The Unemployment Line

Thursday, June 30, 2005

UL on iTunes...almost

Just so everyone knows we are submitted to iTunes for listing in their directory (thanks, GOT), but they seem to be taking a long time to get things running there. I imagine many podcasters submitted their feeds lately and they might be sorting through everything. While being available on iTunes certainly means fame and fortune and the opportunity for Greg to finally get that operation...we're in no hurry, since we have a great audience of loyal listeners already. Let's give Apple a few days and hopefully we'll be on there soon.

Just a note, once we are on iTunes, our shows will be available for a scant $.99 per episode, or you could buy the whole album for $9.99. Of course we will have to license the 20 second song sweepers we play during the show, so we'll actually owe our listeners money in the end. So each of you will be receiving an Unemployment Check in the mail soon.

Okay, it's a little late for April Fools Day, but July Fools Day (celebrated July 1) is just around the corner. Really. All the listeners already pay a heavy price by listening to us talk for minutes on end.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

No Show Today

Well, we recorded a show and my computer decided to crash the recording program and lose the file I was about to save. Greg and I found the file in the temp directory and tried to restore it, but the audio was segmented making it extremely difficult to understand. So we lost the show. Here's what you missed:

Regis ranting about the half-naked fat man at the racetrack
Frankie ranting about the Scientologists
Greg ranting about organized religion

Well, maybe it's best the show is gone forever. We'll be back Friday in full force, that's for damn sure!

Sorry everyone,
-Regis

Friday, June 24, 2005

Unemployment Line podcast 027

Having internet issues on my computer now, thanks to Windows XP! It's seems to be working now, so I can finally post the show.



Show Notes:

00 Creamy Steve and The Strange Brood podcast
08 Sears to build stadium in Hoffman Estates
13 Pete R. gives Gary a Geography lesson
15 Oak Lawn Public Library and Playboy Magazine
20 BKWRM and Darwin nominees
26 Marijuana Candy
32 AFI Top 100 Movie quotes
35 Web Poll results
39 New Meatball flavoured Snapple
43 Steak and Shake: bad idea
48 Karaoke night recap

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Unemployment Line Podcast 026

Here's yesterday's show (finally). Was busy with landscaping, swimming, and working on special podcast news, so I apologize.



Show Notes:

00 Elgin Courier news story about the UL
09 The Croncast on NBC 5
13 Podcast Alley rant
16 Triumph on iFilm.com (thanks MTigerV, Derik)
18 Redwalls
20 Tom Cruise, Scientologist
28 Frank's Wedding DJ story
34 Impersonators Rick Saucedo and Denny Diamond
45 Meatball of the Week
48 No Faking Female Orgasm
53 Entertainment News

Monday, June 20, 2005

The Unemployment Line in the news

We had a reporter in-studio a couple weeks ago, and the Elgin Courier ran the story today. I think it's a fair look at the subtle genius that is the Unemployment Line. The article includes some hard hitting quotes from the Regis, humorous commentary from Frankie, and statistics from Greg. Also featured is the Phantom Feed and our good friend the Girl on Tech.

"Locals Pick Up on Podcasting" article


If you're visiting this website after hearing about us in Elgin, be sure to download one of our recent shows (click the 'podcasting' image under the show 025 post), leave a comment, and join the podcasting craze.

Thanks to Teresa for writing a great, accurate story about podcasting and our show! "Podcasts offer an alternative to seemingly ever-more homogenous commercial radio." Awesome!

Friday, June 17, 2005

Unemployment Line Podcast 025

Our first call-in show! sort of. Lots of shout-outs, promos, and other fun stuff so check it out!



Show notes:
00 Thanks to Unemployment Check donor Pete R.!!!!
08 Frank's fishing license
13 Drive Thru top 10
21 DWI Olympics, courtesy Red Shtick Magazine
27 Greg's new couch
33 Cubs Game with Creamy Steve
38 Shawn's new podcast Hell or High Water
48 Strange names
53 Webspace provided by Harold at the Darn PC Podcast


Thanks again to Harold and the Girl on Tech for their help and generosity. Let'e hope this thing is solved! Thanks again to Pete R. for signing the Unemployment Check! New Favorites Listed at right!

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Web Poll - Geeky pastimes!

Here's your chance to confess and be absolved of geeky behaviour. It's anonymous and no penance will be given other than to continue to refrain from sexual activity due to your incredibly lame interest in 'fantasy' games.

What's your favorite geeky pastime?



Current results

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Hosting Problems...solved!

