Welcome to Night Vale: Vigilant Citizen article coming soon?

April 3, 2013 3:15 PM

Ever watch one of those shows set in a town with odd happenings (ie, Gravity Falls, Eureka, Twin Peaks), and wish you could listen to their community AM radio station? Welcome to Nightvale [Podcast] has you covered.

Tune in on the first and fifteenth of every month to hear Cecil talk about local occurrences, with casual mentions of how they relate to town institutions such as the hooded figures in the dog park, the sheriff's secret police, the NWO agents, angels, and Big Rico's Pizza, all told over ambient music.

Cecil remains upbeat and proud of his community, despite the town being constantly under siege from unknowable terrors. Small details and seemingly one-off jokes have a tendency to come back, so listen in order.

Plus, each episode comes with a song from a less known artist as the weather report!

Wiki
iTunes
Article on Creators

posted by mccarty.tim (30 comments total)

Looks interesting, I'll give it a go. I love Eureka. I think it ran it's course, but it was a great show. Warehouse 13 is kind of following in it's footsteps.
posted by SpannerX at 4:05 PM on April 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

I just started listening to this. I listen to a LOT of podcasts, and this is well done. It may be too creepy for me, but I super-duper sensitive.

There's also a twitter account.
posted by jeoc at 4:12 PM on April 3, 2013

I am totally interested in more podcasts that are based on fiction. Thanks for posting.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:18 PM on April 3, 2013 [3 favorites]

Twin Peaks! Yaaay! Loved it. Got to see Eureka during my time in Sarajevo.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:49 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

This looks very cool.
posted by rtha at 8:12 PM on April 3, 2013

Mrs. French's cat is missing. The signs are posted all over town. "Have you seen Honey?" We've all seen the posters, but nobody has seen Honey the cat. Nobody. Until last Thursday morning, when Miss Colette Piscine swerved her car to miss Honey the cat as she drove across a bridge. Well this bridge, now slightly damaged, is a bit of a local treasure and even has its own fancy name; Pont de Flaque. Now Collette, that sounds like Culotte. That's Panty in French. And Piscine means Pool. Panty pool. Flaque also means pool in French, so Colete Piscine, in French Panty Pool, drives over the Pont de Flaque, the Pont de Pool if you will, to avoid hitting Mrs. French's cat that has been missing in Pontypool. Pontypool. Pontypool. Panty pool. Pont de Flaque. What does it mean? Well, Norman Mailer, he had an interesting theory that he used to explain the strange coincidences in the aftermath of the JFK assasination. In the wake of huge events, after them and before them, physical details they spasm for a moment; they sort of unlock and when they come back into focus they suddenly coincide in a weird way. Street names and birthdates and middle names, all kind of superfluous things appear related to eachother. It's a ripple effect. So, what does it mean? Well... it means something's going to happen. Something big. But then, something's always about to happen.
posted by mannequito at 8:20 PM on April 3, 2013 [9 favorites]

(but seriously this looks really cool!)
posted by mannequito at 8:21 PM on April 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is one of the best things I have seen in the blue in a while; if you love creepy weird funny things you must listen. But not in the dog park. Do not go to the dog park.
posted by thewalledcity at 8:57 PM on April 3, 2013

Yep. This rules.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:14 PM on April 3, 2013

I listened to the pilot and enjoyed it! Then for some reason it reminded me of This Is My Milwaukee, and then I had to watch that again and now it's past my bedtime and I'm unnerved and alone
posted by Monster_Zero at 9:53 PM on April 3, 2013 [4 favorites]

This is wonderful.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:06 AM on April 4, 2013

This sounds awesome, I subscribed via itunes and I'll try to put it in rotation today. I love stuff like this, so I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the heads up!
posted by dejah420 at 5:43 AM on April 4, 2013

Well there goes a gig plus of storage on my phone.
posted by Divine_Wino at 5:47 AM on April 4, 2013

I love Eureka. I think it ran it's course, but it was a great show. Warehouse 13 is kind of following in it's footsteps.

Don't forget Haven. Less tech, more odd happenings.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:48 AM on April 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

I listened to the pilot and enjoyed it! Then for some reason it reminded me of This Is My Milwaukee, and then I had to watch that again and now it's past my bedtime and I'm unnerved and alone

Sometimes I still wonder what the TIMM online game (link to wiki) would have ended up like if it hadn't been cancelled mid-ARG. I still have Mars Madison in my Facebook friends, just in case...

Back on topic, thanks for the podcast link! It sounds like it's entirely up my alley.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:17 AM on April 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Man, I love Nightvale.

The little things really stick with you. Now whenever I hear someone say "wheat" I always add "...and wheat by-products".
posted by unixrat at 6:50 AM on April 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

I love the little desert town of Night Vale, and its community radio station. There's just something so very charming yet unnerving about it that keeps me coming back for more.
posted by undue influence at 8:04 AM on April 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've spent the last week listening to the back catalog, and recruiting everyone I know to give it a go, too. It's just so well done.
posted by ewagoner at 8:36 AM on April 4, 2013

This is amazing, especially when you kinda tune out and it rolls over you like NPR until you pick out "...because of his religious objection, he did not believe in the past."
posted by The Whelk at 10:58 AM on April 4, 2013 [10 favorites]

Thanks! This is great!
posted by fimbulvetr at 11:48 AM on April 4, 2013

I was just telling someone that I missed the ghost-story feel of falling asleep listening to Art Bell so this grabbed my attention immediately. At first I was hoping for something like the Scarfolk Council (prev.) but this is even better!

The combination of the narrator's tone and the impending sense of doom perfectly captures what I loved about listening to Under The Dome on audiotape. It's hard to tear myself away from this, but after listening to the first four episodes I decided to save them for bedtime.

Oh, and the music playing under the narrator totally evokes Joe Frank so bonus points for that.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:50 PM on April 4, 2013

Seconding Haven like the user above.

This podcast is a gift. I hope someone hears this and approaches them to do a pay cable channel show.
posted by syncope at 2:23 PM on April 4, 2013

Hell, just play the episodes over some blocky Super VGA style community announcements and slap it up on your local community access channel.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 2:38 PM on April 4, 2013

Phrase I'm using to sell people on the podcast "It's An Arkham Home Companion."
posted by The Whelk at 2:50 PM on April 4, 2013 [12 favorites]

Totally gonna steal that.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 3:32 PM on April 4, 2013

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the future is here and it is about 100 feet above the Arby's"

This is fantastic.
posted by Aznable at 7:08 PM on April 4, 2013 [5 favorites]

@NightValeRadio: Nice mention of Welcome to Night Vale podcast on MetaFilter yesterday...
posted by Room 641-A at 11:43 PM on April 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Then for some reason it reminded me of This Is My Milwaukee

Spot on. Night Vale is definitely a spiritual successor of TIMM.

RIP Lipps Leroux.
posted by lhall at 5:26 PM on April 5, 2013

Oh, yeah Haven could be the best of that bunch. I watch that as well, just slipped my mind. Funny thing, it's filmed in Mahone Bay, where my wife's family is from.
posted by SpannerX at 6:08 PM on April 7, 2013

This is really really fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing it.
posted by davidjmcgee at 10:13 AM on April 11, 2013