Furcast Podcast
FurCast is a syndicated comedy weekend talk show oriented toward furry and therian communities, produced by the XANA Broadcasting Network (XBN) since summer 2010.
The show is hosted and produced by Paradox (XBN Director/Producer), Mattox (primary radio host) and Fayroe (FurCast Co-director).
It runs as live syndicated radio and as a free to download archived podcast. The show is noted to be mindless in style, lacking in political correctness, unallocated in time and schedule, and listener powered. XBN also hosts the radio show Friday Night Tech in the same studio.
The title FurCast was originally conceived years before the show’s production. Paradox and Mattox considered the show title for a few final months before finally deciding to produce. Now the show continues to broadcast, and continues to gain respect from listeners in the Furry Fandom.
Broadcast
The show broadcasts primarily using the Justin.tv free flash streaming service. Although services such as Justin.tv offer viewable pages for it’s broadcasters, FurCast has remained directing all of it’s viewers to the show website itself.
The show also broadcasts a SHOUTcast MP3 feed.[2] HERE Most listeners, due to finding links through social network marketing, end up landing on the Live Video page, keeping most listeners at that page. The show hosts constantly refer to the availability of the MP3 feed, due to many listeners having bandwidth problems/limitations therefore being unable to see the video feed properly.
As FurCast continues to grow, statements have been made that FurCast has become syndicated to several other furry broadcasting networks, including but not limited to: Paws-Up Radio, and FurFusion Radio.
The show has used several different Content Delivery Networks to store the video archives. Links are available on the show’s archive for viewers to access them.
Podcast
FurCast records the main broadcast programming, as a later downloadable (MP3) podcast. The podcast itself is accessible through RSS feed links on the website, and in the iTunes Podcast Store, HERE. The show also features a ways to subscribe page which purely focuses on different ways to stay updated with the show.
Show
FurCast has adapted over time, to both new upgrades to the show, and a change in viewer interests. It remains mindless, lacking in political correctness, unscripted, and is produced entirely manual (vs. a pre-set playlist). The show remains partly viewer powered, through emails (furcast-at-xanacreations.com), votes and suggestions on the Google Moderator series for the show, and IRC chat room interaction. The show hosts constantly voice the option of emailing before the show airs, for convenience of the show hosts as well as pre-screening availability. Viewers who email before the show’s airing will also receive better answers due to the hosts being able to prepare their answers before having to read the email live. The show hosts also banter constantly with each other, and with the viewers from topics that spawn off of email questions, or other random events. Both show hosts also voice the hatred of poorly written emails, including ones that are missing grammar completely, or simply emails that do not have a good enough topic to elaborate on for the show.
Despite being an almost completely furry oriented show, it remains on it’s original IRC network for the chat room, TechToKnow IRC. The hosts show no interest in moving to a more appropriate IRC Network such asFurNet (IRC), since the current network plays a large role in services for the show, including IT support, through friends and partners on the network.
Segments
FurCast announced shortly into Season 2, that a new “segmented show” would be presented. This continues to current day due to it’s success, but has exceptions (mid-week shows and email only shows, both of which are usually pre-announced on the website itself and syndicated RSS feeds).
The segments are separated into 10 primary sectors, including two 10 minute breaks. No information is official, but as per standard with each episode, it is expected to have at least the following:
- (0:00-0:10) Intro/Banter
- (0:10-0:25) News
- (0:25-0:40) “WikiFur Article of the Week”, misc announcements, and IRC interaction
- (0:40-1:00) Google Moderator Topics
- (1:00-1:10) BREAK
- (1:10-1:30) Phone Calls
- (1:30-2:00) Viewer Emails
- (2:00-2:10) BREAK
- (2:10-3:00) Viewer Emails (cont.)
- (3:00-N/A) POST SHOW (phone calls, DJ mixes, and open content)
Music
Unlike Friday Night Tech, FurCast is based primarily around talking. Despite keeping that genre, the show hosts take breaks after large groups of emails, or large time periods of broadcasting. During this time, to avoid dead air, Paradox cues in music to play. The music can span from viewer requests, to hit tracks from recent episodes of Friday Night Tech. IRC chat room interaction can also happen during this time, due to the hosts being too busy during normal programming to respond to viewers in the chat room.
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