Glad to know I am not the only one who ponders why someone would want to shave their bollocks and end up appearing like a pre-pubescent child.
4
1
The Furthest Man From Home
10 months ago
Not at all surprised to hear the Retro Hour Podcast (no pun intended) being dragged into the spotlight once again and for all the wrong reasons.
Your talking about a group who firmly believe in their own self importantance, who felt a new recording studio, which others should pay for, was far more important, than researching their guests for the show.
That interview book kickstarter was another glowing chapter for them and now we have this.
They’ve never been able to handle constructive criticism, the community has often told them, so some research into your guests, structure your interview questions to suit and you’ll get a far better Q? A session and don’t let guests railroad you, present a narrative that suits them..
Allowing them to credit for others work or overplaying a role, makes you as hosts look stupid..
But no, they’d rather delete comments and block posters.
Recording studio was a joke. All they needed was a few boxes with foam around their microphones, a mixer and an audio interface to capture the result. I’ve got a 32 channel mixer with Dante audio interface for under £1.5k and bought it myself. So are you telling me three people couldn’t chip in to get a 4-8 channel mixer and 3 microphones?
i very much agree mate. i’ve got a tascam dr05 that i got off my mate years ago for 30 euros because the battery compartment cover is broken and he was getting the newer model. i got a mixing desk from the 2nd hand street market for 20 euros and i got a focusrite audio interface for 50 euros second hand from facebook marketplace. to be honest i think my sound quality is fine really. these people are a fucking piss take and if they genuinely think that a “studio” is going to elevate them above the realms of piss poor content then they’re as silly as the people who sent them money for it. it’s a fucking joke. i think the bottom line is that these people are thick as pigshit, along with most others “at the top” and they all insist on certain brands/types of equipment as it’s “what the professionals use” when in reality you can produce great videos for next to nothing nowadays. absolute wankers.
Correct me if I am wrong George, but don’t you have a Patreon yourself? Surely it’s up to them what they spend their Patreon income on, be it studio rental or purchasing equipment to record from home?
i do, indeed. however, i never beg for anything, i simply put a silent, still screen at the end of my videos. also, i don’t have income from a job, either, because i’m both disabled and dying. (i know we’re all technically dying, but i have 5-10 years at most, according to my doctors, due to a degenerative condition). i live in spain and as a result i get no unemployment or disability benefits of any kind (we moved here as the prognosis for my conditions is much better in this climate). these fucking idiots relentlessly begged thousands of other people’s money for a studio, and continue to pepper their broadcasts with adverts and begging. it’s a fucking joke. with my patreon funding i basically eat and pay what i can of our bills at subsistence level. if i made more money on it, i would worry less about finances and could probably pay for some private medical help from time to time, but this isn’t something i ever shout about as it’s entirely up to people if they donate or not. if they do, there’s over 100 hours of patreon content which is regularly added to, the bumflix folder featuring all of my videos from the site mirrored for online viewing (for people who have problems viewing stuff here) and you can also download them at uncompressed 60fps. there’s also a dedicated minecraft server with mods and voice chat for backers. i’m not aware of the retro hour offering anything extra bar, apparently, a podcast every month and some early access audio/video that’s going to youtube anyway, or the same footage with “extra bits” for backers (ie the rambling crap that they cut out to make it fit into an hour on youtube). if you’re going to set yourself up as a video/audio creator, you can’t simply insist that the listeners pay for you to do so and continually go ON AND FUCKING ON AND FUCKING ON about donations etc. the audience decide if you’re professional or not, by their support. you don’t DEMAND this support. it’s fucking vulgar, needy and pathetic. also, we don’t put ads on this site or in the videos. that’s a choice i made, coming from youtube, where i also chose not to have any adverts whatsoever. this is because i find them annoying, personally, and i have respect for my viewers. again, the retro hour offer “ad free” but, surprise surprise, for a payment. this, again, is ridiculous and grifty as all hell. as many people have said here, it’s almost as if they’re deliberately putting in as many ads as possible to annoy people into subscribing. geezer also has the same opinion on ads, we think they’re detrimental to both the site and the message we’re trying to get across. then again, if you don’t really give a fuck about peppering your content with begging and money generating inserts then be my guest but don’t expect me to celebrate people who do this. i find youtube nigh on intolerable nowadays because of endless sponsored bullshit in videos. it’s farcical. so, are these people creating something for the benefit of their viewers, or solely for their own benefit so they can swan about at expos etc and wield their “profile” like a weapon ? again, this is something i refuse to do. i’ve been invited to speak at events in the last year or so and have declined them all. i don’t want a profile, i don’t aspire to being a “somebody”. i’m a nobody giving a nobody’s point of view. i’m nothing and, as a result of being untethered from the various “communities” upon which i comment, i can say what i think without reproach. that’s important and that’s the whole reason this platform exists. i have more respect for my viewers than to beg of them, especially in times like these when people don’t have much money. the content is free and features no advertising, and will remain so. if people wish to donate to get access to more content, or simply to support me in my nonsensical efforts then that’s up to them. geezer and i have been discussing putting a donate button on the site to cover hosting costs, but we’re not sure how/if we’re going to go about that yet. currently, the site costs around £70 a month to run. again, i believe it’s free to have a youtube channel, no ?
It was more because it was mentioned on the podcast that they needed the Patreon money to build their own studio, buy laptops etc… I would much prefer creators to say “give us a tip” or “support us” rather than saying “my wall is leaking, my basement is flooding and I need $20,000” (Metal Jesus) or “Help this podcast continue, it might not be able to continue without your donations” etc…. That’s pure emotive language all about tugging at the heart strings and causing panic with some people. There are people out there who might actually be genuinely scared or upset at the prospect of a podcast they listen to closing, not everyone is the same in how they deal with such emotive statements.
In reality if nobody at all supported the Retro Hour it would continue because they like the notoriety and talking to industry people.
sorry, they begged for studios, not a studio. also, if they HAD “a” studio with mics etc for each of them, why the fuck couldn’t they just take their individual mics to their houses. the fucking stupidity on show here is staggering. “oh but our mics aren’t usb” well neither is mine just get a fucking mixing desk for a few quid, mine was literally 20 euros and it’s perfect for my needs (2nd hand from a street market).
My recollection of the studio setup is somewhat hazy, but I believe the sequence of events was reverse. They already had a studio—evidenced by its depiction in their earlier photographs on their website—and it was the advent of Covid lockdowns that prompted them to start a Patreon to buy equipment to record from home. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure they have recorded from home for several years now.
They used to rent a studio to do the recording. Then due to covid they had to do it from home and I didn’t really see any major degradation of sound quality. Generally if you make the interviewers sound great with a pro setup and then the guests are using some cheap headset in an echoey room then you’re missing the obvious problem which is you need to invest in some decent audio recovery software like Isotope RX. But given some of the awful sound quality on some of their recordings at live events they clearly haven’t invested any money in decent DSP. That stuff can rescue some pretty diabolical recordings.
yes mate like our rescuing of the roger cook audio cassette recording. they sounded like they were in a wind tunnel when we got hold of them but now they sound pretty much totally pristine and modern it’s amazing what you can do if you are not a fucking idiot and take care with things !
