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Speaker 1: And now Audio Theater Central. Hello, welcome to Audio Theater Central.

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This is the show that explores family friend the audio

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drama through news, reviews and interviews. I'm your host, JD. Sutter.

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This is episode two ten, and this is not a

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typical episode, but there is some breaking news about Adventures

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and Odyssey, some huge changes that I felt I needed

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to get out to you asap. So if this is

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your first time here and you saw the title of

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the episode and it pulled you in, thank you for

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being here. But just know this is not the regular

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format for the show. Come back next time. This is

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a bonus episode that is releasing in between our regularly

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scheduled programming, So come back next time for a regular

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formatted episode or check out something in the archive. But

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in any case, thank you for being here. So, as

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I said, there are some major changes coming to Adventures

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Odyssey that I wanted to share with you, so let's

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jump into it right away. We interrupt this program to

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bring you a special report and in other news tonight,

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a brief look at the headlines. Now, they want exciting,

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fast piece news that's relevant and entertaining like this, so

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if I may you is a likely dated among us

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reference here, I just needed to call an emergency meeting.

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Does anyone play that game anymore? I don't know anyway,

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no one has been killed, but there has been a death,

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just not a person. I'll explain in a moment. So

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I recently had a meeting with some of the Adventures

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Odyssey team in which they shared with me and a

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few other content creators some huge upcoming changes that are

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coming to the show. And I want to say, at

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the very outset of this, they made it very clear

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and I one hundred perc and believe them that they

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did not make these decisions hastily. It has been under

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consideration and being discussed by their team for a very

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long time. So let's talk about what's changing, what's going

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to be staying the same, and what these changes mean

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for the AIO team, for fans and for other creators.

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Adventures and Odyssey is they're the big dog in this

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industry in family friendly audio drama, and so changes that

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they make have potential to affect the rest of us

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in the space who are creating content as well. So

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I want to address these announcements with the perspective of

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being a fan of the show and also a content

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creator in this space, and I don't mean just as

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the AIO fan community. I'm talking about as an audio

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drama producer as well. So what's changed. Well, I mentioned

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there's been a death, and that is the death of

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the compact disc, and by that I mean one of

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the big announcements from the team was that they are

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no longer going to be producing CD albums of the

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show post album eighty, so albums seventy nine and eighty

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will be the last albums to be released on CD.

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And their reasons for that are understandable. It's just not

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financially feasible for them anymore. They have been seeing a

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decline in purchases of CD albums for quite some time,

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and they've been tracking the data and it has just

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gone down and down and down to the point where

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they are actually even losing money on having the CDs made.

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Because think about it, the costs of the materials that

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go into making a CD are the physical discs, the cases,

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the artwork and the paper they goal on the inserts,

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and the printing. So the costs of all those things

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have also been increasing at the same time as their

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sales have been declining, and so it's just gotten to

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the point where it's just not feasible for them financially anymore.

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And I understand that. I totally get that though as

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a collector, you know, it is sad to see those

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go away, but I understand their reasons for it. But

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that is not the only thing. Another thing changing is

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the death of the digital download. Yes, it's a little

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bit hyperbolic to use the term, but I just mean

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to say that. Also post Album eighty, you will no

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longer be able to purchase albums as a digital download,

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So albums seventy nine and eighty are the last that

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will be available for purchase on CD or digital download. Also,

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the whole idea, the concept of albums of episodes or

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volumes as I remember Brock Eastman always used to call them,

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those are going to be going away as well. The

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distinction between albums and club season episodes is going to

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be going away. The club The Adventures Dtsey Club will

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be the primary outlet for the show going forward. So

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not only is album eighty going to be the last

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album available on CD or download, it's going to be

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technically the last album period, because everything going forward will

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just be episodes available in the club. What this is

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doing is giving the team a more fluid release schedule,

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and it could potentially allow them to do multi part

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episodes more frequently. There will be no more set schedule

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of two six episode sets of episodes twice a year,

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plus one episode at the beginning of each month as

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a club exclusive. There aren't going to be you know,

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club exclusive episodes and then album episodes. That distinction once again,

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that distinction between types of episodes is going away. They're

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all just going to be episodes of the show. So, yes,

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that's a lot of stuff that's changing, and some of

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the things I understand, some I'm not super thrilled about,

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and we're going to talk about that in a bit,

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But first let's talk about what's staying the same. So

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the radio broadcast will continue as normal. As I said

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a moment ago, the club will be the primary outlet,

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but not the only because the radio broadcast will still

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continue and the broadcast calendar done many many months in advance.

