Time Flies!

When it look at the date of the last blog I get a bit nervous to realise how much time has passed.
Things are progressing very quickly now after a very slow start, and at RQW House the ring has become very popular. The RQW Trainees are settling in and group 1 is now established and fixed, allowing them to progress without being held back by newcomers, and group 2 will be starting soon. The SLAM Sessions are still not pulling people so I'm not honestly sure what's going to happen there. I may need to free up sundays for my own stuff, but we'll see how it goes.

On the Spectrum front, Helen has very cleverly formulated a new side for the business, Spectrum Weddings, which is now in operation, and looks like it could do well, plus DJ Len i9s still doing his radio shows, and on July 4th will launch the first Pirate Radio Night at The Talk in Norwich, hopefully tied in with a live worldwide broadcast, so things are looking bright.

The next Pay per view party is Sunday June 7th, so hopefully the fun atmosphere that's been developing will continue to grow.

More to come soon.
Cheers
Len

Back in Blighty

So here I am sitting in the Manchester hotel after our very early return from Dublin this morning. It was touch and go about the ferry as the weather had been so bad, and we weren't sure if the ferry would sail, but sail it did and the truck with TNA ring is safe and sound in the UK again after 2 amazing nights in Dublin.

It's been great meeting them all again, and some that we didn't meet last time, and it's truly a family feeling. As with last time, the time is going too quickly, but it's a blast.

Busy Days

It's incredibly intense here at the moment as we complete the programmes for the RQW debut on Pulse, plus the Armwrestling for Eurosport, plus all by next wednesday lunchtime as then I collect the truck for the TNA Tour. We had a blast last June and I'm so looking forward to seeing them again, and this time meeting some of the other members of the roster.

Last time we were using the RQW entranceway and my crew recorded the shows, but the venues are way too big this time and they film exclusively in HD now, so I have the somewhat simpler task of organising the ring which involves a ferry ride to Dublin next Thursday, overnight, but once the ring is set, we're there for 2 nights, so hopefully a bit of partying will be on the cards.

2009is still promising to be a great year as the DVD distributor, Alba, are planning to release RQW DVD's into the shops. I'm talking to them now, but it looks like the first release will be a WAW compilation of the first 4 episodes. Still in the planning stages but on the cards.

Lots more to come. I'll have my laptop on the TNA tour so will no doubt update as time amd circumstances allow.

2009 - Looking good!

Christmas was quiet for me this year, only myself, mum and dad. Ilona and Elina over in Latvia, and Tom unable to make it over this year, so a truly peaceful Christmas.

I have to say that I didn't mind it as I needed to recharge my batteries, and even though it's only for 2 days it helped a lot actually.

January 12th draws near when we have to deliver the first 12 programmes to Pulse for compliance checking prior to the February 9th launch, and I'm really happy with the way things are shaping up. Pulse are really keen to make the channel the "official" home of British wrestling, and that seems to be supported by a lot of the major players in the UK scene.

An extra plus is that Simon at Pulse wants to deal only with me as far as wrestling on the channel is concerned, which gives me the opportunity to increase the quality of the archive that's being created up and down the country. So far 8 promotions have been in touch with me offering footage, and some have sent shows through for me to look at, and they're very positive about my feedback to get it up to a level for TV. Once the level's there we can do a genuine UK roundup show that doesn't involve my team recording the shows, and more importantly the industry will gain a better quality archive of what's going on.

I'm very proud to have a great team on board, and Dan Ambrose is settling in well as the frontman for WAW and Euroslam, Dave Bradshaw and "Irish" Stew Allen are settling in well as the new commentary team for WAW, although I really miss Dean Ayass, and fully intend to use Steve Lynskey in the near future too.

I'm still deciding what to do with the SAS footage, but that will also be brought into play soon, and the large archive of RQW footage is now proving beneficial.

2009 is going to be COOL!!!!!

2009 looking good!

I've just finished broadcastingon www.urradiooldies.com and for the first time in several months I see the future clearly. Yesterday I had great news about RQW and TV which I'm now fine-tuning, The Arm wrestling is ongoing ready for January broadcast on Eurosport, and there are other things on the horizon, so I truly can't wait for 2009 to begin.

The only down side are the family problems we have right now, but I pray for a positive resolution, and I'm keeping an open mind about other things as illness is out of our hands.

I'm finding it very hard to be Christmassy right now, but I'm determined to get into the spirit.

First live radio in 26 years

Yesterday evening I broadcast live for the first time in 26 years on www.urradiooldies.com, and it was a blast. The last time I sat in a studio, apart from the phone I had no idea who was listening and even less chance of getting instant requests, but yesterday with IM's and emails it was terrific. More live etuff next thursday and I can't wait. The main audience seems to be Eastern seaboard USA so it's a 3pm to 6pm slot, almost a drive time show, and I love it.

Off to Norwich this evening for the WAW training camp with camera in hand to film some elements for the "knight Dynasty" programme. Also to pick up the remaining bits of the 16 foot training ring at RQW house. The ring will be opeerational from next week, and it appears that from January it's going to be used quite a bit as I had clients here in the week looking to do weekly training camps on occasions.

2009 is looking MUCH brighter than 2008 was.

Onwards and upwards!

Life is a funny old thing. This year has been a problem for just about everybody I know, and people who I thought I knew have surprised me in not very pleasant ways, so I can honestly say I'm looking forward to 2009 with profound feelings of hope and positivity as I know it's going to be great.

We've just started editing (and filming) International Armwrestling (52 episodes for Eurosport), and I truly have the feeling that this is going to be huge next year. I'd never heard of it until we started working with it, but I can see the potential.

Also once the RQW training school is operational properly it looks like the facility will be in use practically every day. Apart from wrestling I have several MA organisations enquiring about hiring it.

Then there's The Magical History Tour. It's great to be back on radio, and the roadshow looks like it will be touring next year as well. Add the TNA tour into the mix and the start of some very exciting stuff featuring India (although Mumbai is not the place to be at the moment), plus the reality TV show that I'm putting together called "The Knight Dynasty" (guess what it's about), there's more than enough to have me smiling.

All I have to do now is try and get into the Christmas spirit. I do love Christmas and I so want this year to be a great one to compensate for the rest of the year.