Wildman Steve had just finished his daily radio show on WQNR on March 31st when he received some shocking news. He was informed that the show was his last and was asked to clean out his office. Just like that, he was out of a job.

“I was told that it was a decision based on the shrinking of advertising revenue, and that they were blaming our award-winning format for that loss, rather than the fact that we had been transmitting from a temporary tower a third the size of our original tower since June of 2007 and had lost over half of our listening area,” Wildman said.

But that wasn’t enough to keep Wildman down for long. He decided to keep his radio program going, but this time on his own terms. Wildman plans to launch Wildman Steve Radio online around the middle of May.

Wildman said the format will be similar to his former show, only better.

“I will be able to do everything I wanted to do with The Rock,” he said. “We will be bringing back Annie Bond, and all the other DJs including Prof. Peter, Lola Palooza and possibly even Uncle Dave. We are setting up our studio to accommodate full bands, electric or acoustic, for live in-studio performances and have already lined up half a dozen national acts for such performances in the future.”

Wildman said that he decided to build his studio in Auburn, even though he’s had offers from other stations around the country, because he loves the area. The Internet Radio is getting support from record labels, promoters, musicians and listeners, but still needs a little help.

“We hope to do benefit concerts on a semi-regular basis, and have another set up in Atlanta at the Five Spot on Aug. 2nd,” Wildman said.

Wildman Steve Radio will be a commercial free station funded by listener donations, as well as hourly sponsorships and banner ads.

Wildman said he plans to offer membership to the Wildman Steve Radio site that will give listeners access to exclusive downcontests giving away CDs, concert tickets and more.

“With no real opportunities in our area, and with a mission I can not ignore, I chose this path in my career and have great optimism that we can make it work despite the challenges,” Wildman said. “In this age of information, it is time the radio listening experience eclipses the mediocrity of corporate programming. As YouTube has done for television, we hope to do in our own way for radio.  It is still ‘All About The Music.’ ”

Stay tuned to wildmansteve.com for the launch of Wildman Steve Radio, coming to your computer soon.