BBS-related podcasts

You've seen the BBS Documentary. You've read reminiscences about BBSing on blogs and tech websites. So how about something to listen to?

A number of podcasters have tackled BBSing or BBS door games. I have collected a list of different podcast episodes that deal with these topics. If you want to suggest additional episodes, please contact me.

I try to link to the official websites for each podcast series, but some of the official sites have gone offline. In those cases, I link to an archived copy of the site on the Wayback Machine. In cases where I have permission or the license allows it, I am hosting a mirror copy of the MP3s.

The podcasts

"All Things Considered"

Host: NPR

Official site: https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/

Summary: NPR's morning show occasionally tackles topics of retrocomputing interest.

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
11/21/2009

"The 'Wild And Woolly' World Of Bulletin Boards"

These days, if you want to find a fling, a friend or a cheap used sofa, you might check out craigslist. But decades before Craig Newmark posted his first list, computer users all over the country were connecting through electronic bulletin boards.

Official

"Electric Dreams - BBS Podcast"

Host: Mike Whalen and Jeff Salzman

Official site: http://www.edbbspodcast.com/ (archived)

Unedited/unpublished interviews: Archive.org

Summary: "This monthly podcast is dedicated to the nostalgia, news, opinions, interviews, tips and passion about BBSs. We talk to the callers. We interview the SysOps. We highlight the technologies. It's all about that stuff you heard about that 'pre-dates the Internet.' Except, It's still here! Come along!"

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
0

"Together in Electric Dreams"

Mike and Jeff discuss BBSes they have called recently, future plans for the podcast, and more.

BiC mirror
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"Interview Series: Ken Gagne"

Reminiscing with prolific Apple II blogger and podcaster Ken Gagne about calling and running BBSs.

BiC mirror
1

"DeReBBS"

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"Interview Series: Josh Renaud"

Today's guest is Josh Renaud, Atari fan, and proprietor of Break Into Chat, a wiki and blog dedicated to BBSing, door games, and retrocomputing.

BiC mirror

"Carrier Whistle"

Host: Rich Lawrence

Official site: http://amigaz.org/category/carrier-whistle/ (archived)

Summary: "Remember the old days of dial up BBSes? Remember when 28.8Kbps was blazing fast? The Carrier Whistle is YOUR podcast about the old school BBSes of Yesterday and Today! The Producers of the Amiga Roundtable podcast take you back in time and show you some new things happening in the scene today!"

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
0

A promo to give an idea of what the podcast is going to be all about.

BiC mirror
1

The inaugural episode, with ideas for promoting your board.

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2

Guest: Drew Alexander, sysop of Window of Illusion BBS; Fidonet and other networks; Telnet clients

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3

Old scene: where to play TradeWars; New scene: set up a WiFi hotspot for a BBS; BBS spotlight: Mars Den BBS

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4

Old scene: ANSI and ASCII art; New scene: the BBS Wiki; BBS spotlight: Prison Board

Coming soon
5

"It all starts anew"

New co-host: Mike Leach; Old scene: Textfiles; New scene: Internet Relay Chat (IRC); BBS spotlight: Mac Citadel

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6

"Heff gets huffy"

Co-host: Mike Leach; Old scene: Rusty and Edie's BBS; New scene: Hotline and KDX; BBS spotlight: Lightning BBS

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7

"It's Frank 'eh"

Guest: Frank Linhares; Frank talks about his BBSes: Diskshop and Misery.

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8

"Mobilize"

Co-host: Mike Leach; BBS clients for iOS and mobile phones; Spotlight BBS: Hysteria

Coming soon

"This Old Net"

Host: Donovan Adkisson

Official site: http://adkissondigital.com/thisoldnet/ (currently offline)

Summary: "This Old Net is a podcast that focuses on a bygone era that predates the commercial Internet. Yes, my friends, I'm talking about the heyday of the Bulletin Board System or BBS for short."

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
1

"And So It Begins"

Introductory episode. Adkisson discusses what it was like during the 80s to be part of what was then a revolution.

Official
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2

"It All Started With The Cold"

Adkisson discusses what a BBS is and how the term came to be used, and who created the very first BBS.

Official
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3

"Fido, come here boy!"

Adkisson explains how information was transferred between BBSes via Fidonet.

Official
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4

"Shareware of Doom!"

Adkisson explains the term "shareware", as well as how BBSes were instrumental in distributing software from companies like ID.

Official
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5

"Let 'er RIP!"

Adkisson discusses the transformation of the user interface of the BBS, from the early days of plain text, to later graphical server/client environments.

Official
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6

"I'll Choose Door Number ..."

Adkisson describes the technology the enabled external programs, or "doors," to be run on a BBS.

Official
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"Retrobits"

Host: Earl Evans

Official site: http://www.retrobits.com

Summary: "Old school computing, modern day fun. If it's got 8 bits, paper tape, punch cards, cartridge slots, CP/M, BASIC in ROM, or if it's just plain old, then you've found the right podcast."

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
2

"Retrocomputing!"

Evans discusses why people like retrocomputing and how people participate in the hobby. In the news section at the end of the podcast, he talks about BBSing and The Electric Cafe BBS.

Official
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4

"Potpourri"

Episode covers multiple topics, including brief discussion of the BBSmates.com website.

Official
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9

"The Bulletin Board System, Part I"

Episode focuses on computerized Bulletin Board Systems; uses audio excerpts from Jason Scott's "BBS: The Documentary."