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So the broadcast calendar for the rest of this year,

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I believe, or at least several months, is already out there.

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And I should also have said at the beginning these

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changes are not going to be taking effect immediately. There's

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going to be a little runway before this actually goes

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into effect, because if you haven't stayed on top of

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the release schedule. Right now, we're in the middle of

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album seventy eight, so seventy nine and eighty are still

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to come with the you know, the traditional release schedule

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that we've had for several years now. But this will

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be coming eventually, and so at that point will episodes

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post album eighty enter into radio rotation. We don't know yet.

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From what I understand, it is not on the schedule

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at this time because as I said, those episodes are

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skied scheduled out way in advance. That could change at

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some point in the future, but at this point we

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don't know. And as to whether or not previously exclusive

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club season episodes will ever make it into the radio rotation,

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there are no plans to do that as of right now,

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but that could change at some point in the future.

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We don't know, but they have no plans to do

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that as of now. And also staying the same, the

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radio broadcast episodes will still be posted on the Adventures

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of Odyssey website to stream for free, just as they

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have been, so that will continue. Also, the Elsewhere and

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Odyssey comics will continue as normal, and there is already

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a second volume of those comic strips being planned as

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a print product, so that is not going away. The

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comics will continue as well the ones posted on the

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iiosocial channel. The adventures not to say books will continue.

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Those are not going away either. There are also plans

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for more official AIO merch options. They have lots of

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plans for that to come. I know there were some

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hiccups with recent merch drops. They are working on ironing

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all of that out and they plan to put a

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big focus on that going forward as well. So all

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of that stuff is staying the same, and potentially there

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will be more focus on these other products as well

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as they move into this new season of producing the show.

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What's also staying the same is there still will be

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twenty four episodes a year, with the possibility of more

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than that in the future as they adjust to this new,

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more flexible schedule, but it will not be the same

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cadence as like I said, you know, a six episode

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set in the first half the year and another six

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episodes in the second half, with one new one on

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the beginning of every single month. That is going to

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be shifting, so at some point you may get three

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episodes in a single month because they wanted to do

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a three parter. Now, I believe the plan is to

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still drop those out weekly if they ever do more

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than one in a month, so they won't just drop

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them all like a full chunk of episodes generally speaking,

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though they made it clear that a lot of the

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specifics on this kind of stuff could still change, but

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this is going to be a much more fluid, flexible

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release schedule. So we'll still be getting the twenty four

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episodes a year, but just at a slightly different release schedule.

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There will still be content coming every single month, but

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it won't look like it has in the last several

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years now. One thing that is also not changing is

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the existing albums that are out there will not be

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taken down from retailers. So if they're you know, any

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of these places Christian book distributors or Amazon or wherever

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that might have CD albums in their inventory, they're not

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going to be pulling those down. Any albums that they

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have available on the Focus web store, those are not

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going to be taken down, but there will be no

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new CD inventory made of those existing albums, even the

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ones up through album eighty. Once they're gone, they are gone.

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And the same remains for the digital versions, the digital

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versions of albums that aren't existing now. There aren't plans

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at this moment to take those down, but post album

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eighty that option will be going away. At least that's

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the plan for now. So that's what's staying the same.

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So what does all of this mean for the AIO team,

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for us as fans, and for other audio drama producers

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in this space. Well, what it means for the team

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is this is allowing for a much more flexible release

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time and freedom to do longer story arcs in a

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quicker time frame post album eighty, and there may still

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be collections of episodes that are grouped together in the future.