And AI is only going to make video and audio restoration even better. I have Topaz Video AI and that does a great job of upscaling low quality video, if you spend a bit of time learning which models work best with which import source.
why they needed a fucking studio in the first place is anyone’s guess. fucking farcical idea for a pack of uninteresting wankers with very little actual reach. just another case of “all the gear – no idea”. to attempt to run a youtube podcast in a decked out studio is fucking retarded. i mean, every HUGE channel just uses google hangouts etc. it’s an absolute no brainer, and being as these people seem to have zero brains i’m surprised they didn’t happen upon the concept sooner.
it’s just fucking dumb, though. “oh we need the pro gear because we’re pros”. get a fucking reality check, you twerps. by the time i got kicked off youtube, i had more subscribers than these twats. was i a “pro” youtuber ? was i fuck !
i mean, i’m just actually taking a look at their stuff. view counts in the low hundreds for the latest things ? who even are these plonks ? of their 28 videos in the last 6 months, only 3 of them have broken 1k views ? what the fuck ? i didn’t actually realise they were this low tier. you’d think with the way they go on they’d have 250k subs+ and 50-60k views a video. and they had a fucking STUDIO ? jesus wept.
To be fair, they are an audio podcast, not a Youtube channel. I’d imagine most of their audience listens via podcast apps (Spotify, iTunes etc.) as they don’t offer any visual element.
lol good one. i’ve done “still screen, zero production quality retro content” for years. if you’re remotely popular, regardless of putting your material elsewhere, you’ll get views on youtube. some of my still screen videos on retro debacles hit 10,000+ views and that was back when i only had a couple of thousand subscribers. are you just here to make excuses for them or ?
Fair enough, it was just a guess. I’ve always listened on Spotify, I wasn’t even aware they were on youtube, I’ve never heard them mention it or it doesn’t appear to be linked from their website, so it sounds very much an after thought, maybe someone else uploads them or its some automated process. Either way, it looks like they’re doing it wrong on there I agree.
“To be fair, they are an audio podcast, not a Youtube channel”
Yeah, but having a studio to do a podcast is like saying you need a TV studio do you Youtube videos. Techmoan does his videos in one of his bedrooms and in behind the scenes footage that room is totally full of stuff. For video there’s definitely more of a need for a proper setup, you need good lighting and if you’re recording taking things to bits etc then overhead camera. Of course you can use a knackered brown sofa but that’s only going to work if what you’re putting on the sofa is just as naff.
It was before Covid kicked in. The justification was that they were using the Radio (Norwich) studio when they were able to, but it would be better if they had their own dedicated facility that they could use as and when they wanted. They only had access during certain hours, and that didn’t always align with the guest’s availability.
Then Covid kicked in and it turns out it can all be done from home without any degradation in quality or show frequency
The Amiga community is a fucking shithole. Always was and always will be. For every one Geezer there’s at least two Ravis. tbh the community is one of the main reasons I sold my Amiga.
I definitely agree.
I started selling off my gear about 10 years ago, but stopped after encountering a high ratio of dickhead to tolerable buyers. It’s not worth the pain.
Truthfully, the entire retro gaming scene (at least when talking about the “top-tier” content creators are full of assholes and bellends, and not just in the UK either. Just look at idiots like Metal Jesus and John Hancock in the US.
this is very true, mate, the usa very much set the template the the cunts from the uk follow and aspire to. especially bastards like top hat and lady dickhead, absolute fucking shit thick pondlife, vile scum like that are straight up about admitting that they just wanted the “retro money” and don’t give a shit about games. top hat’s whole approach was cynical and threadbare as fuck. then he got grotbags involved and the rest is history.
Does Metal Jesus even cover games other than “I bought this”. Seemed like every video was about what he’d bought that week. Not a good look to be boasting about buying up a houseful of games on the cheap that are worth a lot of money then asking for tens of thousands to fix a few small holes in a wall.
Metal Jesus is a brain-dead retard. He’s a bottle eyed, self obsessed, shit thick tosser. I do actually like his mate Reggie, it’s a shame they are mates tbh as reggie is a good person. Metal Jesus is a piece of shit and a petulant man baby.
this is unfortunate news, to be honest i’ve not watched any of his content for a long time, i don’t really watch gaming youtubers but he did seem like a reasonable man at one point. i remember there was some falling out between them all due to his stance on certain things, i think, but clearly they made up and metal jesus has infected him with his grifting bs too !
1
Gordon Ramsays left eyebrow
10 months ago
Has anyone noticed how if you dont go with their narative, dont go with their viewpoint, and dare to point out that someone may be wrong, or, heaven forbid, be out of order, your a troll, or are harassing them.
Someone on the Discord pointed out that Ravi was actually lying about the circumstances of the ban – and showed the proof Ravi was lying for god sake, yet Ravi’s answer was he wasnt going to comment on it any more.
Yes, because he was painted into a corner and couldnt say aything more without making himself look more stupid (as well as a liar).
We have al made mistakes, rash decisions in the past. Heck, Ive done loads, but all Ravi needed to do was put his hand up and say “ok guys, I had a ‘God’ moment there, and on reflection, I was being a wee bit silly”, but no – he doubled down, banned people left right and centre, and deleted the chat that proved he was a liar !
And all on a Discord channel that was to PROMOTE a show !
Their podcast would actually benefit from them listening to the criticisms. I have to wonder why they were able to do the podcast for very little money early on and produce some interviews with huge names in the industry and more recently they need Patreon, sponsors and adverts to just talk to someone like Slopes or a bloke who used to run a BBS.
What truly made me laugh about the Slopes episode on the Amico is when you go back to early episodes when it was announced and they’re getting hugely excited and talking about Tommy like he’s some sort of god.
slops made you laugh ? no wonder. he’s a fucking joke. his handling of his amico content was like watching a chinese juggler with multiple plates spinning, except there were no plates, only shit, and he wasn’t juggling anything, he was rolling around in it with his mouth open. for months. oh, and then he realised he was covered in shit and took a massive shower and basically claimed that because he’d had the shower the shit hadn’t actually EVER existed at all.
