The Return of 40k Radio

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Rites of Battle.



It's been a long time since I talked about podcasts on this blog, but the holiday travel has given me something to be thankful for. Most of you may have heard of 40k Radio already, but let me give you a bit of background. Spencer Harding started the show back in February of 2008 as a project with some of his friends. The podcast gained a large audience and hosts changed, Spencer bringing in more of his friends from his local gaming group. All in all the show was just a few friends sitting around drinking and talking about our hobby.

But things do not always stay peachy for a long time. Alcohol loosens the tongue and sometimes we say something we wish we hadn't. This was the case with one of the guest hosts during a celebratory marathon show. After about 16 hours of fun and drink, a guest going by the name Jar Jar let slip with an off color joke. Being swamped with material to edit Spencer was unable to locate the offensive phrase and it accidentally got published. Jar Jar's word choice sparked a torrent of emails from angry fans of the show. Not realizing he had offended people at the time, Jar Jar apologized publicly and volunteered to not return. A few weeks later, Spencer's co-hosts wanted to give Jar Jar a chance to redeem himself and brought him back for an episode. The fan base of the show reacted negatively again, including a threat against Spencer and his family. Judging his family more important than his hobby Spencer decided to quit producing the show.


Despite the absurd reaction of some audience members, many people wanted to see the podcast continue in the quality broadcasting it had been known for. Romeo Filip, the owner of Battle Foam, contacted Spencer and bought the rights to the show and his equipment. Romeo and his friend Rik Massei have taken up the reins of the show and attempted to bring more guests in, including Les Bursley of AwesomePaintjob.com (if you haven't seen his work, follow the link to be wowed) and Dan Abnett, writer for the Black Library.

While I have always been a fan of Spencer and company's devotion to the hobby that showed in the effort they put into their show (including organizing a forum and world wide tournament), Romeo and Rik are able to take their time and present a more polished podcast. Both sets of hosts are top notch hobbists and love to bring their fans the best they can. If you don't have a large gaming group or live far away from other 40k fans, this can give you a new voice to consider or just something to listen to while gaming or painting. If you have time go to 40k Radio.com and have a listen to some of the best news and views about current events related to 40k.

Heretic out.