Thanks…for 5 great years.
Dear Backstagers:
It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since I first drove five hours from New Orleans to Jackson, Mississippi to get one of the first SIRIUS Satellite Radios in the nation.
I was just a freshman in college, sitting in the cold, eagerly waiting at the front of the line. The doors at Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City (the home of the DirecTV launch in 1994) opened at 7am. I was the first one in; I shook Joe Clayton’s hand, as well as Jim Collins (then SIRIUS VP of Communications) and then ran to the back of the store to pick out my Kenwood SR-901 tuner and head unit.
In those days, many thought SIRIUS would never pull off this launch, but I had to prove that it worked to the entire Internet community. Hard to believe this event would give birth to the largest satellite radio fan community.
It’s been a wild ride, and I’m forever grateful to the people who have embraced the SIRIUS Backstage Community, as well as the great people at SIRIUS who invited our original team up to visit: Tom Rielly, John McMullen, Ron Rodrigues, Elise Brown, Kid Kelly, Ethel Miller, Jim Ryan, Meg Griffin, Spyder Harrison, Jose Mangin. You guys were the inspiration for this concept, and you all gave me the passion to keep this going.
However, the true lifeblood of this community is our members. I tried to model SIRIUS Backstage off other great online community I frequented during those days. I wanted to craft a place where fans could interact, respect each other and share real life stories. I wanted the SIRIUS Backstage community to be above the rest of the Internet - a quality place where you’d actually meet good friends, learn something interesting and have a little fun.
I had no idea that I’d meet so many of my virtual friends and family in real life. We had some great times in New York and Las Vegas.
SIRIUS Backstage wouldn’t be here today without each one of you. Thank you for making this place the gold standard of online communities.
Jeff