History Timeline
Here's a look at the history of Disciples with Microphones and Catholic podcasting.
Late October 2004 - Podcasting begins to rapidly gain popularity.
October 30, 2004 - The GodCast Network, the first Christian podcast network, is started.
December 5, 2004 - An article by Carlos Briceno titled "What's Missing from Catholic Radio" is published in the National Catholic Register. Towards the end of the article, he says, "What is needed are people willing to become disciples with microphones."
January 2005 - The first Catholic podcast is started under the title "The Catholic Cast."
January 11, 2005 - A Yahoo group by the name "discwmics" is started and becomes the discussion group for those who have responded to Carlos's article.
January 30, 2005 - Carlos Briceno posts a message on the Yahoo group saying, "Check out the following sites regarding podcasting, which could do for radio what cable did for television. It's a use of technology that Catholics should be using one day to reach people, especially the youth."
February 16, 2005 - The domain name DisciplesWithMicrophones.org is purchased, soon to be the home of the Disciples with Microphones website.
March 9, 2005 - The abbreviation of "Disciples with Microphones" as "DWM" first appears on the Yahoo Group.
March 9, 2005 - In response the court order for the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube, the announcement is made to the Yahoo Group that plans are underway for a first version of the Disciples with Microphones website to be up by March 12.
March 12, 2005 - A rally is held for Terri Schiavo across the street from Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, during which Carlos Briceno recorded some of the speakers and interviewed some of the attendees.
March 12, 2005 - Late at night, version 1 of the Disciples with Microphones website is launched, featuring the Podcasts for Terri campaign.
March 13, 2005 - Carlos's recording is added to the Disciples with Microphones website.
March 13, 2005 - The first three podcasts added to the Disciples with Microphones website are the Catholic Cast, St. Michael's Pod, and Franciscan Voice.
March 14, 2005 - Verbum Domini and the Rosary Army Podcast are added to the Disciples with Microphones website. Several additional Podcasts for Terri episodes are added.
March 31, 2005 - Terri Schiavo dies.
April 2005 - Work begins on version 2 of the DwM website.
April 13, 2005 - "Disciples with Microphones" is abbreviated as "DwM" (that is, with a lower case "w") for the first time on the Yahoo Group. This abbreviation has since become the de facto standard.
May 26, 2005 - Version 2 of the Disciples with Microphones website is released. This update included podcast info pages, a rudimentary forum, and search capabilities.
June 18, 2005 - Disciples with Microphones is added to the Wikipedia encyclopedia article on Podcasting.
July 19, 2005 - DwM is mentioned in the National Catholic Register article "Invasion of the Catholic Podcasters."
September 2005 - Work begins on version 3 of the DwM website.
October 14, 2005 - The Disciples with Microphones News blog is started.
November 2005 - The DwM site tops 10,000 monthly website visits for the first time, with a total of 12,928 visits and 71,025 hits for the month of November 2005.
November 11, 2005 - DwM starts a Mission Hope campaign to assist those who were affected by Hurricane Katrina.
December 5, 2005 - Carlos Briceno's "What's Missing from Catholic Radio" article was published one year ago, making Disciples with Microphones one year old.
December 5, 2005 - Version 3 of the DwM website is released. This version adds a full-featured forum, a page that allows visitors to vote for DwM podcasts at Podcast Alley, a podcast subscription wizard, and many other new features.
December 5, 2005 - Father Roderick Vonhögen, a former member of Disciples with Microphones, starts another Catholic podcast network called the StarQuest Podcast Network (now known as the StarQuest Production Network).
February 8, 2006 - Episode 1 of the Disciples with Microphones Roundtable, the first DwM group podcast, is published.
August 2006 - Work begins on version 4 of the DwM website.
August 16, 2006 - Byzantine Catholic Word becomes the 50th Catholic podcast added to the DwM website.
September 7, 2006 - The DwM Yahoo Group is officially closed down to encourage transition to the forums.
September 9, 2006 - The DwM News blog is renamed to Podcast Connections.
October 2006 - The DwM site tops 20,000 monthly website visits for the first time, with a total of 21,477 visits and 193,582 hits for the month of October 2006.
December 5, 2006 - Disciples with Microphones turns two years old!
January 2007 - During this month the DwM site almost had 30,000 monthly visits for the first time: 29,999 to be exact (no kidding). Close enough.
March 31, 2007 - After about eight months of development, the current version (version 4) of the Disciples with Microphones website is launched.