The Tyler Woodward Project cover art

The Tyler Woodward Project

Burning CDs, video store clerks, phones that just made calls. A weekly show for anyone who misses when things were simpler, and isn't afraid to say so.

Hosted by well... Tyler Woodward

  1. The Last Time I Did This, It Was Easier

    Jul 28, 2026 ·18 min

    Tyler ran his own internet radio station back in 2009, legally, through a licensing aggregator that later got caught skimming royalties instead of paying them through. He looks at what happened to that station, and why the math on doing it again today is so much worse.

    Chapters:

    • 00:00 – The Last Time I Ran Q109 Rock
    • 01:43 – Today's Topic: Internet Radio Licensing 0
    • 2:25 – How Webcast Licensing Worked in 2009
    • 04:02 – SWCast Got Caught and Q109 Went Dark
    • 05:56 – Two Copyrights Hiding in Every Song
    • 06:45 – Why Terrestrial Radio Skips SoundExchange
    • 07:52 – The SoundExchange Math on a Small Station
    • 09:24 – How Small Webcaster Rates Died in 2016
    • 10:19 – Live365 Today vs Doing It Yourself
    • 12:59 – The Real DIY Price Tag
    • 14:57 – A System Built for Scale, Not Hobbyists
    • 16:08 – Why Q109 Isn't Coming Back

    Links:

    Website: https://tylerwoodward.me

    Instagram: https://instagram.com/tylerwoodward.me

    Threads: https://threads.com/@tylerwoodward.me

    References

    Open episode page

  2. MySpace Taught Me Web Design

    Jul 21, 2026 ·19 min

    I dig into the MySpace "About Me" box bug that let anyone override their entire profile with raw HTML and CSS, and I try and make the case that this accidental hole accidentally taught a whole generation of teenagers how to build web pages. I try and trace back what got lost when every platform after MySpace decided customization was a liability instead of a feature.

    Chapters:

    • 00:30 – Cold open: the file on my desktop
    • 01:44 – Not another MySpace eulogy
    • 02:53 – The bug that became a feature
    • 04:34 – Layout sites and learning by breaking things
    • 06:21 – A popularity contest in disguise
    • 08:37 – MySpace by the numbers
    • 09:19 – Glitter, chaos, and meeting my wife
    • 11:08 – Sterile templates, vanishing permission
    • 12:53 – The security excuse versus the algorithm
    • 14:41 – MySpace didn't die a martyr
    • 16:14 – What I miss, and saying goodbye

    Links:

    References:

    Open episode page

  3. Time for a Change

    Jul 14, 2026 ·14 min

    Quick heads up: this episode is a personal update on where the show is headed. No guests, no explainer topic, just Tyler talking through some changes.

    Chapters

    • 00:00 – Disclaimer: this is all opinion, nobody signs off on it
    • 00:45 – Why changes are coming to the show
    • 01:01 – The moment it clicked: recording an episode that was just a rehash of the workday
    • 02:00 – Back in January: the rebrand from Fully Modulated to The Tyler Woodward Project
    • 03:11 – Falling back into old habits (the "comfortable tool" analogy)
    • 05:16 – When the hobby becomes a second job
    • 06:05 – Addressing the timing with the recent This Week in Radio Tech guest spot
    • 07:04 – What's actually changing: less produced show, more audio journal
    • 07:51 – No more video, audio only going forward
    • 08:56 – New tool: woodyfm.com audiogram generator
    • 09:32 – Cutting back social media to what actually works
    • 11:04 – Switching podcast hosting to RSS.com and why (better bitrate than Riverside)
    • 13:42 – Ad policy and how to support the show ad-free
    • 13:46 – Wrap up and what's next week

    Links

    All opinions and views expressed in this episode are my own and do not represent my employer or any affiliated organizations.

    Open episode page

  4. The One Cable That Can Take Your Station Off the Air

    Jul 7, 2026 ·19 min

    I’ve been thinking about the one cable that can take a whole station off the air, and it’s usually the cheapest fix that gets ignored. The studio to transmitter link. Everyone assumes it just works, until the day it doesn’t, and when it fails, none of your fancy equipment matters. I’ve seen systems from the 80s still humming along because nobody touched them, and when I ask about backup, there usually isn’t one, or there’s one nobody trusts enough to actually use.

    In this episode I get into what actually breaks that link, how licensed microwave stacks up against IP based options, and why running a second path isn’t a luxury anymore. Even a small internet circuit can work as real backup if you set it up right. I talk about the risks of going cheap on internet service, why diverse backhaul matters, and why losing that link doesn’t just cause a hiccup, it can put your whole station off air without anyone noticing until it’s too late. If you’re an engineer tired of gambling on your STL, or a manager who wants things to stay running when something breaks, this one’s for you.

    All opinions and views expressed in this episode are my own and do not represent my employer or any affiliated organizations.

    Open episode page

  5. The Hidden Cost of Self-Hosting Your Media in 2026

    Jun 30, 2026 ·15 min

    Plex changed its subscription model and a lot of people who thought they owned their media server setup found out otherwise. This episode is about what running your own media server actually costs in 2026, in money, time, and patience.

    I walk through the real tradeoffs of self-hosting, why demand for actually owning your media keeps climbing, and I close with an install guide for anyone ready to take the plunge this year.

    All opinions and views expressed in this episode are my own and do not represent my employer or any affiliated organizations.

    Open episode page

What I'm Working On

Blockbuster Video storefront lit up at dusk

Endless Options and Nothing to Watch

Next Episode

Friday night meant driving to the video store and walking the aisles until something grabbed you, and if you were lucky a clerk who had actually seen everything on the shelf told you what to get. I get into what that ritual did that an infinite scroll of thumbnails can't, and why having every movie ever made somehow leaves me watching nothing. Streaming won on selection and lost on everything else.

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WoodyFM: Free Audiogram Maker

Side Project

A free tool I built with Claude that turns audio-only podcast clips into shareable audiogram videos, inspired by the audiogram tool WNYC released years ago. Drop in a clip, get something you can actually post.
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Let Listeners Call In

Live Now

Record a message for the show right from your browser, no app, no phone number to dial. Leave an alias and your city/state, or stay anonymous — the best ones make it into an episode.

From the Forum

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  1. Adding RSS Soon I’m gonna throw RSS feeds on here soon. Using this extension: https://discuss.flarum.org/d/27687-syndication-rss-atom-feeds I still use Reeder for… Old Tech We Miss Tyler · 1 reply · 1h ago
  2. One of my favorite station launches, 97X Tampa One of my favorite radio station launches from back in the day (2000!!) was when WSUN-FM Tampa flipped from Oldies 97.1 to 97X. 97X is still around… The Frequency Tyler · 0 replies · 2h ago
  3. Trump admin exempts SpaceX’s Starlink from FCC ban on foreign-made routers Because of course they did. Anyone surprised? https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/starlink-gets-exemption-from-fcc-ban-on-routers-made-outside… Uplink Tyler · 0 replies · 2h ago
  4. Hobby Webradio is Extinct In 2009 I ran an internet radio station called Q109, Rock from Beyond the Dial. I had my own Icecast server running, and a company called SWCast… Episode Discussion Tyler · 0 replies · 6h ago
  5. This Smarter Every Day series shows why US manufacturing is so hard Been following Destin's Smarter Every Day series on trying to make a grill scrubber 100% in America. The second video is longer than you'd expect for… Gear Talk Tyler · 0 replies · 2d ago