Getting Skype is easy as pie!

Skype is the premier software for making free internet phone calls to people you want to talk to. If you don’t have Skype on your computer yet, Skype is free, easy to get, does not contain spyware, will not bog your computer down, and will not take up much room. Want a great endorsement? Oprah uses Skype to phone her guests in! If you want to be on Oprah, but can’t make it to Chicago, you got to have Skype! Just think–if you get Skype all set up for your guest visit to Lundon Calling, you’ll be all set when Oprah calls!

To use Skype you will need a microphone in your computer, or one that you can plug in. Radio Shack, Best Buy, Wal-mart, Staples, Meijer, and any electronic store will be able to provide a very simple microphone for you, if you need one.

visit the following address: http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home/ and follow the download and installation instructions. Skype looks a lot different on Mac than on PC, but its still the same–you can make and receive free internet calls on it.

After you’ve installed Skype, and you try to load it for the first time, you will be asked to create an account. When you do so, make sure you tell Skype to save your information by clicking the check-box that says “remember me.” If you do so, you won’t need to recall what username and password you signed up with every time you log in.

Just in case, clearly write your username and password on a piece of paper and store it near your computer for the night of the recording.

You can try a few test-calls once you’ve logged in and have Skype up and running. Skype automatically adds their test-call number to your contact list. All you have to do is press the green “call” button that looks like a phone, when you’re viewing their contact information. You can check to see that you’ve properly set up Skype, your microphone and your headphones this way.

For the show, we will need your username, and we will have to have added one another in our contact lists in advance (at least you and our producer will have had to add one another) in order to connect. This is actually very easy–its a matter of our producer adding you, you accepting and clicking the option to have our producer also show up in your contact list. You can do the same with the hosts as well while the recording is in session, if you so choose!

At sound-check time the day of the show, we will merely need you to be logged in and “VISIBLE” on Skype, and set up with your microphone and headphones about five minutes prior to the scheduled call. Don’t call us, we’ll call you!

Why do we use Skype? We have found that our clearest sound, our best connections, and our smoothest shows occur when all participants are on Skype. In addition, Skype provides is with a text-based chat room for our call so that we can type to communicate important information to one another that does not need to be broadcast on air during the show–for example, you forgot to bring up a topic and was wondering if we could get back to it so you could discuss it, or you quietly need to step away from the call for a minute, but don’t want the audience to notice.

Land-line calls on non-cordless phones are also acceptable, though the sound-quality is greatly diminished in this case. If Skype is not an option for you, this is the next option. Usually call connections are just as steady as on Skype in this case, though we loose text chat capabilities and we have a “phone” sound to the interview.

Cell-phones or cordless phones with land-line numbers are not acceptable for this purpose. We could go to the archives and present you with shows of dropped call after dropped call after dropped call, but we won’t because they’re frankly a pain to listen to–and that’s the point. In order to give your audience the best listening experience, we need to be able to keep you on the line the entire time, and that is only acheived by using Skype (best option!) or a land-line phone with a corded receiver.

Any questions?