‘Stamp Show Here Today’ offers podcasts, a radio show for stamp collectors

Editor's Insights— By Donna Houseman 

Stamp collectors can attend a weekly discussion of a variety of stamp-collecting topics by sitting at their computer or laptop.

The Stamp Show Here Today podcast was created by a small group of stamp collectors and dealers who were discussing stamps at a stamp show in southern California three years ago. The discussion spawned a weekly round-table discussion that is broadcast weekly over the Internet.

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Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a podcast as “a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the Internet.”

Caj Brejtfus, the producer of Stamp Show Here Today, said someone during the discussion at the stamp show commented that “it would be great if I could listen to this discussion on a computer … think of it as radio on demand.”

Today, the podcast has more than 18,500 downloads per month, according to Brejtfus.

Brejtfus is chief financial officer and head of marketing and advertising for Professional Stamp Experts, an authentication and grading company for United States stamps. The company is located in Santa Ana, Calif.

According to Brejtfus, “The podcast was originally made up of Scott Murphy of PSE; Steve Pattillo, who runs several Southern California stamp shows; and currently Tom Schilling, who is the engineer due to his mastery of computers as well as his other hobbies.”

Murphy, who is president of PSE, said, “It is a labor of love. We get a few gifts from the listeners, and two large dealers have made contributions when we needed to buy new equipment to improve the quality to the podcast, but overall we do it because it is just plain fun and it is a great excuse to goof off on Friday afternoon.”

Dawn Goss, who hosts the podcast, said, “It is kind of cool being a celebrity.  People come up to me all the time and tell me they enjoy the podcast. People recognize me by my voice and saying, you’re Dawn, aren’t you?”

The podcast began with discussions of expertizing, detecting forgeries, and reperforated and regummed stamps. More recent podcasts cover lighter subjects, including Linn’s United States Stamp Popularity Poll, fancy cancels, movies that feature stamps, removing stamps from covers, and stamp shows.

One of the topics of discussion on the July 18 podcast centered on the new set of 10 nondenominated (49¢) forever stamps issued July 15 by the U.S. Postal Service featuring villains from Disney animated films.

Stamp collectors and dealers are invited to participate in podcasts. Linn’s managing editor Charles Snee joined the discussion for episode 17 in 2015.

“I think the podcast has taken off not just because of the stamp stories but also because people like to be part of a community,” Murphy said.

To access Stamp Show Here Today, you can use iTunes or Podbean or almost any other podcast platform.

The podcast can also be accessed from the Stamp Show Here Today website.