DaveMason.com
ComputerTalk with Dave Mason
The official archive of all available ComputerTalk with Dave Mason radio shows. Spend some time with Dave. Listen to a full show or explore clips by topic.
3,475 unique clips. Each clip appears in one section. Historical conversations, not current advice. Full episodes remain available separately by date.
439 clips, strongest first.
Dr. Dave experiments with having early English Bible translations read aloud by software and laughs at the irony that the synthesized voice sounds to him like Stephen Hawking, who had recently spoken publicly about not believing in God.
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After being unable to name the instrument earlier, Dr. Dave returns with his research, corrects his claim about the vibraphone’s bars and identifies Lionel Hampton and Mike Manieri, turning an ordinary correction into warm music conversation with Evil Steve.
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Dr. Dave explains why he took his time building a subwoofer enclosure with removable panels: he enjoyed the process and saw careful engineering as a mixture of art, sculpture and practical problem-solving.
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Evil Steve remembers the panic of unexpectedly carrying a live segment alone, and Dr. Dave answers with his own late-1980s transition from Bob Lee's weekly technology guest to the host of his own show. Their stories turn stage fright into an honest and funny conversation about practice, confidence and the difference between supporting a host and becoming one.
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Dr. Dave recalls their mother praising how the brothers sounded on the air and asking whether the show felt good. He says he is comfortable but increasingly aware that technology has changed too much for him to repeat the old formula or fake enthusiasm for subjects that no longer seem useful.
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Ray’s technical question turns into a warm exchange about work, Josh and remaining safe and single, showing how callers moved easily between troubleshooting and friendship with the brothers.
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After extensive backup preparations fail, Dr. Dave reflects that sometimes people simply cannot control everything. The immediate cause is unforgettable: a garbage truck entangled its arms in the power lines and snapped the pole before the show.
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Responding to criticism that their self-deprecating sounders might affect them, Dr. Dave and Evil Steve insist that their body jokes are about themselves and dub the pair the “Girth brothers.” The tangent turns into Dr. Dave thanking Evil Steve and another family member for helping finish a barn roof, followed by their imagined Amish barn-raising routine and real satisfaction with the result.
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As time runs out, Dr. Dave jokes that the program is trying to become six or eight hours long and remembers his long-held dream of having his own KDAV radio station. He closes the thought by saying it is all about perseverance and persistence.
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Dr. Dave remembers knowing every dinosaur and statistic in the 1967 Encyclopedia Britannica so thoroughly that fourth-grade classmates called him “the scientist.” Learning later that his beloved brontosaurus reconstruction was wrong devastated him, but it became a lasting reminder that expert knowledge remains an educated best estimate and must keep changing with evidence.
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Evil Steve tells Dr. Dave that several weeks without a working laptop may have been healthy because it interrupted his constant focus on technology. Dr. Dave admits that instead of browsing on the couch he watched television and painted, and the brothers connect the experience to their earlier conversation about multitasking.
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Dr. Dave offers his favorite explanation for his brother's on-air name: just as a very large man might be called Tiny, Evil Steve is called Evil because he is really a teddy bear and a big ball of lovable fluff. It is a concise, affectionate portrait of their relationship beneath the show's running joke.
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Dr. Dave admits that formal annual dinners do not naturally appeal to him, yet says he is always glad he attends these NRA events because of the people and uplifting stories. He and Evil Steve joke about the auction, then Dr. Dave describes the gathering as a cross-section of America spanning generations, occupations, races, creeds and religions.
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Dr. Dave opens an attorney’s letter and discovers that musician Dr. Dave Mason wants him to stop using Dr. Dave Mason on his own website. He and Evil Steve recount earlier attempts to buy DaveMason.com, joke about alternative names with caller Tony and explain why a trademark for live musical performance did not seem to them to cover a computer advice program.
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A caller predicts advertising inside video games, prompting Dr. Dave to remember riding through Hawaii as a child while his father wondered why anyone would ever pay for television. They connect that memory to cable, satellite radio and targeted advertising.
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Caller wordplay about Dr. Dave's handwriting leads him to admit he once belittled genealogy, then describe how a son's school assignment and the Mason habit of going all in changed his view.
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Dr. Dave remembers walking arm in arm with his childhood friend Marcellus and talking about racism. Only later did he understand why their friendship moved their teachers, a memory that leads to a hopeful conversation about change.
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After describing repeated Linux installations on an older laptop, Dr. Dave admits that a new technical question becomes both a curse and a blessing. He experiences every problem he can find, learns every workaround and works until two, three or four in the morning—not because it is easy, but because solving it is fun.
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The final planned Atlantis mission brings Dr. Dave back to a friend who worked on Shuttle tiles around 1980 and said solving unprecedented engineering problems felt like their childhood projects—only much more expensive.
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Dr. Dave says the entire family has allergies but are bright and handsome, then explains that even when he feels bad elsewhere, coming in to do the radio show makes him feel great. The short exchange preserves affection for his family and for broadcasting.
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A vintage song sends Dr. Dave and Evil Steve into a memory of the Cracker Jack dance from their childhood. Teased that he has not danced in twenty years, Dr. Dave insists that he reads poetry, sings and dances every day, even if Evil Steve believes most of it happens in the shower.
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Dr. Dave calls eBay one of the Internet bubble's great survivors because it can reconnect people with objects they thought were gone. His example is a 1970s Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox, which leads directly to the brothers remembering that Evil Steve did not merely step on Dr. Dave's original; he kicked and stomped it after an argument.
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Back from the family truckster vacation, Dr. Dave calls his children good, exceptional and intense and jokes with Evil Steve about the energy required to guide them. He shares that trip photographs are on DaveMason.com and says he feels as though he has missed several shows even though he has never missed one.
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Dr. Dave dislikes much about Facebook but admits that it has become so embedded in family life that it is where he learns a relative has entered the hospital or died. Evil Steve adds increasingly obsolete alternatives—phone calls, letters, telegraph and Morse code—turning the complaint into a compact record of changing family communication.
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Browse by year, then month, to find the episodes from that month.
442 proposed broadcast dates, plus 2 undated entries. Dates are based on archive filenames and may be approximate. Some broadcasts survive as separate parts or incomplete recordings.
