Voices Across Continents: The IPR Adventure

What if you could foster a global community through the power of radio? Join us for an engaging conversation with Onyx as we trace the remarkable journey of International Pagan Radio (IPR). Discover how one person ignited the idea of a dedicated online radio station for pagan content and how a partnership with William Brinkley, an armchair archaeologist, helped bring this vision to life. We discuss the creative freedom that shaped IPR's identity, along with the challenges and triumphs faced along the way.
Our discussion takes a deeper look into the essence of community support that will help keep IPR thriving despite financial hurdles. The dedication of our volunteer team and community contribution becomes even more crucial. Tune in to celebrate a decade of enriching the pagan community through the spirit of creativity, collaboration, and shared purpose.

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Transcript

International Pagan Radio Journey Launch

Speaker 1 0:17

Welcome to Pagan Coffee Talk . If you enjoy our content , please consider donating and following our socials . Today we are talking to Onyx from International Pagan Radio . Here's your host , lord Knight .

Speaker 2 0:33

Interesting story , how that came to be . First of all , what is it ? International Pagan Radio ? Sorry about that . What the hell is it ? What are you talking about ? I'm hoping that at least some of your listeners know what International Pagan Radio is . If it's not , I haven't done my job . International Pagan Radio is a streaming radio station , online streaming radio station on the interwebs , on the crystal wind . You can find us at internationalplaganradiocom . We have been online for a little over a decade now , or you can listen to us on the TuneIn Radio app .

Speaker 2 1:19

When , in its inception , a gentleman by the name by the craft name of Almanca Strada His name's Jeremy , it's easier to say I was managing a network called Spiritual Unity Radio Network at the time and I was hosting a show called LCO on VTR , and I get this email from Jeremy saying that he had this idea for an internet radio station . He wanted to call it International Pagan Radio and he said I don't have any idea what I'm doing , but I want to fund a radio station that is only online . Now , at that time this was 10 years ago some terrestrial broadcast radio stations were simulcasting , were simulcasting , and there were a few , here and there , little tiny mom and pop kind of hobby , radio stations online , but it really there's nothing , nothing , nothing nothing and little hobbyist radio stations would come online for a couple hours a day , maybe nothing .

Speaker 2 2:43

I'm like , hey , that's a really cool idea . But if you want to do it , if you want me to manage it , then you . You know , first things , first I may . You know , when I got out of the army , that's what I was doing . I was a manager . That was my trade , stock and trade , Other than being a priest . You know , that was my stock and trade . I was managing . That's what I do . I'll manage . And my first rule of management is if you want me to manage , you've got to let me manage . Don't give me a title and not give me the job . Tell us what I told you . If you want me to manage , you've got to let me manage . You give me the numbers I've got to work with . Tell me what you want to get done . Back off and let me do my job . All right , all right in my new vernacular .

Speaker 3 3:31

Shut up , let me work see , for me it was do you want me to fix it or do you want to keep on talking about it ?

Speaker 2 3:37

yeah , shut up , let me work . You know he goes . Okay , that's the deal . He goes . You know he is . There's a caveat to that . He says the only thing I want to do is I want to design the logo . I'm like , really All right . I'm like , yeah , whatever , I ate those words , by the way , but we'll talk about that in a minute . So it's a good thing . Now , back up a little bit .

Speaker 2 4:06

I saw I was hosting a show called lco on btr . About three months prior to that I it was me and willow wormsong who was doing lco on btr we had done a show , uh , about paganism , archaeology . I'll tie this together um and uh . So did some research , paganism and archaeology did some research , paganism and archaeology Did some research and we brought on that show an archaeologist , a professional archaeologist named Charlene Walls and somebody we like to call an armchair archaeologist . He was doing a . So an armchair archaeologist , basically a hobby archaeologist , who was doing an article in Pagan World Times called Visions of the Past , and basically what he was doing in that article was researching archaeological sites on the Internet and then comparing them to modern pagan ideas about that site .

Speaker 3 5:10

Right , right .

