Preamble: This site is © StarMaiden unless otherwise denoted... please do not lift my work without asking for permission.

When did this all begin?

I'm tempted to say it started back in 1998 when The Holy River really started to take off... a small group of us talked about how complicated it would be to start our own station. I spent hours downloading all of the documentation. The problem *then* was, the streamhosts that you can find now - well, if they existed, they certainly were well cloaked! The idea back then was to set up a computer (server) solely dedicated to the broadcasts etc.

Needless to say, we tabled that discussion!

In 2005, however, when we relaunched The Holy River; we started thinking about it a lot more seriously, and found quickly that there were a lot more resources this time around if we wanted to consider it.

The original idea was that when we were in the chat, soooo many people would come in thinking that we were a group of religious zealots based on our name (they would find us from the chat server without knowing anything else in advance)... we would then "lol" and explain to them that "The Holy River" was the name of a Prince song, and the chat was originally started by him/L41A before it was 'handed off' [to me]. From that point - they'd ask if they were still welcome if they didn't like Prince music.

This was the point that we always tried to stress - The Holy River was not a "Prince" chat per se - that's never what he wanted... he wanted a peaceful, loving place where people could learn and grow together, an experiment in truth... and while Prince music was the common thread - because it was what brought most of us TO the site - there ended up being a LOT of people in there who liked every style of music you could ever imagine!

There are still many involved in the original idea who have fallen out of contact (life happens, imagine that!) who are welcome and encouraged to come home and join us in the experience! You know who you are, and if you're reading this right now - that's half the battle! (hint: Brian, Darren...)

DIVERSITY is KEY - and the idea of a private station of our own was ideal - we could all share each other's tastes, broaden each other's 'list' and have a musical playground together.

A hobby site.

So one day, WLJedi & I were talking (chatting) about the river and future goals etc. and I told him the story about the station. He *loved* the idea, even though I felt like I was mentioning it in passing. I didn't want to pursue it at the time because I didn't want to try to do it alone. Jedi, however, started talking with an old familiar friend from The Holy River that I hadn't reconnected with yet, who was not only all for the idea - he already had experience with Internet Radio on another station!

The three of us (DJ Jedi, DJ Detroit Butcher, and I) started brainstorming - still thinking we were setting up just a HOBBY SITE (lol)... and the rest is history! We've grown quickly and realize now exactly what we want to do with this site and station - emphasize freedom and diversity, give talented INDEPENDENT artists a platform for promoting their skills, and as Jedi would say - LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD.

There's no Payola here - if it's on the air, it's because we believe in that particular artist - period!

Update: 09/07 Here we are, nearly 2 years after the start of Holy River Radio (now known as Emancipation Radio) and we are gaining momentum every single day. Watch us grow!

Welcome to Emancipation Radio, this TRULY IS what FREEdom sounds like!

Peace & Funk,
§tarMaiden
^i^