The Paracast Newsletter
June 16, 2024
www.theparacast.com
Discover the History and Hidden Gems of Low Budget Movies and Movie Serials with B-Picture Guru Brian Walker on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022, 2023 and 2024 now feature better audio and fewer ads.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! 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 an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear as Gene and cohost Tim Swartz welcome back Brian Walker, the creator and webmaster of Brian’s Drive-In Theater, where he's been keeping memories of drive-in films and their stars alive since February 1, 1998. On the agenda: low budget (B-movie) fare, particularly serials featuring super heroes and other popular characters. He also talks about the sad histories of some of the stars that never quite realized their full potential, and others, such as George Reeves ("Adventures of Superman"), whose lives ended tragically. Brian's love of films began in childhood with his first Super 8mm projector given to him by his grandmother who also bought him his first film, a four-minute excerpt of a W.C. Fields comedy. Over the last 50 years, he has assembled a film collection from such genres as horror and science fiction, comedy, and action. Currently calling Morgantown, West Virginia home, Brian is fortunate to live in proximity of a number of still-operating drive-in theaters in the southwestern Pennsylvania area and loves taking his convertible to the drive-in during the warm summer months.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on June 16: Discover more hidden gems and background stories about vintage low-budget movies and movie serials with B-movie guru Brian Walker. He's creator and webmaster of Brian’s Drive-In Theater. Speaking with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz, Brian talks about the Saturday morning sci-fi fare for children on TV stations in the U.S. He'll also discuss the shabby treatment of actor Clayton Moore, whose career as a movie heavy took a heroic turn when he began to wear the mask of the Lone Ranger. What about TV shows featuring Batman, The Flash and other famous DC comic characters? He'll also compare the shared experience of watching a movie in a theater to catching the same flick on a large screen TV. Brian's love of films began in childhood with his first Super 8mm projector given to him by his grandmother who also bought him his first film, a four-minute excerpt of a W.C. Fields comedy. Over the last 50 years, he has assembled a film collection from such genres as horror and science fiction, comedy, and action.
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. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop.
Catching Up
By Gene Steinberg
As regular readers know, we’ve had some big changes at The Paracast over the last few weeks.
The first was the unexpected — but not surprising — announcement that the Genesis Communications Network (GCN) the radio network that carried the show since mid-2010 was folding. They only gave us less than two weeks notice. But we weren’t surprised. The traditional radio business has undergone years of turmoil what with consolidations and a change in listener preferences.
We began our career working on local stations. But when we got back into the game in 2002, we went online. It’s not that we necessarily knew where the business was going; it was more about accepting the offer to become part of a new network largely catering to users and fans of Apple gear. It was known as MacRadio.
Since we had worked day and night writing technology books and magazine articles, the title Mac Night Owl Live seemed appropriate. It was later renamed Tech Night Owl Live to reflect a wider approach to covering the industry, and the realization that we could attract a larger audience.
The Paracast was launched on February 28, 2006. It seems almost a lifetime ago. While the main focus of the show, providing serious coverage of the amazing world of the paranormal, has never changed, the cohost lineup and distribution methods have.
Our original cohost, David Biedny (who sadly died earlier this year) left in early 2010 saying his presence on the show negatively impacted his day job as a graphic artist and technologist. We realize that he cited other reasons, but that was likely more in keeping with his role as a performance artist.
In any case, other cohosts joined us, including Mysterious Valley author and cattle mutilation expert Chris O’Brien, forum regular J. Randall Murphy, and, most recently, a group of rotating cohosts. Our main cohost is Tim Swartz, an Emmy award winning videographer and long-time writer on things paranormal. Cutting-edge researcher Curt Collins takes on guest cohosting duties from time to time, along with our staff announcer, Bob Zanotti.
Now even after joining GCN, The Paracast remained online as a podcast available from all or most of the major platforms, such as Amazon, Audible, Apple, iHeart, Pandora, Samsung and Spotify. It came as a surprise when we looked over the options that thousands of listeners had given us high (4.5) ratings on Amazon, and we got a great review from its editorial staff.
Now similar to other radio deals, our arrangement with GCN was barter. Unlike other weekly shows, however, we didn’t pay GCN for satellite access, and, in turn, the network gave us nine ad slots for our own use. Sometimes we even made a few dollars from it, though it takes a proper sales staff to make such a deal pay off.
Without GCN, The Paracast is now hosted on Spreaker, a podcast repository owned by iHeart Radio. There’s even the potential for income, since we share in advertising revenue.
Speaking of ads, that’s where we had problems with GCN. In terrestrial radio, it’s not unusual for radio spots to consume over 25% of show time, same as broadcast television. Since some GCN hosts touted offbeat and extreme views, its advertising was sometimes a little out there; sometimes way out there. And I know some listeners didn’t want to be inundated with such spots, though we urged them to just fast forward.
In 2014, GCN gave us permission to offer an ad-free version of the show to paid subscribers. That’s how The Paracast+ began. We soon added an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, making the package an even better deal.
With our new setup, we spent hours editing all episodes from 2022 on to remove the GCN ads, and leave it free to accommodate the more mainstream and less frequent advertising from the Spreaker platform. Audio quality has been enhanced.
