Radio Free Skaro (RFS) bills itself  as “possibly the most popular, most prolific and charmingly irreverent (but never irrelevant) Doctor Who podcast around.” It is all that, and could even be described as the flagship podcast of Doctor Who fandom.

I discovered Radio Free Skaro through Star Trek. I was on an email list and heard of the “Trek Radio” radio station in late 2012 and went looking for it on the TuneIn radio app. Then I wondered if there was  any sort of Internet radio station devoted to Doctor Who?

My search led me to Radio Free Skaro, a podcast created by Warren Frey and Steven Schapansky in the western provinces of Canada. I started with the first episode, listening to it  several years after it was recorded.  They began by describing the recons. Steve was “knee deep” in the Pertwee era, watching “Day of the Daleks” in the background even as they were recording!

I was hooked, and listened to the first 100 episodes or so. A year after they started, their friend Chris Burgess joined along, completing the “Three Who Rule” triumvirate which has endured today.

I stopped listening to the really old episodes of RFS, not because I got tired of them, but because as I was catching up on the TV episodes.  I got impatient and skipped ahead needing to hear the  most recent podcasts as they came out, wanting to know what the “Three Who Rule” had to say about recent events and news.

Along the way they led me to other Doctor Who podcasts like Verity, Two Minute Time Lord, Tardis Tavern, and others. RFS has been, and still is, my gateway to “Doctor Who” fandom. I listen to a lot of podcasts each week, always starting out with RFS.

How have they kept RFS going for hundreds of episodes? They know of what they speak, love the subject, and have fun doing it. They review new releases of DVDs and episodes when they come out, cover related programs such as Torchwood, do episode commentaries, and have features such as FluidLinks the Miniscope. And yes, they report on stats (total viewer ratings for Doctor Who episodes as they first air).

If you haven’t see it already, you should watch the video of RFS’s opening event at the Gallifrey One convention (“Gally”) earlier in 2014:

Radio Free Skaro is found on itunes, the Doctor Who Podcast Alliance page, and their own web site: http://www.radiofreeskaro.com/