Radio and Podcasting

One of the things I started doing at the back end of 2022 is podcasting—specifically, Doctor Who podcasting.

So let me take you on a little journey...

Back when I was an 11-year-old kid, I was fascinated with the radio. It was something that never really left me, especially in my teenage years. There was something captivating about listening to people talk. I recorded a Radio 2 documentary about Beatles covers in 1992 and played the cassette to death. I wish I still had that cassette! 

Around that time, I created something I called Radio Who. I used a tape-to-tape player with its built-in microphone to essentially record "radio shows" based on Doctor Who.

To be fair, I didn't do many. They usually consisted of me recording links between playing pieces of music from various Doctor Who stories. I had the "Earthshock" tape, which I bought from the Sheffield Space Centre, and it featured music from "The Keeper of Traken", "Kinda", "Earthshock", etc. I also included episodes of "The Macra Terror", as it was the only missing story I had on tape at the time.

My interest in radio developed further in 1995 when I discovered the pirate radio station Cool FM, which broadcast to my town and surrounding areas. I was fascinated by the idea of young people broadcasting from their own homes, hiding from the authorities, and playing Eurodance music that just wouldn't be played on the usual UK stations. I also loved the personalities of the DJs.

In 1998, the year I started college, I discovered the delights of late-night talk radio. I listened to shows by James Whale and, in particular, Ian Collins and the Creatures of the Night - radio shows that didn't have music or sports, just talking and listeners phoning in. It fascinated me. Strangely, it was around this time that I did my best to erase my local accent and base my voice more on Ian Collins himself.

I dabbled in pirate radio again in late 1998/early 1999 when my friends and I bought a radio transmitter (allegedly the now-defunct Cool FM's transmitter) and formed a radio station called Buzz FM. We broadcast for a few weeks across the area, and my biggest memory is of 10 to 15 mates from college all crammed in my bedroom as we tried, first, to get the aerial outside my window and, second, to launch the station. It all came to an end, though, as we had an overbearing friend who tried to turn it into some sort of business. That and the transmitter burned out!

I studied radio production at college and enjoyed going out there and talking to the general public about things, recording their thoughts and putting together shows, but sadly, our radio class ended when our tutor left. I went into web design... I have no idea why!

With the pirates all but sunk in the area and talk radio no longer appealing to me, my interest in radio faded...

Time passed...

I listened to Radio 4, mesmerized by the Shipping Forecast. I'd be hypnotised by those obscure names being read out. Dogger. Viking Shannon. German Bight. I fell asleep to dramas and talk shows. I remember waking up in the night and listening to a female cyclist talk about how she'd lost the love of her life, so she dedicated her cycling across the country in his name. I'd be awake at 3 a.m. listening to refugees recount their stories of escaping war-torn countries. There was something in those voices—no faces, just voices and my imagination. Voices drifting through the night.

But that leads me to podcasting.

I first discovered podcasting during the pandemic. I think the first thing I heard was a podcast on Radio 4 called "Fortunately... with Fi and Jane," two female presenters who randomly chatted about things. It held my attention, and after I heard a podcast with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, it pushed me to find more podcasts, particularly Doctor Who ones.

That’s where I discovered Joe Ford's wonderful "A Hamster with a Blunt Penknife." Over a number of months, I listened to everything he’d recorded up to that point. Through that, I discovered Trap One and On The Timelash. I found Dave Rennie's wonderful "A Kettle and a Piece of String." I delighted in the stories told by the guests on Mike Honor's "Who Gives a Flux." All of a sudden, I found myself being pulled into this wonderful podcasting community, listening to familiar voices and building friendships across Twitter. That led me to appearing on "Hamster," where Joe and I recorded a commentary for "Utopia." I absolutely loved it and got the bug. There was something about being able to freely talk about something I loved that gave me such a buzz.

I followed "Utopia" with commentaries on "The Tomb of the Cybermen," "The Snowmen," "Can You Hear Me?" and also featured on the Strictly Come Hamster Season 18 episode. I also appeared on "Kettle," talking about "Knock Knock," "Arc of Infinity," and "Delta and the Bannermen." I even appeared on "Who Gives a Flux."

