As one might expect, in addition to listening to a lot of music I also read a lot about the music world. Recently I read somewhere that the Knitting Factory would be celebrating it's 10th Anniversary in February of 1997. The Knitting Factory, though I've never been there, is a place that I've come to respect for the quality and variety of performers that have graced its stage in addition to the quality and variety of music they've released on the Knitting Factory Works label. Suffice to say that I never really thought about how old the Knitting Factory is. Imagine my surprise to discover that Network Audio Bits predated the Knitting Factory.
First published in January 1987, Network Audio Bits was the fruit of an idea that I'd simmered in my brain for nearly a year. 1986 was the year that I married and it was also the year that we had our first child. These happenings were enough to keep me from devoting time to my 'computer network only' music magazine idea while I kept a running debate in the back of my brain as to whether I'd be able to commit enough time to the idea to make it worth doing. In January of 1987 I sent a copy of the first issue of Network Audio Bits to all of the people on the Bitnauts list who had expressed an interest in music. At the time I started publishing the magazine I owned more than 1,000 LPs and, by that time, nearly 200 CDs. A fair size collection and one with a fair amount of variety.
The first several issues of Network Audio Bits contained reviews of CDs and LPs that I bought. After putting out several issues I began to write to record labels asking for music to review. Some were immediately willing to send review copies (Gold Castle was the first), while some were extremely skeptical or, in a handful of cases, had no concept of what I was talking about when I tried to explain what Network Audio Bits was. If you can find a publicist in 1997 that doesn't know about a myriad of web-zines and newsletters, I'd be surprised.
In the fall of 1988 I started doing a weekly show at WMEB-FM. Exposure to all the music that came in at WMEB in addition to all the music I was receiving to review opened doors to many artists and styles of music I'd never dreamed of, though I certainly considered myself to be a fairly well-informed individual. The effects of all this on the magazine can easily be seen in both the rise in material covered and the variety of music represented. As issues grew, so did the time necessary to put together an issue. In those days I had a few semi-regular contributors, whom I'd certainly like to thank for their input.
After publishing on a fairly regular basis (Network Audio Bits has always been distributed free of charge and has never made even a single cent) I considered offering the magazine to Compuserve, the only real online service of the time, in 1989. Again the idea simmered in the back of my brain. The most negative aspect, to me, would be that if Network Audio Bits were being published for Compuserve there would have to be deadlines involved. That would not necessarily be a bad thing, but it would turn publishing the magazine into more of a job than a hobby. By that time I'd come to realize that, to me, the music was more important than trying to make money from the magazine. I never did contact Compuserve. There are times when I wonder what might have happened, though I'm perfectly happy to keep chugging along as part of the underground.
Not long after the above time period two things happened that caused Network Audio Bits to be back-burnered for a while. We had our second child (in 1991), which certainly requires a large time investment. We had our third in 1993, all girls. I also got more involved at WMEB when we were on the air for a summer and the Music Director was working far enough away that he only came to the station once a week, or less. That was the first time I filled in as MD at WMEB. Since that time I've filled in on several other occasions, the most recent being for 2+ years between 1994 and mid-1996. While the job of MD and music magazine publisher have many similarities, the focus is different enough that this situation made it difficult to put out Network Audio Bits on a consistent basis. Now that I am no longer MD (though I still am involved at WMEB) I hope to make Network Audio Bits a much more consistent entity.
Well, here are just a few reviews and bits of information to kick off the second decade of Network Audio Bits. I guarantee there will be much more to come. I hope that I'll be able to devote enough time to publishing to put up information and reviews on a regular basis. Ideally I'd like to do it as close to daily as possible. The recent gift of a PC will make this much more possible, especially once I install the communications software!
Oh, if you've been roaming the web and seeing web-zines that lay claim to being the "oldest 'descriptive term' music magazine on the net/web", please note that these folks have put a lot of time and effort into their publications, but also note that Network Audio Bits doesn't have to qualify the statement with descriptive terms. Network Audio Bits, quite simply, is the oldest music magazine on the net.
Thanks for reading!
Murph
Michael A. Murphy
Publisher/Editor