Fur What It's Worth
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Fur What It's Worth is a furry podcast hosted by Roo and Tugs. Launched September 10, 2011, the show aims to serve as an "introduction to and exploration of the furry fandom" (the spoken description begins each podcast episode) and appeals to those discovering the fandom for the first time, those who are curious to learn about different facets of being furry, and even long-time furs with deep-dive questions and philosophical discussion. Each show strives to thoroughly explore the associated topic, through the lens of the fandom, all with a twisted sense of humor. The show mimics television and traditional media broadcasting, by diving its episodes into Seasons, which usually run from June to May. Broadcasts of the show are currently based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Contents
Content and features[edit]
Topics[edit]
FWIW airs episodes on a wide variety of topics, usually from a different angle than seen in other media. Most episodes explore a previously unvisited facet of furry in detail. While the show does revisit previous topics on a very limited basis, the cast strives to have a different angle for re-visits.
Typical segments[edit]
The following segments are currently featured in most show episodes:
- Opening Segment/"Our 5 Minutes of Bullshit": The opening portion of the show where the hosts share what is going on in their lives and items of interest. This segment was introduced to ensure full attention was given to the show topic in the main segments. After this segment the hosts turn to the main segment after a brief musical bumper/introduction, often referred to humorously as "potty break".
- Roo's Cookie Time: The last remaining from the original show format where Roo eats a cookie and reads the enclosed fortune.
- Main Segment: The main segment of the show is broken into two main pieces, with a selected guest answering questions on the topic. Listeners are encouraged to send questions in prior to recording. Questions range from a level of completely new to the topic, to deeper philosophical questions.
- The GAME: Most shows feature a game, where the hosts turn the tables on the guest and ask them obviously absurd questions which are vaguely connected to the episode topic and which the guest often has no knowledge of. The GAME has had other formats for play in the past, with several being retired exclusively to live shows or completed retired due to various logistical reasons.
- The Mailbag: Users are encouraged to send in email on any topic, including previous episode topics, or on completely unrelated topics, which are answered during this segment. Guests and the show hosts take turns reading to and responding to each email.
- FWIW News: A semi-regular segment where Tugs shares current news of interest to the Furry Fandom and upcoming conventions. This episode is noted by it's signature copying of the Greenwich Time Signal beeps typically heard before a BBC Radio broadcast at the start of the hour. Airs during main segment breaks.
- Space News: Currently one of two regular show segments produced outside of the regular show production setup, where Smokescale Aquatos shares current news of interest to space aficionados. Airs during main segment breaks.
- T's Paws Button: Currently one of two regular show segments produced outside of the regular show production setup where T-Wolf shares a brief review and recommendation of a newer video game. Airs during main segment breaks.
- The Ident: Sometimes known as a "sweeper", listeners send in a brief humorous message and "You're Listening to Fur What It's Worth". Airs during the first main segment break. This is occasionally done by a visiting celebrity guest as a surprise to listeners of the specific episode.
- Music Break: Often only heard on shorter episodes, listeners are treated to a short musical interlude.
Recurring episodes[edit]
Fur What It's Worth maintains a limited set of recurring episodes:
- Video Games in the Fandom: Originally under this title, this annual episode has since occurred as "Super Video Games in the Fandom" and "Video Games in the Fandom 64", paying homage to the naming convention of Nintendo's consoles.
- Halloween: An annual episode, usually accompanied by live music played as the show proceeds. Users are encouraged to send in stories, which the cast reads and provides sound effects for in real time, with very limited post-processing for effects they cannot produce. The episode portions where stories are read aloud are frequently also altered to sound like classic radio play broadcasts.
- Outsiders ask Questions: This episode, recurring at irregular intervals, is marked by the guest being someone who is often completely new to the concept of Furry, where they ask questions of an accompanying guest panel.
- Gratitude: This annual episode is released during the traditional holiday period and is intended to specifically replace the traditional Christmas episode common on many forms of media. The episode encourages users to send in what they are grateful for and not what they want for the holiday gift period, as a "break" and "informal protest of the typical holiday greed".
- New Years: This annual episode airs as the first episode of the year, where users are encouraged to share how the Furry Fandom impacted them in the previous year and their plans as furries in the coming year.
- Season Wrap-Up: Airing only as the final "regular" episode (not special) of the season, the cast reads listener emails of their favorite moments of the season, usually playing the matching episode audio. This episode is also the only episode of the season where Firebreath's announcing bloopers are released in a "blooper reel" form.
