A Weekly Radio Show Which Promotes Indie Comic Creators, Film Makers & Writers

Mark Torres, host (Along with Senior Correspondent Charlie Saladino, Indie Publisher Dominic Sparano, and Life Coach/Model/Fitness Expert Jen Elyse Feldy). Mark has been hosting for over 17 years and is one of the founding members of IT CAME FROM THE RADIO. With his engaging sense of humor, Mark brings a critical and unique point of view to the entertainment industry. Mark has been involved in comics and movies all his life, first as a fan, and then his passion led him to work both in video stores and movie theaters. On top of that, he has a comic book published by RZG Comics and hopes to put out more in the near future.

It Came From The Radio (ICFTR)is a weekly radio show which promotes indie comic creators, film makers, and writers while also covering the latest in sci-fi, horror and comic book entertainment.

While we are a family-friendly show appropriate for all ages, ICFTR’s highest demographic consists of men aged 35-44 and women aged 25-34.

The show is archived as a podcast, but it is an actual Radio show on both (terrestrial and online) radio stations. Originally (in 2001, Our first show aired on 2/14/03) I wanted to network with comic creators in hopes to learn more about the industry and to help get my comic book published. As the years progressed, the show has grown and evolved into a platform for indie creators as well as a few "big time celebrities".

The show in its current iteration started on 9/1/09, and we have only really expanded to multiple podcast places in the past few years.

Funding is always an issue, Luckily we are the Official Radio show of the Big Apple Con (which is the oldest pop culture convention in NY) and we have a couple of sponsors (one of which is the East Meadow Public Library which sponsors a live show once a month). Having a Patreon page also helps.

We release a new episode once a week (usually on mondays) and currently (during the pandemic) it takes a a few days to record and edit all the segments together.

Right now expenses are lower than profits, but it's still not enough to pay the "staff" (which is a goal!).

To quote our Senior Correspondent, "We do the show for the love of the game". As mentioned before, the ultimate goal is to make enough to pay the entire "staff" and be able to make a living off of the show (it wouldn't hurt to be able to fund my own comic series as well).

The show has granted us some amazing opportunities (interviewing "Big Time" Celebrities such as William Shatner, Mark Hamill and Director Amy Jo Johnson (just to name a few), Being able to cover film festivals and conventions (I had the opportunity to be on a Panel at SDCC), and all the amazing creators that we have met and have professional relation ships with.

As mentioned before, being an actual radio show we have a listener reach of (estimated) 50,000 people. That plus interacting with convention show runners as well as comic book stores helped us get some sponsors and advertisers.

I just talk to whomever I meet and tell them about our program and see if we can work out some kind of deal. I am happy to work with any budget.

Normally, The show has a (loose) format. Since we record live on the air, first we do the week's news, then we either have a subject of the week, a guest, or a movie discussion/review. Currently (once again due to the pandemic), we have multiple segments recorded at different times and edit them together. That being said, the process is still the same. Throughout the week, the news is gathered and edited, the segments (be it our comic pic of the week, an interview, or our Kid's corner) are recorded and then it's all sent to the editor. It is reviewed and then the file is sent to the radio stations, our Patreons, and then uploaded to all the podcast places.

Finding guests is the easiest thing. There are so many content creators out there. Usually I find guests at conventions or film festivals, but now social media is a great tool. I just reach out to them and ask. Normally they just come down to (or call into) the studio, but now, I have just started to do zoom interviews.

In addition to the aforementioned live show, we (at times) used to have tables at some conventions as well as covering them for our show. I (mostly) use facebook (and started really getting into twitter) to promote the show. Also we have been interviewed on other podcasts to cross promote our shows. I'm not much of a tech guy, but (according to Anchor) the breakdown is as follows:

Apple Podcasts, 13%
Spotify, 3%
Podcast Addict, 3%
iHeartRadio, 3%
Other, 78%

I say, Be consistent. Whatever schedule you make, stick to it. Be genuine. If you're really interested in the guest it makes a better discussion. Book people YOU want to talk to. Having a co-host (or two) helps. Sometimes it is nice to have someone to bounce off of and can help keep things interesting. Lastly, have fun. If you aren't enjoying what you are doing, then why are you doing it in the first place?

As mentioned before, I'm not much if a tech guy. That being said, I find that Anchor.fm is a great "Mark friendly" Site and it's FREE!
to find out more about us, go to:
patreon.com/itcamefromtheradio
itcamefromtheradio.com
facebook.com/ItCameFromTheRadio

To quote Dominic Sparano (one of our co-hosts) "Just google 'It Came From The Radio'".

That was part of the last question!
twitter.com/ICFTR
youtube.com/channel/UCz4qdhOSdg_D_I15G3Lr67w?view_as=subscriber
instagram.com/icftr
and I'll put it here a second time:
patreon.com/itcamefromtheradio