(It really is true….all good things must come to an end…..)
It is August here on The Program and it is time to announce some changes. Hockey never seems to rest for us and this may be the reason why so we owed it to everyone to reveal this now as opposed to later. Decisions like these are very tough emotionally. Let’s face it. No one ever wants to be put in this position but sometimes it just happens that way.The last couple months had become very tough on so many people that were involved in the blog and podcast in one way or the other. When Bruce Hollingdrake and The Hockey Writers asked if a THW Live podcast could be pulled off, I was not sure. These are decisions that can not be made at the spur of the moment. This was a road that once we went down on, there was no turning back.
The decision weighed on us for quite some time. How on Earth do we do this? How do we keep the entities completely separate, etc? All this seems so easy at first but when it comes ot implementing the concepts, the lines always get blurry. In the end, it came down to what was best for everyone involved and not just the person heading this operation. Personally I cannot thank people enough for their patience and support in what was a very trying situation.
So how will this go about? Simply, there will be three more episodes of the podcast version of The Program. On August 26th, there will be the “series finale” that yes will be completely uncensored. Some have asked why already and the answer is easy. The two hour show will feature many friends from our past and include likely a couple that will go forward with us. Like it has been said before, there are too many people to mention on this one post. However, I hope saying thank you here is enough.
The series finale will feature memories of the show’s first four years along with a look to what is ahead. With the debut of THW Live just two weeks later, it is not really goodbye but a step up into a new level of podcasting in a sense. There is nothing like trying to take a very good product and then trying to make it even better. The challenge is incredible and hopefully the results mean that much more hockey debate. This has always been the goal and forever will be.
THW Live will have many more people working on it which may be the nicest aspect of all. It is never easy to put together a show with all sorts of constraints and lack of reinforcements. That made The Program suffer at times and I humbly apologize. That should never occur. The decision was made to take the load off things in general so the best product made could be put forth. The unedited version of the show will be on the BTR page while the edited cut will be on The Hockey Writers. That hopefully works for everyone. Do not worry we will explain it a few more times for everyone throughout the month. It is the summer after all, right?
Again the topics will mostly be the same, but the delivery and tone will be different. So basically hold on tight and let us along for the ride hockey fans. Lastly from the bottom of our hearts, thanks for everything and enjoy the ride! There will be ways to help for all of our FB and Twitter fans and such so please hang tight. It is all very much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Chris Wassel
