Four years and a facelift

Okay, okay - I heard ya!

For reasons that go beyond rational explanation, recently, the complex code that makes up this very blog you're reading decided to take on a life of its own. This isn't the first time, and while previously, it seemed to affect users on Internet Explorer and render effectively for users of Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera and other browsers, this time, it was the other way around.

It was all enough to make one go crazy.

Since the base template I had been using was no longer being supported by its author, and since it obviously wasn't working well anymore, changes had to be made. Hopefully, this will do the trick. And what better time to do so than a few days before the fourth birthday of this very blog you're reading. Don't say I didn't give you nothin'.

On October 12, 2004, in the heat of a rather heated national election season, LTR debuted. It was a rather crude, simple blog at the time. But over time, it too took on a life of its own. But in a better way. Four years later, once again in the midst of an even more heated election season, it seems as if we're finally going places. Currently, LTR is one of the top resources on the web for news and commentary about progressive radio and alternative media. Readership keeps growing and growing. Many of the people written about here read it, and have even emailed or mentioned it on their shows or own blogs. What started as a simple little hobby for me has taken on a life of its own.

And as LTR enters its fifth year, it's time for a fresh coat of paint. As I said, it's something that was born of necessity, since various styles of computer code (originally HTML-based, later CSS and now XML) used over the years have had a rather complicated time keeping up with the browsers that render them, and vice-versa.

Not a great deal has changed. Many of the same features are still here. First and foremost, the meat of the blog, the entries, are pushed over to the left column. Hopefully, that will keep that section from being shoved far down the page.

As the blog has grown, so have all the various features with it. In order to keep it lean and mean, some of the bloat had to be removed. You may notice that the listing of Non-commercial stations has been removed. It won't go away, though. That part will soon resurface on the LTR Wiki, which is a work in progress and compliment to this blog. Hopefully, this will make this blog easier to read and sorth through.

In addition, links to email, the MySpace page and the Wiki can be found at the very top of the page.

Hopefully, you all will enjoy the freshening-up of your favorite blog, and will continue to do so. It's a bit rugged right now, but will be cleaned up a bit over the next few days or weeks. If you have any comments or suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know. And I will also lean on all of you to do a little beta testing for me. Same as the entry last week - let me know how this renders on your system/browser, particularly those of you using Firefox or Safari (which seemed to be having many problems as of late). Thanks for reading, and enjoy Year Five.