Web geekery mostly finished

The msrpk.com website is now moved to a new host, along with the corresponding e-mail addresses and the public links for our on-line performance of Radio-Road-Test, our audio archives, and our RSS/podcast feeds.   I'll take this opportunity to remind you of the links:

Radio-Road-Test listener page:  http://msrpk.com/listener.html

Radio-Road-Test audio archive for past tests: http://msrpk.com/archive.html

RSS feeds of Radio-Road-Test:
http://msrpk.com/podcast/roadtestrss.xml
http://msrpk.com/podcastroadtest.rss.xml

msrpk.com just about back to normal operations; contest in future?

Our domain transfer was finally approved overnight; I've uploaded 90 per cent of the site to our new host, and will, by the end of the week, restore the playback functions on our Radio-Road-Test listener page to full operation.  They may work with last week's episode in the interim. 

Access for our affiliated over the air radio stations will also likely be restored over the weekend and also our RSS feeds of Radio-Road-Test.  I'll leave the affected programs from the past couple of weeks in the podcast playlist so you don't miss one. 

Also, if you followed the Twitter feed, you saw a tweet that might suggest that we were about to have a contest.  I'm working on the details and hope to announce them once the partner (a car care product company) signs off on what we want to do.

Thanks for listening, whether over the air, on line or by RSS/podcast.

Website Update

Because of our change of web hosts, the on-line version of Radio-Road-Test will be delayed until the cut over is successful.  When you click on one of our links at msrpk.com, you deserve, and should expect to get where and what you want from our website in four or fewer clicks without a lot of pop ups and other on line drama.  The RSS feed is still up for the moment, but will be off line when the cut over takes place.

We have uploaded this week's episode to our SoundCloud feed. It's our test of the real-world 30 mile per gallon Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Edition with the 3 liter V6 diesel engine and 8 speed automatic transmission.

Thanks for your patience.  Just a heads up:  I'll be testing the 2014 North American Car of the Year in early fall.  It is, of course, he Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.  I always upload a snapshot and a quick preview of all the vehicles we test to our Twitter feed (msrpk_com).

Website migration for msrpk.com begins October 1, 2014

Our website, msrpk.com, will be migrating to a new hosting server beginning October 1, 2014.  During that migration, you will likely experience outages until the domain transfer is complete.  This will not impact our broadcast partners, but will affect podcasts and on line access for Radio-Road-Test.  Our access for SoundCloud.com will remain open, so those who listen via our RSS podcast feed and our listener page on line, are cordially invited to check in at soundcloud.com, and type in the search term "radioroadtest".

I'll apologize in advance for any inconvenience, but the present hosting server,  myhosting.com, is no longer able to provide us with the functionality I need for my broadcast partners, so a change has to be made.

The change will allow me to upgrade some functionality.

Temporary FTP Outage/myhosting.com drops the ball

If you have tried to access our Radio-Road-Test program from our listener page today (9/26/2014) you may have found a problem.  The company who hosts our site, myhosting.com, dropped a last minute upgrade on its customers like me that necessitated them disabling the FTP capabilities of our site.  They did so without notifying me in enough time so I could find a workaround or give you a heads up that that was about to happen.  To be fair, the company has had a good record with me and up time.   But you listeners deserve an explanation if something does not work as it should.  The company believes it will have the upgrade finished later in the day.  I am not happy about this, but it is what it is.

In the meantime, those who might like to hear this week's version of Radio-Road-Test may visit soundcloud.com, and search for "radioroadtest".  The last few episodes are available for your listening pleasure.

Radio-Road-Test Now on SoundCloud

To make it easier for listeners who might have missed the latest episode of "Radio-Road-Test", I've started uploading them to a SoundCloud account, user name "radioroadtest".  This is an additional channel, and will supplement the listen link on our listener page (msrpk.com/listener.html), our podcast, and our over the air broadcasts.

Episode 1050 of Radio-Road-Test

Since January 28, 1993, I've produced and hosted a radio program called "Radio-Road-Test", which is simply a program of driving impressions of American and foreign cars and light trucks.  The first vehicle was a Buick LeSabre.  Here is a picture of our 1050th vehicle, the BMW 535d:

The data for this, and road tests dating back to 2003, are available from the msrpk.com listener page, as is the ability to listen to the most recent episode of Radio-Road-Test.  The msrpk.com audio archive page allows you to download milestone programs and programs from this and the past test year.  Radio-Road-Test is also available as an RSS feed; the listener page has the link for that feed.  Comments are always welcome.

 

msrpk.com links:

1. msrpk.com Listener Page
2. msrpk.com Audio Archive Page

2013 Test Year in Review

2013 Test Year Summary

 

This is something I should have done sooner.  Now that I've semi-retired, and no longer cover auto racing, I have time to dot the i's and cross the t's.  This summary of my 2013 Test Year for Radio-Road-Test is part of that.

 

I produced my 1000th episode of the program, with a roadtest of the Cadillac ATS, which won North American Car of the Year for 2013.  I didn't know it at the time, but I also got a jump on testing Chevrolet's 2014 North American Truck of the Year, the Chevy Silverado, when I drove its cousin, the GMC Sierra back last summer.  I expect to produce my 1050th episode of the program in May, 2014.

 

Now to facts/figures:

 

Total Miles Driven          35,316

Average Miles Per Test:       679

 

Average 0-60 Time Over all 52 Vehicles:    7.3 Seconds (timed in traffic conditions with a KAT Matrix Accelerometer)

 

Average Fuel Economy Observed over all 52 Vehicles:     27.6 Miles Per Gallon

 

Cost (sticker price) of all 52 Test Vehicles:     $2,068,834

Average Sticker Price of a Test Vehicle:     $39,785

 

You may listen to any 2013 Test Year episodes, along with this week's broadcast, by pointing your browser to msrpk.com/archive.html  You may also subscribe to our weekly podcast, which, thanks to advertisers, will not cost you anything but the time it takes to download to your computer, tablet or smartphone.

 

I sincerely appreciate your listening, comments, and your Twitter follows.