Henry Majander is Gay!
Henry Majander is Gay!
Henry Majander is Gay!
Henry Majander is Gay!
Henry Majander is Gay!
Henry Majander is Gay!
Henry Majander is Gay!
Henry Majander is Gay!

Greetz: str0ke and other hackers!

Hacked!Hacked!Hacked!

A few big changes coming to Radio Free Finland I wanted to share with you. First off, the show will no longer be live. After one and a half years of doing a live show, it’s difficult for me to give up on this format, but there’s some very important reasons why…

- Doing a pre-recorded show will provide me with much needed flexibility in the interviews. I no longer have to conduct my interviews from my home, I can take my equipment with me and be mobile.

- Booking guests at one particular time and place each week (Mondays at 21.00 from my house) is difficult. Now we’d be able to meet at anytime, anyplace.

- The live broadcasts weren’t that popular. Thousands download each episode, but only about 10 people listen to the live show (the most we had was around 70). And I don’t blame them, it’s much easier to listen to the podcast on the way to work or something the following day.

- Recording live causes too many problems. The recording software (Pamela) and chat software (Skypecast) are just not stable enough to be trusted. I’ve already lost parts of two interviews thanks to software issues out of my control.

- Skypecast audio quality isn’t so good. Recording a one-on-one interview with Skype results in much higher sound quality.

- Just too stressful. Publishing a weekly podcast is time-consuming enough with the booking of guests, planning, recording, editing etc.. Doing a live show just created even more stress.

A couple years ago when I began planning Radio Free Finland, I envisioned a lively show full of round-table discussions and an active audience. But expecting a big audience to sit in front of the computers at a particular time every week, all with microphones in their hands, for such a niche topic like this, knowing that you can just download the podcast later and listen to it while you’re on the go…is just impossible.

So I’m a bit reluctant to end the live show, and a bit disappointed that I didn’t exactly achieve what I had envisioned, but I think these changes will really improve the show while lowering my weekly stress levels at the same time. I still aim to release a show an average of once per week, but not always on Mondays. If I book a guest on a Tuesday, I can record and release the show right away instead of waiting till the following Monday. I won’t bother announcing the guest in advance, when I announce the guest I’ll already have the podcast online.

Anyways, I hope Radio Free Finland listeners aren’t too disappointed. I think these changes will really improve the show!

Many many thanks to Jani Ryhänen for joining us this evening, and special thanks to everyone who participated in the live show! We discussed lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Finland and related topics. Finland is one of the leading countries in this regard but there’s still much room for improvement.

And here’s the podcast…

Download the show in MP3 format at 64kbps (19.3 MB - 41:28)
Download the show in AAC+ format at 24kbps (7.4 MB - 41:28)

Next week should begin the new season of Radio Free Finland and I’m making a few changes, here goes…

- Radio Free Finland will be every Monday night at 21.00 (9pm) instead of Sunday nights at 22.00. I’m doing this for two reasons, I hope to get more live participants and I don’t want to spend lazy Sundays worrying about that night’s show.

- The show will not have a absolute time limit of one hour, some shows will be less, some may be more.

- We’ll probably only have just one guest per episode, last season we occasionally had two. (Finding guests has proved to be a very difficult task)

- The show will remain live and interactive, but we’ll broadcast it via Skype using “Skypecasting” and after the live show it will then be available for download in mp3 format as normal.

For those who don’t know about Skypecasting, it’s a way for lots of Skype users (100 max) to all chat in one room in a controlled environment. The host and the guest will talk while the others listen - if you want to ask a question or make a comment, you can push a button to “request the mic” and have your say. Skype users can also write in questions to be asked “on the air”. Listeners can still e-mail their questions in before the show, but during the show I won’t check e-mail, just Skype. I doubt we’ll keep that land-line phone number, it costs like 40e/year I believe and was rarely used.

