February 11, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- "Hello, I am Mitch Keeler, the unofficial voice of this Web hosting broadcast," proclaims the Southern-twanged Keeler on his online radio webcast. "I am here to talk about one thing, and one thing only: the wild and wacky world of Web hosting."
The sometimes eccentric, always exuberant Keeler has spent the past few months developing an online radio show devoted to Web hosting issues on his popular Mitchelaneous (mitchelaneous.com) blog. Serving mainly as an audio component to the blog, Keeler's show provides the latest Web hosting news and editorials, as well as the events of his own professional life.
But Keeler wasn't always an insider commenting on the Web hosting industry. For several years he worked doing customer support for a variety of Web hosting companies. Last May, after being let go from his customer support manager position at TotalChoice Hosting, Keeler decided to find another outlet to help people with the intricacies of Web hosting.
"I don't think that anybody can disagree with me when I say that Web hosting can be very confusing for a new person," he says.
The desire to help others led Keeler into writing for online technology resources. As a regular contributor to online technology news resource Lockergnome, as well as its related channels Web Developers and Tech News Watch, Keeler's articles have focused on some of today's most important technological issues. Keeler would eventually start a blog to use as an archive for his numerous articles on Web hosting, development, and other technology-related topics.
Keeler first came up with the idea for a Web hosting show after learning about "podcasting," a technique for sending text and audio via RSS feeds to subscribers' computers. The feeds can then be uploaded onto any portable music devices where they can be viewed or listen to. Since the technology's introduction last year, thousands of "podcasts" have sprung up on the Internet, many of them connected to personal blogs.
But instead of offering just another self-indulgent audio blog, Keeler wanted his radio Web cast to be more substantial.
"I wanted to turn my own experiences and work into something worth listening to," says Keeler. "I just want to help as many people as possible. It makes me feel good to help people figure some of this stuff out." Keeler has posted several testing podcasts on his blog -- each 15 to 20 minutes in duration. He hopes to officially launch the show by the end of the month.
Judging by the show's warm response, it looks as though Keeler will be successful in his projected launch date. Emails from listeners have been pouring in, requesting more shows, while fellow aspiring Web radio show hosts have lent their support to Keeler with helpful tips and suggestions. A few people in the Web hosting industry have even shown interest in sponsoring Keeler's show to help ease the financial burdens of increasing the site's bandwidth and disc space.
While Keeler is still working hard at making a living through his site and articles, he hopes to bring aboard some sponsors as the show grows in popularity.
"These days the money isn't rolling in, but I am having fun and helping a lot of folks," he says. "For me, hearing somebody say, 'thanks for the help' is all the reward I need."
