Update: June 13, 2016
I have a job. That should be a good thing. I'm not sure if I want to say where I'm working yet. This job isn't a full time gig though so I should be able to keep going with the Monday-Wednesday Howard Stern Show rundowns. The job is an on-call thing though so there may be times when I won't be able to complete my entire show rundown by the end of the Stern Show like I usually do. On days like that I will try to post what I do have completed with a note explaining that I'll finish up later in the day or the next morning. Hopefully this will allow me to keep the site going for a while longer. This job isn't exactly consistent either. Work may be kind of spotty so I'm still relying on Patreon, PayPal and other contributions to keep the site going. This job may help get me to a monthly income close to what I was looking for to begin with.
In other news... I've stopped doing Wrap Up Show rundowns. The timing was good since it will free up some time for my job on Thursdays and Fridays. Here's what I wrote on May 30:
As of May 23, 2016 I'm no longer doing a rundown of the Wrap Up Show. This is mostly due to my complete lack of interest in the new format which started in 2015. That's when they stopped having staff members sit in on the show and started having celebrity ''superfan'' guests. I've tried for over a year to get through the show every day but I finally got fed up and stopped listening to it completely. Very often I found myself zoning out during the interviews Jon and Gary were conducting. In recent months I was including my frustrations with the show in my rundowns. I don't want to do that anymore so I'm stopping. This is just for the Wrap Up Show. I can listen to 4 1/2 hours of Howard Stern and never get tired of it. On the other hand 45 minutes of Wrap Up was feeling like torture.
Update: April 20, 2016
When I wrote this plea back in January I said I was going to take ''a few weeks'' to make a decision. Well, that's turned into a few months. I wrestle with this decision every day. I'm having a really hard time convincing myself to move on.
In January I had a flurry of action when I first posted this. The contributions were a big help for a short time. There are currently about 35 Patreon contributors who are giving me a little bit more of a monthly income but it's not anywhere near what I need to make. I've been looking for jobs lately. One of these days I'll find something and I will have to peel myself away from this computer and move on. For now I'm keeping it limping along. After doing this so long I can't imagine not doing it.
January 3, 2016 (Updated January 18, 2016)
Five more years. Howard is doing another 5 years at SiriusXM. I'd love to keep this site going for another five years but the last 5 have been tough. Advertising dried up. I'm down to making about $300 a month with the site. Late in 2015 I was considering shutting it down whether or not Howard re-signed with SiriusXM. I still love the Stern show though. I know many people have given up on it because it's changed so much over the past few years but I still enjoy every day I listen and write the shows up. I can't say the same for the changes that were made to The Wrap Up Show but that's another story...
So what's going to happen to MarksFriggin.com in 2016? My guess is that it's going away. I'm going to make one last plea to the visitors to help keep it alive but based on my past experiences there won't be enough support. To keep the site going I need to bring in at least $1500 a month. All it would take is $1 a month from about 1/4 the visitors to the site to make it happen. If I can't make that happen I'll be finding a job and shutting down the site.
Over the last few years I've made a few sacrifices to make it possible to keep the web site running. In 2013 I sold my very low mileage 2005 Mustang GT and bought an older, more fuel efficient, Mazda so I could pay down my credit card bill. In 2015 I sold one of my two motorcycles to, once again, pay down my credit card. I've been a motorcycle rider longer than I've been listening to Howard Stern and there's no way I'm giving up riding. Motorcycle riding is my other passion. It's my only vice too. I don't drink or smoke so since I was 17 years old I've been putting money into motorcycles and cars. These days the car thing doesn't matter so much but the motorcycles do. More than my web site. If I have to choose between giving up the web site or giving up another motorcycle I'm giving up the site.
One option I'm considering is rewarding people who contribute through Patreon.com by giving them access to my rundowns 24 hours before they're posted on my web site. Right now it's just an option I'm considering. I don't want to do that but I might do it at some point.
(Updated) If you are interested in helping please consider contributing $1 a month through Patreon.com. If you'd like to contribute through PayPal please contact me. I can't post a link to PayPal on my site due to the filthy language. They're uptight about that shit for some fucking reason. If you're old school and want to send a good ol' letter through the mail you can do so here:
Mark Mercer
PO Box 584
Lebanon, NJ 08833
(Updated) Previously I mentioned that Howard's schedule was in question. It appears it'll be basically the same as it was for the past 5 years. That means 3 days a week as usual. If I can keep the site running I'll be doing my usual rundowns.
