>: Lost Podcasting Profile: The Transmission
Posted By W.AxelFoley on May 15, 2008 5:32 PM - (6) Comments | Permalink | Category - Lost Spoilers |
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Lost Podcasting Profile: The Transmission
This is the first in what will be a series of both articles on DocArtz and podcasts from Lost Mythos that take a peek inside the world of Lost podcasters.
Our first interview subjects are Ryan & Jen Ozawa from The Transmission.
The couple met 14 years ago at the University of Hawaii and Ryan started podcasting in 2004 with his HawaiiUp Podcast. HawaiiUp was a
podcast about life on the Island, but soon his interest in Lost
became apparent to his listeners. His wife Jen was also on the podcast
doing a weekly segment about movies, but her segments too became filled
with Lost minutiae.
Ryan explains, "The natural choice was to split it off and we started
the Transmission. It's about being in the right place at the right
time, as Lost is teaching us, and the day we launched The Transmission
was within a week of when iTunes started supporting podcasts. We hit
them the same time when they started selling Lost the TV show and I have
always said a good portion of our audience were people who accidently
subscribed to us looking for something else."
After moving hosting for the podcast 3 times and dealing with increasing pressures from
their real life, The Transmission's signal dimmed at the end of January
2005. The blog continued, but the couple took a break from podcasting.
That is, until the season premiere of season 4 brought them back into
it.
"I asked her that night if we were gonna podcast again," Ryan said. "And it
wasn't until the weekend that she changed her mind."
After
coming back, the couple decided to concentrate a bit more on having fun
and less on over-producing and preparing for the show.
"When we came back we made a commitment to
ourselves that we weren't going to kill ourselves doing it... we do extensive notes, but we're now working from an outline. If we forget
to talk about something, we don't kill ourselves over it." Ryan said.
Jen
concurs, "We have a certain way of doing it and as long as we get into
that rhythm we're OK."
Ryan has seen other podcasters come and go and knows the
lessons of longevity.
"I kind of feel like a cautionary tale. Me being the sage elder with
the war wounds, I'm always saying to Jay (of Jay & Jack), keep it fun and take it easy."
The Lost Podcasting Network was created by Ryan in a brainstorming
session with the aforementioned Jay Glatfelter. The Lost Podcasting Network is a "one stop
shopping" site for Lost podcasts.
Ryan explains, "One of the tools that I was working to develop for what
would become my job was a way to combine RSS feeds, to combine
subscriptions basically and intermingle the content. I was talking to
Jay of Jay & Jack and that's where it really came from. It's like, 'Let's
create a feed and throw everything we listen to into it'. "
Ryan and Jen are known for their intense reverence for their fans.
Their weekly segment, "You All Everybody" is always preceded by the couple thanking or giving props to those who comment on their blog or
call into the show.
"The line that I use a lot is that our show is
powered by you," Ryan explains. "And it's not just that we are including your comments in
the show, but you are the fuel that keeps us interested."
Jen questions if there would even be a show without the fans, "If we didn't have callers we probably wouldn't have a show.. we are
really grateful for all kinds of feedback.. I like to encourage people
to call just so we know we have something to talk about."
The Breakdown
Lost Podcast: The Transmission
Podcasters: Ryan and Jen Ozawa
Relationship to each other: Ryan and Jen are married with 3 children.
Location: Hawaii
Lost Podcasting since: Season 2, 9-29-2005
Outside interests: Jen likes to bake and enjoys watching and reading about movies. Ryan is a self professed geek who enjoys anything tech related.
Day Jobs: Jen is a full time mother of 3 while Ryan works in internet development for a real estate data company.
Podcasts they like: FilmSpotting, Jay & Jack, The Dharmalars, The Lost Community, Lostcasts.
Favorite Lost Episodes: Jen is partial to The Other 48 Days, while Ryan's controversial choice is Expose.
Favorite characters: Jen likes Juliet best, Ryan is a fan of Ben and Sawyer.
Who's in the coffin: Jen thinks it's Michael, Ryan's suspicion is that it is Ben.
What is the Smoke Monster: Jen believes it is a security system, like a combination of an alarm and an attack dog. Ryan thinks it has autonomy and that it protects something and has a conscience but is not entirely controllable.
Who or what is Jacob: Jen speculates that Jacob is in the eye of the viewer, "He is whatever the person who encounters him wants it to be... a spirit that takes the form of whatever you want it to be." Ryan, crediting ideas he's seen on the boards, has a different take and thinks that Jacob may be a piece of Charles Widmore that Widmore is trying to regain. "Widmore can't be killed because there is an essence of him trapped on the island."
Favorite all time storylines: Jen is attracted to the dark side of corporations and doomsday conspiracies. She wants to see more of the relationship between Hanso and stuff related to the Lost experience. Ryan is intrigued with the father/son relationships and is looking forward to a turning point when the show focuses on the mother relationships- like who is Mrs. Widmore?
Favorite Lost love stories: Jen was a Skater until The Constant, then she became a Denny.
Ryan fashions himself as more a Skater than Jater, but that's strictly "from a train-wreck perspective."
Lost characters they are most like: Jen likens herself to Juliet, while Ryan would like to be Hurley.
If someone gave you a DVD that had all the rest of the episodes of LOST on it, would you watch it, or would you wait and discover what happens with everyone else:
Jen would wait, "The payoff of watching as everyone else does and seeing it on Thursday is just too great. I think I would have to say no, I don't want to watch it."
Ryan said, "I would have to call a technicality on the question. If that magic box gave me the DVD's of the upcoming episodes I wouldn't feel necessarily bad about watching it, because I'd still be watching the story the way it was meant to be told in the order it was meant to be told. If it was just a book or a glossary, then that's no fun. But in that sense I agree with Jen, I want to take the path of discovery the way the creators have intended. I think I'll watch with everyone else... the community is key."
What they'll do when Lost is over:
Jen would like to sleep. "There's never gonna be another show like Lost so I can't really say get obsessed with another show. I don't know, maybe watch more movies." Ryan sees another podcast in their future, this time centering on Jen, "Maybe start a new podcast. I'd like to see 'The Mind of Jen' sort of show."
Go here to listen to the full audio of this interview
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6 Comments
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...zzzzzz
Not the best idea for a new series
Not to be disrespectful but asterisk puzzles and now this? ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I totally disagree with the last two commenters. I think this is a great idea for a series (especially since my blog is partly-dedicated to lost podcasters lol, so maybe I'm a bit bias)...
Still. No better way to start the series but with the podcast that started it all. :)
Looking forward to other profiles.
Sorry guys... would you like a f*cking refund?
too funny Doc... **eat ar**cle!
Ryan and Jen have the best LOST podcast out there. The others (podcasts, that is) pale in comparison. They either try and make fun of each other if one misspeaks or they come up with ridiculous theories while trying to be funny (Jay/Jack) or there are too many people (lostcasts.) Ryan and Jen keep it quick, interesting, and thought provoking.