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Back when I was 15 years old, my friend Tony and I used to make fake radio shows in his basement. He was a musician with a lot of recording equipment, including a device called the Zoom 9002. It was an audio processor that could create all kinds of weird and wonderful effects when you plugged your guitar into it. Lacking any musical talent myself, it wasn’t the instrumental potential that made me fall in love with the Zoom 9002. It was what it could do to our voices. Tony would plug two microphones into the machine, connect it to his tape deck, hit “record” on a high-bias Maxell XLII cassette tape, and the fake radio would begin. We’d pretend to be two co-hosts, shifting our voices down a little bit for gravitas. Then we’d “open the phones” and pretend to be our own callers, using the Zoom to radically pitch our voices up or down (usually up). I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing we would also employ the occasional, regrettable British accent to add some variety to our “audience.” In a word, it was cool as hell. Thirty-five years later, I make my living by talking to my friend, Luke, every day. We record our conversations and post them on the internet as an “Imaginary Radio” show. And while I don’t have a pitch-shifter to enhance my voice, I do still use a Zoom H5 to record our podcast. The only thing that’s missing is the callers. That’s why I’m excited to hear from all of you tomorrow when Luke and I open the phone lines for our first-ever TBTL “Tradio” live stream! I know I’ve already spent many TBTL newsletters telling you about his project, so I’ll just summarize the important stuff: The broadcast begins live at 10am PT. We’re streaming it live on YouTube (and at TBTL.net) If you have anything you’re looking to buy or sell, you can call in and tell us about it. Be prepared to give out some contact info for people who are interested in whatever you’re selling or giving away or requesting. The number to call is (206) 414-TBTL (8285)
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