As part of getting into MINI Connected, you can find us on Tune-in Radio. There are versions for just about every mobile device you can imagine and it updates almost as quickly as iTunes. As of today, you can also find us on Stitcher. Available for Android, iOS and Blackberry.

Both of these are free apps and provide a great way to get podcasts without having to use iTunes! Of course we are still working toward streaming the show and currently do not have a hard date we can provide at this time. For now, either of these apps should serve you well.

You read that correctly gang. Your pals at White Roof Radio have been working tirelessly to make sure that you can get your WRR fix almost everywhere you go. This includes the desktop, your mobile device and, of course, MINI Connected.

At your desk at work? Want to listen without having to subscribe? You can! Open iTunes, go into Radio -> News / Talk and scroll to the bottom. Rather listen on your portable communications device? If you are rockin’ the ‘droid, check out TuneIn Radio. You can also find us in WunderRadio which is available for the Droid, Blackberry, Windows Phone and iPhone. Search White Roof Radio in any of these and we should pop right up.

For those of you that want White Roof Radio on MINI Connected, we’ve been trying, but need your help! You see, we are showing up everywhere and in all of the apps except MINI Connected and are wondering if you, the best looking podcast audience ever invented, could do us a solid?

Start by clicking on this link. Once on that page click the green button that says Tell Us to Fix it. In the comment box let them know that you would really like to have access to this show in MINI Connected. Say please. Say thank you. Tell them you love the app and how much better it would be if your favorite MINI Cooper podcast was available.

Go forth White Roof Radio Army and conquer! We’ll be sure to update as we know more.

This is a beta feature so it might seem weird or wonky or maybe a little behind. I’m working on everything in the background, so don’t worry. It will be what you expect and more very, very soon!

All of the White Roof Radio crew made it back to their respective start places from MTTS this week. No missing fingers, no missing toes and only 1 ‘driving award’. It was an epic trip that we will be recapping for you on next weeks show.

We’re also still working on closing out MTTS. More photos and audio interviews will follow soon.

Some of you (ok, almost all of you) noticed that, during our absence from the ‘internet airwaves’ during MTTS, something weird happened with the WRR iTunes page. Like, all of the shows magically disappeared. That was an oversight by me for not fixing that before hitting the road earlier this month. I can tell you that it has been corrected for now and iTunes should be updating shortly.

The fix is temporary and might make the feed look odd if you view it in a reader. Don’t worry, the keyword here is temporary and I will be resetting things to normal service as soon as possible.

Today is Thursday, August 12th. I’m in Grand Junction, Colorado and have spent the last 5 days motoring from Los Angeles to get this far and we arrive in Denver tomorrow.

So far the trip has been fantastic! From the pool party at the Valley Ho, the Ice Lounge at -5 in Las Vegas and Quincy’s in Grand Junction, it’s been non-stop awesome. Sure it’s been a ton of miles, but it’s been a ton of miles in MINIs with some of the greatest folks you’ll ever meet; the MINI Cooper Enthusiast!

The MINI I am driving is a 2010 MINI Cooper, Chili Red/Black Top and JCW Aero Kit. I must say that when I first saw this car I was scratching my head. I mean, who would think to put an aero kit on a car without the Sport Package bits, right? The more I live with it the more the look with 15″ wheels really grows on me. I’m even starting to not mind the automatic transmission, kinda.

So far this has been an epic journey through the deserts of the Western United States. Everyone coming from this end is excited about MINIs in the Mountains and MTTS. Personally, I can’t wait!

Going on MTTS? Looking for something to get you even more excited about it while you wait for Woofcast 346? Have an iPhone/iPad/Android device and can’t access the MTTS website? Well Ladies and Gents, We’ve got you covered.

I have set up a page for MTTS Updates that is mobile friendly! It’s the same pages from the MTTS site, so when they update them there, they will update here as well. Go ahead, check it out. NOTE You will have to switch the mobile theme off for the page to display correctly. Once you do that, it should show up on your mobile device.

A few more pre-MTTS notes for you. If you are using an iPhone, open the app store and download the MINI Link app. If you are using any smart phone, now would be a good time to embrace Twitter. Once you do that, you can follow all of the WRR boys here. You can also get updates for MTTS from MINI USA by following @MTTS2010, @MTTS2010_east (if you are coming in from east of the Rockies) or @MTTS2010_west if you are coming in from west of the Rockies.

Woofcast 346 will be ready later today.

Dear valued White Roof Radio listener,

It would appear that we, as a group, have not being diligent enough in keeping an eye on the vital fluids that our MINIs require to be happy and healthy. Proof above from Eric Hall, MINI Service Manager for MINI of Ontario. As a reminder, here is a handy how-to video that should help you out.

You R56 owners can find the Yellow Loopy Thing, sans loop, on the passenger side, under the bonnet. It is still yellow and the procedure is still the same.

