Getting Back Into Middle-earth Talk Radio
I was pleasantly surprised today to see that Hawke Robinson had uploaded the 3 most recent episodes of Middle-earth Talk Radio today. I’ve been scooting around the Xenite.Org network, posting announcements. But I don’t just want to say the same thing over and over again so I have tried to think of something special to say on each Website.
Hawke invited me to join him as co-host on Middle-earth Talk Radio in September 2008. After three years, we hoped, we’d have over 100 episodes to our credit. Today Episodes 37-39 were uploaded (and Episode 32 was lost, so you can only download 38). Oh well. We’ll get there, God willing and the river don’t rise.
We have had a lot of fun recording the show — a lot of fun and a lot of frustration. Hawke is nothing short of a technical wizard in my opinion, but he like me tends to get spread a little too thinly on some days — like too little butter on too much bread, to quote Bilbo Baggins. There have been a few times when I have been ready to throw in the towel and argued that Hawke sign up for a third-party podcasting service.
His love for the technology is almost as rich and deep as his love for Tolkien and Middle-earth and people in general. I’m glad Hawke didn’t throw in the towel when I was ready to, but sometimes the long wait between episodes is as frustrating for both him and me as for everyone else. It’s not just a technological issue.
In fact, the greatest obstacle to creating an episode of Middle-earth Talk Radio is the incompatibility of our schedules and energy. There have been times when Hawke has texted or emailed me asking, “Are we up for a show tonight?” and I’ve failed to respond. There have been times when I’ve tried to reach HIM and HE has failed to reply. Maybe a dozen planned episodes failed to take place because one or the both of us was suddenly unavailable.
Many was the night when Hawke would get home just in time to wake me up so we could try to patch an episode together. And it’s not like we WANTED to make all those midnight episodes. We found through painful experimentation that Skype was often unable to maintain a clear, stable connection during its busier hours. So the late-night connections seemed to work best for us. Fortunately, it seems that the service has grown more stable since Microsoft acquired it. I hope that means someone is adding resources to the network.
And as you’ll discover when you listen to the latest three episodes that Hawke has not been feeling his best this year. Many people have contacted us about the show and I have either not responded or I have made some vague excuse. I didn’t want to make a big fuss about my friend’s health. My own health has been up and down through the years. When you have a chronic condition, or the weather just sucks all the time and won’t let you recover from something, or life just throws one complexity after another at you, getting together to record a chat on Sunday night becomes a chore.
And although I have pressed Hawke to upload a few episodes without editing over the years we both prefer that he be able to edit them. He can adjust the sound quality, cut out some bad gaps (especially where one of us is kicked off Skype), and add the nice music samples he has shared from Middle-earth Radio’s extensive library.
I believe that Middle-earth Radio has the largest collection of Tolkien-inspired music of all the online Tolkien music services (I only know of three). I know that Radio Rivendell has a large, loyal following. I have only listened to the service a couple of times. I have to admit that I can only listen to Tolkien Internet stations sporadically.
Middle-earth Network reached out to me and Hawke several times this year, starting back when they were still branding themselves as Dunedain.Net. We were honored to do an interview for them and I gave them soundbites (which is saying something considering how little recording capability I have).
By the way — if anyone ELSE would like some soundbites for their podcast or network, leave a comment and I’ll get in touch with you. If there is a solid science fiction and fantasy theme and you’re not advocating anarchy or anything illegal we can probably work out something. I don’t ask for money but you have to live with whatever recordings I can give you.
It’s not just fun to do a Tolkien radio show/podcast — it’s so cool to see that the fandom can support so many services — in fact, that we can create so many services. Each has its own unique character. I know Hawke’s streams have been legendary for introducing listeners to a lot of new bands and artists. I have played with the service more than a few times. I’ve even occasionally listened to it while Hawke recorded an episode (so if I sound confused on occasion, that MAY be why).
Hawke and I have always had great plans for the talk show. “Raw Hobbit” was born out of the idea. This live-action talk show features me as host and someone as guest. I’ve only been able to do two of them, both from Tolkien Moot/MERPCon. I’d love to be able to do more but I don’t have any practical way of recording such shows (not to mention I don’t know of any Tolkien artists or scholars in the San Francisco/San Jose area).
We have often threatened to start interviewing guests on the show. Last year we were able (with much advance preparation) to get Elvish singer Rehtaeh (Heather Downing) as a guest in a lead-up to the 2010 Tolkien Moot, at which she was the featured guest. Both that interview and Rehtaeh’s appearance were major coups for us. She was in demand at the time and I cannot tell you how glad I am she chose to spend some time with Middle-earth Talk Radio and Tolkien Moot.
Tomorrow evening, if all goes as planned (and again this has been done with much advanced preparation) we’ll be interviewing Professor Chris Seeman (the publisher of Other Hands and a game designer who has worked with Iron Crown Enterprises and Decipher) on Episode 40. I have no idea of when that episode will be made available, of course.
Hawke has often said he’d like to do live broadcasts. Skype doesn’t really make that possible. Google’s Hangouts on Google+ may make it possible. Unfortunately, Hawke doesn’t spend as much time on the social networks as I do, so it may be a while before I can coax him to try it out. Besides, he may be able to patch together some unEarthly mix of software and servers to allow us to do a livecast from multiple locations. I’m sure he’s given that considerable thought.
It’s all just a matter of time.
Meanwhile, please download and enjoy the first 39–er, 38 episodes of Middle-earth Talk Radio.