Podcast Of The Week: ‘Time For Cakes And Ale’

❉ This week: Two get lost in a maze of pop culture.

We’re big fans of podcasts here at We Are Cult, and we’re always looking for more shows to subscribe to. So if you’re looking for ear candy, we’re here to help!

This week: We’re all about Time For Cakes And Ale Podcast!

What’s your podcast about? 

Our main podcast is about genre TV, movies, books, games, comics… it’s us talking about things we love and want to share with other people. We also have two dedicated streams all about Twin Peaks and The Prisoner, called Time For Cherry Pie And Coffee and The Tally Ho, respectively.

If you had to describe your show in 10 words or less, what would you say?

Two get lost in a maze of pop culture.

Which episode would you recommend for a first-time listener?

Cakes & Ale episode 6 reunited one of our hosts with a fellow team member from their appearance together on classic kids TV show Knightmare 20 years ago. It was a blast to record and we hope it’s as much fun to listen to!

Do you have a favourite episode? 

Our Time For Cherry Pie And Coffee episode on the 2-part finale of Twin Peaks The Return. It was emotional to record, having been on this incredible journey with the show over the summer. It ended up being 5 hours long and we wondered if anyone would listen, but it turned out to be our biggest episode yet.

What inspired you to create this podcast? 

We started thinking about it last year at Eastercon, the annual sci-fi convention. We wanted a way to take the kind of fun conversations you have in the bar and press them into a format that people could engage with from anywhere. We try to make a point of only covering things that we really like, things we think are worth bringing to the audience, whether that’s a huge blockbuster movie, an indie comic or a forgotten TV show.

Which guests have you had on your podcast so far? 

For The Tally Ho we were lucky enough to get some great guests on. We interviewed Alex Cox, Michael Pickwoad and Nicholas Briggs, as well as writers who have published about the series like Rob Fairclough and Fiona Moore.

Most of our Cakes & Ale guests have been SF writers and we did an episode on Small Press Day interviewing people who have started their own publishing ventures. For Twin Peaks we did a crossover with the Canadian podcast Bickering Peaks, and science writer Seth Mnookin must have enjoyed being a guest as he came back for a second time!

Who would be your dream guest? 

David Lynch. It wouldn’t even matter if none of it made any sense!

Which equipment do you use for your podcast set-up? 

Our set-up is fairly simple. We use a Blue Snowball mic for most recording, and a Samsung Meteor if we need to be mobile. For long-distance interviews we use Skype. Then we record and edit using Audacity on a laptop.

What would you say is the best length of time for a podcast episode? 

Not five hours, that’s for sure! Probably 45 minutes when you’re bringing a new topic to your listeners. With Cherry Pie & Coffee we could go much longer than that, because Twin Peaks was such a specific subject and we knew our listeners were looking for a lot of depth. Interviews episodes tend to be snappier. We never aim for a specific length but it has been interesting to see where conversations and interviews go.

Which podcasts (other than yours) would you recommend we listen to? 

We listen to Sitcom Geeks a lot, which is about the art of comedy writing. The hosts are both sitcom writers and they have some great guests on.

Where is your podcast available to listen to? 

The usual places carry it (iTunes, Stitcher, etc). All the episodes are on our website to play or download and we often put up related blog articles. We host the pod on Hipcast and there’s a page there with all our episodes on, too.

What is the future of podcasting as a creative medium?

Small-scale creative endeavours like podcasts will only become more important, we think. It’s a way of bypassing the mass-market and reaching out to people on a personal level. When you’re driven to podcast out of a real love for the subject matter, you can release episodes about niche topics without worrying too much about the numbers, and that’s a very liberating thing.

❉ Visit www.timeforcakesandale.com or the Hipcast page: http://cakesandale.hipcast.com/rss/time_for_cakes_and_ale.xml 

❉ Download past episodes or subscribe to future episodes of Time for Cakes and Ale: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/time-for-cakes-and-ale/id1182586487?mt=2


❉ Have you got a podcast? Email wearecultcontent@gmail.com if you would like it to be featured.

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