Well what I meant was the RH guys were getting excited about the announcement of the Intellivision Amico and really singing the praises of Tommy T. Then you fast forward a few years and there’s a whole episode about how much of a disaster it was. They also got excited about that new Atari VCS that turned out to be a low spec PC in a nice case. Oh and they covered the Vega+ too and talked about how that could be good. So it’s my golden rule that if it’s been on RH news or they’ve promoted a Kickstarter I stay well clear.
sounds like very sound logic judging by those examples mate ! the problem with these cunts is they’d sell their own mothers for a freebie, it’s all about promoting products as if you’re paid so that the company will pay it backwards with goods etc once the product comes to market. it’s incredibly transparent.
yes, i think you’re talking about u4ria on the discord, he sent me a bunch of screen grabs of that situation last night. “pathetic” springs to mind, and the way ravi handled things showed everyone present that he’s no remorse for his behaviour and sees nothing wrong in the actions he took. as you say, he doubled down, he banned people, he deleted chats. i’ve seen it all and will most likely make a video about it so that people can see what this “nice guy” is actually like when people dare to question his outrageous behaviour. I think he misunderstood the “all news is good news” memo, tbh. he’s really shat the bed on this one.
indeed mate, apparently i’ve got a vendetta for Ravi. i have pretty much zero fucking clue about Ravi. i know that he’s part of the retro hour, which is a loathsome mess of a thing, but i now know he’s engaged in this recent behaviour, which is unacceptable to both myself and, it would seem, the community at large. the way it’s being claimed i “have a vendetta” is shorthand for “he’s obsessed and with an axe to grind about nothing”. in point of fact, i’d rather not have to discuss this human pondlife, but at the end of the day i and many others now have an axe to grind with him regarding his treatment of someone who’s never done anything but stand up for the community and provide things for it, rather than acting like a fucking vampire towards it. there are no two ways to look at this, Ravi is in the wrong here.
Interested to hear what your gripe is with the retro hour George? Genuinely interested in where it came from? Imho its one of the better podcasts out there, always has good sound quality and their guests are usually top notch. Their episodes with Mel Croucher, David Perry and Jeff Minter were some of the best interviews I’ve heard with these people.
The Retro Hour has had great guests, but they’ve definitely run out and are now interviewing youtubers and complete non-entities. The adverts are getting excessive and the presenters at times don’t know their stuff. They’re all a little too young to actually remember the “golden age” of video games they like to talk about. I just have to roll my eyes at some of the dumb shit they say like “I didn’t know Parker brothers were involved in the games industry”.. or “Imagine lugging a Commodore SX64 around with those batteries”. SX64 was a luggable, not battery powered. Parker Brothers did Return of the Jedi, a massive game on the Atari VCS.
I don’t always pay attention to every guest, but I can see how some people might like those episodes. I actually thought the chat with the guy from the BBS was one of their better ones recently, so I guess it’s all a matter of taste. The podcast isn’t perfect, but considering it’s been on weekly for about a decade, it’s still pretty good. I don’t begrudge anyone earning a living from something if they can, I just hit ffoward though the ads.
in fairness mate interesting conversations don’t always have to be with big names. in fact, in many cases it’s the unknown or lesser known people who are more interesting to hear as you don’t just get the same ground covered that you could have heard in many other situations before that. i’ve heard a lot of gaming and cinema podcasts where the same guests are asked the same questions just with a different sign above the door. it’s very unimaginative. so, yes, i don’t think having less well known/unknown people as guests is a bad thing, in fact it can often benefit the show and the guest much more than inviting the usual low hanging fruit.
i’d like to hear genuinely insightful, human conversation instead of a pack of vapid cunts falling over themselves to make as much noise as possible whilst ably demonstrating their own ineptitude and stupidity. i find it pretty much impossible to listen to “retro gaming” podcasts, or podcasts relating to “gaming” in general as they are invariably presided over by a fucking bastard who gets everything WRONG. the main issue for me is that none of these people seem to be human, and are just going through the (bowel) motions of producing what they think will be “great revenue generating CONTENT”. RMC, Retro Hour and their ilk are the worst for this. i suppose the content isn’t aimed at me BUT being as i’ve been a gamer all my life and their podcasts are apparently all about gaming, i’m wondering why there’s such a vast disconnect. none of these people seem to know anything about gaming, either, and just relentlessly get things wrong, or treat what is a vast ocean as a puddle. it’s pathetic ! as you say, “the same stuff over and over again”.
having “good sound quality” should be a prerequisite of a podcast, not a plus point. it’s like saying a tennis court is incredible because it has breathable air. from what i’ve heard of it, it’s insufferable, but horses for courses. also, i have only heard it in the last year or so. many people say it was better when there weren’t adverts every 3 seconds and when the presenters weren’t falling over themselves to establish themselves as “personalities”* in the “scene”.
*the irony being that in order to be one, you have to have one.
Indeed, one would expect so, but many other podcasts sound like someone simply positioned their phone atop a coffee table in their living room, inviting their friends to engage in casual conversation around the room.
Well the thing is, they tend to invite on people who actually have their own channels and documentary series. So it feels like by interviewing them you are hardly obtaining some information that isn’t already available. I want to hear the stories about back then, things you can’t really hear about elsewhere.
if you’d only know the shit i’ve been through thanks to Ravi, which I keep quiet about because I am not brave enough like Graeme to face the backlash of all the soulless goons that person enables…
also the rabbit hole goes deeper, there’s other “well loved” characters in the Amiga scene that behind the scenes are absolute cunts the moment you are not aligned with their clout-seeking agenda
3
1
Gordon Ramsays left eyebrow
10 months ago
I think it is absolutely jaw dropping that Mr Pleasance is welcomed with open arms – a man who faked endorsements on his Kickstarter remember, and yet a guy whose only “crime” is to be a web dev for a website Ravi hates, is banned.
indeed mate, i let it sink in for several minutes before turning the microphone on. it’s unreal. apparently Ravi has also now deleted all chat on his discord that was put up to show he’s been fibbing by several people i know who’ve now told me what’s been going on (i was out with my dad getting long sleeved t-shirts as it’s getting very hot here now and normal t-shirts leave me too exposed to the sun !)
Between Ms. Mad Lemon’s experiences, and now McGeezer, I’m going to be pretty selective whom I support going forward. There’s some serious tribalism going on in the Amiga community which seems adverse to criticism.
I’ve already cut the cord with one major player’s Patreon who’s slowly been eroding the bigger he gets (endorsing several guests he really shouldn’t be)
She had a not-so-enlightening experience with a UK event from 2018, and she had a few things to say about Amiga ‘scenesters’ in general. In fact, I found out about George/Funkyspectrum from this vid she posted several months ago.
I did kinda watch some of her videos once. But I can’t remember where, maybe it was on Facebook but she was ranting about Israel and I’m sick to death of people arguing over the middle-east. It’s not relevant if you live in the UK.
The trouble is that (((some people))) make it their business to ensure that every single person on the planet is forced into having an opinion about Israel. Hint: said (((people))) have been kicked out of 109 countries thus far.
It’s just one of the problems of the UK that people are fighting each here over problems from their home countries (or the home countries of their parents, grandparents). We have enough issues without all that stuff here as well.
“maybe it was on Facebook but she was ranting about Israel and I’m sick to death of people arguing over the middle-east.”