Next time you are spending time with other MINI Cooper owners, help spread the word. Before beginning the rally or sitting down for the meeting, gather everyone in the parking lot for an oil checking party! Fun for the whole family!

We at White Roof Radio truly care about your MINI and want you and your MINI to have many miles of happy, healthy motoring. So please, take a minute or 3 this week while you are getting fuel to pop the bonnet and check your oil. If you are low, head over to your nearest MINI dealer and the nice person at the parts desk will happily sell you a quart or two. No MINI dealer nearby, then punch up Detoit Tuned and Chad will get you sorted our in short order.

As usual, thank you for your time,

xoxo

The boys at White Roof Radio

Want a WC-50? Maybe spend the early afternoon playing a round of mini golf with some fellow MINI enthusiasts first? Followed by a carne asada BBQ? What are you doing on June 26th?

I know what I will be doing! I’m going to be at MINI of Ontario to enjoy the festivities of their special event centered around the rarest MINI of them all; the WC 50. Besides the mini golf and BBQ, MINI of Ontario will be auctioning off one of the prized JCW WC 50 MINIs. There aren’t many of them to go around, even on the west coast, so this will be a good way to try to get one and benefit the Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House at the same time!

Here’s the skinny. If you want to get in on the silent auction, give Dan the Sales Manager a call at 888-743-4041 and he will get you prequalified. Once that is done, you will get the chance to bid on the car. Here is the cool part.

A portion of the proceeds above the MSRP of the WC 50 will be going directly to the Loma Linda Ronald McDonald House. I’m not sure what portion, but knowing MINI of Ontario, it will be sizable!

If you want to get in on the MINI golf, email Katey West (kateyw@savagebmw.com) to RSVP. Do that quick since there are only 50 spots. They are filling up fast!

In an effort to make it as easy as possible for all y’all to stay up with all that happens ’round these parts, we’ve been working fairly hard and setting things up to do exactly that.

If you are on Facebook (and, really, who isn’t), you can keep up with the latest news from MotoringFile.com here, White Roof Radio here, Motoring Badges here and BimmerFile here. Fan those pages to keep up on the latest and greatest news, podcasts and other information as it happens!

Are you on Twitter? We have you covered there too!

@MotoringFile
@WhiteRoofRadio
@MotoringBadges
@AskChad
@BimmerFile

If you are going to be attending any event that we are covering, these definitely should be on your follow list, especially during MTTS. Hit up the @AskChad on Twitter to send over a question. Follow MotoringBadges on Facebook to see the latest designs as they happen or discuss the latest stories from MotoringFile (BimmerFile too) right in your news feed!

If you are using a mobile device (iPhone, Android) take a minute to click over to Whiteroofradio.com. I’ve been working to make it a better experience for you guys. And, for reals, the Motoringbadges.com site redo will be happening after the Dragon and will also be getting a similiar treatment.

Of course, feedback and questions are welcome! Comments are open, go nuts.

Change your own spark plugs!

Total cost was about $45 from Detroit Tuned (but the price is the same at all of the other MINI Vendors too, we’re just partial to Chad. Next time you are at the dealer, I dare you to find out how much this job would cost.

Then, come back later to thank us.

Woofcast 330 will be up later tonight, then it’s off to AMVIV baby! Be sure to play along with the home game if you aren’t going via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Plus here and MotoringFile as usual. If you are going to Vegas, we will be seriously disappointed if you don’t come by the Motoringbadges table and say hello.

Seriously.

We also might have mentioned that we wanted to have a bit of a listener only party after the event. Let this serve as your official notice of said event!

Since Todd is flying all the way from KC (where, oddly enough, the weather will be better), we’re putting him in the swankest hotel in the IE; The Aloft. Everything that I’m seeing and reading says this place is all that and a bag of chips. How about you, me, Todd and as many MINI Owners as possible come down and see how they handle the crowd? We even have a small budget for this shindig for food and non-adult style beverages.

Here are the details:

The Aloft Hotel 10480 Fourth Street Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730

Let’s say 6:30/7:00PM-ish? In the hotel bar? If we outgrow this place, I’m sure we’ll be able to find someplace equally cool to hang out.

It’s going to a lot of fun and it’s also a great way to warm up for AMVIV happening in just a few short weeks!

Hanging out at MINI of Ontario yesterday and talking to the service manager who tells me that he has had 4 cars, recently, with engines that were in need of replacement due to oil starvation, including an MCS with less than 15k miles on the clock.

Haven’t we talked about that?

Next time you fuel your MINI, take the 30 seconds to check your oil. Remind everyone at the next club meeting you go to. Start a thread on a message board. Something. There is no reason for you to lose your engine because it ran out of oil!

If you forgot how to check your oil, or aren’t terribly sure about the procedure, check out the video above to set your straight. If you are low, head to your local MINI Cooper dealer’s parts counter and they will sell you all you need. No dealer nearby? Your local parts house sells Castro Synthetic which works in a pinch. Or punch up your favorite MINI Cooper after-market shop like OutMotoring.com, Detroit Tuned, Minimania.com or Moss MINI to get it as well.

