By Michelle Talsma Everson, July 2019 Issue.
When most couples
have a joint hobby it’s often something like a favorite sport, traveling, or
binge watching the same show. For Keith Lane and Ben Ragunton — who have been
together 23 years — their shared venture is a little different and a lot of geeky.
As the founders of The Two Gay Geeks
Webcast, also known as the TG Geeks Webcast for short, they collaborate on
covering “all aspects of Geek-dom and Nerd-ery” on their popular webcast and
website. With a motto of, “You name it, we talk about it,” their webcast has
experienced continued success.
When chatting, I asked the two
self-proclaimed geeks the burning question that’s on everyone’s mind: what’s
the difference between a geek and a nerd?
“There is no difference, it’s the same
thing,” Ragunton says.“ A geek or a nerd is really anyone who obsesses over
something that really drives their passion. For example, I nerd out or geek out
over pop culture.”
Lane shares that the two, who both have day
jobs in healthcare, started the webcast in June 2014. The idea to have their
own show grew out of their experiences on former podcasts. The original thought
was to have the domain name reflect their Two Gay Geeks brand, but TGGeeks.com
was what was available — so TG Geeks was born.
“Our first webcast was eight minutes long,
don’t ever listen to it, it was horrible,” Lane jokes. Since then, the duo has
vastly improved, creating their weekly webcasts most often on the weekends and
airing them on Mondays. It’s an interview type show with most often a pop
culture focus, Lane says.
“We started with people that we knew,
attending conventions, getting on people’s radar,” Ragunton says. “It was a lot
of knocking on doors but now, after five years, we’re getting to the sweet spot
where people come to us.”
The show does a lot of interviews with
creators: film makers, authors, artists, and the like. Lane says that it’s
often the guest’s first time being interviewed. Recently, in honor of Pride
Month, their guests all had an LGBTQ+ focus. But, it’s also a theme in their show
year-round.
“So, when we first started, we were Two Gay
Geeks, but our content was mostly pop culture,” shares Lane. “And over the
years we have interjected more LGBTQ+ content and have kind of become
accidental activists.”
Ragunton adds that, as their listenership
grew, PR companies and publicists looking to promote their clients and creative
ventures are now approaching them more. Balanced with their full-time day jobs,
the duo and their team of volunteers, now attend movie screenings, review books
and go to press events to network and gather content.
“I used to feel like we were in a bubble,
but the bubble has a greater reach than I’ve ever imagined,” Ragunton says.
Lane shares that, surprisingly, the
Phoenix-based duo is more popular outside of Phoenix than across the Valley.
They hope to change that, though.
In each show, they provide free advertising
to nonprofits that serve the LGBTQ+ community and beyond. Lane shares they run
PSAs for suicide prevention, The Trevor Project, the Trans Lifeline, the Joshua
Tree Feeding Program, and more.
To split up the duties of a nearly
full-time venture, Lane most often is the sound engineer, producer, website
administrator and commentator. Ragunton is the co-host and loves to write.
Now, several years into their venture, the
webcast has grown into a full-fledged media site. Lane shares that TG Geeks is
home to the weekly Monday webcast, a Friday news article about pop culture, and
even its own Sunday cartoon. One of their favorite claims to fame was a recent interview
at a pre-Oscar party with the cast that won for Best Short Film.
“TG Geeks is truly a labor of love. even though sometimes it can be
frustrating from a technology standpoint, we still publish daily,” Lane says.
“I really do enjoy this,” Ragunton shares.
“It’s personally rewarding, especially when we get to do reviews and have
guests in the studio. It’s fun for us.” Both men joke that they’d love to win
the lottery so the webcast can be their full time jobs.
In addition to being on their own webcast, Two Gay Geeks can be heard on
Krypton Radio (kryptonradio.com) — or as Ragunton puts it, they’re part of the
“Krypton Radio Empire.” The show is about an hour long and the two admit that
they talk about anything that “trips their trigger.” Some of their favorite
topics — in addition to their guests — have been things they geek out over such
as opera, Disney and single malt whiskeys. You can also find the webcast on
popular podcast apps.
One added benefit to the TG Geeks labor of
love as a couple is that it has brought the two closer together.
“Our mutual interest and love for things
has brought us so much closer,” Ragunton says. “To create something, to see how
it has grown. To create it together is something we’re both enormously proud
of.”
To learn
more, visit www.tggeeks.com.