Recurring episodes are limited by the show to ensure a vast majority of the episodes are fresh and unique.
History[edit]
- 2011-09-10: RooChi Lexico, Elias Saphir, and Thay Rustback started Fur What It's Worth as a activity of interest in podcasting. Be it that all of them where furry roommates they felt that it was the perfect subject and started podcasting.
- May 2012: After moving on to other ventures in life, RooChi remained as the sole host of the show.
- 2012-06-08: Tugs joins the show cast for Season 2, Episode 6: Enhanced Furries, after previously guesting on Season 2, Episode 3: Babyfurs.
- August 2012: The show receives a dramatic overhaul and is considered fully rebooted by the cast at this point, retaining only the original name as homage to the original incarnation of the show. Changes include a new logo by Chazor, moving of the show site comments to Disqus, and relocation of back end servers and domain name switching. The show also moves to be more like a radio program, with the hosts using terms such as "on the air" and referring to show "segments" and "idents". Tugs takes over editing of the show.
- 2012-07-09: Koru Kitsune joins the show cast to serve as sound engineer, running the show mixer board and managing the recording process.
- 2012-09-09: Firebreath joins the show cast to serve as the show's official voice and announcer, marking the first addition of a cast member who is not American. The show also announces the opening of a PO Box for listeners to send items to.
- 2012-10-07: FWIW participates in a "megacast" called "Synthestesia". This show features hosts from Knotcast, UnFurled, Unsheathed, and Fuzzy Logic and is released as a separate show through each podcast's respective sites.
- 2012-12-22: FWIW produces a joint episode with FurMedia to celebrate the McRib sandwich.
- 2013-03-23: Roo, Tugs, and Koru are guests of honor at FurIdaho 2013.
- 2013-04-21: The show releases a record-long production time episode: Season 2, Special 5 - My First Fursuit. This episode is unique in that it took a full year of production time to complete.
- 2013-09-07: Tugs appears on Margaret Cho's podcast, Monsters of Talk, after which FWIW syndicates part of the interview in the following regular episode.
- 2013-10-05: FWIW travels to Rainfurrest for a live show, featuring the special guest-host Kyo Foxtrot.
- 2013-11-29: Fan voice actress Nowacking reprises her role as DJ-Pon3/Vinyl Scratch, "taking over" Firebreath's role for the episode.
- March 2013: FWIW is nominated for an Ursa Major Award (it does not later win this award, however).
- 2014-03-16: Pat Cashman makes a cameo apperance on FWIW, reprising his background announcer role from "Bill Nye the Science Guy", commenting about established show tropes (cookies, Roo's comical reading style, etc). This episode also marks the start of the first non-cast member piece to become a regular show segment in the form of Space News. Smokescale Aquatos continues the segment as of the date of publication of this article.
- 2014-04-29: FWIW travels to BABSCon 2014 as "an expedition into the world of bronies".
- 2014-09-21: The show releases a special episode from Salt Lake Comic Con where they were able to discuss the furry fandom directly with well-known celebrities, including Barbara Eden and Jason David Frank, alongside various clips of Patrick Warburton's convention panel. The show also changes it's slogan from the original "an introduction and immersion into the furry fandom" to better reflect the show's town and growth over the years.
- 2014-10-05: Alex Kirry of local radio station KSL appears on FWIW to ask questions "from an outside perspective".
- 2014-11-06: Tugs and Koru both appear on Margaret Cho's podcast, Monsters of Talk, after which FWIW syndicates the full episode as part of an audio-swap with Monsters of Talk.
- 2015-02-05: FWIW releases its first episode with qualified mental health professionals as guests for its "Suicide and Depression in the Fandom" episode.
- 2015-03-29: FWIW releases its first episode where recording occurred in multiple cities simultaneously via the internet.
- 2015-04-12: FWIW is invited back to BABSCon for the 2015 year and releases a special episode with voice actress Cathy Weseluck, who provides the voice of Spike on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
- 2015-11-22: FWIW celebrates the release of its 100th Episode by releasing a special episode outside of the regular season continuity in which every episode to date has representation in the form of guest cameos, the hosts discussing the show history, previous episode clip montages, and "various surprises".
Guests[edit]
The show has had a wide variety of guests, from both inside and outside the fandom. Guests are often selected for their notoriety or knowledge, plus ability to speak clearly to the audience.
External links[edit]
- Official site
- Fur What It's Worth on Twitter
- Fur What It's Worth on Facebook
- iTunes Podcast Directory Page