THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
April 23, 2017
www.theparacast.com
Explore the Amazing Mystery of Orange Orbs on The Paracast
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Epis odes and there’s more to come! We’ve just begun to add podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth.” Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $1.49 per week, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free print and eBook book offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: With guest go-host Goggs Mackay, The Paracast returns to the traditional Ufology and UFO sighting mold with Bob Spearing, a MUFON field investigator who has investigated over 500 cases. He is part of MUFON’ s elite special assignment team and is their International Director for Spain and India. Robert is frequently published in the MUFON Journal and other publications, has spoken at UFO conventions, and maintains the website World UFO Watch. An expert on orange orbs, Robert will trace the history of this incredible phenomenon and whether it e xhibits evidence of intelligence. He’ll also talk about what he calls “nuts and bolts UFOs.”
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Robert Spearing’s Site: World UFO Watch
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on April 23: Gene and guest co-host Goggs Mackay rap about regional accents before diving in to the nuts and bolts of Paracast guest Robert Spearings research into orange orbs and similar phenomena. Gene observes that he follows the typical MUFON approach, which is to focus on the event and not the witness. Gene also brings up a report, first posted by former MUFON investigator Erica Lukes, that the organizations database of UFO sightings is now restricted to paid members. Its no longer available to anyone else. Gene and Goggs discuss the report that one of the witnesses to the 1976 Allagash Wilderness Waterway abduction, o ne Chuck Rak, has since recanted his story about the event. He claims it didn't happen, although the other three witnesses to the waterborne encounter continue to claim it did.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Living with Advertising
By Gene Steinberg
I prefer to focus on the issues involved in the amazing world of the paranormal. Recent episodes have presented a wide range of thought-provoking theories, and there’s lots more to come.
But sometimes I need to use up a bit of space covering the daily irritants of running web sites and radio shows.
Take the ads.
The Paracast is a commercial radio show aired on nearly three dozen terrestrial stations around the U.S. via the Genesis Communications Network (GCN). As with over 80 shows carried by GCN, we have ads. That’s true for thousands of radio shows broadcast every single day, and the number of ads, while high, is normal for the industry.
That said, some of the people who review The Paracast (and my other radio show, The Tech Night Owl LIVE), on iTunes and other places, object. To them, we carry too many spots, and all I can say is just fast forward or consider subscribing to The Paracast+. As with premium cable, your subscription to The Paracast+ lets you download and listen to a version of the show free of the network commercials. We also offer the After The Paracast podcast and other exclusive features, so it’s a great deal.
Now I recently added a couple of sentences to the iTunes listing to explain how to get the ad-free version of the show. A YouTube entrepreneur, to whom we gave the rights to post the regular version of The Paracast, also receives occasional complaints about the number of ads.
The content of the ads is also sometimes attacked, even though we have nothing to do with the ones inserted by GCN or the local radio stations. All I can say is that advertising pays the bills for GCN and its affiliates. I wish I could say it pays our bills, but we don’t get many paid ads.
There’s also web advertising, which is more complicated.
The ads you see on www.theparacast.com and my other sites consist of banners and text links. Some are animated, and some offer audio. But we never force you to watch any of them, and that’s important, because many sites don’t care as much about their readers as we do.
So take the interstitial ad, a huge window overlay that appears over the usually grayed-out content without warning. To get rid of it, you have to click an “X” button at the upper right, which may be a bit difficult to see, but at least the ad can be readily dismissed.
The more annoying ad is the multimedia prese ntation that starts playing as soon as you open a page. If it’s just a video, you can probably ignore it, but more often than not, the video is accompanied by audio. In other words, the advertiser or the site has allowed autoplay, which means it starts without advance warning or your approval.
There are ways to work around it. There are browser extensions and sometimes browser features that allow you to turn off the audio. The extension is better, because it will disable all playback till you manually click or tap a play button.
Now I realize such ads are a major source of income for many sites, and to them the money is more important than upsetting their visitors. And I’m not just talking about small sites. So when you open an article on CNN, USA Today, Huffington Post, Macworld and other large sites, a multimedia ad will begin to play a few seconds later. It doesn’t matter if you’re listening to something else at the time, or y ou’re recording a radio show. It just starts playing unless you’ve taken measures to prevent it, or quickly hit the stop button.