Since the switchover there are far fewer ads. The usual lineup ranges from 10 to 15 minutes per episode, down from 41 minutes with GCN. That will, we hope, lead to a smoother listening experience.
With an 18-year legacy of paranormal talk radio in our archives, we’ve begun to repost Classic Episodes that include many of your favorites, including the Premiere from 2006 featuring my old friends Jim Moseley and Brad Steiger, show regulars who are sadly no longer with us.
At the same time, The Paracast+ is an even better value, as we’ve expanded After The Paracast.
After just a few weeks, listenership is higher and the upward trend is happily continuing. We’re being found in more places, and the decision to repost our most popular episodes has made it easier for new listeners to discover a legacy that now includes over 950 episodes of the main show and nearly 500 episodes of After The Paracast.
Looking back at this long journey, despite the occasional hassles with online hoaxers and stalkers, it has been rewarding, enjoyable and informative. We have learned lots about the world of the strange and unknown and, in turn, learned that there is a lot that we just don’t know.
While researching the paranormal can often be frustrating since answers never seem forthcoming, there is some reason to be optimistic. In the endlessly wacky UFO field, more and more scientists have come to take the subject seriously. It doesn’t mean that they will accept the theory that we are being visited by ET. Indeed, the other day I read a newspaper story about a Harvard study presenting a theory on whether aliens, known as “cryptoterrestrials,” were living among us.
Cryptoterrestrials? That’s also the name of a fascinating book written by the late Mac Tonnies in 2009. In the early days of The Paracast, Mac was a regular guest. Unfortunately he died, in his 30s, shortly before completing the book, and the published version from Anomalist Books seems rather underdeveloped. Too bad Mac wasn’t able to flesh out his intriguing ideas.
The Paracast broadcast a memorial episode shortly after Mac’s passing, released on November 1, 2009. It featured some of his friends and colleagues.
We have reposted this Classic Episode, since it comes at at time where there may be renewed interest in his theories.
Other Classic Episodes will be posted weekly.
As always, we appreciate your comments and questions, even if they are sometimes not so favorable to our efforts.
Copyright 1999-2024 The Paracast Company. 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!
June 16, 2024
www.theparacast.com
Discover the History and Hidden Gems of Low Budget Movies and Movie Serials with B-Picture Guru Brian Walker on The Paracast!
The Paracast is released every Sunday and available from our site, https://www.theparacast.com, your favorite podcast app, and the IRN Internet Radio Network. All episodes from 2022, 2023 and 2024 now feature better audio and fewer ads.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR THE PARACAST+ YET? PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARACAST+ SO YOU CAN SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE ULTIMATE PARACAST EXPERIENCE AT A SPECIAL LOW PRICE! 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 an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, plus a special version of The Paracast with all the ads removed, when you join The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes on your device. Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! For the easiest signup ever, please visit: https://www.theparacast.plus
This Week's Episode: Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear as Gene and cohost Tim Swartz welcome back Brian Walker, the creator and webmaster of Brian’s Drive-In Theater, where he's been keeping memories of drive-in films and their stars alive since February 1, 1998. On the agenda: low budget (B-movie) fare, particularly serials featuring super heroes and other popular characters. He also talks about the sad histories of some of the stars that never quite realized their full potential, and others, such as George Reeves ("Adventures of Superman"), whose lives ended tragically. Brian's love of films began in childhood with his first Super 8mm projector given to him by his grandmother who also bought him his first film, a four-minute excerpt of a W.C. Fields comedy. Over the last 50 years, he has assembled a film collection from such genres as horror and science fiction, comedy, and action. Currently calling Morgantown, West Virginia home, Brian is fortunate to live in proximity of a number of still-operating drive-in theaters in the southwestern Pennsylvania area and loves taking his convertible to the drive-in during the warm summer months.
After The Paracast — Available exclusively for Paracast+ subscribers on June 16: Discover more hidden gems and background stories about vintage low-budget movies and movie serials with B-movie guru Brian Walker. He's creator and webmaster of Brian’s Drive-In Theater. Speaking with Gene and cohost Tim Swartz, Brian talks about the Saturday morning sci-fi fare for children on TV stations in the U.S. He'll also discuss the shabby treatment of actor Clayton Moore, whose career as a movie heavy took a heroic turn when he began to wear the mask of the Lone Ranger. What about TV shows featuring Batman, The Flash and other famous DC comic characters? He'll also compare the shared experience of watching a movie in a theater to catching the same flick on a large screen TV. Brian's love of films began in childhood with his first Super 8mm projector given to him by his grandmother who also bought him his first film, a four-minute excerpt of a W.C. Fields comedy. Over the last 50 years, he has assembled a film collection from such genres as horror and science fiction, comedy, and action.
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. Visit our new online shop for great branded merchandise at: https://www.theparacast.shop.
Catching Up
By Gene Steinberg
As regular readers know, we’ve had some big changes at The Paracast over the last few weeks.