This is turning into an epidemic of epidemic proportions gang for something that is easily corrected with a minute of time and a couple of quarts of $5 oil.

If you aren’t you should be. I’m sure going through the program that Agro recently posted will help.

AMVIV is A MINI Vacation in Vegas happening the last weekend of March, 2010 at Aliante Station in North Las Vegas. For information and details visit the website at www.amviv.com

Getting close to closing out February and it would seem that you folks out in White Roof Radio land are still enjoying this little dog and pony show that Todd, Gabe, Chad and I put together every week. Click the graphic above to see that WRR is currently holding down the #6 spot for audio automotive podcasts! That’s better than Car & Driver, all of the Motortrend shows and Autoblog!

You rule!

We’ve got a big month coming up that you aren’t going to want to miss! First up, I will be at MINI of Ontario for the blood drive on February 27th. If you think you are going to make it, RSVP on Facebook or call Colin at 909.390.1818 to let him know you are coming. It’s going to be pretty awesome.

If you haven’t been over there yet, here is a short video to give you a taste of how cool it is!

After that, Todd and I will both be back at MINI of Ontario on March 6th for their Grand Opening! It’s going to be a HUGE party that you won’t want to miss! Bonus, if you aren’t in SoCal, you might not have too. Stay tuned for details coming. UPDATE: If you are planning on attending, please RSVP on Facebook or email rsvp@miniofontario.com.

Finally, at the end of March we will all be at AMVIV! We say this every year, but we honestly think that this is the year you are not going to want to miss! It is going to be EPIC!

Thanks for listening, thanks for sticking with us and thanks for spreading the word. It’s because of you, the fine White Roof Radio listener, that we do this!

We find cool videos all the time and favorite them on the WRR YouTube channel. Check it out!

Hello all you MINI Motoring enthusiasts how would you like to get a FREE oil change? That’s right we said free! In appreciation of all our MINI of Ontario Twitter followers we’d like to invite you to enter and win. All you have to do to enter is follow MINI of Ontario on Twitter (@MINIofOntario). Already a follower? You’re one step ahead of the game! The winner will be chosen at random Wednesday January 27th 2010 at 12:00pm PST and notified via @ on Twitter. GOOD LUCK and LET’S MOTOR!

There wasn’t time to put together a fresh one for you guys, but this is the one from 2007. I still think it’s pretty good and hope you enjoy it as your Motor around for the rest of the holiday season.

All of us would like to thank all y’all for being such awesome fans and sticking with us for another year! We had the chance to meet a good number of you at events around the globe this year, and we hope that 2010 gives us the chance to meet even more of you and reconnect at even more events, including AMVIV and a few others.

From myself, Todd, Chad, Gabe, and Michael Merry Christmas gang!

Woofcast Christmas: Download audio file (wrrxmas07_vocal.mp3)

Download | 32.6MB | 35:29 | Music Only

We do like to promote our Facebook Fan page quite a bit. So, imagine our frustration this week when, every time we try to do something cool with our Facebook Fan page, we see the error message above.

I’m contacting Facebook every chance I get about it and hope that normal service shall resume ASAP.

Thanks!

New update from Andrew ‘Agro’ Ross about AMVIV7, happening March 25th – 28th, 2010. In case you missed it, we actually talked to Agro during Woof 308 so you can go back and listen if you haven’t already.

Hi everyone. It’s been a while I know, but I finally have some AMVIV news for you.

We have signed a hotel contract! We’re moving away from Palace Station this year, to another property in the Station Casinos family. We’re going to Aliante Station which is a brand new, absolutely beautiful hotel casino. The hotel part is a bit smaller than Palace, and we will have the entire hotel blocked out for our attendees. Yes, if you see someone in the hotel elevator, they will be another AMVIV attendee.

The parking garage is nicer than Palace’s in several ways.

1st, it’s quite a bit bigger so we can have the Boot N Bonnet show all on the top floor and actually have space to park well over 100 attendee MINIs up there at the same time.

2nd, it has power more easily available than at Palace, so more vendors will be able to have power at their booths.

3rd, it has proper drainage so the detailer can be on the top floor without worrying about getting other cars wet.

4th (and best in my opinion) the ramp up to the 6th floor is a straight shot, so no more driving in circles through the garage to get up top! This also means that vendors with large trailers will be able to get them up the ramp and have them actually at the BNB instead of 6 floors below.

5th, 2 sets of elevators.

6th, a sound system we will be able to tap into for announcements.

The rooms at Aliante are gorgeous with all the amenities you’d expect from a new resort property in Las Vegas. And to sweeten the deal, the rate is lower than you paid last year at Palace. Rooms are $99 per night plus taxes. You can book a room by phone at 1-877-477-SOAR (7627) and use group code S03MINI or book online with this link. The hotel only has 200 rooms, so you if you want to make sure you’re staying at the “home hotel”, you might want to go ahead and book early.

