The Future And You
Ideas and opinion about the future based on verifiable facts of today.
 

Two Radio DJs, each from a different part of the country and having traveled a different career path, describe the trends which are forcing commercial radio to change from what it once was into what it is yet to become.

Kelly Lockhart (website) started his DJ career in Key Largo Florida, when fresh out of the military and has worked at radio stations in Atlanta, Tallahassee and Chattanooga. He is a feature writer for The Chattanooga Pulse newspaper, is an award-winning advertising copywriter, is the lead guitarist for the popular 70’s style rock band Moccasin Bend, and for two decades worked in radio and television both on the air and behind the scenes.

Shannon Presley (website) is currently an on-air personality and webmaster for the #1 radio station in south central Kentucky: The Beaver--WBVR. She is also a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, is a Board Member for the Glasgow Highland Games, and helps with 18th century events at Mansker's Station.

Kelly talks about the downside of voice tracking and worries that traditional radio is dying. Satellite radio, he says, will have its day in the sun but podcasting will replace them both. This final dominance of podcasting will come when podcasts become commonly available in cars, because the drive time commute is the key. He does emphasize that radio can save itself if it does the right thing. This is the thing that Oprah and Howard Stern both do.

Shannon is less worried about radio's future. She does not see satellite radio as a threat to ground-based radio because ground-based is local and gives listeners a local connection to things like bad weather. She also describes the good side of voice tracking; and even insists that people do like to hear some local commercials because that lets them know about concerts and special events, as well as sales and bargains.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 28, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 68 minutes]

Shannon also talks about topics unrelated to radio such as: digital photography, PDAs, historical research for reenactments of frontier life, shopping on eBay, advancements in the medical field such as diabetes, identity theft, the government overstepping people's rights, and recalls when owning a VIC-20 computer made you Hot Snot.

Direct download: TFAY_2008_5_28.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT


Five professional artists discuss the trends in the popular arts, including comics, Muppets, children’s book illustrations, commercial art and movie animation (both hand-drawn and CGI) and much, much more. Each artist shares anecdotes from their experiences and describes the trends they see within their specific field.

They five artists are:

Cheralyn Lambeth, who worked on the Muppet costumes for Sesame Street Live! worked with Jim Henson Productions on the TV series Dinosaur! and the film The Muppet Christmas Carol, and also worked as a prop maker for Paramount Production Services. (IMDb)

Steve Bennett, a manga artist with three webcomics online and a career history that stretches back to working in an anime production studio in Japan as a teenager. (webpage)

Richard H. Green, who worked at Walt Disney Studios on: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beauty and the Beast, and Rescuers Down Under.

Scott Stewart who has been the principal artist for many projects including children’s books, comic books and coloring books which are marketing tie-ins to famous properties including Spiderman, Superman and The X-men. (webpage)

S.L. Gallant, who has done a number of comic book tie-ins for movies from DreamWorks such as Madagascar, has done cartoon ads for Kraft Foods such as the Cool Aid Man and Cheesaurus Rex, and has also worked for Dark Horse Comics. (webpage)

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 21, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 84 minutes]

Direct download: TFAY_2008_5_21.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:09am EDT


Paul Fischer, Information Technology professional and one of podcasting’s pioneers, is our guest today. The team of Paul Fischer and Martha Holloway are widely known for their Balticon Podcast and A.D.D. Podcast.

In this interview Paul describes:

How cellular phone companies manage to charge $3 for only part of a song when the entire song can be bought on Amazon.com for under a dollar. And why this eight billion dollar ringtone business in the US is even worse in Europe where ringtones cost individual users about $30 per year, every year, because they are rented.

How the F.C.C. has failed the American public in their assigned mission, and why they do not care that they have failed. Ways the American cell phone companies have perverted the rules that are supposed to govern their operations.

The sad fact that Police and Fire Department cellular systems all take a back seat to commercial cellular systems in terms of quality, bandwidth, priority and deployment. And which cities are taking serious steps to fix this problem.

Why the Japanese all have better cell phone service and bandwidth than Americans, so much so that watching live streaming internet TV on their cell phones has lost its novelty.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 14, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 58 minutes]

Paul Fischer also talks about his involvement with Balticon, and how this led him and Martha Holloway to create the Balticon Podcast. He mentions that Neil Gaiman was one of his favorite guests, and describes Neil Gaiman as a joy to interview, a genuinely nice guy, as well as a modern renaissance man who seems to do everything well. Paul also talks about his interviews with others including the brilliant artist Joe Bergeron.

Direct download: TFAY_2008_5_14.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT


Katherine Kurtz, the best selling author of many fantasy novels including those in her Deryni Series, is our featured guest, in an interview recorded at the science fiction and fantasy convention, RavenCon in Richmond Virginia.

In this interview Katherine Kurtz talks about: her writing methods and style; which of her books were the most difficult to write and which ones were the most fun, and shares anecdotes from her travels, her life and her work. A friend of Anne McCaffery, Katherine has lived for a number of years in Ireland but recently moved back to the United States – the nation of her birth.

Concerning the future: Katherine describes trends within publishing today and the future of electronic publishing, and how our lives are being changed by cell phones, IM, high speed internet and online catalogs. She also discusses the annoyance of popup ads and junk-mail, her opinion of Wikipedia, and the seduction of the internet as a time-vampire. She also predicts that physical mail (as opposed to email) will someday become rare.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the May 7, 2008 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 48 minutes]

News items in this episode include:

1) Sophrosyne Stenvaag announces that Extropia Core (the futuristic city-state within Second Life which your host visits frequently) will Co-Host part of the NASA Future Forum next week on May 14, 2008, which will feature a preview of NASA’s Constellation Program – America’s return to the Moon and beyond. The keynote address which will be broadcast live on NASA TV will be given by NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale, who is known inside Second Life as Xena Dahl. Soph explains how listeners can attend and participate.

2) Your host also thanks Zada Zenovka for her kind gift of a new pair of designer eyes for his avatar within Second Life. Zada is one of the two artists who crafted the custom made body and skin for the author David Brin when he made a personal appearance inside Second Life a few weeks ago as part of Extropia's celebration of Yuri's Night.

Direct download: TFAY_2008_5_7.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:01am EDT