Advertising is already intrusive. It’s a necessary evil for companies to stay in business and provide free content, just as it’s needed on free radio and TV.
Unfortunately, some sites have made advertising so annoying that people install ad blockers to get rid of them. Out of sight, out of mind. What this means is that the ads that provide income for those sites aren’t visible, and thus traffic and clicks are lower. They lose money. Sites that care about their readers lose money too.
Some of my sites put up little notices asking you to disable your ad blocker — at least for us. Maybe you’ll find an ad with a product or service that you might want to explore further. We hope you will, but feel free to ignore the ads if that’s what you prefer.
The sites that h ave abused the privilege make it bad for everyone. Income from web advertising is down, and traditional banners and links just don’t generate the traffic they used to. That has forced some companies to take extreme measures to put advertising in your face and receive per-click revenue. I believe that an advertiser that wants to attract customers ought to make a good impression, but maybe I’m a little old fashioned.
That said, if you see or hear an ad that offends you, let me know about it. If it’s a network radio ad from GCN or a local station, I may not be able to do anything about it, but I’ll make sure the message is conveyed to the right people. The Paracast and The Tech Night Owl LIVE bring these stations tens of thousands of listeners, and I’m sure they’ll do what’s necessary to keep our listeners happy.
Some of you have suggested that we only offer these shows to paid subscribers, and give up on the free version with the radio spots. I even ran a poll about it in The Paracast forums some time back, and it received mixed results. At the end of the day, however, I don’t to force people to pay to listen. We offer that option, via The Paracast+ and The Tech Night Owl+, to those who are willing to pay, but many of you have other priorities for your money, and I respect that.
I made a promise once, that The Paracast and The Tech Night Owl LIVE would continue to be offered on free radio. A paid version is available if you want it, but it won’t be forced on you.
Now back to our regularly posted content…
Copyright 1999-2017 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
April 23, 2017
www.theparacast.com
Explore the Amazing Mystery of Orange Orbs on The Paracast
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Epis odes and there’s more to come! We’ve just begun to add podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth.” Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $1.49 per week, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free print and eBook book offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
This Week's Episode: With guest go-host Goggs Mackay, The Paracast returns to the traditional Ufology and UFO sighting mold with Bob Spearing, a MUFON field investigator who has investigated over 500 cases. He is part of MUFON’ s elite special assignment team and is their International Director for Spain and India. Robert is frequently published in the MUFON Journal and other publications, has spoken at UFO conventions, and maintains the website World UFO Watch. An expert on orange orbs, Robert will trace the history of this incredible phenomenon and whether it e xhibits evidence of intelligence. He’ll also talk about what he calls “nuts and bolts UFOs.”
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Robert Spearing’s Site: World UFO Watch
After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on April 23: Gene and guest co-host Goggs Mackay rap about regional accents before diving in to the nuts and bolts of Paracast guest Robert Spearings research into orange orbs and similar phenomena. Gene observes that he follows the typical MUFON approach, which is to focus on the event and not the witness. Gene also brings up a report, first posted by former MUFON investigator Erica Lukes, that the organizations database of UFO sightings is now restricted to paid members. Its no longer available to anyone else. Gene and Goggs discuss the report that one of the witnesses to the 1976 Allagash Wilderness Waterway abduction, o ne Chuck Rak, has since recanted his story about the event. He claims it didn't happen, although the other three witnesses to the waterborne encounter continue to claim it did.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
Living with Advertising
By Gene Steinberg
I prefer to focus on the issues involved in the amazing world of the paranormal. Recent episodes have presented a wide range of thought-provoking theories, and there’s lots more to come.
But sometimes I need to use up a bit of space covering the daily irritants of running web sites and radio shows.
Take the ads.
The Paracast is a commercial radio show aired on nearly three dozen terrestrial stations around the U.S. via the Genesis Communications Network (GCN). As with over 80 shows carried by GCN, we have ads. That’s true for thousands of radio shows broadcast every single day, and the number of ads, while high, is normal for the industry.