The first was the unexpected — but not surprising — announcement that the Genesis Communications Network (GCN) the radio network that carried the show since mid-2010 was folding. They only gave us less than two weeks notice. But we weren’t surprised. The traditional radio business has undergone years of turmoil what with consolidations and a change in listener preferences.
We began our career working on local stations. But when we got back into the game in 2002, we went online. It’s not that we necessarily knew where the business was going; it was more about accepting the offer to become part of a new network largely catering to users and fans of Apple gear. It was known as MacRadio.
Since we had worked day and night writing technology books and magazine articles, the title Mac Night Owl Live seemed appropriate. It was later renamed Tech Night Owl Live to reflect a wider approach to covering the industry, and the realization that we could attract a larger audience.
The Paracast was launched on February 28, 2006. It seems almost a lifetime ago. While the main focus of the show, providing serious coverage of the amazing world of the paranormal, has never changed, the cohost lineup and distribution methods have.
Our original cohost, David Biedny (who sadly died earlier this year) left in early 2010 saying his presence on the show negatively impacted his day job as a graphic artist and technologist. We realize that he cited other reasons, but that was likely more in keeping with his role as a performance artist.
In any case, other cohosts joined us, including Mysterious Valley author and cattle mutilation expert Chris O’Brien, forum regular J. Randall Murphy, and, most recently, a group of rotating cohosts. Our main cohost is Tim Swartz, an Emmy award winning videographer and long-time writer on things paranormal. Cutting-edge researcher Curt Collins takes on guest cohosting duties from time to time, along with our staff announcer, Bob Zanotti.
Now even after joining GCN, The Paracast remained online as a podcast available from all or most of the major platforms, such as Amazon, Audible, Apple, iHeart, Pandora, Samsung and Spotify. It came as a surprise when we looked over the options that thousands of listeners had given us high (4.5) ratings on Amazon, and we got a great review from its editorial staff.
Now similar to other radio deals, our arrangement with GCN was barter. Unlike other weekly shows, however, we didn’t pay GCN for satellite access, and, in turn, the network gave us nine ad slots for our own use. Sometimes we even made a few dollars from it, though it takes a proper sales staff to make such a deal pay off.
Without GCN, The Paracast is now hosted on Spreaker, a podcast repository owned by iHeart Radio. There’s even the potential for income, since we share in advertising revenue.
Speaking of ads, that’s where we had problems with GCN. In terrestrial radio, it’s not unusual for radio spots to consume over 25% of show time, same as broadcast television. Since some GCN hosts touted offbeat and extreme views, its advertising was sometimes a little out there; sometimes way out there. And I know some listeners didn’t want to be inundated with such spots, though we urged them to just fast forward.
In 2014, GCN gave us permission to offer an ad-free version of the show to paid subscribers. That’s how The Paracast+ began. We soon added an exclusive bonus podcast, After The Paracast, making the package an even better deal.
With our new setup, we spent hours editing all episodes from 2022 on to remove the GCN ads, and leave it free to accommodate the more mainstream and less frequent advertising from the Spreaker platform. Audio quality has been enhanced.
Since the switchover there are far fewer ads. The usual lineup ranges from 10 to 15 minutes per episode, down from 41 minutes with GCN. That will, we hope, lead to a smoother listening experience.
With an 18-year legacy of paranormal talk radio in our archives, we’ve begun to repost Classic Episodes that include many of your favorites, including the Premiere from 2006 featuring my old friends Jim Moseley and Brad Steiger, show regulars who are sadly no longer with us.
At the same time, The Paracast+ is an even better value, as we’ve expanded After The Paracast.
After just a few weeks, listenership is higher and the upward trend is happily continuing. We’re being found in more places, and the decision to repost our most popular episodes has made it easier for new listeners to discover a legacy that now includes over 950 episodes of the main show and nearly 500 episodes of After The Paracast.
Looking back at this long journey, despite the occasional hassles with online hoaxers and stalkers, it has been rewarding, enjoyable and informative. We have learned lots about the world of the strange and unknown and, in turn, learned that there is a lot that we just don’t know.
While researching the paranormal can often be frustrating since answers never seem forthcoming, there is some reason to be optimistic. In the endlessly wacky UFO field, more and more scientists have come to take the subject seriously. It doesn’t mean that they will accept the theory that we are being visited by ET. Indeed, the other day I read a newspaper story about a Harvard study presenting a theory on whether aliens, known as “cryptoterrestrials,” were living among us.
Cryptoterrestrials? That’s also the name of a fascinating book written by the late Mac Tonnies in 2009. In the early days of The Paracast, Mac was a regular guest. Unfortunately he died, in his 30s, shortly before completing the book, and the published version from Anomalist Books seems rather underdeveloped. Too bad Mac wasn’t able to flesh out his intriguing ideas.
The Paracast broadcast a memorial episode shortly after Mac’s passing, released on November 1, 2009. It featured some of his friends and colleagues.
We have reposted this Classic Episode, since it comes at at time where there may be renewed interest in his theories.
Other Classic Episodes will be posted weekly.
As always, we appreciate your comments and questions, even if they are sometimes not so favorable to our efforts.
Copyright 1999-2024 The Paracast Company. 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!