Welcome to the Relaunched HearNebraska.org, and the New HN Radio

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We hope you like the view.

Hear Nebraska is now coming to you from a brand-new website, complete with HN Radio holding down the fort at the top of the page. Both projects are designed to present Nebraska music and arts culture through the most engaging, functional, accessible experience.

Here’s why you should care, what we need from you and whom to thank:

  • Both the site and HN Radio are fully responsive (drag the corner of your browser to see it contract), and offer a great user experience across platforms. So bookmark hearnebraska.org on your phone or tablet.
  • Click the “HN Radio” icon at the top of the page. Featuring a new playlist each week – curated by Hear Nebraska staff — HN Radio is a streaming music app that aims to make Nebraska music more accessible than ever. On it, you’ll find song and album premieres, live recordings, original podcasts and other exclusive content. This feature is rad: Though it’s not a native app, you can play it on your phone while using other apps and browsers.
    In its next iteration, we will be able to create custom playlists, embeddable by any organization in the state — cities, nonprofits, businesses — helping to highlight and promote relevant, authentic Nebraska music. Check back each Monday for a new playlist, and please spread the word.
    (HN Radio was made possible with the support of the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and Omaha Venture Group.)
  • We made adding statewide music events simple and convenient. Currently, Facebook is the clear go-to for events. So instead of asking bands, venues and promoters to recreate each event  — or more likely, doing it ourselves — you can simply copy and paste your Facebook event into our site, and all the information will populate. We hope the ease of use will encourage these groups to add their own events to HN as soon as they’ve created a Facebook event. Just a quick step to add to your routine.
  • Artist and venue profiles are simple to add, as well. We’ve added many Nebraska bands and venue profiles — pulling the information directly from Facebook — but many remain. Please help, by adding your own. And if you see something that doesn’t look right with your profile, email us explaining the change you want made, and we’ll make it.
  • We use Disqus to handle commenting. Because it rules. It requires a sign-in through Facebook, Twitter or Google+, which is a small hurdle necessary to sift-out spam and provide a level of accountability for commenters. Sign up, and join the conversation.
  • Our site is proudly hosted by Omaha’s Flywheel, a badass hosting company that has been integral to putting the Silicon Prairie on the map. They made our move from Drupal to WordPress effortless, and provided much-needed speed and power.Goodbye, GoDaddy. We’re down with Flywheel.
  • Donating to Hear Nebraska is easier than ever, including making regular, monthly donations. Your tax-deductible donations are critical to Hear Nebraska’s sustainability, so thanks in advance for your support.

What we need from you:

  • Try to break the site. We’re continuing to tweak and refine things, but there may still be issues you run into. We want to hear about any bugs or problems. Email us, explaining as clearly as possible what’s going on, including the browser you’re using.
  • Read our About and FAQ content. Admittedly, our old site did a terrible job of explaining what exactly Hear Nebraska is, how we work, and how to get involved. These two pages aim to make all of this abundantly clear. If they don’t, email us. We’ll add items to the FAQ as needed.
  • Bands: READ THE FAQ. It explains how to help us help you.
  • Bookmark hearnebraska.org on your phone or tablet — just one more time to be sure.
  • Spread the word! Share, share, share.Please tell people to check out the new website, to listen to this week’s HN Radio playlist, and to read/watch/listen to our content.

Who deserves credit:

  • Brandon Bone, Jake Dunn, Tom Flaherty and Eric Nyffeler produced what you see here. Flaherty lead the UX design for both HN Radio and the website, with Nyffeler (HN’s art director and owner of Doe Eyed) taking the lead on the front-end design. They’ve produced what I think are smart, fluid, attractive products that evolve HN’s brand and greatly improve our ability to serve our audience.Our developers — Bone on HN Radio and Dunn on the website — worked long hours to create products everyone in the state should be proud of. I’m incredibly impressed at the talent possessed by all of these guys (and highly recommend them).
  • We are extremely grateful to the team at Lincoln’s iSoft Data Systems (specifically, Brendan Evans, Tony Merritt and Matthew Wegener) for providing server space for our website for free, for nearly three years. Before they offered to help us, our site was crashing every time a big story dropped. (Hear Nebraska didn’t have any sort of budget at the time.)The iSoft team was beyond generous with their time and resources. Not only did they provide a service that was critical to Hear Nebraska’s continued existence, but in doing so they showed me that there were people I didn’t even know who cared enough about HN to go out of their way to support it. Headquartered in the incredibly cool, entrepreneurial cooperative project, Turbine Flats, these are A++ people to whom HN owes a great deal. Thank you, guys, sincerely.
  • Thank you to the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and Omaha Venture Group for funding HN Radio, and for supporting all the other great causes you back. Nebraska is fortunate to have you.
  • Thanks to Hear Nebraska’s staff and contributors, notably Managing Editor Chance Solem-Pfeifer, Jacob Zlomke and our summer interns for producing content, adding events, bands and venue profiles, and cleaning up old stories to be ready for this launch. Special thanks goes to our former managing editor, Michael Todd, who continues to be a tremendous asset and friend to this organization.
  • Finally, thanks to the Nebraska music and arts community for supporting Hear Nebraska. Your ideas, feedback, elbow grease and monetary support make all of this possible.
    Now, let’s get to work.