The Tyler Woodward Project
Work, money, media, and the stuff that used to work. A weekly show for anyone who noticed things quietly getting worse.
Hosted by well... Tyler Woodward
Time for a Change
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
- Website: https://tylerwoodward.me
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/tylerwoodward.me
- Threads: https://threads.com/@tylerwoodward.me
All opinions and views expressed in this episode are my own and do not represent my employer or any affiliated organizations.
The One Cable That Can Take Your Station Off the Air
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.
The Hidden Cost of Self-Hosting Your Media in 2026
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.
The Day Local Radio Got Smaller
iHeartMedia laid people off again, and every round of cuts makes local radio a little less local. This one traces how we got here: the Telecommunications Act that opened the floodgates, the private equity money that followed, and the consolidation that turned hundreds of local stations into one playlist with different call letters.
I also get into where the live human voices went. Some left for podcasting and YouTube. Most just got cut. Radio's whole advantage was a real person in your town talking to you, and the industry keeps treating that like a cost center instead of the product.
All opinions and views expressed in this episode are my own and do not represent my employer or any affiliated organizations.
How Minneapolis Ended Up in My Car
I was driving around La Crosse and my radio started showing a Minneapolis station. That's HD radio hijacking, and it's a real thing with real consequences for small stations.
This episode covers how it works technically, actual examples of it happening, and why the current rules leave LPFMs and stations without digital signals holding the short end. The regulations were written for a different era, and it shows.
All opinions and views expressed in this episode are my own and do not represent my employer or any affiliated organizations.
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What I'm Working On
MySpace Taught a Generation to Build the Web
It wasn't pretty. Glitter GIFs, clashing color schemes, autoplay music you could never find the mute button for. But underneath the chaos, MySpace handed an entire generation their first real taste of HTML and CSS, and the freedom to make a page that was actually theirs. We talk about why that mattered more than any of us realized at the time.
WoodyFM — Free Audiogram Maker
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.