CYPTTW Review #5 - The Ghost Radio Project
Who the hell are you?! Hi! I’m Taylor and I recently dived headfirst into podcasts! I have since binged on several of them and decided to make reviews of the ones that really stood out. These are not going to be big, professional reviews (I’m lazy) but they should hopefully contain information to help you get into some great new listens!
Where do you listen to your podcasts? My personal recommendation for listening to podcasts is the Pocket Casts app, available for Android or iPhone. It costs $3.99 to buy, but I think it's super worth it, since it has a lot of great features and zero in-app ads, which to me is worth every penny. But if you like free apps or just don't have the scratch right now, my runner up is Podcast Addict. It's free and has some (but not all) of the features Pocket Casts has, plus you have to deal with the ads. But if you don't like either of those, do some searching! There's lots of options out there.
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Name of Podcast: The Ghost Radio Project
Creators of Podcast: Gene Jeter and Dilan Taylor
Genre(s): Dystopian Future, Drama, Humor
Start and End Date of Podcast: August 14th, 2017 - November 7th, 2017 (On Hiatus until 2019/Indefinite)
Number of Episodes: 4 (Episodes will be re-recorded for better quality and re-released when the show FULLY premieres in 2019/Indefinite)
Release Schedule: On Hiatus until 2019/Indefinite
Where Can I Find It: https://ghostradioproject.com/ or check out their official Tumblr page at @ghostradioproject
Donation/Patreon?: The donation page they had up has since stopped working, and I wasn’t able to find one that did. (If anyone knows where it is, PLEASE DM me.)
Age Rating: This show deals with violence, exile from a hostile government and has profanity. R.
Where I Am Now: Caught Up
Official Summary: Nearly a decade after the economic, social, and ecological crisis known as the Collapse, a small group of unauthorized radio broadcasters move together through a post-Capitalism era in the southwestern United States, clinging to one another for survival. Due to the hard-line segregation between civilians living in government-run cities and those who remain outside the system, the region beyond the State's boundaries has become a desolate, impoverished place now called the Outlands by most everyone who tries to make a life there. Together, these pirate radio broadcasters form Ghost Radio, a mobile station carried from one frequency to the next as they make their way through the bright, arid lands of West Texas. Tune in to one of the last propaganda-free radio stations in existence. When you can find it, that is….
Representation?: Pretty much EVERY character on this show is either LGBT (including Non-Binary) or POC, and there’s also Autistic representation too.
Transcripts?: Official transcripts are available, but only for the first two episodes.
Trigger Warnings?: Government Exile, Violence
How Long To Listen Before Giving Up?: It’s only four episodes and they’re SO GOOD. Listen to the whole thing. I mean it.
Anything Else I Should Know?: Please read this post from the creators: https://ghostradioproject.tumblr.com/post/174931529609/friends-thank-you-for-your-patience-over-the-last
If You Like This, You Might Also Like: Alice Isn’t Dead, The Strange Case of Starship Iris, King Falls AM
Pros
This show starts strong and STAYS strong. A+ pilot, immediately gets you interested and makes you crave more. I adore the concept for this show. A bunch of queer, disabled, POC liberal fugitives, exiled from the government for being ‘unwanted’ and spreading the news of the resistance through secret radio channels in an RV in the Texas desert? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP!
All the characters share their unique traits in real life. Autistic character? Autistic actor. Non-Binary character? Non-Binary actor. POC character? POC actor. And this is by studio mandate, they make it explicitly clear that these characters must be these things in real life if they are to be acted that way. And these people live in a deep conservative state where actor choices can be slim, making their choice even more admirable.
The voice acting is INCREDIBLE, and for a low-budget podcast I was blown away by how great the production sounds. They rely solely on donations and money out of their own pockets, making it clear that they never want to have ads on this show. Having a podcast without ads is extremely difficult, so please donate to them when/if it becomes available!
The Ghost Radio Project doesn’t just spread news of the resistance, it also broadcasts the only music channels you can get after the government takeover. The soundtrack to this podcast is so good you won’t want to skip any of it.
Cons
None. I can’t think of a single thing I didn’t like about this podcast. It should be way more popular than it is and I hope everyone joins me in awaiting its full, updated release.
MY RATING: 10/10 TRANSMITTERS - Holy DAMN this podcast blew me away. I devoured everything that was available and I’m still starving for more, and it breaks my heart that more people haven’t heard about this show. It’s got so much heart and has so many things going for it, and in today’s turbulent times I found it a very cathartic thing to listen to. The resistance needs this podcast. Listen. Survive. Mobilize.
