Years active 2005–present | Website Blog SitePodcast Site | |
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Members Steve SpearsBrad Williams Past members Gina VivinettoCathy WosSean Daly Origin St. Petersburg, Florida, United States Similar Tom Bailey, Nina Blackwood, Thomas Dolby, Nick Rhodes, Spinal Tap | ||
Stuck in the 80s
Stuck in the '80s is a blog and podcast produced by Steve Spears and the Tampa Bay Times, the largest daily newspaper in Florida. Stuck in the '80s covers the music, movies and culture of the 1980s. It features regular interviews with musicians, actors and celebrities of the 1980s along with top 5 lists, CD and movie reviews and more. It began in July 2005. The blog is updated daily. The podcast is available for free on iTunes or online
Contents
Disco tech stuck in the 80s
History
Spears came up with the idea for a podcast shortly before his 20 year high school reunion. He was writing a blog for the reunion website, and people really loved all the stories from the old days. When the reunion was over, he really missed doing all the blogging and storytelling. About that same time, podcasts were just getting going. He really wanted to do a podcast, but he wanted to do it on a topic that did not even feel like "work" to him.
He had a coworker -- Gina Vivinetto -- who grew up in Tampa Bay the same time he did. They had gone to a lot of the same concerts, even known some of the same people. He approached her and asked if she'd be interested in co-hosting a podcast. She agreed. The bosses green-lit the project and they got rolling.
They did not have a name for it at first. Spears thinks the name of the podcast itself came from one of their original sign-offs. He said goodbye by just saying, "we'll be here, stuck in the '80s" and it seemed to fit.
The podcast was supposed to only 5 or 6 minutes and they were going to use it as a "segment" in another podcast the paper was producing called the TBT Tiki Lounge. Well, their first show came in closer to 15 minutes, so it was decided to just break it out as its own show. As time went on, the length of shows grew longer and longer. These days, the average show is 45 minutes. The movie commentaries are usually 2 hours.
Gina left the show after 27 episodes to pursue another career opportunity, and Sean Daly, the music critic for the St. Petersburg Times took over. Daly and has been working with “Spearsy” on the podcast since episode 28. Steve and Sean are sometimes joined by special guests including Cathy Wos, Stephanie Hayes and other writers for the St. Petersburg Times.
In November 2012, Steve left the Times for a new job in Orlando, but the podcast continues on, now with co-host Brad Williams.
The most popular shows remain the Breakup Show, Brian Johnson interview and Steve Perry interview. See the links below.
Popular episodes of the podcasts
Here are some of the Stuck in the '80s favorite podcast episodes