The staff at eKartingNews.com is pleased to officially launch the ‘EKN Radio Network’, the sport’s first 24-7 karting radio station. The streaming radio component of the site will be available on a dedicated page – www.ekartingnews.com/radio – and a mobile app is also in development that will allow our listeners to tune into the station whenever they want, whether they’re relaxing at home, working in the shop or driving to work or to the race track. The initial content for EKN Radio will feature our growing line-up of podcasts, as well as archived EKN Live play-by-play broadcasts.

Raising the bar has always been a core principle for EKN publisher Rob Howden, beginning with his very first magazine, which launched in the fall of 1998. The mission statement for Shifter Kart Illustrated was to provide karting with a next-level publication, one that mirrored the quality and editorial approach of top magazines like RACER and motocross’ Racer X.  This focus on striving to break new ground continued when Rob acquired eKartingNews.com, as he and his staff elevated the site immediately with unparalleled trackside event coverage.  Over the last 13 years, EKN has always been in a state of development and this continues today.  The EKN Radio Network is the next evolution of the program.

The debut of our ‘EKN Trackside Live’ streaming play-by-play program began at the SKUSA SuperNationals in 2008 with a rented mobile satellite dish – drop-shipped to the parking lot of the Rio – that brought Rob’s call of the event to over 5000 listeners. Fast forward 10 years and, this season, EKN will produce at least 25 live play-by-play broadcasts from the biggest and best series in the country.

“EKN continues to strive to stay on the cutting edge of motorsports media, and the most popular platform for offering content these days is the podcast,” stated EKN publisher Rob Howden. “We were producing podcasts back in the mid-2000s (the ‘Happy Hour with Howden’ days), but now that the newest technology has made it so much easier for our readers to consume the content, they’re back among our editorial focus and will be a key component of the EKN Radio Network.”

The station will feature several different podcast shows as EKN gets things rolling, including the following:

EKN Debrief – post-event synopsis and discussion

Operation Grassroots – a podcast focused solely on club and regional Briggs racing

Industry Insider – informational overviews and interviews with the sport’s industry members

One-on-One with Rob Howden – straight up talk with the sport’s personalities

The EKN Radio Network’s daily content schedule will feature blocks of archived EKN Live play-by-play broadcasts for the events that are part of this year’s EKN Trackside Live Tour. You’ll be able to tune in and listen to the racing from the SKUSA Winter Series and Pro Tour, the Challenge of the Americas, the WKA Manufacturers Cup, United States Pro Kart Series, Texas ProKart Challenge and the Can-Am Karting Challenge. Major events like the Rock Island Grand Prix, Streets of Lancaster Grand Prix and the SKUSA SuperNationals are also destined for the Network.  EKN will be kicking off the radio broadcast line-up with events like the 2017 SKUSA SuperNationals and the recently-completed Margay Sprint Nationals from WKA KartWeek in Daytona, which will part of the station’s content schedule over the next week.  Look for past EKN Live shows in special Throwback Thursday timeslots.

The scheduled content for EKN Radio Network will be detailed on the dedicated landing page – www.ekartingnews.com/radio – and content reminders will be sent out through the EKN social media channels.

“Obviously, two of the keys to developing a new program like this is feedback from our listeners and social media promotions,” added Howden. “Once we get rolling, we’d love to hear from our EKN Radio listeners with input on the schedule, show timing and content.  Is there a topic you’d like to heat discussed or an individual you think needs to be interviewed? Let us know.  We want to grow the EKN Radio Network, and you can help by sharing the link on your social media accounts. We’d love it if you could share the posts we make to promote the daily schedules, because awareness is key to growing our listenership and growing the sport itself.”

With that, a new era in the 15+ year history of eKartingNews.com is off and running.  Stay tuned for the release of the new EKN Radio app, and tons of great content.

Share on Facebook

Tweet