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