This is a tribute to RyanWelton.com, which died Wednesday night after a long bout with reality television disease.

In the five years this site has existed, I've gone from writing primarily about sports to primarily about politics and social issues to primarily about reality television. There was a purpose to each specific style, too.

Writing about sports was fun, but I don't watch sports 24x7, and many, many other blogs cover and write about sports infinitely better than I could.

Politics and social issues, generally, are in a space that potentially conflicts with my day job. Regardless, I am not that passionate about politics, who wins the election this fall or any of it. I have certain issues I'm big on, but I'm generally flexible -- and it seems like the best political blogs are ideologically inflexible.

On the other hand, writing about reality television was a good idea for awhile because it involved subject matter I could follow from home. There is a very specific audience for reality television coverage, believe it or not. Unfortunately, there were many superior sites, and the best strategy for covering a reality television show is to have a blog for each show.

And this is RyanWelton.com. I am not a reality show.

At no point did I ever intend this site to become a gossip site, nor did I ever aspire to be a PerezHilton type. By no means. I told as many people as would listen that while I enjoyed watching a bit of reality television, I found most of it to be vapid. Well, except for So You Think You Can Dance? That really is a terrific show.

However, while I made a bit of money watching SYTYCD and Big Brother and Idol, I haven't made enough to warrant my continued interest. So, I am severing ties with these shows at a detailed level. Might check in on them from time to time, but I'm not covering them or any show from here on out.

No more reading about who the Top 5 should be on Idol.

No more reading about the greatness of Napoleon and Tabitha or why Nashville Star sucked ass this season.

I just don't care.

Now, this site isn't going to die. It will become a music blog, dedicated to music I love, music you should be listening to and my own musical efforts.

Music. Music. Music.

The energy I'm saving by not pulling my hair out watching PoV competitions is going into a new blog venture called The Norman Files. This is a hyperlocal blog I've created to tout the greatness of Norman, Okla.

I'll cover local happenings. I'll write about local businesses and issues. I'll tell tall tales. And I'll cover OU sports extensively (or as much as I can). It's a Norman-centric blog, and I'm going to do my darnedest to do it right.

Heck, even if I don't make any money from it ... even if I get bored with it from time to time, it has to be a more edifying effort long-term than writing about reality television on two fronts. First, worst-case scenario is that I would be learning more about my community. Second, the other worst-case scenario is that I would learn a bit more about hyperlocal blogging and news coverage, both of which are increasingly vital to my day job.

So, goodbye to the old ryanwelton.com. Farewell, old friend.

But do come back from time to time to get a music fix.

And if you're from Norman or an OU football fan, go to thenormanfiles.com and bookmark me. That site debuted earlier this morning.