AMVIV 7 dates are March 25th-28th, 2010 and the group rates are good from March 20th to March 31st so you can make a real vacation of it if you want to.

We haven’t decided yet if we are going to have a banquet dinner this year. The results of the survey many of you completed were inconclusive as to whether we should do it or not, however the prices we have from Aliante for food look like if we DO have a banquet this year, tickets will probably run around $36 or $37 a head, which is 1-2 dollars less than last year in a much nicer room.

If you have strong feelings that we SHOULD have a banquet this year, please email me and let me know. The low attendance last year meant that the SCMC wound up paying for the banquet room and actually lost money on the entire event, so we are only going to have the banquet if we are reasonably sure of at least 500 tickets sold. If the banquet doesn’t happen, the prizes will be given away at the Boot N Bonnet Show or possibly at some other sub-event.

The other thing I need include here is this:

Do you want to get a free room at AMVIV7? How about a free shirt in the special “event staff” color?

Well here’s your chance! Once again we are asking the MINI community to help us out with the designs for the AMVIV shirt, hat and book cover. The person who submits the winning design will receive 2 nights free at Aliante Station during AMVIV7 (March 2010), a shirt with your design printed on it in the staff shirt color and worldwide recognition as the designer of the 2010 AMVIV shirt, hat and book cover. Your shirt back design can include your signature or (small) company logo if you would like to promote yourself or your business.

This year’s theme will be “Lucky number 7” and we’ve been throwing around ideas like dice with MINIs for the spots, slot machines, cards and such. The designs will have to work on the regular color shirts (red this year) and on the staff shirts (yellow) but otherwise, it’s up to you.

If you are interested in this, please email me at AMVIVcontest@gmail.com for specs and requirements and such. If you want to see what past designs look like, head over to see the past winners!

That’s all I have for now. Keep an eye on your inbox for more updates. And make sure you let your favorite MINI vendors know that you want to see them at AMVIV. The more they know that people want to see them here, the more likely they are to attend.

See you in March,

Andrew Ross aka Agro

Right after MINIs in the Mountains, I get a call from our man Todd. He got an idea. Phone calls and emails ensue and a plan is formed. A plan to keep my MINI up and running to 300k miles and, hopefully beyond!

To celebrate the 300th episode of White Roof Radio and to get my MINI back into the proper shape an official mascot should be in, Motoringbadges.com has issues a new, commerative badge (see above).

For $10 you will get the 300 – 300K badge and the WRR Supporter decal! And, 100% of the proceeds (after costs, taxes, fees and Todd’s Bourbon of the Month membership) will go directly into parts and service to keep this MINI:

Running the way a MINI should, especially one that is the mascot for the World Famous White Roof Radio!

If you don’t want a badge, but still would like to help out, just click the button below. Any amount, any time.

To help celebrate 4 years of the Woofcast, SCMM, one of the largest MINI Cooper Clubs in the nation, has published an article about us in their latest newsletter.

If you are in Southern California, this is the only club to join. Great events, great people and always a good time. I should know, I’m member number one!

Check it out, on page 3, here (pdf download)

It’s been a while since you heard from me, but it’s about the time that we start seriously planning AMVIV for next year. The Sin City MINI Club has a new President this year (welcome and congratulations to Mark Finn) and we are contemplating a few changes to mix things up a little and keep the event fresh for those of you who have been here several times.

I have put together a survey on SurveyMonkey.com. The results are aggregated and not identifiable as having come from a particular person or even location, so please feel free to be honest.

As you can imagine, response to the survey was huge. So huge in fact that it filled up the database of the first survey. Not to worry, you can still give your feedback. You don’t have to sign up, provide your email address or anything. Follow the links below to help out.

If your last name starts with the letters:

• A-H take this survey
• I-P use this link
• Q-Z take this one

Like I said, it only takes a few minutes and your feedback will greatly assist the AMVIV Planning Committee in creating the next AMVIV! Making it better than it was. Better. Stonger. Faster.

That’s right, WRR is starting something new! After spending sometime with Chad Miller from Detroit Tuned during Woofcast 301, we thought it would be fun if we could get you, the WRR listener, to send in questions that Chad could answer. As it turns out, you think it’s a good idea too, based on the great feedback we’ve received this week!

Here’s the dealio. If you have a question about modifying, repairing or maintaining your MINI, shoot that over to askchad@whiteroofradio.com or call the WRR voicemail line at (206) 202-3252. When we get enough questions, we’ll get Chad back on the show to get those questions answered.

To start with we are shooting for twice a month. But, if we get enough questions, we might do it weekly!

Jim Peterson’s trailer is parked next to our booth space and it doubles as a signal to passing planes (read – it reflects the sun like nobody’s business.) Anyway, I announced the first person to be photographed shirtless, tanning themselves in the reflections of said teardrop mini trailer would get a free Motoring Badge. Our man C.r. Fitch IV, big WRR fan, jumped to the challenge immediately.

