Ask An Atheist

A couple of weeks ago, Sam reminded me that we were closing in on one hundred episodes of “Ask an Atheist.” It still hasn’t quite set in and become real for me yet.

I still haven’t quite grasped that in two years’ time, we’ve interviewed everyone from Sean Faircloth to Greta Christina to James Randi; we’ve done a live presentation of our show for the Northwest Freethought Conference in April, and we put on a event to make fun of an apocalyptic lunatic that got us international media attention.

But there’s something about triple digits that feels different. Not even the original Star Trek series made it to 100 episodes. Neither did Arrested Development. Or Cop Rock.

While my brain knows that we get regular listenership on six continents, I still find it a bit shocking when I meet someone who listens to us. I’m humbled and flattered that you like our weird little radio show enough to help keep us on the air for nearly two years.

When SCAN public access television went bust, and Sam and I — in the words of the great Peter Venkman — decided to go into business for ourselves, we weren’t sure the show would survive. The obstacles of fundraising looked insurmountable, but all of you proved us wrong multiple times.

Over the last couple of weeks, Sam and I have been asking you what our show has meant to you. We’d like to know if we’ve ever changed your mind, helped set you in your ways, made you laugh, pissed you off, made you see something in a new light, or maybe just made you hurl your radio across the room.

It’s only fair that since we’re asking you, that I should share with you what this show has meant to me.

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Join Becky and Sam this weekend in Gresham, OR at the Alliance for Community Media, Northwest Region’s conference entitled “Local Connections: It’s all Community Media“. We’ll be heading up a workshop called “Making Media for Multiple Platforms” on Saturday at 2:00 PM.    In this workshop, we’ll be going behind the scenes at Ask an Atheist, and discussing how the show is put together from a technical perspective, soup to nuts, with a focus on open source software and the importance of DIY.    We hope to see you there!

If you’re in the Gresham/Portland/Vancouver, WA area and would like to hang out with us, drop us a line in email or on Facebook.   Chances are we’ll be at the McMenamin’s Edgefield, as the conference is taking place there.

Sunday after the show, we’ll be back in Tacoma, and we’ll be bowling!   Join us at Tower Lanes, 6263 6th Ave in Tacoma.   There is food, there is drinks, there is mini-golf, there is bowling, and unlike a lot of our post-show get togethers, this one is all ages!

We’re getting together with our community organization friends the Humanists of Washington, the Auburn Freethought Society, and Tacoma Atheists!

And hey, let us know you’re coming this time!   You can sign up at Meetup, or on Facebook.   These days, our events are much better attended than the Internet suggests.   I blame the reptoids.

Someone on Facebook noticed yesterday that we weren’t planning on going to a post show this weekend, but there was at least some of the usual gathering at one of the usual watering holes.    This was followed up by a post from me that said that the audio for the podcast wasn’t going to be available to me until later in the week, so we wouldn’t be ready with a Monday podcast, as we normally do.

Someone put two and two together and asked an alarming, if not inappropriate question:

I will miss [your] show very much.Concerned on the Book of Face

Becky responded well (She uses LOL un-ironically, that’s how I can tell),  but a picture can speak a thousand words, so I have one for you:

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The server housing the podcasts went down roughly three hours ago, and my alseep-ness did not allow me to catch it until now. The system is back up and appears to be running normally.

A few weeks ago, listener Peggy from Kent, Washington challenged Ask an Atheist listeners to financially support the program and help keep us on the air. Your response has humbled us and we want to continue to milk
this challenge and beg for money.

So far, we have gotten contributions from more than 20 listeners from all over the United States and abroad. Thank you. We know that this isn’t the easiest time to spend cash on any cause, and recognizing this, your generosity is all the more appreciated.

We want to thank everyone who’s helped us out so far…

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