Speaker 2 5:12

Like he was researching , like Gobekli Teke , and pulling in modern pagan thoughts about what Gobekli Teke was about and then comparing them . You follow me , right ? You know what modern pagans thought about Gobekli Teke and then what the archaeologists are actually saying about it . Cool concept , right ? This man's name was William Brigley , ring a bell , ring a bell . So William had never done any radio work , never done any voice work at all . He was all writing in the head , right . But he was also a graphic artist , which I didn't know at the time , right . So after a little bit of cajoling and everything I got him talked't know at the time , right . So after a little bit of cajoling and everything I got him talked into coming on the show . So it was me and Willow hosting with William Brinkley and Charlene Walls on LCL and BTR and this archaeology and paganism . So we had this professional archaeologist and this armchair archaeologist together on the show . Beautiful show , wonderful show . Well , william and I hit it off , right , and we became friends . Well , over the next few months I talked him into doing a show over on Spiritual Unity Radio Network . So it kind of got his feet wet doing radio , right ? Well , then here comes Jeremy , and our friendship had developed more and more , in comes Jeremy with this proposal for IPR . So when he said that and he accepted that , you know , yeah , you can manage . Now he didn't tell me the numbers , he just said he would refund it if I would manage it . Now I found out that William was a graphic artist by this time , so I agreed to let the caveat Jeremy do the logo . Okay , signed , sealed , delivered .

Speaker 2 7:30

As soon as I hung up with Jeremy , I called William . Hey , william , guess what we're doing ? William goes , what are we doing ? I said we're running a radio station . He goes we're doing what . I said yeah , we're launching a radio station , ipr . I said we got a budget , budget . I don't know what the budget is yet .

Speaker 2 7:47

The only caveat is he gets to do the logo . He goes . You told him he could do the logo . I said yeah , he goes . Okay , well , I'll handle everything else . Graphic wise , what's the logo look like ? I don't know . He's sending it to me along with the budget . He goes okay , well , when you get the budget and then when you , you get to handle the budget because you're the manager , but I get to send me the graphic when you get it . So he sent me the graphic , you sent me the graphic . It was but ugly . That is an understatement . I mean that that logo popped on my screen and my eyes bled . It was ugly , but that was the agreement we would use that logo . I was afraid to send it to William because I thought William was going to quit on me . It was that ugly . We got it up , got it running . Ugly we got it up , got it running . He sent me the budget and the budget was so small that it took us probably a week to find a platform to launch on under that budget .

Speaker 3 9:00

I think I mean back . Finding a platform was even harder .

Speaker 2 9:04

Yeah , it was hard to find a platform at all and to find one launch on under that platform with music . We actually had to go out to artists and ask them to donate music . Right it was that small ?

Speaker 3 9:23

I mean , because this is like early , this is like the real early days of streaming and stuff like this , this stuff's not working quite like .

Speaker 2 9:31

No , it does now , no , no no , we finally launched on valentine's day , and on a shoestring budget . It was just me and william I mean . When I say shoestring , we're talking micro shoestring budget . It was just me and William I mean . When I say shoestring , we're talking micro shoestring . It was tiny but he had the rights to it . And we launched Three days later , cauldron , launched under Melissa Anderson . We had no idea that Melissa was going to launch All right , didn't even know .

Speaker 2 10:04

I knew of Melissa . Circle of Ancient Sisters yeah , tangentially . Knew her kind of thing through craft web weaving , if that makes sense . Knew of her . Might have talked to her a couple of times , don't know for sure , but she launched three days later . So , as time went along , about a month or two later Jeremy calls me up and he goes hey , lost my job , I think IPR is going to die , I don't have the money for it . Called up William and we're like we're not going to let this die , give us the rights and we'll keep it going . So that's what happened when William and I took over IPR . He lost his job . He worked out on an oil rig in the Gulf , lost his job . We took over IPR two months , you know like a month and a half two months after that and we've been online now for about two , about ten years , ten years

Supporting International Pagan Radio Community

Speaker 2 11:02

Now .

