Car Autance’ “Hooptie Happy Hour” is a car podcast (online radio show?) that we hosted on Twitter a few times in 2021. This year, we’ve got a new format that will bring you interesting backstories to our blog posts, insights on the current state of the car scene, and if you tune in live you can even grab the mic and participate. Take a look (and listen) here to see what this show is all about.
Conceptually speaking, Hooptie Happy Hour is a podcast. But the execution is unique and (I think/hope) it harnesses the good vibes and interactivity of classic talk radio using modern social media platforms in a way that’s a little different from what’s already out there.
So here’s the deal:
Every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. ET (noon:30 on Pacific Time) we start Hooptie Happy Hour on Twitter Spaces (follow us here). Twitter Spaces is pretty much just an audio chat room — so I’ll start the Space from the Car Autance account, then turn on the mics of my writing staff to run through an agenda of whatever we want to talk about. I’m hoping that some interesting guests want to get in the mix soon too, so you don’t get tired of hearing from the same handful of amigos every week.
Generally, the show program goes like this:
| Segment | Description |
|---|---|
| Welcome | Introduction of hosts and guests |
| Shoutouts | Favorite things we’ve read/watched/seen in the last week |
| Backstory Stories | Insight on what we’ve written in the last week |
| News | Anything breaking happening in news (we didn’t just cover)? |
| What Are You Working On? | Vehicle (or adjacent) projects we’re working on/recently finished |
| What Are You Driving/Playing? | Vehicles we’ve driven recently/are currently driving (or sims/video games you’ve been playing) |
| Call-in Questions | Anybody want to call in and chat? |
| Last Call | Hosts and guest(s) talk about whatever last thing they wanna bring up, time allowing |
Naturally, there’s some redundancy in the segments; we’ll skip things as needed so we don’t cover the same exact items more than once though.
Anybody can listen in, but if you listen while logged in to a Twitter account yourself you’ll be able to request to speak through a prompt on the app. I’ll keep an eye on that and “go to the phones” once in a while to let folks join the convo. Participation is immensely appreciated and encouraged! We’re happy to hear from you, and at the end of the show, we’ll do a last call to answer lingering listener questions about cars.
While all that is happening, the Twitter Spaces audio chat is also beamed out to YouTube so that I can do a little casual presentation via screen sharing to give anybody who’s interested a visual reference to what we’re talking about. You can also participate via text by chatting in the YouTube stream (I keep an eye on that too) if you’d like to get involved but don’t want to speak.
Calling in while watching the YouTube feed might get a little confusing (broadcast delay could be as long as half a minute) but the video is fun because of course you can get a little visual entertainment as well.
After the show’s over, I’ll trim off the first few minutes of “testing testing check one-two” and the YouTube stream will be watchable whenever on our channel (please like and subscribe!).
In this pilot episode that I’ve embedded above, we talk about Kevin’s i-MiEV project, the Hummer EV, our own personal lightweight cars, and more. We also get some great call-ins from listeners about rallycrossing Camaros, F1, and other good stuff.
I hope you’ll join us on a live episode soon, but if you can’t make Thursday afternoons I’ll be refining my VJ skills every week to make the YouTube show more exciting. Here’s to happy hour!
What to read next:
- The Car Autance series Car Confessions and Hard Lessons continues on with Alanis King explaining why you should never sell your car with your license plates on it.
- This sure seems like the 2023 Acura Integra interior we haven’t seen yet.
- Check out our internet talk show, Hooptie Happy Hour, now available in podcast form!
- EVs and hybrids are given efficiency ratings in MPGe, but what does that actually mean? Kevin Williams explains how it works.
- Chris Rosales explains how he got his tuned Volkswagen GTI to pass smog under California’s new rules and restrictions.
- This electrified Airstream RV concept could be the future of camping and road-tripping.
- Lego car engineering is a great candidate to be your next at-home hobby.
