HammRadio.com is proud to congratulate our founder and editor, Mike Cunningham, Time's Person of the Year. In the beginning of the year, Cunningham predicted that 2006 will be the "year of the Cunny." But it was not without challenges and setbacks. But through it all, "the Cunny" perservered.

In the last year, Cunningham promised more podcasts in 2006 than 2005. And the 54 "Proof of Concept" podcasts recorded in 2006, perhaps didn't outnumber the 71 in 2005, recorded in just in less than half a year, Cunningham says, "Even though there were less in number, they were certainly filled with more laughs. So really there was just MORE."

Cunningham explains why there hasn't been a podcast in 2 months. "Well, The Proof of Concept podcast is really like a morning radio show. And my work schedule has changed where I need to be in work by 9am. So that makes it quite difficult to record a show before than."

When asked, what about a night time show? "Well, perhaps we would be edgier, but would our audience want that? I just don't know if they could handle MORE."

In fact, Cunningham took the Web 2.0 world by storm with his Road Trip 2006, blogging and podcasting across the mid-west. "It was the first time I recorded a podcast outside our studios in South Philly. Doing podcasts in Pittsburgh and Cleveland was fantastic. Reporting live from Lollapalooza while talking into our mini-recorder really added to the feel of the broadcasts. We probably would have recorded more podcasts, but I always seemed like I had to get up and get moving each day."

Perhaps the biggest part of Cunningham's domination of 2006, has been the result of buying up domain names and signing up for free blogs. Cunningham promises that it's not part of some sort of cyber-squatting scheme. "We're extending our brand," he tells us. Most of the sites fall under the HammRadio brand, like hammradio.info or hammradio.biz. And even though they just redirect to HammRadio.com, Cunningham asserts, "they are just another conduit to get to HammRadio.com and the Proof of Concept."

What Cunningham has been most proud of however, is how hammradio.com has developed over the past year. Besides increasing the content in the Proof of Concept podcasts, Cunningham reveals that he has been constantly working on adding new features to the HammRadio.com home-grown blogging software.

"I'm a web developer, that's what I do," Cunningham proudly claims."And I wanted to take my technical expertise and couple it with my outstanding wit and charming personality. And HammRadio.com is the result."

The software is ASP 3.0 based over a MS Access database. "Even though that technology is over 5 years old, we have kept up with the latest technologies adding RSS [ed. note: in place since 2005], Tag Searches and interactivity with sites like Digg.com and technorati." But it's behind the scenes Cunningham says is where the "real magic happens".

"The editor I designed and created has been helpful for me to get the content out to the web quickly. And often I will post drafts and forget to get back to finish them. So I added better searching and filtering to the editor so I can find the posts I haven't finished yet."

Since the inception of the editing system in late 2003, there have been 567 posts to hammradio.com. And currently there are 399 posts sitting in "Preview" status. And that truly bothers Cunningham.

"I'm not sure what hurts worse, the 400 posts or so that people haven't enjoyed, or the podcasts that have gone un-recorded."

And while someone might take an award like Time Magazine's Person of the Year, and sit on their laurels. Not Cunningham. Next year, "I want to win Person of the Year, but I don't want to share it with 6 billion other yahoos." So he plans on getting back to regular podcasts. "Three times a week," he claims. Also, there are plans to add "video podcasts", remote broadcasts of the Proof of Concept and a few projects that he has kept secret.

"I can't give away all my ideas!" He exclaims.

Through all the struggles of blogging and podcasting while keeping a real job -- "Unfortunately, HammRadio.com doesn't pay the bills, yet." -- he has some end of year features still planned. Cunningham plans to have a Christmas show, perhaps a remote broadcast at Festivus his annual fete with his friend Kyle from Lakeside-park.com, and some other features.

"I just hope I don't leave them in Preview status." Cunningham jokes. "But all in all, It truly has been the year of the Cunny".

And Time Magazine agrees!