But I had caught the podcasting bug and felt I needed to do more. Of course, people are busy, and nobody wants to constantly hear me, so my next option was to start my own podcast. That's when I decided to put together "What's in the Box?" The initial idea for the podcast was for guests to bring their favourite TV story, comic, audio, and book to the podcast, but the rules were relaxed very early on, allowing people to talk about anything they wanted.

Creating my own podcast and talking to some of my friends and those I’d heard on other podcasts has been such a wonderful experience. Not only has it given me the opportunity to experience certain
Doctor Who items that I’d never encountered before, but it’s also allowed me to talk to a fantastic group of people—people like Si Hart, Conrad Westmaas, Rob Valentine, Rob Brown, Joe Ford, and so many more. They bring their love for the show to the podcast. It’s all about positivity, with the odd meandering tangent.

It's been such an experience, and at the time of writing, I've just recorded my second Unplanned episode, and I'm due to record with another three people this coming week. My intention is to reach 100 episodes and then see what happens after that. But I'm loving the experience so much that I can't see myself ending it anytime soon.

It's insane when I think about it. Podcasting really has been my way of finally fulfilling my desire to be a radio presenter and host a "chat show." One of my favourite things to do is the Unplanned episodes, where we don’t plan and just chat Doctor Who for an hour. That may be the direction the show takes after the 100th episode... we shall see. But I'm overjoyed that, after over 30 years since I first discovered my love for radio, I can finally do something along those lines and (as cheesy as this sounds) at least partially achieve a dream I had as a 10-year-old!

You can find "What's in the Box?" here: https://anchor.fm/drwho-whats-in-the-box

Get Fit Jim!

Today I finally forced myself to start getting fit. Don't get me wrong - I'm a hell of a lot fitter than I was, say, ten years ago, but I need to get fitter! I've been running for years and I've just hit a bit of a barrier.

One of the worst things I do is snack. Whether that's in the evening or at my desk. So the first thing I need to do us stop snacking. Today was the first day of "no snacking". I even told my co-workers that if I was caught snacking or buying things form the vending machine that they needed to stop me. I have no willpower, and sometimes I need a little help along the way.

I also need to give myself a cut off point. So, for example, don't eat after 8pm at night. Give myself a good 10-12 hours overnight without eating. The problem is that from around 8pm I'm not doing anything other than sitting there podcasting, watching TV or reading. So I'm not burning anything off.

So no more snacks late at night!

Of course you still need to treat yourself otherwise you'll go insane. So I won't be banning myself from the odd little treat here and there. It just needs to be in moderation.

I also need to add to the exercising I'm already doing. I have some weights so I'm using them now and one of those sit-up/crunches contraption things. I just need to get into a regular rhythm of doing them and pushing myself. I'm also considering a few other avenues. One of them is going back to swimming again. I was at my fittest around 6-7 years ago when I was swimming, so I want to do that again. I just need to figure out if I can afford the monthly membership. I'm trying to save for my deposit so I need to make sure it doesn't affect that.

There are other possibilities as well which I'm considering.

So yeah. Today is Day 1 of "Get Fit Jim". 😂 I'll track my progress on here. I may even post some stats! We'll see.

I can do this. I know I can!

A Week in Pictures (30th Sep - 6th Oct)

One of the things I love to do is take photographs, so I thought it might be an interesting idea to do (potentially) weekly posts with some of the photos I've taken on my journey through the week. I also plan on going back and posting a few of the other pictures I've taken over the year, but firstly here are some of the photos from this past week.

Blocks. Shapes. Buttons. One of the walls of our local library.

Sunrise on my way to work.

Sunrise from my office window.

Abandoned. But not forgotten.

Edible Festival.

A favourite place to go drinking.

One of the oldest buildings in the town. Allegedly a woman discovered a time portal inside it, which transported her from the 1950's to the 1700's. Allegedly...

Paralysed in the Purple Zone

The title of this post reflects somewhere I've been stuck all too often over the last few years and somewhere that I keep trying to escape, and yet I keep being pulled back into, like a whirlpool that won't let me go. An area of stagnation.

