Editorial: APRIL…. I Waited Until After The First!

In my time over the last ten years on Talk Audio, (sorry, I never really liked the name change…) I have pulled off some cracking April Fool’s Day Japes. This is not one of them. But let me regale you with my best: THIS was way back in 2009.

“A major mobile electronics dealership in Tampa, Florida has had a sad loss of two of its most talented staff. The proprietor, Todd Ramsay, found two bodies in his workshop when he opened up in the morning. He’d left two of his best guys working on a serious 183.0dB SPL install to finish it for the Spring Break and they felt they had a world record contender. The bodies were lying near the Dodge Ram vehicle with blood stained noses and ears. The windows were all broken and the Audio Control meter they were using with the highest SPL pressure sensor connected was still showing a display that read 183.6dB. Todd said, ‘The Hardass SPL team will really miss Bubba and Goober. We have to enter the install in their memory, but we are worried about health and safety issues…’ ”

The Audio Control meter gives away the date. TermPro’s pressure sensor took over the big loudness, as microphones got kicked in. I have an anniversary edition SA-3055 with blue LED’s. A direct gift from Tom Walker himself, some years before he sold the company to the CEO in 2014. Tom used to send me hot smoked salmon from Seattle’s Pike Place fish market and I would hand-deliver a tin of Harrogate Toffee at the CES show in Las Vegas. I was closer to him than any other American. “I bet you get asked for these all the time, don’t you Tom?” I also asked, after cravenly pleading for one. He replied, “Yes Adam, but they don’t get all get as quick an answer!”

I loved him for that.

And this was savage, last year and got believed.

“Recently, Ian ‘Iceman’ Pinder was on my Facebook feed for a change and it seemed he had been found by a BBC researcher and asked if he would supply the spec of his car for possible inclusion on Top Gear. He was unsure they were bothered, so I told him they bloody WERE or they wouldn’t be wanting to spend time looking at his car. And yes, the BBC put him on the telly.

In the event, I know Ian was utterly chuffed to have been asked, had a bloody brilliant time seeing it all being done and found that taking part was a blast. Then he found out his bit was part of ‘Extra Gear’ as against the main show and was a bit wistful.

Thing is, if you go look at the report on the BBC iPlayer and know the car at all, you can see that all the audio images, every single shot, was a detail of his mad BMW, filmed to look as if a cruise worth of boom cars had been at the Ace Cafe that night.

It was all Ian.

And in nothing flat, after seeing all the footage and how utterly relaxed Ian is on camera (and using just a bit of Ian’s dialogue on the show) the makers of Extra Gear have decided that he is a perfect fit for the Top Gear spin off show and he has been thrown in at the deep end with his own ‘Street Cred Section’ in which he will be interviewing modified and audio cars and their owners.

It’s a job I would have given a testicle for but Ian has the damn charisma, the car to arrive in, the talent and way less ego. Truth is, I am thrilled or him and know he will have enormous fun doing it.

I’m hardly bitter at ALL! GO ICEMAN!”

But here is the thing, the reason I had to wait, despite my workaholic boss being beyond excited at what he and his mad Scientists Of The Old Code have managed to do. I didn’t want to announce this on April 1st.

You are now looking at a massive new website with my entire body of work moved over to it! Yes, ten years, three THOUSAND articles of news, reviews, videos embedded from YouTube (except the ones I deleted from Modified Nationals!) and years of blogs. Except I call them Editorials. All right here, under the byeline of “Talks Audio: News, Reviews & Video” See what I did there?

The world and the web changes all the time and this was an Herculean effort which involved the computer scientists in such depth of cunning, that it took our Guru back to when he and Switchy and Harry Bo (all forum handles, sorry…) would do a full re-skinning of the site. That meant live messing with a site with thousands of active users, four million posts and my magazine – then a BIG update. It was so tough it got nostalgic and took them back to when Harry Bo was alive. (It was true, we did all Love Him So. Chris Taylor aka HarryBo 1984-2010.) Translating from three different content management systems meant more code than content in most of it until they applied vorpal strokes of cunning.

I can never thank them enough, I was heartsick so deep inside at the thought of that body of work gong into the night.

Guys, I love you!

So, to the FUTURE! This is the new, shinier, better to navigate and search site, all of my own, where I will be doing more high end OEM car systems, more pro audio and I fancy a bit of the aspirational, crazy-end speakers and HiFi. Now that this content is not hanging from  a huge car audio forum, I may be able to parlay my own brand and history in the field into getting some big players to let us in the door.

I just wanted to add,  my huge thanks for the forum users. In their legion, they welcomed me with open arms, called me ‘Mister’ (!) and gave me a Golden Key To The Industry, lain upon a sumptuous purple velvet cushion with tassels of pure gold on each corner. The size of the audience was five times that of any car audio magazine that ever existed and bigger than the print circulations of any print hifi title.

When I started, I got support from every single company I asked! Bless you guys. You enabled me to continue to specialise in car audio long after others had left the industry, you flew me to Japan and Las Vegas and it has been a blast. Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart.

Now, lets go find some more stuff to mess with.. WAIT until you see the maddest SQL car ever built, or the Alpine van feature..or the new crazy-end JL Audio speakers…

Adam Rayner On Line Editor, Talk Audio – Talk Stuff.  2008 – 2018