Note: Looking over the site I noticed that there isn’t a definite entry on that covers 100% of our upcoming transition to KLAY, this post is an attempt to rectify that situation.
Every week a small army of people from all over Western Washington work diligently via phone calls, emails, meetings and various other forms of modern communication to produce Ask An Atheist. Interesting news stories are found and reviewed, emails are exchanged, outlines are written and re-written. On Sunday morning the crew and hosts assemble, often accompanied by a studio audience and no small amount of technical glitches, and proceed to produce Ask An Atheist live to both Seattle Public Access TV, and our various internet feeds, all of which are produced free of charge at SCAN Studios in Seattle.
Sadly, come the first of the year, SCAN TV, will be shutting it’s doors and the future of Seattle public access is a complete unknown. Ask An Atheist will be at that point transitioning to KLAY Radio located in Tacoma WA and serving the Tacoma/Olympia/Seattle areas. We believe this will make Ask An Atheist the first commercially produced radio program in America dedicated exclusively to the topics of Atheism, Freethought, and Skepticism. This is an exciting and somewhat unexpected change for us, and many people have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that the transition goes as smoothly as possibly.
To clear up a bit of confusion, this does not mean the video component of the show will be going away. I should repeat that: The video component of the show will not be going away! We shall still provide a fully produced weekly live video stream of the show, which will allow for not just local viewers and callers but our equally cherished national and international viewers and callers to continue to enjoy the show in real time. In actuality the video component of the show should see an increase in the quality of video we are serving up as the change will put us on more modern equipment which lends itself better to high quality web encoding done more quickly. For our internet only fans, this is actually very good news, and the transition should be nearly transparent.
Ask An Atheist will remain in the following forms:
- Live internet video stream
- Live internet audio stream
- Podcast
- Various online archives
The biggest change to the broadcast version of the show will be that Ask An Atheist will be moving from live public access in King County Washington to live radio in King, Pierce, Thurston and Snohomish counties. This is a very exciting transition for us, and one that we believe will improve the show in many ways.
The biggest change to the behind the scenes aspect of the show is that Ask An Atheist will no longer be free to produce. Up until now Ask An Atheist has been produced free of charge using the combined resources of our production staff, crew members and SCAN TV, but come the first of the year we are moving into a pay to play medium. In order to facilitate this transition the goal we are currently working towards is the purchase of 26 episodes of radio time through donations and our benefit comedy show. After those first 26 episodes are completed we expect the show to be fully supported by advertising sales.
To that end we are asking, begrudgingly, for donations from supporters of the show. Locally, we are also producing a freethought focused comedy show featuring hand-picked top tier talent, and a nationally acclaimed headliner.
The outpouring of donations and support has been amazing so far, and has us very enthusiastic for the future. Here is a sample of some of the more encouraging email we have received:
Hey guys!
Great work you’re doing in the Seattle area. This is exactly what this country needs!
I heard about ‘Ask An Atheist’ from the other guys over at The Atheist Experience, and decided to check you guys out after they gave you a plug.
Keep doing what you’re doing. you’ll get better and get a bigger following. You just picked up me, and I’m sure others have begun to hear about you as well.
I only hope that someone in every metro area in the country starts up one of these. It will really help fight back against the apologists!
Good luck to you, and I can’t already wait for the next episode!
Thanx,
Eric
Still, we have a long way to go to reach our goal of fully funding 26 episodes of Ask An Atheist radio. Any and all support is appreciated, and we are cooking up some special exclusive content for all those who attend our benefit show and/or make a monitory donation to the cause. Once our goal of purchasing two seasons of radio time is secured we will be donating all overflow funds to The Military Association of Freethinkers.
So, to sum things up:
- Live video and audio of the show will still stream to the internet
- We are not going audio only!
- The Podcast and Youtube channel shall remain
- Seattle TV goes off air, but radio goes on air and in more markets
- We are excited about the move to commercial radio, but we can’t do it without you! Please donate if you can!
On behalf of the entire crew and production staff of Ask An Atheist I would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported the show through views, blogs, donations, and correspondence so far. Your support means more to us that I am adequately equipped to express.
Jeremy Whitman
Co-Co-Co-Co Creator of Ask An Atheist
