Swag: Supporting The Station

"How does Skydog's Red Dirt Radio stay alive on the Internet?" 


   Broadcasting fees on Live365 are very reasonable and worth every penny, considering that Live365 tabulates and pays the royalties to the artists for the broadcaster. THAT in itself would be a major task... More than this ol' southern boy could keep up with! So, Live365 is a good thing!!


   Live365 offers 2 types of membership to listeners: Free and VIP (paid). You can listen "free" with radio ads just like brick & mortar stations (whoopee!) or sign up for a VIP membership - averages around 6 bucks a month and No ads and CD quality sound. Can't beat that with a stick!! The station is credited a small percentage of the monthly fee...comes directly off the bill.

Find out more on the VIP Membership by clicking HERE.


 BUT...broadcasting certainly ain't free...and a paramedic's salary SUCKS...so where does the money come from? ANSWER: Swag


Swag...Stuff...You know...T-Shirts, Caps, Coffee Cups...even baby blankets and thongs (talk about covering both ends of the spectrum!). All with "Skydog" designed logos (and a few smart-ass sayings).


I use two sites: CafePress and Zazzle for the "swag production". Both produce high quality images on really good quality stock. I have T-Shirts and cups from both that are over 10 years old and still looking good...
I only make a dollar (or less) profit from sales, but on a good month, I can almost pay the Bill! Click on the links below to HELP SUPPORT RED DIRT RADIO :

CafePress Store

Zazzle Store

Zazzle also has a widget...check out the swag from the Zazzle Store:

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Pretty Cool, ain't it?

Welcome to Skydog's Red Dirt Radio Blog!

What the Hell is Red Dirt Music and why should I listen to it?

  Skydog says: "It was always thought that Nashville, Tennesee was the "Shining Light" of country music...the record companies, producers, writers, even the artists, all had a vision of what "their" music should be...Outsiders NOT Welcome! Then Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, Billy Joe Shaver (to name just a few!) came to town in the '70's...many battles were fought...both sides won a few and lost a few. Some of the walls crumbled over the years...but not all. Nashville continued to crank out country/pop music for the masses (and the money!) with little regard to what had been lost - the HEART of country music - the SONGS.

   Meanwhile, out in the Oklahoma / Texas area, there remained an Outlaw spirit and a love for the actual song itself... formulas be damned! Songwriters like Bob Childers, Kevin Welch, Cody Canada, Jason Boland, Brandon Jenkins, and so many more...crafted songs by mixing Texas country, Southern Rock, Blues...any type that felt right; AND writing intelligent lyrics to go along with the music...BUT, Nashville ignored it.

   So Skydog's Red Dirt Radio was born...

   Since the vast majority of "brick and mortar" radio stations are owned and controlled by ONE company called Clear Channel, the listening public gets a tightly controlled play list that's politically correct, bland, and mostly Pop Country...Skydog's Red Dirt Radio decided to hit the 'Net and provide an alternative.

Take a listen here: Skydog's Red Dirt Radio

The History of Skydog's Red Dirt Radio:

  Skydog's Red Dirt Radio was born in 2002 as a "stress reliever" from my "real" job as a Paramedic. You gotta get away from the blood & guts somehow! 

   An old-time Southern Rock and Outlaw Country fanatic, I grew up in Upstate South Carolina in the late '60's and early '70's...we were just small town, country boys growing up with the guys in The Marshall Tucker Band ( just a few miles north of us), digging the Charlie Daniels Band, The Outlaws, Skynyrd and so many more in the "Chitlin' Circuit" bars...fake ID's firmly in hand most of the time! The pride and the excitement of seeing a new music genre evolve has persisted til today...only now it's Red Dirt Music.

Check back often...Top 10 Song Charts will be posted monthly; CD reviews, links to band sites, rants about the crap being promoted as "Country" music...you never know what might show up here!!