Official
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15

"The Bulletin Board System, Part II"

Follow-up episode touches on the mystique of the sysop, commercial BBSes, and Fidonet. Uses audio excerpts from "BBS: The Documentary."

Official
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71

"An Interview with Rob O'Hara, Author of 'Commodork: Sordid Tales From A BBS Junkie', Part I"

Evans interviews O'Hara about the process of writing his book, file trading, vintage games and more.

Official
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72

"An Interview with Rob O'Hara, Author of 'Commodork: Sordid Tales From A BBS Junkie', Part II"

Evans interviews O'Hara about BBSing and vintage computers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Official
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"The Bobby Blackwolf Show"

Host: Bobby Blackwolf

Official site: http://www.bobbyblackwolf.com and http://www.vognetwork.com/the-bobby-blackwolf-show/

Summary: "A weekly internet radio show and podcast discussing the latest news in video games as told by the gamers themselves."

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
154

"PS3 2.40 Firmware, Ticket To Ride, Mega Man 9"

Early in the show and again much later, Blackwolf and others discuss BBS door games such as Trade Wars 2002, Murder Motel, and The Pit.

Official
419

"Interview with Josh Renaud of BreakIntoChat.com about BBS Door Games"

Blackwolf and Renaud discuss bulletin board systems and the asynchronous multiplayer games that were the precursor to today's social games.

Official

"The Online Gamer's Anthology"

Host: Jonathan Morris

Official site: http://www.virginworlds.com/podcast.php?show=11 (Plus: Internet Archive collection)

Summary: "A podcast that focused on massively-multiplayer online games of the past and the games that influenced the genre."

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
3

"Episode 3"

In this episode, Morris looks back at computer BBSes, and the great games that were played on them.

Internet Archive
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"Open Apple"

Hosts: Mike Maginnis and Ken Gagne

Official site: http://www.open-apple.net

Summary: "The first and only co-hosted podcast dedicated to the Apple II."

License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
11

"David Greelish, Steve Weyhrich, John Sculley, and Steve Jobs (Jan. 2012)"

Very brief discussion about possibility of resurrecting Ken Gagne's dead Warp Six BBS.

Official
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13

"Andrew Roughan, Marinetti, Karateka, and e-books (March 2012)"

Listener Andrew Roughan briefly discusses the Sydney, Australia BBS scene and the BBS door game "The Complex."

Official
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19

"David Schmidt, iOS games, Apple III, and IMSAI (Sept. 2012)"

Hosts briefly discuss the closing of the Apple II "Age of Reason" BBS.

Official
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28

"Lon Seidman, BBSs, Steve Wozniak, and documentaries (June 2013)"

Hosts chat about Apple II BBSing, using tcpser on a Raspberry Pi, and other topics with guest Lon Seidman, sysop of the "Matrix Returns" BBS.

Official
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"Retronauts"

Hosts: Jeremy Parish, Ben Elgin and Benj Edwards

Official site: https://retronauts.com/

Summary: "The original classic gaming podcasts continues its endless quest to explore the history of video games."

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
164

"Online Pioneer Days & Mailbag"

A potpourri of topics as Ben Elgin and Benj Edwards talk Jeremy through the early days of dial-up gaming and BBS madness.

Official

"Nerdy by Nature"

Hosts: Elijah, Nathan, and Chris

Official site: http://www.letusgetnerdy.com/ (defunct)

Summary: "Canadian nerds that live to expand your mind."

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
1/6/2017

"Intro to Bulletin Board Systems"

Jamie and Elijah learn from Chris as he visits an old school bulletin board system from 25 years ago.

Podbean
1/13/2017

"Let's Play Some Door Games!"

Text-based adventuring. Two huge door games LORD and BRE. We "dial" into a BBS and play some door games.

Podbean

"Day in Tech History"

Host: Jeffrey Powers

Official site: http://www.dayintechhistory.com/

Summary: "The Podcast runs down all aspects of technology history, along with some geek and science history."

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
6/28/2013

"June 28: Google Plus (Google+) Announced"

Among other items mentioned in this podcast, HydraBBS software was released in 1999.

Official
BiC mirror
1/24/2014

"January 24, 1996: RemoteAccess BBS Released to Public"

The final version of RA was released in 1996 (with a Y2K fix in 2000). At that time BBS were being switched to Internet protocol systems like online forums.

Official
BiC mirror
2/16/2014

"February 16, 1978: First Bulletin Board System (aka CBBS)"

The first computer bulletin board system was created in Chicago, Illinois by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess.

Official
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3/10/2014

"March 10, 1988: Uncensored Bulletin Board System Launched"

Ignatius T. Foobar launches one of the more interesting and long-lasting Bulletin board systems in the Uncensored BBS.

Official
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"The e-Learning Lingo Podcast"

Host: Mary Kay Lofurno

Official site: http://www.syberworks.com/lingo_podcast.htm

Summary: "Each week, the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series discusses one or two important terms used in the e-Learning industry."

EpisodeTitle/DescriptionMP3s
30

"The Bulletin Board System"

In this very short podcast, David Powell defines the term "bulletin board system."

Official
BiC mirror

Want more?

See some of Break Into Chat's other special collections.

Interested in BBSing, door games, or retrocomputing? Check out the Break Into Chat BBS wiki or the blog.