problem may be an Arizona thunder storm affecting their local ISP (Valley Telephone Company out of Willcox), or it may be a user surge on their Tennessee streaming media server (www.eonstreams.com): "The longest weve been down was 10 minutes," Carla says. Any time the broadcast signal goes down, every listener is bumped off and has to reconnect.

Sometimes listeners must deal with net congestion from their local ISP which causes the signal to wobble or go in and out. But volunteer techies John Zitkus and Martha Wells in Texas and Rose from Eonstreams work hard to help anybody who e-mails in that theyre having trouble getting connected or hearing the signal. And ways are emerging to make the signal come in stronger and clearer for listeners computers. The listeners are about equally divided between the Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern time zones, with an unknown number participating from overseas.

Starting the nations first webcast only talk show is quite an accomplishment for a pair of older Americans with a tight budget. ("Webcast only" means the program is not generated on radio and then piped into the internet, but actually originates on the internet.) But Don and Carla are having fun with the project. They relish the freedom to say what they please and to give their listeners who call or e-mail the same privilege. They insist that they have "no agenda, no axes to grind." They sometimes strongly disagree even with each other.

Their next big launch happens November 25. Its their formal wedding. The Shows extended family wont have to miss out, for that days events will be webcast, maybe even with some video images as well as the usual audio!

For more information e-mail Don and Carla at doncarla@vtv.net

-- Bob Johnson (backwoods_bob_2000@yahoo.com), August 26, 2000

Answers

I am happy for them, and wish them well. The topics are interesting looking, but I don't know if my computer has the "umph" to handle it.

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), August 26, 2000.