This is an absolute lie. I have not ranted about Israel before and I do not talk about anything political on my social media nor youtube and I haven’t done for many years now.
Christ. I hate bouncers. ‘Sorry mate, you can’t come in because you’ve err…. you’re errr … because your hair is against the rules of the club. Sorry’
That said, if I had a choice between organising a UK Amiga event or hosting a wedding for the Travelling community in an art gallery, I’d definitely pick the easier latter option. So I do have some sympathy with what Ravi is trying to undertake.
Ultimately money talks, so if they’ve paid out for the likes of Davie P to show up, or vendors have paid to sell and they’re not happy with a certain guest being there, then they’re going to pressure the organisers into taking action. However, there are ways to go about it, so unless the complainants are so thin skinned they can’t cope with any possibility of challenge or criticism, banning seems utterly mental to me. The practices of a religious echo chamber in my view.
Personally I think they should have just ignored it and allowed all parties to come along and have it out if they wanted to. In reality, nothing would happen and the event would go down without a hitch, as people in person are usually very different to their online personas
I had to stop listing to the advert hour. Far to many adverts for the length of podcast, the yalways went easy on guests. Just more useless fluff. The Amiga community is full of very strong minded people. If Ravi thanks this is the end of matter he is in for a shock. The fact David P is showing is face at this thing is a big mistake he really pissed of a lot of people with that stupid KS. Clearly Ravi / Dan and co still want to remain all cozy with him
To prove I have nothing against Ravi and Dan, I actually enjoyed a lot of their early podcasts, when they had pretty good guests, before they got thru everyone of interest and started going thru the bottom of the barrel and into the earth’s core.
And, I get why they went easy on them.
No one will come on a podcast / radio / tv show if they know it has a reputation of giving the guests a tough time – why do you think Graham Norton gets so many guests – not for the intellectual chat, thats for sure.
But, Ravi has been a bit of a silly boy, and I think the mark may have slipped for all to see…..
If you listen to older episodes you get about 4-5 people in the “hall of fame”, ie. new Patreons. These days you’re lucky to hear 1 or 2. I wonder if they don’t have a new sub one week if they will just make up a name?
All the adverts are making up for the fact their income from the podcast has clearly tailed off. Either that or they’re trying to make the experience of listening to the free version that annoying that people subscribe, like that would ever work. I find it weird how someone like Techmoan can offer the same sort of content for £1 a month and he does video footage and buys a lot of electronics. He also is totally reliant on that income (although his wife works I think) whereas the RH guys all have jobs too.
Pre covid there was a big e-beg to raise enough cash to move into their own studio. Then Covid kicked in and we never heard about it again.
Not sure why?
As I’ve said before, I think Dan and Ravi did a great job in the first few years, as I imagine getting those high profile guests each week was no easy task. And getting a podcast out every week, especially when some of the guests were in crazy time
Zones, wouldn’t have been easy. All they asked for was non obligational donations to a tip jar, chuck in what you can to cover server costs, which was fair enough.
But towards the end of 2019 it became much more about patrons, adverts and the aforementioned new studio fund. Perhaps IR35 had an impact on the hosts?
it’s actually very easy to get the “high profile” guests as most of them aren’t really doing much these days and will happily jump on skype to have smoke blown up their arses for an hour or so. i don’t mean this disrespectfully, but these folks have had their time and, as a result, are usually keen to revisit said time so they can feel a little bit of backslapping for their contribution to the industry whilst also getting the sense they’re still relevant. you would genuinely be surprised how simple it is to secure some of the “big names” of the past for interviews. most of them are just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. also, most of these online “gaming” folks attempt to get to a certain level then, once there, will set their grift into motion. it’s like politics. i firmly believe that many politicians start out with altruistic motives and goals designed to benefit the many. however, as they advance through the party ranks they eventually reach an echelon wherein everyone is corrupt, and to not behave this way is to spotlight yourself as someone who needs removing. so, therefore, they start claiming 80,000 a year to heat a stables, or 360,000 for a flat in central london etc etc. “everybody does it” isn’t so much a justification, it’s also a threat to those involved. EVERYBODY does it, so that includes YOU. if you don’t, you’re not part of the club. Also, putting that aside, the lure of money for old rope is always going to appeal to the self serving amongst the “community”. it’s all about getting to the level that facilitates this behaviour. once there, you can act just like everyone else.
Sorry George, I can’t seem to reply to your comment so I’ve replied to my, like a complete narcissist. I take your points, it’s easy to get hold of them now. But back when they started (I think was 2016/17) no one else was doing it. You had a couple of podcasts on retro gaming, one of which was Retro Asylum which was 2-3 hours of droning drivel about the good old days, and quite frankly, it was of poor production quality, but that was about it. The Retro Hour was approximately 1 hour, production was high, and they had guests I wanted to hear from e.g. Allister Brimble, Galahad, Dave Perry et al. It was so much better than the other podcasts out there, I looked forward to every episode.
The trouble is, they haven’t changed the formula, they’ve run out of interesting guests, and now have much more focus on adverts, patreon benefits and plugging people’s projects or products. Let’s be honest, with the advent of AI you could easily make the claim the Retro Hour have been using if for at least 2 years.
the mask always slips sooner or later mate. a friend once said to me “there’s nothing worse than a nerd who’s been encouraged” and at the time i didn’t understand it and thought it was a bit of a strange thing to say. however, with hindsight, i now fully appreciate what he meant. the proof is all around us.
Glad to know I am not the only one who ponders why someone would want to shave their bollocks and end up appearing like a pre-pubescent child.
Not at all surprised to hear the Retro Hour Podcast (no pun intended) being dragged into the spotlight once again and for all the wrong reasons.
Your talking about a group who firmly believe in their own self importantance, who felt a new recording studio, which others should pay for, was far more important, than researching their guests for the show.
That interview book kickstarter was another glowing chapter for them and now we have this.
They’ve never been able to handle constructive criticism, the community has often told them, so some research into your guests, structure your interview questions to suit and you’ll get a far better Q? A session and don’t let guests railroad you, present a narrative that suits them..
Allowing them to credit for others work or overplaying a role, makes you as hosts look stupid..
But no, they’d rather delete comments and block posters.
Recording studio was a joke. All they needed was a few boxes with foam around their microphones, a mixer and an audio interface to capture the result. I’ve got a 32 channel mixer with Dante audio interface for under £1.5k and bought it myself. So are you telling me three people couldn’t chip in to get a 4-8 channel mixer and 3 microphones?
i very much agree mate. i’ve got a tascam dr05 that i got off my mate years ago for 30 euros because the battery compartment cover is broken and he was getting the newer model. i got a mixing desk from the 2nd hand street market for 20 euros and i got a focusrite audio interface for 50 euros second hand from facebook marketplace. to be honest i think my sound quality is fine really. these people are a fucking piss take and if they genuinely think that a “studio” is going to elevate them above the realms of piss poor content then they’re as silly as the people who sent them money for it. it’s a fucking joke. i think the bottom line is that these people are thick as pigshit, along with most others “at the top” and they all insist on certain brands/types of equipment as it’s “what the professionals use” when in reality you can produce great videos for next to nothing nowadays. absolute wankers.
