Director's Notes – 148 – The Broadcaster

(NOTE: As always, Director's Notes contain spoilers)

When Night Vale first launched in 2012, I knew of only one other fiction podcast: The Truth*. The Truth is fantastic, but man I really was craving more. That's mostly why we wrote Night Vale, because if no one else was going to make what we wanted to hear, then we'd make it ourselves. 

Within 2 months of Night Vale's pilot episode, though, there came another fiction show: "Getting On with James Urbaniak." It was was everything I wanted in a fiction podcast:

1. It was fiction

2. It starred James Urbaniak

James, for those who don't know him outside of Night Vale, has been a professional actor for more than 2 decades. In my life, he's most notable for originating the role of the monologist in Will Eno's Pulitzer-nominated play "Thom Pain (based on nothing)." But I imagine most people know him as the voice of Dr. Venture from the long-running animated series The Venture Bros.

Anyway, his podcast launched in Aug of 2012, and my hopes for a fiction future for podcasting had never been higher. Each episode is a standalone, ostensibly a story about a fictional James Urbaniak. They vary wildly in genre from horror to meta realism to satire with a different writer each episode. Getting On is how Joseph and I got to know the work of writer Brie Williams, who has written several Night Vale episodes now. 

Getting On still exists. It's updated rarely – in fact the last episode went up in Feb 2016. But there are 25 episodes sitting there for you right now. To listen to. All starring James Urbaniak and written by such smart people as Brie, Joseph Scrimshaw, Julie Klausner, and many many more. 

Unfortunately for me, I've listened to all 25 already – a couple of times each. I wanted more James Urbaniak-narrated fiction podcast episodes, so I did what any reasonable person would have done. I cast him in Night Vale and wrote an episode for him. 

– Jeffrey Cranor
May 15, 2019

*Thrilling Adventure Hour was in the podcast world then, too, but they were definitely a live theatrical experience that was recorded and put onto iTunes. One of the greatest joys in podcasting is TAH, but it's also one of the great travesties that we never got studio recordings. Don't @ me. 

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