Good times right there!

From what I can tell, looks like everyone is having a great time! If you are one of them, give the WRR voicemail line a ring to tell us all about it!

Including our man Todd.

So far, Facebook has been the place to keep track of what’s going on up in Colorado this weekend.

GREAT feedback for adding an “Ask Chad” segment to WRR and we are all excited about it. Watch next week for full details!

That’s right boys and girls. Today marks the 4th anniversary of White Roof Radio! And in that time we’ve done some pretty cool stuff like.

• Covered AMVIV more than a few times
• Covered MTTS. Twice
• Covered MINI United. Twice
• Drove from Miami to Boston with 3 people in a MINI
• Drove on 2 World Class F1 Circuits
• Met almost all of you at some point
• Covered almost every major MINI Event in the United States
• Interviewed everyone that is anyone in the MINI Community

For those of you that have stuck with us this long. Thanks! For those of you that might be new to WRR, take a few minutes and cruise through the Archives. There is some great stuff there.

What’s next? How about Todd at MItM this coming weekend? Ok, we can do that. How about WRR at the Dragon next year? We are actually seriously working on that as I type as well (still depends on the timing of MTTS). Plus anything else we can think of, and somethings that others have thought up for us. Check out Woof301 next week for one such thing.

It’s been fun! And, as long as you keep listening, we’ll keep making shows!

Secondly, we are going to be recording Woofcast 300 just weeks from our birthday! So, lets make a big deal out of it.

We let our schedules get ahead of ourselves this week (again) but that is giving us a bit more time to make sure we are ready for Woof 300 next week, that we will be recording live starting at 7:00pm Pacific (do the math for your time zone). So, mark those calendars now!

Want to help add something to our 300th? Call into the Voicemail line at 206-202-3252 before next Wednesday, July 22nd, and we will probably get it into the show.

Event Details

• What: White Roof Radio LIVE!
• Date: Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
• Time: 7:00PM Pacific (9 Central, 10 Eastern)
• Where: Right here at Whiteroofradio.com!

Looking forward to hanging out with all of you next week!

I am sorry to report that, as I write this, that is exactly what Todd’s recording rig looks like. Ok, probably without the fire. And, maybe not so much with the sad face in neon. But, if you ask Todd, he’ll tell you that’s exactly what it looks like.

So, between the holiday here in the United States and this latest technical hiccup, we won’t be able to provide you with Woofcast #299 this week.

Still looking for something to listen to? Might I recommend Woof257? A little old news, a little iPhone talk and a little MTTS.

We should be back on track this week.

xoxo

db

That is not to say that you are no longer able to subscribe to WRR via email. I have changed the service to a different provider that should be able to provide faster updates consistently.

If you would like to subscribe via email, you can do so below. Want to follow WRR other ways? Check out the subscribe page for all of the options like iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed and RSS.

Todd, Gabe and myself finally all got together last night (albeit at different times) to record Woofcast 297! Gabe and Todd discussed the news while Todd and myself offer our recap of MINI United.

Coming up on Woofcast 300 in the next few weeks. Oh yea, it will be live, unless you have a better idea?

Stay tuned! New show will be up Monday!

It’s been crazy busy under the White Roof lately. Both Todd and myself have been working on getting ready for MINI United and staying busy otherwise. And, due to circumstances beyond our control, we weren’t able to record a show last week.

Not to worry, because we were able to get Gabe last night for a rousing version of the news, as always, from Motoringfile.com. Todd says he’ll be getting that ready to post as soon as possible, and I will be posting that here.

With MINI United coming up in just a few weeks, the WRR schedule _might be a little out of whack for the next few weeks. Don’t worry, we are going to be recording shows right up until MINI United, but the release day might be a little off.

I will have a MINI United update coming very very soon. If you are going, sound off in the comments!

And yes, I was just looking for an excuse to post a photo of the Life Ball MINI. C’mon, you know you like it!

Todd and I were there. You saw the photos and the video, right? I mean, we were in Vegas for the whole weekend. Heck, we even did a live show. And that show is the missing Woofcast; number two hundred ninety one. Performed live in front of about 12 people.

A show that Todd and Sherwin both recorded. One via audio, one via video. Great.

Or, maybe not. Todd’s MacBook was unruly that day and produced a recording that sounded like it was filtered through steel wool and crushed brick. When checking the audio from Sherwins camera, it sounded like we woke up after a night of cigar smoking and gargled with coal and razor blades.

To make matters worse, we couldn’t get our schedules together last week to do a show.

I have looked at most of the video and there is some there that’s not horrible that I will be uploading to WhiteRoof.tv later in the week.

We will be recording a show this week for sure. It’s looking like Saturday and I’ll try to talk Todd into letting us do it live.

Don’t worry, you can still go over to Motoringfile and catch up on the news, or go through the Archives here. MINI United is coming up, now would be a good time to listen to episodes from ’07 you might have missed.