Correct me if I am wrong George, but don’t you have a Patreon yourself? Surely it’s up to them what they spend their Patreon income on, be it studio rental or purchasing equipment to record from home?
i do, indeed. however, i never beg for anything, i simply put a silent, still screen at the end of my videos. also, i don’t have income from a job, either, because i’m both disabled and dying. (i know we’re all technically dying, but i have 5-10 years at most, according to my doctors, due to a degenerative condition). i live in spain and as a result i get no unemployment or disability benefits of any kind (we moved here as the prognosis for my conditions is much better in this climate). these fucking idiots relentlessly begged thousands of other people’s money for a studio, and continue to pepper their broadcasts with adverts and begging. it’s a fucking joke. with my patreon funding i basically eat and pay what i can of our bills at subsistence level. if i made more money on it, i would worry less about finances and could probably pay for some private medical help from time to time, but this isn’t something i ever shout about as it’s entirely up to people if they donate or not. if they do, there’s over 100 hours of patreon content which is regularly added to, the bumflix folder featuring all of my videos from the site mirrored for online viewing (for people who have problems viewing stuff here) and you can also download them at uncompressed 60fps. there’s also a dedicated minecraft server with mods and voice chat for backers. i’m not aware of the retro hour offering anything extra bar, apparently, a podcast every month and some early access audio/video that’s going to youtube anyway, or the same footage with “extra bits” for backers (ie the rambling crap that they cut out to make it fit into an hour on youtube). if you’re going to set yourself up as a video/audio creator, you can’t simply insist that the listeners pay for you to do so and continually go ON AND FUCKING ON AND FUCKING ON about donations etc. the audience decide if you’re professional or not, by their support. you don’t DEMAND this support. it’s fucking vulgar, needy and pathetic. also, we don’t put ads on this site or in the videos. that’s a choice i made, coming from youtube, where i also chose not to have any adverts whatsoever. this is because i find them annoying, personally, and i have respect for my viewers. again, the retro hour offer “ad free” but, surprise surprise, for a payment. this, again, is ridiculous and grifty as all hell. as many people have said here, it’s almost as if they’re deliberately putting in as many ads as possible to annoy people into subscribing. geezer also has the same opinion on ads, we think they’re detrimental to both the site and the message we’re trying to get across. then again, if you don’t really give a fuck about peppering your content with begging and money generating inserts then be my guest but don’t expect me to celebrate people who do this. i find youtube nigh on intolerable nowadays because of endless sponsored bullshit in videos. it’s farcical. so, are these people creating something for the benefit of their viewers, or solely for their own benefit so they can swan about at expos etc and wield their “profile” like a weapon ? again, this is something i refuse to do. i’ve been invited to speak at events in the last year or so and have declined them all. i don’t want a profile, i don’t aspire to being a “somebody”. i’m a nobody giving a nobody’s point of view. i’m nothing and, as a result of being untethered from the various “communities” upon which i comment, i can say what i think without reproach. that’s important and that’s the whole reason this platform exists. i have more respect for my viewers than to beg of them, especially in times like these when people don’t have much money. the content is free and features no advertising, and will remain so. if people wish to donate to get access to more content, or simply to support me in my nonsensical efforts then that’s up to them. geezer and i have been discussing putting a donate button on the site to cover hosting costs, but we’re not sure how/if we’re going to go about that yet. currently, the site costs around £70 a month to run. again, i believe it’s free to have a youtube channel, no ?
It was more because it was mentioned on the podcast that they needed the Patreon money to build their own studio, buy laptops etc… I would much prefer creators to say “give us a tip” or “support us” rather than saying “my wall is leaking, my basement is flooding and I need $20,000” (Metal Jesus) or “Help this podcast continue, it might not be able to continue without your donations” etc…. That’s pure emotive language all about tugging at the heart strings and causing panic with some people. There are people out there who might actually be genuinely scared or upset at the prospect of a podcast they listen to closing, not everyone is the same in how they deal with such emotive statements.
In reality if nobody at all supported the Retro Hour it would continue because they like the notoriety and talking to industry people.
sorry, they begged for studios, not a studio. also, if they HAD “a” studio with mics etc for each of them, why the fuck couldn’t they just take their individual mics to their houses. the fucking stupidity on show here is staggering. “oh but our mics aren’t usb” well neither is mine just get a fucking mixing desk for a few quid, mine was literally 20 euros and it’s perfect for my needs (2nd hand from a street market).
I actually gave a friend of a friend a Mackie ONYX1640 as it’s audio interface was Firewire and that’s kinda dead now.
My recollection of the studio setup is somewhat hazy, but I believe the sequence of events was reverse. They already had a studio—evidenced by its depiction in their earlier photographs on their website—and it was the advent of Covid lockdowns that prompted them to start a Patreon to buy equipment to record from home. I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure they have recorded from home for several years now.
They used to rent a studio to do the recording. Then due to covid they had to do it from home and I didn’t really see any major degradation of sound quality. Generally if you make the interviewers sound great with a pro setup and then the guests are using some cheap headset in an echoey room then you’re missing the obvious problem which is you need to invest in some decent audio recovery software like Isotope RX. But given some of the awful sound quality on some of their recordings at live events they clearly haven’t invested any money in decent DSP. That stuff can rescue some pretty diabolical recordings.
Sorry, that’s Izotope not Isotope. I’ve thought about actually making some of those bad recordings (Gary from Ocean for example) listenable.
yes mate like our rescuing of the roger cook audio cassette recording. they sounded like they were in a wind tunnel when we got hold of them but now they sound pretty much totally pristine and modern it’s amazing what you can do if you are not a fucking idiot and take care with things !
And AI is only going to make video and audio restoration even better. I have Topaz Video AI and that does a great job of upscaling low quality video, if you spend a bit of time learning which models work best with which import source.
why they needed a fucking studio in the first place is anyone’s guess. fucking farcical idea for a pack of uninteresting wankers with very little actual reach. just another case of “all the gear – no idea”. to attempt to run a youtube podcast in a decked out studio is fucking retarded. i mean, every HUGE channel just uses google hangouts etc. it’s an absolute no brainer, and being as these people seem to have zero brains i’m surprised they didn’t happen upon the concept sooner.
It’s Dan and his radio experience, he wants to sit there like Smashey and Nicey with his big fader.
it’s just fucking dumb, though. “oh we need the pro gear because we’re pros”. get a fucking reality check, you twerps. by the time i got kicked off youtube, i had more subscribers than these twats. was i a “pro” youtuber ? was i fuck !
i mean, i’m just actually taking a look at their stuff. view counts in the low hundreds for the latest things ? who even are these plonks ? of their 28 videos in the last 6 months, only 3 of them have broken 1k views ? what the fuck ? i didn’t actually realise they were this low tier. you’d think with the way they go on they’d have 250k subs+ and 50-60k views a video. and they had a fucking STUDIO ? jesus wept.
