Today, January 3, 2010, is rather a special day for Shel Holz and I as it marks the fifth anniversary of For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report, the podcast we both started on January 3, 2005.

To me, that day five years ago often feels like it was only yesterday. Yet so much has happened in this time in our specific areas of interest that embrace a pretty broad spectrum of business, online communication and technology, on a global level.

We’ve grown from a single podcast five years ago to a podcast series that includes the occasional interviews with interesting people, book and other reviews, and more. We have correspondents in the USA, Singapore and the UK who contribute and add to the overall richness of content and community. And we have sponsors: Ragan Communications and CustomScoop.

Getting involved in podcasting has had a profound influence on me, both personally and professionally. I fell in love with audio, putting it simply.

As we produce FIR (as our primary shows is abbreviated to) on Mondays and Thursdays, we’ll be recording the fifth anniversary episode tomorrow Monday, January 4, at about 5pm UK time, our usual recording time.

If you’re a regular listener – especially if you’ve been listening since the early days – we’d love to hear from you. You can email us or call in a comment to the comment line: see the show notes of the latest episode for contact info. If you’ve joined the FIR community on Friendfeed, why not add some thoughts there.

If you get us your thoughts in time, we’ll include them in tomorrow’s show.

Meanwhile, here’s a blast from the past: FIR #1 on January 3, 2005 (MP3, 19.85Mb, 43:23)

Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for listening!