As the saying goes, “Everything is bigger in Texas” and we certainly can’t argue with that! The Houston Parrot Head Club (a Jimmy Buffet fan club) recently held their 2nd Annual Mud Bug Ball, which was actually a crawfish festival (a ‘Texan’ thing). This year, the Mud Bug Ball was a benefit to raise funds for Radio Lollipop at Texas Children’s Hospital and it turned out to be their biggest fund raising event ever! Through a silent auction of Jimmy Buffet and Houston Texan (our new NFL football team) memorabilia, plus a lot of other interesting items and several raffles, the Houston Parrot Head Club raised over $6,000 for us!

The Houston Parrot Head Club has been one of our most loyal supporters since we went on the air four years ago, but they have never have had the opportunity to come by the studio and visit with us. So to show our appreciation and to give them a great big Texas “Thank You!” we invited their Board Members and “Parrot Ed” to come by and spend some time with us at Radio Lollipop. Valerie Vibes, one of our Presenters on Thrilling Thursday, welcomed them by playing some of our favorite Jimmy Buffet songs, including “Fins”. As you can see, and in true Jimmy Buffet fashion, a good time was had by all!

A top-of-the-range Compaq server has been donated by BT’s internet division enabling further development of the Radio Lollipop website. More interactive games, audio broadcasting and an administation area are being added.

After initial testing involving Spydersweb Internet Solutions and Radio Lollipop’s own National Support Team the new server went live in the middle of 2002.

…. and radiolollipop.org is a major success, with an average daily “hit rate” in excess of 1,000 visitors and over 400 requests from potential volunteers in the last ten months. The website has visits from around the globe inlcuding Guatamala and Lithuania and has had dozens of requests for new Radio Lollipop stations.

The future will see the website increase the number and type of kids activities, provide an online donation service and further develop the administration side to ease the burden on all stations. Further information on the website is available from George Williamson (george@radiolollipop.org), National Support Team.