The Radio Show

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.

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ComputerTalk with Dave Mason show archive

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.

Personal Stories

439 clips, strongest first.

How computers became Dave's calling · Proposed air date:

When Evil Steve asks how computers captured him three decades earlier, Dr. Dave says plainly that he needed a job and began selling them. His inability to stop asking why initially drove his trainers berserk, but within two or three years those same people were calling him for help—a compact story of the curiosity and persistence that shaped his career.

1:24 · Personal Stories

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Technology, politics, business and people · Proposed air date:

Previewing the antitrust guest, Dr. Dave explains why the subject particularly motivates him: he is excited by technology, politics, business and people, and comes alive when one topic brings all four together. Evil Steve's repeated teasing about the word excited keeps the reflection rooted in the brothers' on-air rhythm.

0:54 · Personal Stories

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Everything revolves around the Saturday show · Proposed air date:

After correcting the Halloween date, Dr. Dave says his life revolves around the Saturday broadcast and that he knows the rest of the week by its distance from the show. He and Evil Steve remember once having to push through high water to get there and tell listeners that the effort reflects how much they care about the program and its audience.

0:51 · Personal Stories

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They're just Steve or Dave · Proposed air date:

A friend thoroughly researches a printer without ever asking Dr. Dave, then makes the right choice. Dr. Dave finds it funny and recognizably human that expertise can disappear from view when the expert is simply a friend or relative, while also appreciating that doing the research yourself can be satisfying.

1:25 · Personal Stories

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The other Dave Mason and DaveMason.com · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave and Evil Steve remember years of forceful messages from musician Dave Mason, including a purported demand that the broadcaster stop using his own name. Dr. Dave's answer captured both his humor and fairness: if the musician wanted DaveMason.com, he could make an offer and begin an equitable negotiation.

2:54 · Personal Stories

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Cars since they were kids · Proposed air date:

A used-car question leads Dr. Dave to say that he and Evil Steve have worked on cars since childhood, praise Evil Steve's complete Mazda RX-3 restoration and explain how a vehicle-owner community helped the family replace an expensive Mazda MPV hose with an equivalent inexpensive part.

5:54 · Personal Stories

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New problems keep the work interesting · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave says a short attention span makes repetition difficult, but technology keeps him engaged because a new problem appears just when he thinks he knows all the answers. The reflection turns comic when a stuck computer case latch defeats the experienced technician and leaves his thumb aching.

1:38 · Personal Stories

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The workaholic intervention · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave admits that exhaustion nearly made him cancel the afternoon repair event, but says it is too important and too much fun. Evil Steve imagines an intervention while Dr. Dave begs to finish just one more computer, reboot and defragmentation.

1:25 · Personal Stories

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Getting the cameras ready for Thanksgiving · Proposed air date:

A caller’s irreplaceable low-resolution photograph prompts Dr. Dave to remember preparing cameras for Thanksgiving with children, grandchildren and extended family. Gina reminds him to charge everything because memorable events had been missed when batteries were dead.

1:49 · Personal Stories

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If I can't screw with it, I don't want it · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave recognizes the iPhone's simplicity and quality but explains why he resists choosing what everyone else uses. He values alternatives that meet his needs while allowing more flexibility, summarizing the instinct with a “Tim Allen syndrome”: if he cannot tinker with it, he does not want it.

2:26 · Personal Stories

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Finishing El Tour without getting off the bike · Proposed air date:

A current Tucson bicycle race makes Dr. Dave remember riding an unusually long rerouted El Tour. What mattered to him was refusing to get off the bicycle even if he finished last, before Evil Steve supplies the physical-comedy payoff.

1:23 · Personal Stories

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I prepare for the show by living my life · Proposed air date:

Asked how he prepares for Computer Talk, Dr. Dave gives a wonderfully compact answer: he lives his life. Working with people who have technical problems, solving his own problems and watching what comes next lets him harvest material almost automatically.

0:48 · Personal Stories

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The web let Dave try the refrigerator himself · Proposed air date:

A failing refrigerator sends Dr. Dave to the web, where specialized resources narrow the likely fault to three components. He and Evil Steve explain that they want to attempt unfamiliar work themselves, even if only to learn about the process and confront how much they do not know.

1:48 · Personal Stories

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Standing down a charging elephant · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave has seen the video and retells how his friend and expedition partner approached a bull elephant, could neither outrun it nor escape up a tree and finally stopped its charge by turning, shouting and spreading his arms. The brothers' disbelief and Dr. Dave's lively narration make it a vivid human story rather than a product segment.

2:27 · Personal Stories

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A Declaration copy that made people emotional · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave describes an anonymous friend's large vellum copy of the Declaration of Independence, reportedly printed centuries earlier from copper plates made from the original. Even talking about it makes him emotional, and he remembers another man breaking into tears when it was unrolled.

2:28 · Personal Stories

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A question from his son leads to an hour of learning · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave’s thirteen-year-old son asks where the word Celsius came from. Dr. Dave looks it up, follows neighboring words and jokes that an hour and forty terms later he has become the king of trivial etymology, describing the search as especially enjoyable with children.

1:28 · Personal Stories

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A study guide for how things go wrong · Proposed air date:

Dr. Dave says he enjoys analyzing failure and once subscribed to the FAA's accident-investigation magazine. Even though the stories could be sad, he found them an exceptional way to learn how systems fail and how often a human issue ultimately sits inside the chain of causes.

1:25 · Personal Stories

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Full episode archive

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.

2015 (15 dates)
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January
2014 (12 dates)
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2013 (26 dates)
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2012 (35 dates)
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2011 (29 dates)
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2010 (33 dates)
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2009 (42 dates)
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2008 (52 dates)
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2007 (52 dates)
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2006 (52 dates)
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2005 (52 dates)
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2004 (40 dates)
December
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January
2003 (1 date)
April
2000 (1 date)
March
Date unknown (2)