RedandNater.com
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RedandNater.com is a web-based message board dedicated to the broadcasting industry, mostly in the Upper Midwest. The site followed in the footsteps of the wildly popular Northpine message board. When that site shut down, current Z100 jock JJ Kincaid started a site called Southpine, which lasted for a few years before stepping aside for RedandNater.com. Other sites have come and gone in competition, most notably, Netdjs.com, which provided a link to RedandNater when they went out of business.
The site is frequently quoted in local media reports as the source of information on broadcasting hirings and firings. The site broke the news that longtime Clear Channel GM Mick Anselmo was terminated.[1] Also, the site beat the mainstream media to the firings of numerous radio and television personalities.
The site was banned by broadcasting giant Clear Channel nationwide for its frequent posts about the company and its management. [2].
[edit] History
The founders of the site are unknowns, but one interview does confirm the name of one of the founders as Eric "Red" Redlinger, a 1998 graduate of Bemidji State University. In the article, he is quoted as saying that the site's implied co-owner, who posts on the site as Nater, "may or may not exist"[3]
The site was originally created to advance the efforts of Red and Nater as they attempted to sway votes in the contest for Bemidji State University Mass Communication Department Alumni of the year. With the fluctuations occurring in the broadcasting media board sector, the two started the message board to compete with Southpine. In the early days, the site was little more than a personal battle site for Red and Nater with a particularly ornery DJ named Ugly Del Roberts. But as the other sites began to fade, RedandNater.com became the home for broadcasting chat throughout the upper Midwest. Currently, the site boasts 10,000 hits a day from broadcaster and interested outsiders throughout the country.
The site's influence and stature as a prime destination for media discussion in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market can further be correlated by viewing the relatively low number of posts about the market on a primary competitor, www.radio-info.com. The Minneapolis/St. Paul discussion area there has only a few dozen topics and not even 200 posts, whereas many other markets have activity levels of thousands of topics and individual postings numbering in the tens of thousands.
While the site does contain some frivolous material and silly topics, for the most part it is an informative and useful destination for those seeking current news of the Twin Cities radio and TV scene and information and opinion on contemporary programming theories and local station policies. It is also particularly entertaining as a site where the illustrious past of Twin Cities radio is discussed with many war stories, historical recollections and other anecdotes shared by those who experienced or perpetrated them. You can often find links to other sites that present the market's history through audio exhibits known as "airchecks" and sites that present other material, in the form of audio, video and still images. Two excellent resources often referenced on RedandNater.comare the free aircheck websites RadioTapes.com and TwinCitiesRadioAirchecks.com