The tentative schedule has gone up if you are wondering what it is you want to do. Of course Todd and I will be there, recording Woofcast 291 LIVE from the upper deck of the Palace Station before taking off to the Show and Shine. Expect things to get started right around noon. For those of you not able to make it, keep an eye on the sites for the live feed.

We hinted at this during Woof 290, but there will not be a regular show tonight. With today being the start of Todd’s birthday extravaganza and Michael or Gabe not being available, it would only be me, and that would be fairly boring. I will put up a Best of WRR in the feed on Monday for you to tide you over.

I’m going to posting quite a bit to Twitter, including the occasional photo from my phone. You can also follow along on Facebook. There will be photos and video too! Keep an eye out for those.

Don’t forget the new White Roof Radio page at Facebook either!. It’s set up so that you can share photos and videos with other WRR Fans, plus I’ll be putting a few things there as well.

1 week. I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I can’t wait!

Check back tonight at 7:00 PM Pacific time for all the fun and frivolity. Remember, if you want to play along in the chat room using your own screen name, you will need to set up a free account at uStream. Click the link above to take care of that.

But, not to worry! While not terribly MINI related, I did get together with Michael and Patricia to do a gadget review of not 1 but 2 eBook readers! The Kindle 2 and the Sony PRS 505 head to head. That will be going up later today or early tomorrow.

To fix that, you will have to unsubscribe and resubscribe to WRR within iTunes. Or, download it directly from the show notes.

Sorry for the trouble.

Tonight’s post brought to you by midwestern cable network hackers keeping Todd from uploading the show. The authorities have been contacted and proper service shall resume shortly, which I’m told should be sometime early Tuesday morning.

Our thoughts are with Todd and his family during this trying time. A whole day without internet. The horror!

Check back in the morning.

Be sure to find us and say hi. We are going to want to talk to everyone!

Also, I have been warming up WhiteRoof.tv for any video that we might capture. New gear that takes HD video as well as a little help this time around.

=============

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know what we’re up to with AMVIV and remind you of a few things.

1. Palace Station is NOT going to close or be bought by Boyd before AMVIV.

2. The group rate at Palace ends for the final time THIS FRIDAY, March 6th. If you want to stay at Palace where all the action will be, go here and book your room.

3. Registrations are up to 242 as of this morning (3/2/09) so while we are a bit behind last year, we’re still looking at a very respectable turnout, on par with or even ahead of the 2007 event.

4. The event book has now gone to the printers, so any vendors who sign up now won’t be in the book. We are still taking vendor registrations, so encourage your favorite vendors who aren’t on the www.amviv.com/sponsors.htm page yet to sign up.

5. We will be ordering the event shirts and hats this week, so if you want to guarantee that you will get your size shirt, or that you will get a hat (the extras usually sell out pretty fast in Vegas) you might want to pre-order now.

6. Just a reminder than Banquet tickets are NOT available in Vegas. If you want to attend, you MUST pre-order and pay for your tickets.

7. Event registrations will close at midday (12pm) West Coast time on Friday, March 20th. No exceptions. That includes vendor registrations. After noon on the 20th, no more banquet tickets will be available.

8. MINIUSA has generously decided to sponsor the Friday evening “Meet the MINIacs Mixer” and will be providing the food. Many thanks to our favorite car company!

9. Phil Wicks has asked me to pass on to you all that the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch will, by AMVIV, be the permanent home of the Phil Wicks Driving Academy. Yes, now, any time you come to Vegas, you can do a trip to Pahrump and get some top quality MINI-focused driving instruction. I’m attaching the announcement from Phil. To go along with this news, Phil has asked me to forward this:

“Attached is a flyer announcing our home at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch. Can you please send info out to AMVIV attendees stating that they can come to the track as our guest — no fees at all including gate — to take part in touring laps? Also, the first 50 cars that register with us either before the event at Racerwicks@AOL.com or at the registration desk we will have at the hotel in the vendor area will receive free lunch in the clubhouse at the track — no cookout food — real food!

Thanks!

Phil Wicks“

1. The weather in Vegas is already BEAUTIFUL! In the 70s with sunny skies and light breezes. For those of you dealing with snowstorms, you’re welcome to head on down early if you want.

2. This year, we are organizing a judged Show and Shine car show for the 1st time. The Show and Shine will be held at SAFE House in Henderson and will benefit SAFE House. There is a $20 entry fee, paid directly to SAFE House which is a charity that helps victims of domestic violence. As well as the funds raised from the entry fees, the Sin City MINI Club and Desert MINI of Las Vegas will each donate $2,000 to SAFE House. If you want go and look at the MINIs in the show, entry is free, though donations will be gratefully accepted of course.

