(re)Building a Website
Matt Seinberg

My first website for Big Apple Airchecks was rudimentary by the standards of today. I built it at Tripod and outgrew it quickly. It was basically a listing of my aircheck collection, with some pictures and audio; it’s still there, but I haven’t updated it in years.

Josh built my second site for a song.

My second website was build using Microsoft Front Page, by a then fourteen-year-old kid, that Wendy Wild, formerly of WBLI-FM and now working at WKTU-FM, referred to me. For $100, Josh built about twenty pages and taught me how to update it myself. I kept him around for another six months, at $10 a month, just in case I needed help or if something happened that I couldn’t fix.

Eventually, I was able to update and build pages myself. At the time, I had a Windows XP desktop and later a Windows 7 desktop. Then the inevitable happened and my Windows 7 computer bit the dust.

Windows 10 no longer supports the Front Page app, so it was time to build a new site. I inquired around through friends; radio legend Dick Summer referred me to his granddaughter, who wanted around $4,000 to build it. That was far beyond my budget.

I got an unsolicited email from a guy in India. Although he would work within my small budget, he never sent me a sample of what I wanted. Scratch that one as likely a scammer.

Next up was a friend of friend in Canada. He agreed to do the job for what I considered a reasonable price. I sent him a deposit and got a new logo.

Then my Canadian friend said that due to health and other reasons he couldn’t complete the job. I was quite mad. The money was wasted.

Facebook to the rescue?

Then I remembered another Facebook friend whom I first met when he was in radio. He was now going to graphic design school and learning how to build websites. We came to an agreement and he started building my new website last year.

My deadline was mid February 2021, which was when my term with the current host was ending. My Facebook friend recommended another host that cost less; he had put sites on previously. I was on board.

As my site is over twenty pages and I wanted a particular look, we blew past the February deadline. Because of that, the old host auto renewed my account and I had to dispute it with my credit card because the old host never answered any e-mails or trouble tickets. As of now, the charge was reversed; I hope it stays that way.

Here we are, at the end of March and I see the finish line. My web designer, I can’t believe I have a web designer, Atom Smasher, former Texas radio personality, and I are almost done. There is some tweaking required, but the all-new website for bigappleairchecks.com is almost ready to launch.

My web designer and I had some discussions regarding the overall look and the use of audio. I wanted some audio to open on every page automatically, with an option for the viewer to shut it off if they so choose. He felt that anything over twenty seconds was too long. I disagreed.

Watch for the grand launch.

Do we have a virtual launch party with all my aircheck and radio friends or wait until really good weather and have everyone over for a BBQ? I doubt either one is going to happen. When the website is ready finally ready to go, I’ll get some mentions in radio press and blast it all over Facebook. Remember, Big Apple Airchecks is your full service aircheck source.