To be fair, they are an audio podcast, not a Youtube channel. I’d imagine most of their audience listens via podcast apps (Spotify, iTunes etc.) as they don’t offer any visual element.
lol good one. i’ve done “still screen, zero production quality retro content” for years. if you’re remotely popular, regardless of putting your material elsewhere, you’ll get views on youtube. some of my still screen videos on retro debacles hit 10,000+ views and that was back when i only had a couple of thousand subscribers. are you just here to make excuses for them or ?
(for the record, i was also doing my stuff on itunes etc through podbean at the time)
Fair enough, it was just a guess. I’ve always listened on Spotify, I wasn’t even aware they were on youtube, I’ve never heard them mention it or it doesn’t appear to be linked from their website, so it sounds very much an after thought, maybe someone else uploads them or its some automated process. Either way, it looks like they’re doing it wrong on there I agree.
“To be fair, they are an audio podcast, not a Youtube channel”
Yeah, but having a studio to do a podcast is like saying you need a TV studio do you Youtube videos. Techmoan does his videos in one of his bedrooms and in behind the scenes footage that room is totally full of stuff. For video there’s definitely more of a need for a proper setup, you need good lighting and if you’re recording taking things to bits etc then overhead camera. Of course you can use a knackered brown sofa but that’s only going to work if what you’re putting on the sofa is just as naff.
It was before Covid kicked in. The justification was that they were using the Radio (Norwich) studio when they were able to, but it would be better if they had their own dedicated facility that they could use as and when they wanted. They only had access during certain hours, and that didn’t always align with the guest’s availability.
Then Covid kicked in and it turns out it can all be done from home without any degradation in quality or show frequency
mad, mad bastards. that’s just fucking lunacy for the sake of it. so fucking stupid.
Radio Norwich? Surely Nottingham? I know Norwich is the centre of the retro universe but that would be a long trip 🙂
The Amiga community is a fucking shithole. Always was and always will be. For every one Geezer there’s at least two Ravis. tbh the community is one of the main reasons I sold my Amiga.
I definitely agree.
I started selling off my gear about 10 years ago, but stopped after encountering a high ratio of dickhead to tolerable buyers. It’s not worth the pain.
Truthfully, the entire retro gaming scene (at least when talking about the “top-tier” content creators are full of assholes and bellends, and not just in the UK either. Just look at idiots like Metal Jesus and John Hancock in the US.
this is very true, mate, the usa very much set the template the the cunts from the uk follow and aspire to. especially bastards like top hat and lady dickhead, absolute fucking shit thick pondlife, vile scum like that are straight up about admitting that they just wanted the “retro money” and don’t give a shit about games. top hat’s whole approach was cynical and threadbare as fuck. then he got grotbags involved and the rest is history.
Does Metal Jesus even cover games other than “I bought this”. Seemed like every video was about what he’d bought that week. Not a good look to be boasting about buying up a houseful of games on the cheap that are worth a lot of money then asking for tens of thousands to fix a few small holes in a wall.
Metal Jesus is a brain-dead retard. He’s a bottle eyed, self obsessed, shit thick tosser. I do actually like his mate Reggie, it’s a shame they are mates tbh as reggie is a good person. Metal Jesus is a piece of shit and a petulant man baby.
Unfortunately Reggie started to pick up bad habits from Metal Jesus like begging for cash to go to events.
this is unfortunate news, to be honest i’ve not watched any of his content for a long time, i don’t really watch gaming youtubers but he did seem like a reasonable man at one point. i remember there was some falling out between them all due to his stance on certain things, i think, but clearly they made up and metal jesus has infected him with his grifting bs too !
Has anyone noticed how if you dont go with their narative, dont go with their viewpoint, and dare to point out that someone may be wrong, or, heaven forbid, be out of order, your a troll, or are harassing them.
Someone on the Discord pointed out that Ravi was actually lying about the circumstances of the ban – and showed the proof Ravi was lying for god sake, yet Ravi’s answer was he wasnt going to comment on it any more.
Yes, because he was painted into a corner and couldnt say aything more without making himself look more stupid (as well as a liar).
We have al made mistakes, rash decisions in the past. Heck, Ive done loads, but all Ravi needed to do was put his hand up and say “ok guys, I had a ‘God’ moment there, and on reflection, I was being a wee bit silly”, but no – he doubled down, banned people left right and centre, and deleted the chat that proved he was a liar !
And all on a Discord channel that was to PROMOTE a show !
Their podcast would actually benefit from them listening to the criticisms. I have to wonder why they were able to do the podcast for very little money early on and produce some interviews with huge names in the industry and more recently they need Patreon, sponsors and adverts to just talk to someone like Slopes or a bloke who used to run a BBS.
What truly made me laugh about the Slopes episode on the Amico is when you go back to early episodes when it was announced and they’re getting hugely excited and talking about Tommy like he’s some sort of god.
slops made you laugh ? no wonder. he’s a fucking joke. his handling of his amico content was like watching a chinese juggler with multiple plates spinning, except there were no plates, only shit, and he wasn’t juggling anything, he was rolling around in it with his mouth open. for months. oh, and then he realised he was covered in shit and took a massive shower and basically claimed that because he’d had the shower the shit hadn’t actually EVER existed at all.
Well what I meant was the RH guys were getting excited about the announcement of the Intellivision Amico and really singing the praises of Tommy T. Then you fast forward a few years and there’s a whole episode about how much of a disaster it was. They also got excited about that new Atari VCS that turned out to be a low spec PC in a nice case. Oh and they covered the Vega+ too and talked about how that could be good. So it’s my golden rule that if it’s been on RH news or they’ve promoted a Kickstarter I stay well clear.
sounds like very sound logic judging by those examples mate ! the problem with these cunts is they’d sell their own mothers for a freebie, it’s all about promoting products as if you’re paid so that the company will pay it backwards with goods etc once the product comes to market. it’s incredibly transparent.
Well even that joystick they plugged is more useful than a book.
yes, i think you’re talking about u4ria on the discord, he sent me a bunch of screen grabs of that situation last night. “pathetic” springs to mind, and the way ravi handled things showed everyone present that he’s no remorse for his behaviour and sees nothing wrong in the actions he took. as you say, he doubled down, he banned people, he deleted chats. i’ve seen it all and will most likely make a video about it so that people can see what this “nice guy” is actually like when people dare to question his outrageous behaviour. I think he misunderstood the “all news is good news” memo, tbh. he’s really shat the bed on this one.
That’s the way it works these days. You either “like” something/someone or you’re a bully and should be blocked.
Social media generation.