Speaker 3 11:02

Wait a minute you went from zero listeners . Now to how many places ?

Speaker 2 11:10

Well , we're reporting . What are you asking ? How many ? How many places ? We're international baby , we're reporting . It varies , it varies , yeah , but we're reporting somewhere in the neighborhood between 35,000 to 40,000 listens a month and it goes higher than that , goes lower than that , but overall I think last month was right about . If I'm remembering , last month's report was about 42,000 . Damn , 42,000 . That's reported listens . Now , everything don't get reported , that's only royalty listens .

Speaker 3 11:50

Well , we're nowhere close to that .

Speaker 2 11:56

We can actually say that we've got listens reported on every continent , Ah dang . Including Antarctica yeah , antarctic Station , we've got listens . Including Antarctica yes , antarctic station , we've got listeners in Antarctica . So somebody down there in the middle of nowhere , sub-zero weather , freezing in Manitoba , walking to IPR , freezing in the manifold , walking , to IPR .

Speaker 2 12:34

Maybe he's listening to some Litha song or something to try and stay warm . Beltane fires . You know , here's the thing about it , though , knight , we've been on the air , not on the air on stream . I keep saying on the air because it's a radio thing . You can listen to us anywhere there's internet . But International Pagan Radio has been in the red , deeply bleeding finances every year . I can believe that Every year we have never , ever , broke , even any year we've been running . All the finances to run IPR comes out of Manu Williams' pocket .

Speaker 2 13:22

There is a donate button there . There is ways to buy merchandise . There is a donate button there . There is ways to buy merchandise . There is a Patreon site . There's places for advertisers . We've run ad campaigns , not ad campaigns , we've run donation campaigns .

Speaker 2 13:43

We pay our license fee . We pay our streaming fees . We pay royalties to our to our , uh , artists . Yes , we pay royalties to our artists . Uh , the more popular here's . Here's the issue . Everybody says , well , why don't you advertise and why don't you do this , why don't you do that ? Well , here's the problem . There's a difference between terrestrial radio and internet radio . Big difference the more popular we get , the more it costs us to operate .

Speaker 2 14:15

Terrestrial radios , pay a fee to broadcast music . So they may pay X number of thousand dollars to broadcast so-and-so's song and everybody that can tune in can listen to it , and it doesn't matter if 50,000 people listen to it . They paid X number of dollars . I'm going to put a number on it , but I don't know the number . So understand this they may pay $1,000 to play song Y and 50,000 people can listen to it , or two people can listen to it . They still pay $1,000 . So , yes , they want as many people as they can listen to it . Not so with streaming radio . We pay for every single person that listens to it . So if one person listens to it , we pay a penny . If 50,000 people listen to it , we pay 50,000 pennies . So popularity to us is a double-edged sword Right . The more people we get to listen , the more expensive it is for us .

Speaker 2 15:25

We have to support it more expensive it is for us .

Speaker 2 15:27

We have to support it . We want the community to have this , but it needs to be a community-driven service . No one at IPR makes any money except for the artists . Our hosts bless every single one of them . Lady Bridget Eldar has been with us since the very fricking beginning . That does ask a witch . Every one of her episodes is donated . Her time , her wisdom , everything is donatedjo kemp . I don't know if anybody knows who mojo kemp is , other than he's a host on our radio station . Do you remember chalice and blade , the group chalice and blade , ancient mother ? I'm butchering the song , right ? Yeah , he was a member of chalice and blade , okay , okay , mojo camp donates his services , donates him .

Speaker 2 16:37

You know , a moment with moj right joe kemp is a member of that band and helped write that and do that song , and many of them much of their work . That's mojo camp donates his time and his talent . Right , right . Everybody at the station , all our hosts , all of our staff , donate their time . William puts up the . The website keeps it running . Everything you see on the website he did , he programmed it , he designed it . Well , I'm sure you're not getting .

Speaker 3 17:10

I'm sure you're not getting a lot of advertisements anyway . You're only going to get right .

