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John Shepherd is a self-taught electronics whizz. He'd spend his days collecting discarded radio and tv sets and refashioning them into new devices. He used his skills for an unsual pursuit. This was the 60s, the space race was in full swing and there was a collective fascination with alien life. A fascination that continues to this day, recently the US Congress convened a landmark panel to discuss UFOs. John wanted to make contact. But how do you start a conversation with an alien? Initially he just transmitted binary tones but later settled on a different way to communicate, he started broadcasting reggae, afrobeat, jazz, and more, the ‘universal language’ of music. John Shepherd spoke to Emily Webb in 2020.

Voice of Baceprot or V.O.B. as they prefer to be known are three young women who are making waves in the world of metal music. They’ve been on, it’s fair to say, a meteoric rise over the last few years after getting together in a small rural town near Garut in Indonesia. They've caught the attention of some of the biggest names in rock with their viral covers of metal tracks, and growing number of original songs, and have been touring the world since their first trip to Europe in 2021. Outlook's Gaia Caramazza spoke to them. Audio from their live show is from uchanesound.

Presenter: India Rakusen
Producers: Andrea Kennedy and Rob Wilson

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(Photo: John Shepherd. Credit: Courtesy of John Shepherd)