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They're still working on the way all of that's going

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to look inside the Club. Even though there won't be

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official numbered albums going forward, they may still have collections

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of episodes that are grouped together in there. But the

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clunkiness of the release schedule between club and radio and

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CD and download has caused story arcs to stretch out

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way too long. And there's been we know there's been

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if you've been following the show closely for the last

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several years, you know that the time between when a

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story arc gets started and it wraps up is just very,

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very long. It gets stretched out because of the way

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the release schedule was working and trying to maintain the

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difference between club episodes and album episodes. And they worked

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really hard to make sure that release of the Olivia

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arc got sped up, and they were able to make

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it work in that case, but they had to make

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some changes to make that happen. And you know, you've

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probably noticed that some events in the main episodes don't

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always mesh with the timeline in the club episodes. And

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so I completely understand the reasons for moving away from

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this complicated schedule, and I'm excited about the story potential

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that this change is going to open up. That all

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makes sense to me, and I'm excited about what that

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means for the show in terms of content, and I think,

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honestly it's a good move. Now. As I said earlier,

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as a collector, I am sad to see the CD

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albums go away, but I understand the reasons for it.

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It makes sense. But as a big proponent of owning

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media and not having to rent access to it. I've

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talked about that on the show before. I am not

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a fan of the decision to discontinue digital downloads now.

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I understand that they're not going to be grouping albums together,

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but even if there was a way to offer albums

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for purchase digital download only at some point in the future,

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so at the end of the year, there's a twenty

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four episode quote album or collection that you could purchase

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the downloads of, so that members of the club are

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still getting the benefit of being in there getting all

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of that content way ahead of time. But at some

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point in the future those episodes are available to purchase.

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Unlike the CDs, there's no inventory to maintain, there's no

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extra cost to produce a physical product, so I don't

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understand the reason to kill off that distribution. ARM and

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I did bring that up in the meeting and they

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received it and they said we are still open to feedback,

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but as of right now, there are no plans to

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continue to offer a digital product now. As a creator

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and industry critic, I have to say that I would

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urge producers to not head in this direction just yet. Now,

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if you decide to stop making CDs. I get that.

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I understand having done CDs myself in the past. I

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understand the logistics and all of the issues that come

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with having to have an inventory. There are ways around

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that with print on demand services for those of us

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who might be doing much smaller volume, but the digital

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option I really think should stick around for most producers. Again,

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I mentioned the whole concept of owning your content. That

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is a big thing. There's been a resurgence and interest

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in that in recent in recent years, and especially in

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the last several months. I'm hearing and seeing a lot

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of people talking about that online, not just in the

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audio drama community, but media in general. Books, you know,

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ebooks and music CDs and owning albums versus paying to

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stream them from Spotify or whatever it might be. There

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is a resurgence of interest in physical media in particular,

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but also just in the whole concept of owning your content.

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And I am a big proponent of that, and I

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think making that option available to your audience as you're

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trying to build a following for a show is a

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good move. Now, Adventures in Odyssey is way past the

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point of trying to build an audience, right They have

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a huge audience already, they have an existing following. The

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club has proved that they have loyal fans who are

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willing to pay them every single month to have access

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to the show. So they are an anomaly here. They're

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in a very different place from most of the creators

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in the space. And even though I think this is

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a completely different sort of situation, I know that some

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people might think about this, So I want to just

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mention it and we can talk about it more in

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more detail if you want, in a future episode. But

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I believe window Seat is a different sort of situation.

