PinkGator - The History
I will update this from time to time as I remember more stuff, it's hard to write down over a year and a half of history in one sitting.
PinkGator Radio was founded in September of 2005, by Nick Lafferty. Nick was first turned onto online radio when he tuned into GameSurge Radio. After being influenced by DJ MoJo, Nick was inspired to start his own radio station, and PinkGator was born. The first month, Nick was the ONLY on air personality. After a month of mildly unsuccessful broadcasting, PinkGator was on the verge of shutting down; however, Nick persevered, and PinkGator remained online. Shortly after, several DJ's were recruited, these included such people as Royce Hawkins, Matt Markov, and Ryan Turner. With the addition of the new DJ's, PinkGator blossomed, and PinkGator was well on it's way to becoming the successful and revolutionary radio station that is today. PinkGator peaked in December of 2005, with an army of over 20 DJ's, streaming music nightly, and a fun atmosphere. PinkGator threw its first party on New Years Eve. This was no ordinary party however, PinkGator counted down the new year in FOUR different timezones, and Nick gave away fresh baked cookies, a personally signed 2x4, among many other things.
PinkGator stayed active and strong, and on February 4th, 2006, GameSurge Radio proposed to merge with PinkGator. Obviously, this was huge, as GameSurge was the station that had inspired Nick to pursue internet radio, and here was his chance to be on the management staff! What a great birthday present that was, turning 17 and being offered to merge with a huge radio station. The merger was made official on February 9th, and it started out strong. However, things didn't turn out so well, and about a month later, Nick quit GameSurge Radio, and 90% of the DJ's quit around the same time. This is when Nick realized how different PinkGator was. Nick poured his heart and soul into PinkGator, and it just wasn't the same DJ'ing for another radio station. Personalities clashed, and things just didn't work out. This is when the PinkGator rebuild begun.
PinkGator was rebuilt with most of the old staff, and a few new guys. However, as most of the PinkGator staff were still in school, summer through the station a HUGE curve ball. People were more concerned with going out and enjoying summer, than contributing to PinkGator. As a result, PinkGator took a summer vacation.
After what seemed like forever, summer ended, and school begun (I never thought I would be so glad that summer was over). The conclusion of summer brought the rise of PinkGator. However, this time around, PinkGator was blessed. The station had more support than ever, and with the surprise addition of DJ MoJo, and his friends from Fresh 2 Death Radio, founded by DJ NoWackTrack, PinkGator grew. Also, with the added staff, PinkGator grew not only online, but locally as well. Several of the new DJ's spun locally at clubs in Toronto. This was obviously a great venue for PinkGator to be advertised. PinkGator has not only boomed in Toronto, but also in Nick's home town of Flower Mound.
In November of 2006, Nick applied for the Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and in December, he was nominated as a finalist. Nick was obviously ecstatic about this, but he had no idea what would come next. Nick had to notify his school that he would be attending Youth Entrepreneur Days at Texas Christian University, and as a result, Nick was congratulated over the PA system at school later that day, resulting in his whole high school of 3,000+ kids hearing about PinkGator. This stirred up a lot of talk about Nick and his online radio station.
Nick was taken aback when he didn't win any form of scholarship at the Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. He was 100% positive he would win something, if not the whole thing. He met a ton of awesome people there that he still keeps in contact with, and learned a TON about business. Nick also applied for a National Youth Entrepreneur Award, and is extremely excited that he has been announced as a semi-finalist. This is his chance to improve PinkGator, and really shine.
Also, Nick's Theory about PinkGator has been tested, and remains true to the core. Once you work for PinkGator, you can never stay away. This theory has been proved extremely true when Ryan Turner called Nick up and expressed his desire to come back to PinkGator. Never to forget old friends, Nick brought Ryan back, and Ryan has got the ball moving on several new things. PinkGator is moving into Techno / Trance / House genres of music. The addition of DJ PoleJR (San Mateo, California), and DJ Tooly (Sydney, Australia) has pushed the transition along. Right now, PinkGator is at a crossroads. Stay on one stream offering mutli-genre's of music? Or split to several streams, each with it's own specific genre.
Who knows what the future holds for PinkGator, but one thing is set in stone, what ever path PinkGator goes down, success will follow.
-Nick