I'll give this a few weeks before I decide what's going to become of the site.
Thanks to everyone who has supported the site over the years. The few who have come through in the past couple of years kept me motivated to keep going.
Thanks for reading,
Mark Mercer
UPDATE: January 18, 2016 - I'll keep track of the contributions on this page. Here's the latest:
September 12, 2018 Shahab H. $50.00 (PP)
September 1, 2018 A Fitzgerald $20.00 (PP)
August 21, 2018 Dave A. $5.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
August 8, 2018 Eric N. $5.00 (Mail)
July 15, 2018 Brian C. $5.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
May 27, 2018 Tristen S. $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
April 18, 2018 Julie R. $50.00 (Mail)
February 15, 2018 Tracy H. $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
December 27, 2017 Mark K. $2.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
October 10, 2017 W.M. $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
September 19, 2017 Shahab H. $50.00 (PP)
July 27, 2017 John M. $3.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
July 15, 2017 Jason F. $3.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
May 29, 2017 Gilberto L. $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
May 15, 2017 Ted F. $10.00 (Mail)
May 14, 2017 Jean M. $2.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
December 22, 2016 Eric N. $5.00 (Mail)
Decemer 12, 2016 Ker G. $10.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
December 9, 2016 Jim $100.00 (Mail)
November 1, 2016 Louie V. $50.00 (Mail)
October 29, 2016 Summer K. $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
October 14, 2016 John R. $100.00 (PP)
October 14, 2016 David L. $3.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
October 8, 2016 Ari G. $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
September 23, 2016 Barbara P. $50.00 (Mail)
September 22, 2016 Ted F. $10.00 (Mail)
July 19, 2016 Craig N. - $4.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
July 18, 2016 Sean G. - $5.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
July 1, 2016 Martin A. - $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
June 10, 2016 Christopher V. $50.00 (PP)
June 5, 2016 Gilberto L. - $2.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
June 1, 2016 Louis - $5.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
May 31, 2016 Nick N. $25.00 (PP)
May 27, 2016 Elaine R. $100.00 (Mail)
May 7, 2016 Eric N. $5.00 (Mail)
April 22, 2016 Anthony C. $12.01 (PP)
April 20, 2016 Shahab H. $50.00 (PP)
April 13, 2016 Samuel G. - $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
April 5, 2016 Stephen S. - $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
March 21, 2016 Jeff U. - $19.99 (PP)
March 16, 2016 Elaine R. - $50.00 (Mail)
March 14, 2016 Jack R. - $10.00 (PP)
February 28, 2016 Blair M. - $100.00 (PP)
February 26, 2016 Greg E. - $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
February 22, 2016 Dan G. - $2.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
February 19, 2016 Tom K. - $100.00 (Mail)
February 17, 2016 Eric H. - $100.00 (PP)
February 8, 2016 Eric N. - $5.00 (Mail)
February 6, 2016 Film Emporium - $20.00 (Mail)
February 5, 2016 Richard J. - $2.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
February 5, 2016 Alice - $2.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
February 5, 2016 Kevin H. - $30.00 (PP)
January 28, 2016 DD W. - $10.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 28, 2016 Steve L. - $20.00 (Mail)
January 25, 2016 Anonymous - $100.00 (PP)
January 23, 2016 Glen F. - $20.00 (PP)
January 20, 2016 Keith R. - $25.00 (Mail)
January 17, 2016 Paul K. - $5.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 17, 2016 Steve S. - $2.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 15, 2016 Bob A. - $40.00 (Mail)
January 15, 2016 Luana M. - $10.00 (Mail)
January 13, 2016 Dan B. - $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 12, 2016 Steven F. - $25.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 12, 2016 DJ R. - $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 11, 2016 Noel D. - $20.00 (PP)
January 10, 2016 Diane C. - $5.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 8, 2016 Ted F. - $10.00 (Mail)
January 8, 2016 Ron P. - $14.00 (Mail)
January 8, 2016 Jeff K. - $20.00 (PP)
January 8, 2016 Marc W. - $20.00 (PP)
January 7, 2016 Corbet G. - $1.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
January 7, 2016 Simon H. - $3.00 (Patreon recurring monthly)