Lets see if they try to twist this as them being harrassed by trolls so they can extract a few more sympathy dollars from their audience.
indeed mate, apparently i’ve got a vendetta for Ravi. i have pretty much zero fucking clue about Ravi. i know that he’s part of the retro hour, which is a loathsome mess of a thing, but i now know he’s engaged in this recent behaviour, which is unacceptable to both myself and, it would seem, the community at large. the way it’s being claimed i “have a vendetta” is shorthand for “he’s obsessed and with an axe to grind about nothing”. in point of fact, i’d rather not have to discuss this human pondlife, but at the end of the day i and many others now have an axe to grind with him regarding his treatment of someone who’s never done anything but stand up for the community and provide things for it, rather than acting like a fucking vampire towards it. there are no two ways to look at this, Ravi is in the wrong here.
Interested to hear what your gripe is with the retro hour George? Genuinely interested in where it came from? Imho its one of the better podcasts out there, always has good sound quality and their guests are usually top notch. Their episodes with Mel Croucher, David Perry and Jeff Minter were some of the best interviews I’ve heard with these people.
The Retro Hour has had great guests, but they’ve definitely run out and are now interviewing youtubers and complete non-entities. The adverts are getting excessive and the presenters at times don’t know their stuff. They’re all a little too young to actually remember the “golden age” of video games they like to talk about. I just have to roll my eyes at some of the dumb shit they say like “I didn’t know Parker brothers were involved in the games industry”.. or “Imagine lugging a Commodore SX64 around with those batteries”. SX64 was a luggable, not battery powered. Parker Brothers did Return of the Jedi, a massive game on the Atari VCS.
I don’t always pay attention to every guest, but I can see how some people might like those episodes. I actually thought the chat with the guy from the BBS was one of their better ones recently, so I guess it’s all a matter of taste. The podcast isn’t perfect, but considering it’s been on weekly for about a decade, it’s still pretty good. I don’t begrudge anyone earning a living from something if they can, I just hit ffoward though the ads.
I did enjoy the BBS one too. But it was hardly a big name person people will have heard of.
in fairness mate interesting conversations don’t always have to be with big names. in fact, in many cases it’s the unknown or lesser known people who are more interesting to hear as you don’t just get the same ground covered that you could have heard in many other situations before that. i’ve heard a lot of gaming and cinema podcasts where the same guests are asked the same questions just with a different sign above the door. it’s very unimaginative. so, yes, i don’t think having less well known/unknown people as guests is a bad thing, in fact it can often benefit the show and the guest much more than inviting the usual low hanging fruit.
tbh I’d rather hear lesser known people say something new than hearing the same big names say the same stuff over and over again.
i’d like to hear genuinely insightful, human conversation instead of a pack of vapid cunts falling over themselves to make as much noise as possible whilst ably demonstrating their own ineptitude and stupidity. i find it pretty much impossible to listen to “retro gaming” podcasts, or podcasts relating to “gaming” in general as they are invariably presided over by a fucking bastard who gets everything WRONG. the main issue for me is that none of these people seem to be human, and are just going through the (bowel) motions of producing what they think will be “great revenue generating CONTENT”. RMC, Retro Hour and their ilk are the worst for this. i suppose the content isn’t aimed at me BUT being as i’ve been a gamer all my life and their podcasts are apparently all about gaming, i’m wondering why there’s such a vast disconnect. none of these people seem to know anything about gaming, either, and just relentlessly get things wrong, or treat what is a vast ocean as a puddle. it’s pathetic ! as you say, “the same stuff over and over again”.
They didn’t know The Parker Brothers had been involved in the games industry?
So the likes of the following just passed them by?
Jumanji (1996 on Dedicated handheld)
Risk: Parker Brothers’ World Conquest Game (1994 MD)
Trivial Pursuit Interactive Multimedia
Game (1994 on Windows 3.x, SEGA CD)
Boggle Plus (1992 on Game Boy)
Clue (1992 on SNES, MD)
Monopoly Deluxe (1992 on DOS,
Windows 3.x, Macintosh)
Monopoly (1991 on Game Boy, Game Boy Color, SNES…)
Heavy Shreddin’ (1990 on NES)
Trivial Pursuit: The Computer Game (1990 on DOS)
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (1988 on SEGA Master System)
King’s Quest (1984 on DOS, PC Booter, Amiga…)
Montezuma’s Revenge (1984 on Windows, PC Booter, SEGA Master System…)
Frogger II: ThreeeDeep! (1984 on PC Booter, Commodore 64, Atari 2600…)
James Bond 007 (1984 on Commodore 64, Atari 2600, ColecoVision…)
Circus Charlie (1984 on NES, Commodore 64, MSX…)
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Death Star Battle (1983 on Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit…)
Star Wars (1983 on DOS, GameCube, Amiga…)
Strawberry Shortcake: Musical Match-Ups (1983 on Atari 2600)
Gyruss (1983 on NES, Commodore 64, Atari 2600…)
G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike (1983 on Atari 2600)
Retroshower of shit more like.
having “good sound quality” should be a prerequisite of a podcast, not a plus point. it’s like saying a tennis court is incredible because it has breathable air. from what i’ve heard of it, it’s insufferable, but horses for courses. also, i have only heard it in the last year or so. many people say it was better when there weren’t adverts every 3 seconds and when the presenters weren’t falling over themselves to establish themselves as “personalities”* in the “scene”.
*the irony being that in order to be one, you have to have one.
Indeed, one would expect so, but many other podcasts sound like someone simply positioned their phone atop a coffee table in their living room, inviting their friends to engage in casual conversation around the room.
Well the thing is, they tend to invite on people who actually have their own channels and documentary series. So it feels like by interviewing them you are hardly obtaining some information that isn’t already available. I want to hear the stories about back then, things you can’t really hear about elsewhere.
if you’d only know the shit i’ve been through thanks to Ravi, which I keep quiet about because I am not brave enough like Graeme to face the backlash of all the soulless goons that person enables…
email me or contact me on facebook about it mate or contact graeme. we’re all ears !
i rather stay anonymous but believe me, it made me stop wanting to do Amiga stuff
also the rabbit hole goes deeper, there’s other “well loved” characters in the Amiga scene that behind the scenes are absolute cunts the moment you are not aligned with their clout-seeking agenda
I think it is absolutely jaw dropping that Mr Pleasance is welcomed with open arms – a man who faked endorsements on his Kickstarter remember, and yet a guy whose only “crime” is to be a web dev for a website Ravi hates, is banned.
I mean, let that sink in for a minute.
indeed mate, i let it sink in for several minutes before turning the microphone on. it’s unreal. apparently Ravi has also now deleted all chat on his discord that was put up to show he’s been fibbing by several people i know who’ve now told me what’s been going on (i was out with my dad getting long sleeved t-shirts as it’s getting very hot here now and normal t-shirts leave me too exposed to the sun !)
