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July 1, 2019 - The Unexplained - Howard Hughes
07:47
Special Edition - July 2019
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Well, here are some words that I've said a few times over the last 13 years or so.
This is Howard at the Home of the Unexplained.
I just wanted to say a few words on the passing of a milestone that a few of you have been in touch with me about.
That is the passing of the 400th show, which we've just done, and of course, 401 is now out as well.
It's been a heck of a ride doing this, and it's been amazing to prove to myself, I think, first of all, that I was actually able to produce something that's been over these years completely independent.
In a world of corporate media, where a few control pretty much everything, The Unexplained Here Online has been a totally independently produced show.
And of course, doing it for all of these years, I have learned about podcasting.
In a small way, I think I've become a bit of an expert on podcasting.
So people now ask me for advice on how to do one and how to set one up.
And I have to say that over the years, I've invested in technology and kit, a lot of which I've decided hasn't been right for me.
And I've learned the things now that work for me and the things that don't.
And I started recording these shows.
I suppose the secret can now be revealed on mini-discs.
And in fact, the first pretty much 300 shows were done that way.
They were mastered on a mini-disc, Sony Japanese technology.
And it worked brilliantly.
I'd seen radio stations using those, admittedly none do now.
But they are rock solid, and they never ever let me down.
If I recorded a show on a mini-disc, then I know that it would stay there in master form on the mini-disc.
Well, of course, over the years, I've done what most people have done.
I've moved across to hard disc recording.
I've experimented with every kind of microphone, had every kind of processing for sound so I get the kind of sound that I want, that I think is comfortable to listen to.
Because I'm always learning.
That's the wonderful thing about doing this.
And I think it's also, and I would say to you if you are considering setting up any kind of enterprise yourself, not necessarily in this field, there is a lot of satisfaction that comes from actually doing a thing yourself.
Now I've had a lot of support from you over the years, sending me nice emails, telling me that you've heard the show, pointing out when you think I've got something wrong, telling me, thankfully, those occasions when you think I've got something right.
So it's been a sort of organic process over the years.
Some people that I've interviewed, of course, over the years are no longer here, and some of them, shockingly so, like Berbel Moore, one of my first interviewees in Germany, the woman who wrote the book The Cosmic Ordering Service, who died tragically young, and I didn't find out for a couple of years, actually, that she had died.
She was one of my first guests.
People like the great astronomer Sir Patrick Moore is no longer with us.
The rock and roll expert R. Gary Patterson, a very sad loss, a great guest and a nice man who was on the show a couple of times.
Stanton T. Friedman, what a wonderful man Stan Friedman is and what a loss to the world of ufology.
We lost him very recently.
And in fact, I did a radio show tribute to him that I will put here on the website at some point, if ever I get time.
So we've, along the way, we've gained a lot of people as guests and we've lost some.
And the biggest loss of all, of course, Art Bell, the man in America who inspired me and my work.
And who would have thought that the great Art Bell, who was my gold standard for all things, I know I've said this so many times before, would actually become a listener to my shows.
And I very nearly, you will know this story if you've listened to me a lot, you'll know that I very nearly got to work directly with him.
The plan was, before Art decided to give up broadcasting altogether, was that I would do a show, then he would do the main event in the middle, and then Richard Hoagland would do a show after Art.
So we would be a kind of sandwich.
And that was a dream team for me.
Imagine being the warm-up act for Art Bell.
Well, sadly, it never happened, and I didn't get to broadcast in America, but maybe one of these days I will.
But I've been very, very lucky with the things that I've done.
The radio show, we just did an edition from Liverpool, which I basically put together myself and actually broadcast myself.
I learned an awful lot from that about logistics and all of those lessons I learned from doing those years on the Capitol Radio Chris Tarrant show.
I used to watch people when we did outside broadcasts from Australia or America or wherever we went, a yacht in Monaco, all the mad places we went, I learned lessons on how you set these things up.
So when I did the show from Liverpool recently live, and thank you to the people at the Titanic Hotel for assisting in that, all of those lessons, I didn't realise it, but you don't know what you know until you discover you know it.
All of those lessons from working with Chris Tarrant over these years, I was able to deploy when we did that show from Liverpool.
So I'd like to do more shows here online and also radio shows from different locations.
Of course, radio is an exciting roller coaster of a medium, and you never know what is going to come or happen next.
But the one thing I can say is that as long as I'm able to, and you know, the existence that I have is a bit of a hand-to-mouth one, as you know.
So literally, I never quite know where the next pound or penny is coming from.
But, you know, I hope to be doing radio for as long as I can, but I will continue to do work online and this show online for as long as I'm able to.
You know, when you set these things up, you make a choice.
And it's a choice that I've had to confront a number of times over this last 13 years.
And that choice is that some people start these things and they say, okay, I want to make money.
And others say, as I said, I want to reach people.
So I did this and have done this as a free show.
And I've asked if you can make a donation to the show, that would be great.
Now I have to work out in the future what that's going to mean for me.
As I get older, you know, I don't want to entertain the prospect that I'm going to be like homeless and that sort of thing.
But, you know, that's a choice I made, and I'm comfortable with my choice and the way that I've lived my life.
And if you can make a donation to the show, that'd be great.
And the rest I will leave, as they say, to fate.
Maybe it makes life more exciting, hey.
You know, I know people who've made tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of US dollars out of shows like this one.
And I never chose to go that route.
I wanted to see how many people that I could reach on something that I produce myself.
The ideas are mine and it's my neck literally on the block.
So thank you for being there for me over all of these years.
We've passed 400.
I'm looking down the barrel at 500 editions and we'll take it from there.
And I will keep on keeping on, as they say.
So tune up and down the radio.
One of these days you might hear me somewhere.
And who knows?
One of these days I might appear on the radio in America.
It's always necessary to dream, I suppose.
As my hero Casey Kasim, the man who used to do the American Top 40, used to say at the end of the show, keep your feet on the ground, but keep reaching for the stars.
And I guess that's what all of us have got to do.
So, thank you for listening to this.
Thank you for listening to my shows as I record this in the summertime, sitting here at home in my shorts.
You know, you've been wonderful, and it's been amazing to learn how you reach an audience in this way.
Of course, I'm never going to be God's gift of broadcasting, and I always need your thoughts and suggestions.
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