From the recent poll results, it looks like most of you have Skype or can easily download it. For those who don’t have it, you should get it, it’s simple to setup and completely free and IMO, the best chat software out there. Last season I was paying $20 (US) a month to broadcast the show live via Windows Media, and the service wasn’t reliable - Skypecasting is totally free. Plus, only about 1-2% of you actually listen to the show live - one show last year I had 3,000 downloads during the days after the show and only 74 people listened to it live. Another show I had about 1,000 downloads and the number of live listeners were in the single digits.

…okay, that’s about it. I hope the new changes will encourage more people to participate in the live weekly broadcast. Looking forward to another fun season of Radio Free Finland, hope you are too!!

If you look below the Radio Free Finland logo on Finland for Thought, it says, “To be announced after summer” - and since it was 20 degrees this weekend, I remain true to my word. But summer is just about done so it’s time to begin the next season of Radio Free Finland…and I need your help!!

Last season we had some fantastic guests: Tarja Kantola from Tarja Halonen’s re-election team discusses the campaign, Singer/songwriter and Finland’s 2005 Eurovision song contest winner Steven Stewart, Teemu Lahtinen of Suomen Sisu, Terrorism expert Toby Archer from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, and a whole lot more. We’ve discussed all sorts of interesting topics like marijuana legalization, gay and lesbian rights, music piracy, conscription, anti-Americanism, immigration, liberals, the Mohammed cartoons…

If you enjoy this blog and the Radio Free Finland podcast, you can help out by suggesting some guests via comment/e-mail. I’m looking for individuals or organizations who do something Finland-related and may not make the traditional news outlets like Hesari and YLE. And don’t be shy, suggest yourself as a guest if you have something interesting to talk about!! Seriously, the most difficult thing about doing the podcast is booking the guests, so if you could help out with it, that would be fantastic!

There’ll be some small changes to the show, I’ll write about them in a future post. Hopefully we’ll do the first show next week or the following. Stay tuned!

How to create a live online radio show (podcast) using your computer and Skype (skypecasting) that can take live callers from a telephone.

There’s many ways to do this, I’ll explain the way I do it and why. I’ll explain advantages and disadvantages to different setups and equipment. There’s much easier ways to create podcasts if you don’t wish to make it live, or take live callers from telephones – however this document will focus on creating a live podcast with live telephone callers.

Please note: This is a living document, so hopefully I’ll be making changes/additions constantly. Like I said, there are many ways to do this, and I may not be doing it the best way. So your feedback is very much appreciated!!

What you’ll need…
- A computer (I use a PC), it doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest model at all. I’m sure a 800 MHz, 256MB RAM would be okay.
- A fast internet connection such as ADSL. (something with at least a 256kbps upload)
- Skype (www.skype.com)
- Headphones (any cheap headphones will do fine)
- A microphone (any cheap microphone will do, but a more expensive one will give a better sound)
- A server that can stream the sound (this is for the live broadcast, I’ll explain more below)
- Software to mix the sound and upload the stream (I use SAM Audio Broadcaster v3, but there are cheaper alternatives)
- SkypeIn (a service on Skype that allows people to call your computer with their normal telephones.)

What is recommended but optional… (I’ll explain in detail when and where you’ll need this stuff)
- A second sound card
- A second PC
- A mixing board (especially if you’ll have your interviewees come to your studio rather than do the interview over the computer)
- Some stereo cables and other cables if you’re using a mixing board
- MP3 editing software (I use Sony SoundForge 7.0, but there are free alternatives like Audacity)
- Software to create an RSS feed (you can use the TextPad that comes with Windows)
- SkypeOut (a service that allows you to call normal telephones using Skype)
(more…)

This week on Radio Free Finland we’ll have Michael Moynihan of the Stockholm Spectator and Stambord: The Spectator’s blog. He’ll be on discuss some of the important political issues facing Sweden today. In addition to that, we’ll talk about the Stockholm Spectator, the Stambord blog, and other projects he’s involved in.

Listen Sunday at 10pm Finnish time for the live interview. Send questions for Michael to info@radiofreefinland.net - Or ask your questions live on the air by dialing +358 (0)9 2316-3876 or by connecting via Skype to the username: radiofreefinland

It’s Christmas time, taking a break from the radio show. We’ll be back after the new year with all new guests.