It's something I'm trying very hard to get out of...

I'm not going to dwell too much on the past in this post. That will come later. But what I really want to do is tell you about my hopes for the future and how I want to climb out of this "no man's land".

So things have changed a lot over the last three years. Moving house. Relationships that didn't work out. I got a bit lost thinking I was something I wasn't. I didn't see it at the time, but I lost a little bit of who I was. I found myself once again in that "purple zone". A bit directionless and looking for something to grab hold of and something to help me rebuild myself.

I met someone. Someone I loved with all my heart. But I'm not going there. Not today. It's too painful...

So where am I going next? Well, I have a Doctor Who podcast called 'What's in the Box?' that you can find here: https://anchor.fm/drwho-whats-in-the-box and also on all good podcasting hosts like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc... Each week I talk to fans about some of their favourite things from the Doctor Who universe. At the time of writing 60 episodes have been released as well as a handful of specials and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

I'm also intending on starting up my writing again. I've left my work languishing for too long. Projects such as "The Haunting of Polly Webster" and "The Ghostwood Chronicles" will be worked upon soon...

I'm also still running. I finally completed a Half Marathon again back in September. I'd trained for two years for it with lots of ups and downs, but finally completed it in 2 hours and 11 minutes. I was overjoyed and I can't wait to push myself further. And talking of running, I'm also looking at pushing my fitness some more. I'm not entirely happy with where I am at the moment. I just want to tone up a bit. Strengthen myself a little. Whether that's the gym or going back to swimming I don't know. I guess I'll figure it out as I go along.

Eventually I hope to have my own place. That may be a house. It may be a nice little apartment. But that's a goal for the new year hopefully. And on top of that, after 16 years, I finally left my job and started a new one. And I couldn't be happier. I actually love going to work every day and feel like I'm a part of such a lovely, welcoming team.

And above all else - I'm a dad. My little boy means everything to me, and he will always be the most important thing in my life. He's going to be seven soon and is such a clever, sweet, kind little boy. I can't wait to see him grow and learn over the next few years.

So yeah...that's where I am right now. It's not plain sailing, but I have people in my life - friends, family and loved ones. I have goals and I have building blocks. Now I just have to learn to put those blocks together to rebuild the staircase that will get me out of this purple zone.

Oh, and here's the "Purple Zone" song itself...

Until next time...

Regeneration

Hello and welcome to a brand new version of my blog. For those who don't know, I once published a blog that ran from 2007 right up until the end of 2021. It covered lots of aspects of my life, chronicling the changes that I went through over the years.

I closed it down in December 2021 for the very simple reason that I wanted to close that particular chapter of my life. The Jim (or James) that existed within those blog posts had, not exactly ceased to exist, but had become something different. That final year - 2021 - was a very tough year for me. It was a time of change. A time of difficulty. A time of things coming to an end, and that blog represented a lot of my life that I wanted to put to rest.

It was also, at times, quite painful to go back and read some of those posts. Posts that spanned 14 years. And whilst it was interesting to see the changes in me over the years, it also served as a reminder of what I no longer was and, on occasions, served to remind me of events I'd rather forget.

So, why start a new blog?

It's simple - life is about change and renewal. I've been posting on Twitter and various other social media networks for some time now, and through those places I've met some truly wonderful, positive people. But I want to expand into something a little bigger. I want a place to express larger thoughts. Bigger ideas. I want to chronicle a new and different chapter of my life. The good and the bad.

What will you find here?

I don't quite know just yet. Personal thoughts, ramblings and musings on life. My fitness and weight-loss journey perhaps. Thoughts on things in my life. Challenges and wonderful moments of being a dad. Music, poetry maybe. Some of my writing. My love for Doctor Who and my joy at taking photographs. The books I'm reading and the TV shows I'm watching. It's going to be a bit of an eclectic mix.

In my next post I'll give you a brief summary of who I am, where my life has been over the last few years and where I'm hoping it's going to take me, but that's for another time. Until then...

Keep dreaming!