That said, some of the people who review The Paracast (and my other radio show, The Tech Night Owl LIVE), on iTunes and other places, object. To them, we carry too many spots, and all I can say is just fast forward or consider subscribing to The Paracast+. As with premium cable, your subscription to The Paracast+ lets you download and listen to a version of the show free of the network commercials. We also offer the After The Paracast podcast and other exclusive features, so it’s a great deal.
Now I recently added a couple of sentences to the iTunes listing to explain how to get the ad-free version of the show. A YouTube entrepreneur, to whom we gave the rights to post the regular version of The Paracast, also receives occasional complaints about the number of ads.
The content of the ads is also sometimes attacked, even though we have nothing to do with the ones inserted by GCN or the local radio stations. All I can say is that advertising pays the bills for GCN and its affiliates. I wish I could say it pays our bills, but we don’t get many paid ads.
There’s also web advertising, which is more complicated.
The ads you see on www.theparacast.com and my other sites consist of banners and text links. Some are animated, and some offer audio. But we never force you to watch any of them, and that’s important, because many sites don’t care as much about their readers as we do.
So take the interstitial ad, a huge window overlay that appears over the usually grayed-out content without warning. To get rid of it, you have to click an “X” button at the upper right, which may be a bit difficult to see, but at least the ad can be readily dismissed.
The more annoying ad is the multimedia prese ntation that starts playing as soon as you open a page. If it’s just a video, you can probably ignore it, but more often than not, the video is accompanied by audio. In other words, the advertiser or the site has allowed autoplay, which means it starts without advance warning or your approval.
There are ways to work around it. There are browser extensions and sometimes browser features that allow you to turn off the audio. The extension is better, because it will disable all playback till you manually click or tap a play button.
Now I realize such ads are a major source of income for many sites, and to them the money is more important than upsetting their visitors. And I’m not just talking about small sites. So when you open an article on CNN, USA Today, Huffington Post, Macworld and other large sites, a multimedia ad will begin to play a few seconds later. It doesn’t matter if you’re listening to something else at the time, or y ou’re recording a radio show. It just starts playing unless you’ve taken measures to prevent it, or quickly hit the stop button.
Advertising is already intrusive. It’s a necessary evil for companies to stay in business and provide free content, just as it’s needed on free radio and TV.
Unfortunately, some sites have made advertising so annoying that people install ad blockers to get rid of them. Out of sight, out of mind. What this means is that the ads that provide income for those sites aren’t visible, and thus traffic and clicks are lower. They lose money. Sites that care about their readers lose money too.
Some of my sites put up little notices asking you to disable your ad blocker — at least for us. Maybe you’ll find an ad with a product or service that you might want to explore further. We hope you will, but feel free to ignore the ads if that’s what you prefer.
The sites that h ave abused the privilege make it bad for everyone. Income from web advertising is down, and traditional banners and links just don’t generate the traffic they used to. That has forced some companies to take extreme measures to put advertising in your face and receive per-click revenue. I believe that an advertiser that wants to attract customers ought to make a good impression, but maybe I’m a little old fashioned.
That said, if you see or hear an ad that offends you, let me know about it. If it’s a network radio ad from GCN or a local station, I may not be able to do anything about it, but I’ll make sure the message is conveyed to the right people. The Paracast and The Tech Night Owl LIVE bring these stations tens of thousands of listeners, and I’m sure they’ll do what’s necessary to keep our listeners happy.
Some of you have suggested that we only offer these shows to paid subscribers, and give up on the free version with the radio spots. I even ran a poll about it in The Paracast forums some time back, and it received mixed results. At the end of the day, however, I don’t to force people to pay to listen. We offer that option, via The Paracast+ and The Tech Night Owl+, to those who are willing to pay, but many of you have other priorities for your money, and I respect that.
I made a promise once, that The Paracast and The Tech Night Owl LIVE would continue to be offered on free radio. A paid version is available if you want it, but it won’t be forced on you.
Now back to our regularly posted content…
Copyright 1999-2017 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!