Speaker 2 17:16

We have no advertisers . We have a Patreon site that is $5 a month . $5 a month that gives you access to our archives . People say well , can I go back and listen to old episodes ? We're a radio station , people . Why can't I go back and listen to episodes that used to play before ? We're a radio station , people . What part of radio station don't you understand ? We're not spotify , we're a radio station . It took us forever to come off and put archives up . Why don't you have archives ?

Speaker 2 17:59

because we want you to tune in we want you to listen to the radio station , tune in when the show plays , because we want you to listen to the artists' songs . We are a radio station , kind of like a television station . You know we're trying to develop a little bit of nostalgia here . You know you come and you sit down and you listen to Roy Rogers around the radio . That's what we're trying to do here . Okay , radio , we're trying to develop that .

Speaker 3 18:40

You're trying to build culture , thank you , but to build culture it requires the community to interact and to support it . Thank you , but to build culture it requires the community to interact and to support it .

Speaker 2 18:49

Thank you , but we did come off . We put some of our stuff in archives , all right , and we did it on Patreon . And we tried that because what we wanted to do was we needed to find a way to get people to support the station . It's $5 a month for our patreon site and for that five dollars it's a . It helps to support the station . Some of our archives are there . We don't have all of them there , because there again we're trying to get people to tune in , right , um , so people go . What do I get ? For five dollars ? You get access to some of our archives , yes , but the idea is that you're a part of building the magic , you're a part of creating this , you're a part of building this culture of radio , of coming back to .

Speaker 2 19:38

You know , everybody talks about tradition and history , and why not ? Hey , so and so is playing on the radio . Let's go , listen to it . Let's get together . Let's fellowship , let's , you know , let's sit around . Let's sit around the living room , let's sit around the fire and listen to music together . Let's talk , told tales , let's , let's talk . So , $5 a month , it's less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks , okay , you know how many patrons and subscribers we've got . Take a guess , don't get me to line Four . Four that doesn't even pay our streaming bill .

Speaker 3 20:32

So , as leaders of the community and stuff , what are we supposed to do ? I mean , trust me , I feel the same frustration as you do on that and the whole nine yards . Me and the lady have gone through the whole entire conversations with each other . At what point , what are we supposed to do ? At what point ? I mean , it's not like we could drag the money out of them going . Hey .

Speaker 2 20:56

And we'll continue with IPR , we will . We will continue with IPR . I'm not trying to make people feel guilty . I'm not . No , I'm not trying to make people feel guilty . I'm trying to point out that this is the state of our community . You know , telling people , calling people out , making them feel guilty , is not the answer , and that's not what I'm trying to do . I'm trying to point out a challenge that we have and I don't have the answers . I have looked for many years . I've tried different things , goodness gracious . You know , back in the day before me , I knew other people that tried to find solutions too . Isaac was one of the ones that was trying his best , trying to find a solution . That I remember trying to find a solution . That I remember trying to find a solution . There was an old story , you know , that was passed around that he was talking about , you know , saying that we're pagan . You know , if you're hungry , I'll give you my food . If you're sleepy , I'll let you sleep in my bed . If you're horny here , you sleep in my bed .

Speaker 3 22:10

if you're horny , here's my life , you won't get away with my wallet , you know , see this is what drives me up the wall is I will sit here and I will watch these pagans sit there and go . Now I went out and spent all this money on all these books or all these crystals or all this other stuff , but I can't support my local temple . I can't support this organization , I can't support this . But I want this . I want the pagan radios , I want the pagan TV shows . I want this stuff , but I don't want to have to pay for it .

Speaker 2 22:46

Right and that kind of dovetails into another thing we talk about . I think it has a little bit to do with knee-jerk reaction to church .

Speaker 3 23:01

I think it does .

