Gaming roots, Cleveland noise, basement-radio chaos.
Video Game News Radio sounds less like a tidy news desk than a recurring roomful of regulars arguing their way toward entertainment. Gaming sits in the family tree, but the excerpts roam through technology nostalgia, Cleveland chatter, food delivery, television, sports, and improvised news roleplay.
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Video Game News Radio is a long-running, blue-collar, gaming-adjacent panel show whose strongest identity is not the news but the room. It sounds lived-in. The episodes show a feed where titles and sub-shows shift across Oblast Radio, Midwest Wasteland, and What's Happening in Cleveland, while the same general sensibility keeps returning: fast banter, local references, personal grudges, repeated names, and arguments that turn into scenes before anyone has fully agreed on the point. Gaming is part of the origin story and taxonomy, but the excerpts are broader than a release-calendar show. Technology nostalgia gets real space, especially in the episode that wanders through wired phones, family members listening in, internet problems, and old tabletop gaming habits. Cleveland material gives the show another spine, from NBA shockwaves to Adam stories to the ongoing comedy of people leaving, returning, or somehow being unreachable. The panel is comfortable with technical mess. Someone is late, someone drops, someone cannot hear, someone is supposedly working on an opening, and the episode usually keeps moving anyway. That looseness becomes a feature. A stated topic like roleplaying the news becomes a full improvised disaster scenario with apocalypse logic, basement beer, bad equipment, and everyone testing how long the bit can survive. A pandemic-era episode turns anxiety, food delivery, pantry desperation, and delivery routines into bleak comedy, then still closes with a sincere wish that people stay healthy. Oblast Radio adds a slightly more direct conversational mode, with Don and Kevin bouncing from podcast logistics to delivery work, social awkwardness, masks, television, and the boundaries of what they do not want to argue about. The show can be abrasive. It also has warmth underneath the noise, especially in the way people keep reappearing across years, formats, and half-working setups. The humor is often blunt and intentionally uncomfortable, so it is not for listeners who need a clean, edited recap. It is for people who enjoy hearing a recurring crew riff until the original topic is barely visible, then somehow circle back with a punchline, a complaint, or a half-serious goodbye.
Made for: Best for listeners who like unpolished panel banter, older-internet podcast energy, Cleveland-area color, technology nostalgia, and gaming-adjacent talk that freely wanders. It is less suited to anyone seeking concise headlines or carefully edited criticism.
What sets it apart: Its edge comes from continuity: the same recurring names, stories, absences, broken setups, and local references accumulate into a shared comic universe. Similar gaming shows chase news; this one often lets the news become an excuse for friends to argue, riff, and remember things badly together.
Video Game News Radio is not your ordinary gaming podcast. It's hosted by a group of blue collar men over the age of 35. The discussions are chaotic at times, and it's not unusual to hear someone go off, or hear long stretches of laughter. If you like your shows real and not edited or trying. Give VGNR a listen. We're one of the oldest gaming podcasts there are, broadcasting since July of 2004.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Loose group chemistry turns technology, roleplay, television, and everyday mishaps into comic leisure talk with an improvisational pulse.
Video Game News Radio gives Kevin Baird, Brian Baird, Larry Mack, Don Anderson, and their companions room to follow a topic wherever the conversation takes it.
A roleplayed apocalypse pauses for beer from the mini fridge; your patience for digressions gets rewarded.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A rough comeback episode where feed troubles, racial awkwardness, and Hulk talk share the same loose rhythm.
Oblast - 02/01/2021 finds Don and Kevin working through the uneven early phase of a comeback. They move from an unfinished opening and feed problems into Spotify still not picking up the show, then drift into a deliberately uncomfortable conversation about racial awkwardness…
A loose reunion turns a paused tumbling show and DoorDash economics into a warm portrait of two longtime friends talking their way back in.
Oblast Radio begins with a small, odd mystery: a podcast that went quiet without much of a goodbye. Kevin and Don talk through Don stopping tumbling around May or June, while Kevin admits a run of true crime podcasts kept him from realizing the show had stopped updating.
A pandemic reunion turns broken audio, food worries, and delivery fries into loose, rough-edged group comedy.
Kevin Baird, Brian Baird, Don Anderson, and Larry turn pandemic survival into a rowdy reunion, where broken audio and scarce food are as useful as any planned joke.
A ragged roleplay bit turns beer, ravioli, and a five-second radio into apocalypse planning.
Midwest Wasteland - Role Playing the News turns its roleplay-news premise into an apocalypse bit that is still being built as it goes. The early scramble over Cease and Skype sets the tone: Anderson is expected later, the group is sorting out who plays whom, and the whole thing…
Old phones turn into fuel for family mischief, crude timing, and stories that keep wandering off course.
Technology through the years plays like a loose dig through old phones, with Kevin Baird, Brian Baird, and Larry Mack turning familiar hardware into stories about privacy, hassle, and family mischief.
A loose second comeback show that turns awkward race talk and Hulk logic into revealing conversation.
Oblast - 02/01/2021 catches Don and Kevin in the relaxed early stretch of their second comeback show, where an iTunes feed snag and Spotify's delay in finding the program become part of the opening rhythm.
A games-chart drinking game drifts into movie nights, packing, home projects, and an undignified childhood memory.
A drinking game based on the week's Movers and Shakers titles gives Kevin Baird, Brian Baird, Don Anderson, and Larry Mack just enough structure to riff on a camouflage controller, inexpensive cola, and a memorably named chocolate stout.
Game Informer's editors review new releases and debrief hands-on previews from events like Summer Game Fest.
Hosts Kevin and Don return for their second comeback episode of Oblast Radio.
The hosts of Video Game News Radio open with a drinking game based on the week's top-selling video game accessories.
The hosts banter about technical issues and a drinking game before counting down the top 20 video game titles of the week.
The hosts discuss the departure of a co-host named Brian and introduce a new show format while cracking open beers.
A group of blue-collar men discuss a video tour of Cleveland's ghettos and share personal updates.
The hosts discuss NBA news, particularly the Cleveland Cavaliers, with humorous and chaotic banter.
Kevin and Don open by saying the show is back but still not fully distributed, with iTunes problems and Spotify not yet carrying the feed.
OBLAST Radio on January 25, 2021 relaunches with Don and Kevin explaining a new two-host format after a long gap.
March 28th, 2020 opens with Kevin Baird, Brian Baird, and Don Anderson trying to get Midwest Wasteland running after nearly an hour of setup, with Larry McNew briefly dropping in and out.
Recorded June 27, 2010, Midwest Wasteland is a live improv comedy podcast hosted by Kevin Baird, Brian Baird, and Larry Mack, with regular guest Cease, on VGN Radio via BlogTalkRadio.
Recorded May 2, 2010, Midwest Wasteland's 'Technology Through the Years' episode features Kevin Baird, Brian Baird, and Larry Mack recounting their personal experiences with television, cable, satellite dishes, and VCRs from the 1960s through the early 2000s.