A Detailed History of The U2 Station

In early March of 1997, U2 were on the verge of releasing their first studio album in over four years. At that time, there were only a handful of websites that excelled in delivering vital information about U2's music while offering a wide variety of U2 multimedia. The U2 Station was created during that time to give fans complete coverage about the band and their impending Popmart Tour. For being one of the earliest Fan Websites for U2, The U2 Station had one goal in mind: to offer U2 fans the complete package and nothing less.

U2 Station Logo Timeline

Website Founder Jonathan Wayne started designing the very first version of the U2 Station back in late 1996 after dabbling in Web Design for his own personal webpage. He had just graduated from High School and had nothing else to do over one summer than take his old Apple Macintosh (Performa 637CD) computer into his small closet and start tinkering with HTML and a shareware application called GraphicConverter. A loner with a popular name throughout High School, Jonathan found his passion in computers and Website Design right around the time the Google company was just coming into formation. On March 12, 1997, Jonathan launched The U2 Station on his then free Netcom personal webpage service and right off the bat, the site offered everything from news to "MIDI" sound files to a discography and even guitar tabs.

On March 24, 1998, right after U2 concluded their Popmart Tour, John Panaro of U2's Merchandising Team sent a personal email to Jonathan. He asked for advice and insight on setting up an online store and requested a phone call. U2 had yet to create an online website (eventually U2.com went online in the summer of 2000), and back then, U2 Fan Websites were one step ahead of some band's non-existing official sites. U2 were late in the game and thus, the U2 Fan Sites benefitted greatly because of this lack of "official online presence".

Back in the early days of the Internet, it was also kind of a big deal whenever Fan Sites garnered "awards" from various online directories. Doras.ie was one example, and it awarded The U2 Station a 4 Shamrock rating on December 7, 1999. Another award that Jonathan thought was a big deal at the time was CDNow's "Elite Fleet" 7th place award! Dotmusic, a now defunct website, ranked The U2 Station #110 out of 200 top music sites that same year. Ironically, the font used for U2's Elevation Tour uncannily resembled the U2 Station's long used "Gotthard" font also (though it is unknown whether or not U2's Design Team were influenced by this site).

During U2's Elevation Tour, several college students from Babson College in Boston launched an exclusive radio show in conjunction with The U2 Station entitled "Where The Show Has No Name". One highlight included DJ Carter Alan coming onto the show for a live radio interview (this guy was responsible for "breaking" U2 into the United States). Afterwards, Mr. Alan stood up in front of the live studio webcam with a large banner that read "U2 Station" and it broadcasted all over the internet world.

U2 Station VH1 Nomination

Sometime in the Autumn of 2001, VH1 and MTV Networks recognized the U2 Station as a semi-finalist in the My VH1 Music Awards "Coolest Fan Website" category. Jonathan Wayne, a college student, was in disbelief such an honor was bestowed upon his website. A few weeks later, the U2 Station became one of five finalists for the Website award (the other websites that were chosen were those of Bon Jovi, No Doubt, the Dave Matthews Band and the Backstreet Boys). In the last week of November 2001, Jonathan bought a plane ticket and flew out to Los Angeles by himself and stayed with over two dozen Dave Matthews fans in some rich attorney's guesthouse in Malibu. His competitors, who also won that same award the year before, embraced Jonathan with open arms and together they all attended the Awards show later that weekend. Undoubtedly, Jonathan's unexpected VH1 nomination was a high point in his life (and in the long history of this website).

The U2 Station relaunched its website in the Spring of 2005 with a renewed focus on U2's Vertigo Tour, offering daily setlists and news on the entire tour. It's active forum has allowed fans from all over the world to reach out and connect with one another, not only having meetups at U2 concerts but creating friendships from people of all walks of life. The U2 Station's latest relaunch on May 12, 2009, took over 7 months in the making, with a painstaking revampment of the entire Tours section and a massive improvement in the site's own "U2ography" (discography) section.

Jonathan Wayne has run the U2 Station since day one and continues to strive for the best possible results with every project he works on. He recently was interviewed in a U2 Fan's new film documentary and shared some eye-popping feelings about U2 and his longstanding loyalty to his U2 Fan Website. Jonathan, a documentary filmmaker himself, is currently wrapping up a project on a personal film that is being shot in both Israel's West Bank and the USA. He continues to design websites while working on his film projects and considers The U2 Station one of his proudest achievements to this day.