We tried the old way of posting the show and it was still too slow for our tastes, so enter the Girl on Tech and her generous friend Harold of the Darn PC podcast who set up some good webspace for us. Our shows will now download at reasonable speeds thanks to Harold, so please check out his show and thank him for being brilliant! And thanks to the G.O.T. for pulling strings (not our strings!) to get that set up for us. You guys rock! Thanks also to SKYPE for providing the seamless chat that helped us work everything out.

Unemployment Line Podcast 024

Good luck downloading all! Hopefully it won't take you 5 hours!



Show Notes:

00 Website/bandwidth issues/apologies
09 Karaoke woes for Greg, Frankie
21 Foo Fighters - "In Your Honour" out today!
25 The last you'll hear of Michael Jackson
31 The Jesus Window
36 Train mishaps in the news
41 Meatball of the Day - Circuit Court Judge Preston Bowie
43 "Basket Case" cover by Low-Brau
48 Wood Hands Man
53 Call-in from Creamy Steve - vagineeweed
60 Web Poll Results



Thanks again for your patience everyone. If you'd like to donate to the webhosting, check the paypal link at right, or if you can donate webspace, email us please.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Bandwidth issues, next episode

from customer service:

After speaking to several technicians they reported that the traffic issues you are experiencing are due to an automatic bandwidth buffer on your account. The buffer has been modified to allow for faster speeds.

Please let us know if the issue continues.

Thank You,
Digitalinet Customer Service


So now we're downloading around 50 KB/sec, so that's better but not great.

If you are a person with the means to donate webspace and bandwidth, we would consider a sponsorship or something. We originally went with a bargain host becuase we were just starting out and didn't want a large initial investment. Now that we know we enjoy podcasting and have attracted a great listener base, we're ready to upgrade if necessary. You can also help by signing the Unemployment Check at right to donate to the show.

We will be recording Tuesday morning as usual, and we appreciate everyone's patience and comments. Special thanks again to the Girl on Tech.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

UL Podcast 023 Working!

Oh boy. What have we done here? Obviously major problem with the site and listeners not being able to download anything in a reasonable manner. Thanks to all who made comments and such, we hope to fix the problem soon.

Enter the Girl on Tech. She's brilliant! She's savvy! She's got a sexy voice! She's generously offered to host this week's show on her server for us until we can get things figured out.



Please take time to visit Jennifer at the Girl on Tech, check out her show and extend a heartfelt "thanks" to her for being so kind. I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.

Our next planned recording session is Sunday evening (we're trying to figure out a summer schedule in the event Greg gest a job *GASP!), but it might not matter if we can't get the webhosting situation ironed out.

Keep an eye out for a Paypal link soon so you can donate to the cause of getting a host that won't crap out like this in the future. Also coming soon to the website: Buy Melvis a Drink!

Slow Downloads!

Sorry everyone. I put in an e-mail to our webhosts (digitalinet) Wednesday evening, so I am hoping to hear from them first thing Thursday morning. Until then, don't bother trying to download the show. We have not had a problem like this before, even though it is a bargain host. Also, I uploaded the show with no problem, so I can't imagine what's wrong.

If you can't live without the show and have room in your inbox, eimail me and I can send the show as an attachment.

Thanks for listening and being patient, this should be resolved soon.

-Regis

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

UL Podcast 23

Slow in posting because I was at the pool all afternoon and evening with Gary and Frank! It was indeed worth it, though.


Show Notes:

coming soon (maybe)



Thanks, and don't forget to vote in the weekly web poll and at Podcast Alley!

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Web Poll - Summer Anthems!

Pick your favorite Summer Anthem from this list approved by the Summer Fun Council of Schaumburg. Yeah!



What's your favorite Summer Anthem?

Current results

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Jerome in the Bushes

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Greg and my wife Barb, "Jerome" was found comfortably passed out in the forest.





Looks like fun!

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Unemployment Line Podcast 022

Sorry for the wait everyone. Here's your Wednesday edition. We may not have time to record another show this week, so keep your eyes on the website for the next show.



Show notes:

00 INTRO
04 Jerome has too much to drink
12 Sunday evening with Frankie V
14 Brotherhood Show Monday
17 Hit Me Baby 1 More Time
22 Alcohol Quiz, featuring VIRTUAL MELVIS
29 Sports that are not Sports
35 Clips for Kids (and Parents, too!)
38 Meatball of the Day
42 Web Poll Results
45 Celebrity Obits
50 June Holidays
54 CLOSING


An action packed show! Also, please take a moment to give us a vote at Podcast Alley (see link at right). It only takes a minute and we'd really appreciate it.