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As an aggregator, they're trying to do a different thing

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than one producer having their own platform. It's a different thing,

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and so you can't really equate Window Seat and the

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AIO Club. But if you have questions about my thoughts

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on that and how that varies or is similar, please

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feel free to let me know and we can talk

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about that now. There is an episode of the Official

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Adventures of Odyssey podcast that just released today as well,

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and there is an FAQ page on their website. Both

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of them are linked in the show notes of this episode,

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and it's going to go into detail and hopefully address

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any major questions that you have about this, so you

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can head over to Adventuresnodyssey dot com slash next Level

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for that information, and of course the podcast in any

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of the major podcast directories. But if you have feedback

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for the team now again, they said they're very open,

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and that has been one thing about this show and

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the organization as a whole. They have always been receptive

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to hearing what people think. Throughout the history of the show,

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going back to the very early days, they have listened

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to feedback from their audience. So if you want to

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email them, you can send emails to questions at Adventures

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Indodyssey dot com, or if you want to talk to somebody,

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the regular focus on my Family phone number one eight

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hundred A family is going to be open to accept

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calls as well, but I think it would probably be

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best to go read the faq, listen to the official podcast,

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and then weigh in. I think I would say via email, though,

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if you really feel like you must call, then you

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can do that. But I think email is going to

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be better so you can have time to put together

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your thoughts and stuff. So again, I think the simplified

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release system makes sense story wise. I think it's a

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positive change in that regard. I just don't want to

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see the option of being able to purchase and own

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episodes to go away completely. That's the downside here in

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my opinion. The rest of it, it makes sense, and

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I understand stand the thinking behind it. So that's a

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lot to take in. I understand. And even if you

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do decide to reach out to them now, I don't

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think you're going to have any chance of changing their

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mind on the CDs. But if you feel strongly about that,

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let them know about that as well. But there may

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be if they hear from enough people who say they

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would still like to be able to own the content,

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then there is a possibility of digital downloads being revived

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at some point. So that is a conversation that they

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are willing to have now. Again, they did not rush

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into this. This is something that they've considered very carefully.

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And so even though some of these changes might seem

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like negatives to us as fans, I think it's important

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to keep in mind that they're trying to be responsible

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with the resources that they have and to keep the

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show going for the fans and to make something really cool.

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So keep that in mind with any feedback that you share.

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But again, if you do have feelings, you do have concerns,

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be sure to let it be known. Now, let me

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know your thoughts as well. I would love to hear

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from you on what you're thinking regarding any of these changes.

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I know that there is a shift in the way

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media consumption is happening with younger people versus people of

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my generation, and I know that some people this might

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not affect them all that much at all. For me personally,

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I've had issues with the club app and with the

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club website over the years. The interface is nice, it's

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nice enough, it looks cool, but it's not my preferred

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way of consuming content. I much prefer to have my

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media in my own media library, and so I rarely

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ever listen to content in the club. I purchase every

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single album as they come out, even though they're in

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the club, I still purchase them on digital download, and

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I put them in my own media library because that's

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where I listen to my audio drama. That's where I

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can build playlists of content and mix in Adventures Nantysey

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episodes with other shows and just make my own playlists.

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And so I don't want to make this episode all

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about me and my desires and my wants and my wishes.

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But I'm just explaining where I'm coming from. It's just

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easier for me, and it's more convenient, and I enjoy

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consuming content that way, and so losing that potential access

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to episodes going forward is a downer for me personally.

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So if you feel the same, be sure to let

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them know. And I'm sure that if you don't feel

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strongly about this change, they would be interested in hearing

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your feedback on that as well. Remember that these are humans,

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these are real people behind all of these decisions, and

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so we need to carefully weigh any feedback that we

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give and make sure that we're doing it for the

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right reasons and are being kind with any feedback. So

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that's all that I've got to share in this episode.

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We'll be back with the normal episode very soon. But again,

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this was just big information that we had to get

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out to you and help make sure that you were

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brought up to date on what's going on or what's

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going to be coming down the road over the next

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several months with Adventures in Odyssey. Well. As always, the

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show notes are available on our website. Audiotheatercentral dot com

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slash two one zero links to that faq page to

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the podcast episode. All of that is available. If you

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would like to send me your feedback on this, head

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over to audiotheatercentral dot com slash contact. I would absolutely

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love to hear from you and I will see you

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next time. Thank you for listening. Audio Theater Central is

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a production of Portland Family Media. Our theme music was

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composed by Sam Avandanio. The show is produced and edited

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by Yours Truly JD. Sutter, and our website is audiotheatercentral

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dot com