Download the annoucement here

For the competitors, the categories are:

• Best in show
• Best graphics
• Most YOU-nique
• Most likely to get impounded

I guess that’s about it for now. Keep listening to www.WhiteRoofRadio.com and checking back at www.amviv.com for updates. If you know someone who is into MINIs or Minis who doesn’t know about AMVIV, please forward this email to them.

See you in a couple of weeks.

Andrew Ross aka Agro

President, Sin City MINI Club www.SinCityMINIClub.com

Coordinator, A MINI Vacation In Vegas www.AMVIV.com

<<…>>

For those of you that are concerned about the Station Casinos, please be sure to pay very close attention to the first paragraph.

I was just cruising through the attendee list and see that Canada will be representin’ big time, as will the PDX area. Of course, White Roof Radio will be there too.

Hi everyone. I’ve had a few worried emails from people concerned about Station Casinos bankruptcy talks. I just got off the phone with Connie at Palace and she assures me that this is no problem for us. Palace Station will be operating exactly as in prior years for AMVIV and we have nothing to worry about on that front.

On a different but still Palace related note, I convinced her to extend the group rate on the hotel by another week and a half. Our pickup is lower than in past years, so they are willing to work with us to get you the best rate we can. I know that people are concerned about finances and such, but this is a cheap Vegas weekend, especially if you can mostly stay away from the machines and tables.

How to book:

This year, you can book your room online at the group rate. Use this link.

Call the Palace Station Reservations Office at 1-800-634-3101

Use reservation ID “PCIAMV9″ or identify yourself as a Sin City MINI Club attendee

Reservations MUST be made by 2/22/09

All room rates are plus tax.

Discounted rates apply to rooms booked for 03/24/2009 – 03/31/2009.

I want to make sure that you are all aware of the car show this year. In past years, we have held an “attendee voted” car show at the Boot N Bonnet Show with trophies at the Saturday evening banquet. This year, instead, there will be an actual judged car show held at a local charity’s facility in Henderson. The charity is Safe House which helps the victims of domestic abuse. In this economy, domestic abuse often rises while the funding for helping its victims dries up. So the Sin City MINI Club is working with Safe House to help get them some funds while adding something new to AMVIV. If you want to enter your car in the show, you will pay a small entry fee DIRECTLY TO SAFE HOUSE STAFF when you get to the show. This fee will be fully tax deductible as a charitable contribution. If you want to come down and look at the cars, there is will be no fee, though if you want to donate to Safe House, they will gladly accept your donations. The Sin City MINI Club will also be making a donation of some of the AMVIV proceeds to Safe House. Find out more about Safe House at safehousenv.org

To get more spectators to the show, the Poker Run will end at the car show. Please stay around and make the show a success.

We have had a smaller signup of vendors this year than in the past few years. If you go to the vendors page at amviv.com/sponsors.htm and your favorite MINI vendor isn’t listed, contact them and ask them if they are planning on going to AMVIV. They are running businesses, and if they think it will cost them more to attend than they can earn here, it doesn’t make sense for them attend. Let them know that you want to see them here and that you want to buy from them.

We are also tracking a bit behind last year for event registrations. As of Feb 10th last year, we had about 230 cars registered. This year we are at 171. If you are planning on coming and haven’t registered yet, please go ahead and do it. The registration count is something that vendors use to work out if it makes sense to attend and the SCMC uses to work out how many books we need to print and how many registration packets we’ll need to make up. If we get 100 in the last couple of days of registrations, we might run out of books or lanyards or some of the other goodies.

That’s about it for now.

Hopefully, I’ll see you here next month.

Andrew Ross aka Agro

President, Sin City MINI Club www.SinCityMINIClub.com

Coordinator, A MINI Vacation In Vegas www.AMVIV.com

And, for those of you that are curious (and because I just can’t help myself), for the year that was 2008…

• Almost 110k of you visited whiteroofradio.com almost 300K times
• We pushed 1.2 TeraBytes of show out. That’s 1200GB
• You downloaded 384K episodes!
• Woofcast 30, 36 & 119 were all downloaded almost 11K times each

Sure, that’s not the greatest traffic or huge numbers for a podcast by any means, but I am more than a little pleased!

Thanks and keep it up!

Watch later in the week for a brand new event cast! That’s right, Michael and I revivied it and and new one will be out this week!

We will be back this week however. Comments will help me grease the skids a bit for a live show this coming Thursday, December 4th. Say 7:00p PST?

By comments I mean comments below, via this voicemail line at 206-202-3252 or by using the contact form.

Just a quick reminder that we will be recording Woofcast 275 live tonight. Check back at 7:15PM PST for all the fun and excitement! There is a rumor that Gabe might even be able to join Todd, Michael and myself for some great MINI talk!

Watch this post for updates and the show later today.

• Our first show back will be Woofcast 275 to be recorded on November 6th LIVE. Mark your calendars now! I will post specifics that week or the week before.
• New voicemail line is up and running. I will be contacting some of you about a special project involving that later today.
• I have picked out about a half dozen new theme song possibilities. I will be posting those for you next week after we narrow down the list.
• We are working on ways to get you guys in on the action more often that not. Including more live shows!

