XRadio 2020: A Year In Review

On January 2, 2020, this was the was in the news: Mystery pneumonia outbreak in China sparks fear of deadly SARS virus. Little did we know that that was only the beginning. Meanwhile, XRadio had a total of just around 2,500 TOTAL listeners that month. In February, that number doubled to over 5,000.

By March, the coronavirus had engulfed the world. It was declared a worldwide pandemic by the World Health Organization. People were told to shelter-in-place and much of the world was shuttered, save for essential services like grocery stores. The following month, armed right-wing militia groups began to protest the stay-at-home orders, including the time armed protesters in Michigan took to the state capitol. Meanwhile, XRadio continued to broadcast to about 5000 listeners those months.

Kicked off by the recent assassinations of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the history and culture of rampant killing of people of color by law enforcement in the USA dominated the headlines in May of 2020. This sparked the largest demonstration of civil rights in the United States since the Civil Rights Movement. Protests started in Minneapolis – where George Floyd was killed – before growing across the nation then finally worldwide. The protests continued to dominate the headlines – along with the coronavirus outbreak – for several months.

Meanwhile, May also marked a turning point in XRadio, as we started to post news to our website in addition to getting more active in the expanding Second Life multiverse. We started accepting more applications to be a DJ with XRadio and even sponsored our first event in Second Life, the Tempting Gachas Sales Event. We also started adding affiliate SIMs in Second Life near the end of the month. By the end of the month, XRadio had over 13,000 total listeners. This trend continued into June

XRadio had a busy month in June. In early June, XRadio joined the Stay At Home Club in Second Life, a group of Second Life merchants offering free gifts to SL residents. XRadio offered the XR-001: a land stream changer that looked like a Bluetooth speaker to visitors to our SIM. You can actually still get that at our studio at XRadio HQ!

XRadio DJ Jude Connors also presented a special Juneteenth edition of his radio program in support of Black Lives Matter and civil rights and criminal justice reform.

XRadio quietly celebrated one year of broadcasting in July 2020, as the world continued to deal with coronavirus and fight for justice. We hit a milestone of 5000+ monthly “unique” listeners that month, showing that XRadio was expanding it’s reach. It was also in July that we partnered with our amazing partner, Pinkfunk.

As if 2020 weren’t hard enough, Hurricane Laura slammed into the Louisiana Gulf Coast in August – it was one of 12 named storms to hit the United States this season. As more people flooded to the grid, XRadio met another milestone in August: 25,000 monthly “total” listeners. These are the unique (^{mentioned above}) and repeat listeners of the XRadio stream. Also at the end of the month, we had our first ever affiliate party at then affiliate Club Tweaked.

In September, Americans mourned the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. XRadio continued to see expanded reach.

Coronavirus hit the White House in October. This is also Breast Cancer Awareness month in the USA and XRadio had three DJs participate in the Rock Your Rack 2020 charity fundraiser event inside Second Life. The station also had a information booth at the event.

XRadio also started the XRadio Featured Artists of the Month program in October. The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara were profiled and spun in heavy rotation that month. Another milestone was reached as the station celebrated having over 10,000 monthly “unique” listeners. Our reach was expanding more and more.

November’s Featured Artist was Dedi SOLO. XRadio saw continued growth that month as well. Meanwhile, off-grid, Americans voted. Joe Biden won the American Presidency. Donald Trump disagreed and tried to overturn the result.

December has been a busy month here at XRadio. London rock band PINFINGER was the XRadio Featured Artists of the Month and XRadio DJ Madam Mel came up with the most revolutionary idea to DJ entertainment in years: XXX Tuesdays! DJ Siouxie had specials for both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve and XRadio became an affiliate shop for Lovense!

Monthly “total” listeners in December were just shy of 40,000 – setting a new record. This brought the yearly total listener count to over 200,000 listeners! Not bad for starting the year with 2,500, right? XRadio has been listened to in 175 different countries across the world. That means that XRadio has been heard in 88.7% of the world in 2020. That’s pretty amazing.

Xradio started off the year as a small community radio station and has transformed itself in The SL SuperStation, heard on multiple commercial SIMs and the choice of music on countless private SIMs. Outside Second Life, XRadio has continued to grow in southeast Asia, especially in the nation that houses our server, Singapore. We thank all of you that tune in, whether in Second Life or in your First Life. We will continue to grow and strive to be your station of choice for online music and entertainment.