Between Ms. Mad Lemon’s experiences, and now McGeezer, I’m going to be pretty selective whom I support going forward. There’s some serious tribalism going on in the Amiga community which seems adverse to criticism.
I’ve already cut the cord with one major player’s Patreon who’s slowly been eroding the bigger he gets (endorsing several guests he really shouldn’t be)
I feel a reckoning is about to ensue.
What happened regarding MS mad lemon?
She had a not-so-enlightening experience with a UK event from 2018, and she had a few things to say about Amiga ‘scenesters’ in general. In fact, I found out about George/Funkyspectrum from this vid she posted several months ago.
I did kinda watch some of her videos once. But I can’t remember where, maybe it was on Facebook but she was ranting about Israel and I’m sick to death of people arguing over the middle-east. It’s not relevant if you live in the UK.
The trouble is that (((some people))) make it their business to ensure that every single person on the planet is forced into having an opinion about Israel. Hint: said (((people))) have been kicked out of 109 countries thus far.
It’s just one of the problems of the UK that people are fighting each here over problems from their home countries (or the home countries of their parents, grandparents). We have enough issues without all that stuff here as well.
“maybe it was on Facebook but she was ranting about Israel and I’m sick to death of people arguing over the middle-east.”
This is an absolute lie. I have not ranted about Israel before and I do not talk about anything political on my social media nor youtube and I haven’t done for many years now.
no idea what this is about mate, i would just ignore it ! there’s better folks to be righteously annoyed at instead of fighting amongst ourselves !
Christ. I hate bouncers. ‘Sorry mate, you can’t come in because you’ve err…. you’re errr … because your hair is against the rules of the club. Sorry’
That said, if I had a choice between organising a UK Amiga event or hosting a wedding for the Travelling community in an art gallery, I’d definitely pick the easier latter option. So I do have some sympathy with what Ravi is trying to undertake.
Ultimately money talks, so if they’ve paid out for the likes of Davie P to show up, or vendors have paid to sell and they’re not happy with a certain guest being there, then they’re going to pressure the organisers into taking action. However, there are ways to go about it, so unless the complainants are so thin skinned they can’t cope with any possibility of challenge or criticism, banning seems utterly mental to me. The practices of a religious echo chamber in my view.
Personally I think they should have just ignored it and allowed all parties to come along and have it out if they wanted to. In reality, nothing would happen and the event would go down without a hitch, as people in person are usually very different to their online personas
I had to stop listing to the advert hour. Far to many adverts for the length of podcast, the yalways went easy on guests. Just more useless fluff. The Amiga community is full of very strong minded people. If Ravi thanks this is the end of matter he is in for a shock. The fact David P is showing is face at this thing is a big mistake he really pissed of a lot of people with that stupid KS. Clearly Ravi / Dan and co still want to remain all cozy with him
To prove I have nothing against Ravi and Dan, I actually enjoyed a lot of their early podcasts, when they had pretty good guests, before they got thru everyone of interest and started going thru the bottom of the barrel and into the earth’s core.
And, I get why they went easy on them.
No one will come on a podcast / radio / tv show if they know it has a reputation of giving the guests a tough time – why do you think Graham Norton gets so many guests – not for the intellectual chat, thats for sure.
But, Ravi has been a bit of a silly boy, and I think the mark may have slipped for all to see…..
Blimmin predictive txt – “mask”
If you listen to older episodes you get about 4-5 people in the “hall of fame”, ie. new Patreons. These days you’re lucky to hear 1 or 2. I wonder if they don’t have a new sub one week if they will just make up a name?
All the adverts are making up for the fact their income from the podcast has clearly tailed off. Either that or they’re trying to make the experience of listening to the free version that annoying that people subscribe, like that would ever work. I find it weird how someone like Techmoan can offer the same sort of content for £1 a month and he does video footage and buys a lot of electronics. He also is totally reliant on that income (although his wife works I think) whereas the RH guys all have jobs too.
Pre covid there was a big e-beg to raise enough cash to move into their own studio. Then Covid kicked in and we never heard about it again.
Not sure why?
As I’ve said before, I think Dan and Ravi did a great job in the first few years, as I imagine getting those high profile guests each week was no easy task. And getting a podcast out every week, especially when some of the guests were in crazy time
Zones, wouldn’t have been easy. All they asked for was non obligational donations to a tip jar, chuck in what you can to cover server costs, which was fair enough.
But towards the end of 2019 it became much more about patrons, adverts and the aforementioned new studio fund. Perhaps IR35 had an impact on the hosts?
it’s actually very easy to get the “high profile” guests as most of them aren’t really doing much these days and will happily jump on skype to have smoke blown up their arses for an hour or so. i don’t mean this disrespectfully, but these folks have had their time and, as a result, are usually keen to revisit said time so they can feel a little bit of backslapping for their contribution to the industry whilst also getting the sense they’re still relevant. you would genuinely be surprised how simple it is to secure some of the “big names” of the past for interviews. most of them are just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. also, most of these online “gaming” folks attempt to get to a certain level then, once there, will set their grift into motion. it’s like politics. i firmly believe that many politicians start out with altruistic motives and goals designed to benefit the many. however, as they advance through the party ranks they eventually reach an echelon wherein everyone is corrupt, and to not behave this way is to spotlight yourself as someone who needs removing. so, therefore, they start claiming 80,000 a year to heat a stables, or 360,000 for a flat in central london etc etc. “everybody does it” isn’t so much a justification, it’s also a threat to those involved. EVERYBODY does it, so that includes YOU. if you don’t, you’re not part of the club. Also, putting that aside, the lure of money for old rope is always going to appeal to the self serving amongst the “community”. it’s all about getting to the level that facilitates this behaviour. once there, you can act just like everyone else.
Sorry George, I can’t seem to reply to your comment so I’ve replied to my, like a complete narcissist. I take your points, it’s easy to get hold of them now. But back when they started (I think was 2016/17) no one else was doing it. You had a couple of podcasts on retro gaming, one of which was Retro Asylum which was 2-3 hours of droning drivel about the good old days, and quite frankly, it was of poor production quality, but that was about it. The Retro Hour was approximately 1 hour, production was high, and they had guests I wanted to hear from e.g. Allister Brimble, Galahad, Dave Perry et al. It was so much better than the other podcasts out there, I looked forward to every episode.
The trouble is, they haven’t changed the formula, they’ve run out of interesting guests, and now have much more focus on adverts, patreon benefits and plugging people’s projects or products. Let’s be honest, with the advent of AI you could easily make the claim the Retro Hour have been using if for at least 2 years.
do you mean using IF as in 10 IF “TALENT”=<0 THEN GOTO RETRO HOUR" ? :p
the mask always slips sooner or later mate. a friend once said to me “there’s nothing worse than a nerd who’s been encouraged” and at the time i didn’t understand it and thought it was a bit of a strange thing to say. however, with hindsight, i now fully appreciate what he meant. the proof is all around us.