The Best Show on WFMU: The End

[CactusClothesline]

Have been a lurker on this board for too long but felt compelled to sign up finally to voice my +1 for any sort of archival package of the show's run. The RM files are a nightmare and I have never been savvy enough to be able to convert them to MP3. This would be such a great positive on what has been a sad announcement (can't spin it any other way, I've been gutted since Tuesday night).

Having said that, I want to echo the thoughts of everyone else and thank Tom, Jon, Mike and everyone else associated with the show for creating something that means so much to so many and I anxiously await to see what is next. 

[D.JGeorge]

The Best Show should end like Breaking Bad. Tom shoots up Kern Pharms, poisons AP Mike, and Saves Philly Boy Roy, however amidst gunfire Tom is shot, he dies a right there in the studio, ariel zoom out as Solid Gold Hell comes on. Fade to black.

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Going to add my voice to the chorus of folks talking about an all-show archive.  I would be happy to pay a lot for such a thing.

And I am 100% on board with The Mike Show or Depravity's Rainbow being a weekly concern.  That would be awesome.

Like most everyone else here, I'm an FOT for life.  I can't wait to see what comes next, because it's going to be great.

I'm not going to be maudlin in this thread, though!  TBS is far and away my favorite comedy in any medium, and I want to publicly thank Tom, Jon, Mike, and everyone else involved in the show for doing all this work.

THANK YOU.

[GhostDad]

If it is Lipstick City, then so be it, maybe LA Podcast will add a new show to it's list.  The Tom Show.

So much love to Tom, his people, all of you FOTs, WFMU etc...

Everything has to end, most things don't end after doing so much awesome.

[jäck]

I actually converted all of the old RealMedia files to MP3s a few years ago but I think the hard drive they were on may have died. I'll check when I get home from work.

[roman]

I would definitely throw down for an mp3 archive

[VealCutlet]

I recall that some time ago, Station Manager Ken said that he aimed to convert the RealAudio files to MP3, but obviously that hasn't happened.

We all want an MP3 version of the archive...who would be willing to work on it?  If a group of dedicated FOTs could stream the RealAudio shows and record them to MP3, would that not suffice?  All it would take would be access to a Windows PC running XP, and Audacity, which is free.  I've done a few, and the quality is acceptable, at least to my ears. 

And time...but the more people involved, the less time it would take.

Fans of the Neil Rogers show (the late, Miami radio legend) have undertaken a similar effort, and have posted his shows to Soundcloud and YouTube going back to the early 90s.  I wonder if a similar effort would work for The Best Show, and if Ken would be willing to replace the Real streams with FOT-generated MP3s?

[battleaxe]

I've listened to it twice now. Tom says end of Best Show...on WFMU. I'm thinking it's gonna be a "pay to play" podcast along the lines of WTF.
On another note, bring on Depravities Rainbow with Mike and Therese.

[aznmom420]

The RM files are a nightmare and I have never been savvy enough to be able to convert them to MP3.

Have you tried downloading realplayer? It's actually not as bloated or terrible as I remember it being in the mid-2000s.

I too would make a payment or a donation to WFMU in exchange for a hard copy of the archives.

[not that clay]

And now for some support group talk. I always knew this would happen, even hoped it would happen, because making it in showbiz and having a weekly radio show in NJ aren't really compatible.  So when Tom made the big announcement I was happy for him. But here I am a couple of days later and I'm in a funk. I bet I'm not the only one!

I know The Best Show has a been a lifeline for a lot of people out there (I know the feeling, in 1993 it was bags of store-brand apple cinnamon cereal and MST3K that kept me going). For me it's different. The last couple of years have been as good as my life is probably ever going to be.  The Best Show is the icing on the cake. I've been super busy but I always had time for The Best Show.

Now I gotta figure out where to put a "FOT FOR LIFE" tattoo.

[fonpr]

Now I gotta figure out where to put a "FOT FOR LIFE" tattoo.

Have you considered your neck, N.T. Clay?

[The Brighamist]

Hypothetically, what's the best way for someone with the archives converted to MP3 to share them with interested parties?

[bookem_dan-o]

Have been a lurker on this board for too long but felt compelled to sign up finally to voice my +1 for any sort of archival package of the show's run. The RM files are a nightmare and I have never been savvy enough to be able to convert them to MP3. This would be such a great positive on what has been sad announcement (can't spin it any other way, I've been gutted since Tuesday night).

Having said that, I want to echo the thoughts of everyone else and thank Tom, Jon, Mike and everyone else associated with the show for creating something that means so much to so many and I anxiously await to see what is next. 

I have the entire show run converted to MP3 files (including the "lost" shows and de-archived shows), with all the music edited out of them. This was actually the initial impetus for starting the Best Show podcast to begin with, back in 2006 (I would use those old archive files to put a "classic" rerun show on the podcast feed on those weeks when Tom didn't do a live show).

I'm not sure if it would be cool with Tom and/or Station Manager Ken for me to set these MP3 files free, but if I get the OK, I'll be glad to make them available in some form or another.

[StupidSexyFlanders]

Also coming out of lurkerdom to pledge cash-money for an archive in mp3 format!

[stubing]

I have listened for several years. I have never posted before. I never called the show. But I love the Best Show. I cannot even describe how much I love it.
I feel such tremendous loss because the Best Show is in a category all by itself. That is a cliche, but in this case it's true. It's not like there are other things out there that are like it. There isn't even one other thing out thee that's like it. We have no other options. The Best Show evolved out of its own weird primordial soup and no one could replicate it. Except Tom.
I'll pay whatever you want, man. Just give me a weekly download. I will sign up. All the best.