The Debris Show: Erik Comes And Goes

After the Holidays, the show continued on. Not long into the new year, we invited Erik to join the show as a fourth member. Our string of guests had stopped, but they had become such an important part of the show I worried that going back to the way it had been before would be bland to the audience. Erik had a very outgoing personality, and was a nice addition to the three of us. We now had a seasoned chaser, a newbie, a female, and an up-and-coming chaser. A well-rounded mix of experience and point-of-view.

The shows became increasingly intricate, as David had established (and perfected, as best he could) the multi-cam setup. Our audience had grown to the largest week-to-week average we'd ever enjoyed. Scott Bennett had donated an internet phone (complete with its own number which he paid for) to the show towards the end of 2009, so our call-ins had improved dramatically. Erik brought new topic ideas to the show, and even managed to track down certain chasers to call in and speak on those topics. We now had graphic overlays scrolling the screen during live broadcasts, pimping our own websites. The Debris Show had completed its transformation from a raw, one-guy rantfest with nothing but content into a well-oiled machine, with a complete cast, multiple cameras, viewer call-ins, a viewer chat room, and scrolling text. It had truly grown into itself.

Because of this, Bridget and I started getting the idea to try and get back some of the money we'd put into the show to get it where it was. We came up with the idea of advertising chaser or weather-related products and websites for a weekly or monthly fee. I loved the idea, but didn't think anyone would bite. However, we received quite a few sponsorships over the next six weeks after we started offering advertising. Bridget and I had been supplying pre-show food for the crew for weeks, and now the advertising money was paying for it. It wasn't much, but it was that much less we had to pay for out-of-pocket, which was huge to us. It also paid for the during-show beer.

Perhaps the pinnacle of that era was the party/show we threw post-TESSA. We invited a few people we knew who were in town for the event over to our place afterwards, to hang out and either be a studio audience or even be on the show. We expected maybe a handful, but word soon spread that The Debris Show was inviting TESSA goers over for an in-studio experience. What ended up happening was a full-on party, with probably twenty or more people coming over. The show was a mere after-thought compared to the party, which featured a lot of local chasers Bridget and I didn't know beforehand. One of those people, who showed up early and saved me from a horrible lack of experience grilling for several people at once, was a guy named Ric Burney.

We hit it off instantly, and I was thinking to myself "this guy needs to be on the show." He was smart, witty, and had a charisma about him that IMO would translate into a fascinating guest on the show. He agreed to be on the show, and when we finally did it, it was awesome. Because he was a fan of the show, we stayed in contact afterwards. Meanwhile, Erik's personal life had become quite complicated, which slowly took him out of the picture. We didn't fire him and he never quit, he just stopped being able to make shows. At first I hoped it was an isolated incident, but eventually it became clear that Erik's days as a member of The Debris Show cast were over. So now we were back to three.