We are starting back a week later than I originally told you because we really want to get the elections behind us first. You can thank me for that later.

So just a little bit longer until we’re back. Like I already mentioned, thank you for your patience!

We’ve been going almost non-stop since July of 2005 covering MTTS (twice), MoTD, AMVIV and traveling to Europe to cover MINI United, not to mention the latest news in the MINI world from Motoringfile.

In the over 400 episodes we’ve uploaded you’ll find interviews with the who’s who in the MINI Community like Randy Webb, Peter Horath, Fireball Tim, the guys from Alta, Chad Miller and others. Plus interviews with Rauno Aaltenon, Dr. Kay Segler, Gert Hildebrand and others from MINI and MINI USA.

Our plan is take a few weeks off in October, re-group and start working on what I will call WRR v2.0. We want to freshen things up a bit, replace the worn out stripes on the bonnet, fix those rattles that have been around forever and have the power steering looked at. Oh, and maybe finally get that damned airbag light turned off!

I will be posting updates here throughout the month to keep you up-to-date on what is going on and how the conversion to v2.0 is going. We will be looking to you, the fine WRR listener, for feedback and opinions as well during this time, so keep an eye on this space for those updates!

Things you can expect to be different with v2.0:

• Updated show format
• Going back to 1 show a week
• Resurrecting the Eventcasts!
• More interviews
• More/better event coverage
• More Todd making funny noises!
• Fine tuning of the website and feed

And, to make sure you still have something to listen to and to show off a little, I will be putting The Best of White Roof Radio episodes in the feed. 1 a week until we get back.

Finally, thanks for sticking around this long and helping to spread the word. Without you we wouldn’t have done this little dog and pony show for as long as we have, we wouldn’t be world famous and we certainly wouldn’t be the #1 Independent Automotive Podcast out there!

“We will make it better than it was. Better…stronger…faster!”

Stay tuned!

Then my internet got turned off.

So, no Monday show this week. Apologies for posting this so late in the week.

Gone are the links at the top of the page. Actually, they are still there, just not on the front page. Back is the pop-up player (even opens in a new window).

Of course, you will still be able to play each episode on the show notes page, that isn’t going to go away.

The other icons, left to right are:

• iTunes. Clicking this will open iTunes and subscribe you to WRR immediately. Of course, you can still go to our iTunes page if you like to leave a review or subscribe properly.
• The Feed. This is for those of you that would rather subscribe any other way besides iTunes. Right/CMD click and choose Copy Link for your reader of choice.
• Motoringbadges. Opens in a new window or tab so you can continue listening while you browse the badges.

If something seems weird or not working correctly for you, be sure to let us know.

Watch later for a brand new soundseeing tour from Robert. That will be going into the feed later today.

To help celebrate, MINIUSA and RA Events went out and got us a cake. Then, brought us on stage Saturday afternoon before Vertical Horizon to get everyone to sing happy birthday. It was very awesome!

Thanks to everyone for listening and staying with us! Here’s to 3 more years.

Watch for the last of our MTTS coverage coming up this week.

Be sure to check out the guys at Reactor Watches for some really cool stuff. Or, find Tim at MINI Takes the States this week at the Rose Bowl and ask him what time it is.

Speaking of MTTS, both Tim and I will be there this coming Saturday and Sunday. Be sure to find us and say hi!

Finally, you can subscribe to The Hollywood Car Show in iTunes. It’s the best way to get the show too, automatically after we post it it shows up on your desktop ready to play!

Or, click over to The Hollywood Car Show #2 post at Fireball Tim’s blog to check it out. Keep an eye out for a new site for THCS shortly after MTTS.

Tim and I will be getting together weekly to discuss movies, cool movie cars, cool cars on TV or anywhere else we find them. Plus fun things like interviews with cool car people and other wackiness.

We’ve done one episode so far and I think it’s turned out pretty well, which is why I’m already posting it here.

The website for the show is still a few weeks away, but that’s not stopping us! You can check out the first show here for shownotes and the onsite player. You can subscribe using this link in your favorite news reader or Podcatcher or subscribe in iTunes.

Feedback is always appreciated! You can do that here or in the show notes, doesn’t matter.

Thanks for listening!

Watch for the first MTTS update for Chicago coming up later today, as well as lots of coverage as it happens!

On another note, new Soundseeing Tour by Robert is done and will be getting posted today or tomorrow. It’s pretty awesome, so watch for that.

And, on yet another note, I’m starting a new show with Fireball Tim this week. First episode should be going up tonight, but you are going to have to hunt it down to find it. At least until we do 3 or 4 of them.

Don’t forget Todd will be at MTTS Chicago this coming weekend as well. Find him if you go and say hi. He might give you a decal or you can buy one of those cool, limited edition, Motoringbadges he will be selling.

Gonna be a HUGE week! Stick around.