Speaker 2 23:02

I can understand that I'm going to bring a little of my psychology into this . A lot of people don't some people don't know this that my background is in psychology . My educational background is in psychology , not clinical psychology , but psychology what's referred to as ABD in a doctorate in psychology . I don't hold a doctorate in psychology , but I'm right at that all the dissertation in a doctorate in psychology . So I have a little bit of experience . Whenever and this will make sense in a minute Whenever we as humans split in a relationship , we tend to villainize the other , and that's any relationship , personal business doesn't matter . Anytime there's a split in a relationship , we tend to villainize the other . Now , that's not a hard and fast , it's not an absolute , it doesn't happen all the time and there's a lot of different reasons for that . And you know that may be another conversation , but we just tend to Right . Well , when we leave a religion or relieve a church we do the same thing .

Speaker 2 24:14

That's a relationship . That's a relationship . That's a spiritual relationship , so it's only normal that we villainize the other . So if most of us are coming out of a relationship with the church , then it is natural , it is normal to villainize the other in that relationship . So most of us are going to have that knee-jerk reaction against anything that smacks of Christianity , because we just left a relationship with Christianity . So if we start talking about services , paying for services that revolve around religion Right , oh , no , that seems awful Christian to me . Get away from me with that foul beast . Right , I'm not going to pay for religion . That's Christian . Well , no , oh .

Speaker 3 25:13

God forbid . You want me to pay a tithe ?

Speaker 2 25:15

Yeah , exactly , you're catching on . Oh God forbid , you want me to pay a tithe ? Yeah , exactly , you're catching on . You're following along , you're picking up what I'm putting down , brother man .

Speaker 3 25:23

Oh , I've seen that for years .

Speaker 2 25:26

But think about it If we want to have services surrounding our spirituality , around our religion , somebody's got to pay the bill .

Speaker 3 25:37

Well , see , here's what drives me up the wall , and I see it in the gay community a lot too . Okay , oh , we don't have representation out here . Blah , blah , blah , blah , blah and I go . Well , wait a minute , I can go on YouTube or I can go out on the web and I can find 50,000 different movies that are gay oriented . We are making movies , we are . They're not blockbusters on every street corner , no , but it's there . How can you say we don't have it ? It's like paganism . It's out there . We have music , we have culture . It's there if you want to walk into it .

Speaker 2 26:17

Well , you , you know but , everybody pretends like it doesn't exist well you talk about , it's not blockbuster and everything . Well , blockbuster movies is based on popular culture , right ? Okay , if we are considered , think same thing . Okay , pagan and gay . Okay , think about this . Okay , we are not center culture . No , do we want to be no no . I don't want paganism to be mainstream culture . No .

Speaker 3 26:52

I don't either , but that's what everybody seems to want . Neither , but that's what I say . Everybody seems alone . We're not going to be there until we're in every mainstream theater , tv , the whole nine yards . How about this ? We don't do that , we just be ourselves .

Speaker 2 27:07

Be ourselves . I mean you're right . I mean there are films out there , there's culture , we have our own culture , yes , and I'm very proud of where we are . Are there still fringe groups out there that are pagan hating ?

Speaker 3 27:27

Well , yeah , there's always going to be that Again . It's like we were told If you go out and you look for homophobia , you're going to find it . If you go out looking for racism , you're going to find it .

Speaker 2 27:40

But don't go looking for monsters where there are none . Thank you , don't go looking for monsters where there don't need to be any Does that make sense . No , yes , Coming from my perspective , and I'm sure you've got both of those tangents running with you .

Pagan Coffee Talk

Speaker 2 28:00

You know the gold tangent and the pagan tangent , right , but you know from my tangent here , one of those don't create monsters where there don't need to be any . Don't look for monsters where there are none .

Speaker 3 28:14

You know what ? After that one , I'm going to call it I need coffee .

Speaker 1 28:19

Thanks for listening . Join us next week for another episode . Pagan Coffee Talk is brought to you by Life Temple and Seminary . Please visit us at lifetempelseminaryorg for more information , as well as links to our social media Facebook .

Speaker 4 28:49

Discord , twitter , youtube and Reddit is the end of our day , so walk with me till morning breaks . And so it is the end of our day . So walk with me till morning breaks .