Download this SeroTalk Extra: The Future of SPN or use the audio player below the show notes to tune in.
Where the heck is SeroTalk 229?
That’s been the gist of an increasing number of e-mails to the SeroTalk team, for which we are grateful, and at long last, we have some developments to share.
Join Hope Povenmire on an interview with Mike Calvo concerning the upcoming changes to the network. We’re remodeling the party palace, and we think you’ll like what you find in the months ahead. Or, you should, considering you’re going to be a more active part of it.
But, tune in to decide for yourself.
As always, for comments, questions and criticisms, please leave a comment on this post, e-mail them to resources inbox,, Tweet them @SeroTalk, or use your iBlink Radio app to send us an iReport!
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Thank you for the latest Serotalk Extra about Serotek’s future. It saddens me that the monthly tech shows are being discontinued. Maybe other podcasts cover some of the same news items but Serotalk’s legendary concise, all-encompassing approach will truly be missed. Storytelling is fun and instructive but I believe it is best done one-on-one. For instance, I was just chatting with a sighted friend who said she couldn’t understand why one of her other friends didn’t have her kids in swim class. That was a bridge to my story about one reason why I never learned to swim. Being totally blind, putting my head under water made me in effect totally deaf also, which scared the heck out of me, never mind being afraid of floating. My friend had never thought about that and my story was interesting to her. So, while I will continue to follow Serotek’s activities, I wish the tech stuff would take precedence again. Thank you, as always, for desiring our input. Beth
Hello.
I truely am looking forward to the things you talked about in this serotalk extra.
And, if you will let me, I will add my imput. I’m not an official writer, however, I would enjoy something like this.
And about the tech podcasts, it is ok they are going away here I think.
Like you say, we can get that information in other places.
Plus, I’m thinking that someday I will be living alone again with my wife, and so I will needd to know some of these things you may be covering in the future.
That is all for now.
Scott
I stopped listening to the Serotek tech podcasts after the rupture.
I really enjoy Blind Alive with Lisa and Blind Bargains with Joe and their guests. They do excellent work and I like the story idea.
It isn’t done anywhere else in our community.
Mike, I bought a bradley Smoker after listening to your review of it a few years ago. Unfortunately, it didn’t work well and was great at making underdone chicken.
I boxed it up and sent it back to Amazon but I wanted to continue to smoke and grill.
To that end, I found a traegor grill and smoker which had clicks to indicate temperature and function. It is a happy smoker and people love the food it produces. So thanks for starting my smoker life.
Mike, after talking to my husband I’ve decided that I’d be interested in doing a life style program for Serotek. I’ve been putting this sort of material together for years with the eventual goal of publishing an Ebro for blind and disabled readers. I think the changes you talked about this afternoon are a good thing. I also think that Serotek being able to change with the times is essential to its survival.
I think the new idea is cool in theory. It’ll be intriguing to see how it materializes. This being said: it’s too bad the Serotalk podcast is going away. I think you can still have a tech driven show that incorporates the story-telling kind of atmosphere that Mike spoke of. I believe the podcast would be great if the hosts highlighted a few topics instead of listing all of the news items; an excellent example of this would be Joe, Laine and Katie’s discussions at the ends of the most recent Serotalk podcasts. Also, I thought Joe, Laine and Katie provided more of a real-world point of view then we get from people who eat sleep and breathe main-stream and adaptive technology.
In short having the Serotalk Podcast Network without the Serotalk Podcast is like ESPN announcing they will stop producing Sports Center.
Hi,
Thanks for the update. I used to listen to the Serotalk podcast before you decided to “make changes”, after which it seemed too stilted and long-winded to be bothered with.
For myself, and we all have different tastes, I’d value a once-a-month podcast where I could get all the AT news concisely and without chit-chat waffle. A one-and-done for all the news I’d need in both the AT field and mainstream-as-AT applications.
I’m certainly not in the least interested in “story telling” or “answering the questions of the sighted”. Almost all leisure and lifestyle things have nothing to occupy me for more than a minute as I don’t do much in these spheres except listen to the TV and radio (and there predominately factual content).
It’s wonderful that we are not an homogenous “community” and that we can pursue our ends by individually appropriate means, and I commend you on your decision to differentiate SPN in the way you are planning.
I don’t have the imagination, creativity, intelligence, and ,frankly, motivation to even begin to do podcasting or article writing so I truly admire those of you who put in so much effort in these areas.
I’m sorry Mike my interest appear to be wholely divergent with yours currently, and that’s just fine, so I don’t think I’ll be playing in the SPN sandbox in the future.
I’d like to wish you and your listeners all the best, and I surely recognize your outstanding contribution in the field of assistive technology innovation over the past decade or so.
Sincerely,
Mike Tutt
Greettings!
Two other things to mention, which go along with the podcast here:
1. As National Public Radio branded its network as simply “NPR,” for several years now, why not call the Sero Talk Podcast network simply “SPN,” and just leave it at that.
2. The one program which comes to mind, that never was mentioned within todays/tonights Serotalk Extra, is “StoryCorps,” from NPR themselves. I wonder why SPN didn’t go down this route sooner! Glad its all taking shape now, and fantastic to hear another cooking program is soon to come!