We’re doing something different here at Jim Peters @Night: Our live TV show will be taking video phone calls from the public. And you don’t need any special software to join in – just a web browser, and a camera and mic on your device.
How It Works
When our show is on live – 11 PM Eastern / 8 PM Pacific, Monday through Thursday, beginning July 31st – there will be a big button at the top of this page; pressing that button will put you in the call-in queue to talk to Jim during the show. (Feel free to bookmark this page: its URL – https://jimatnight.com/call/ – will never change.) Before we go on here, we must point out the obvious: If you call into the show, you will end up on the screens of all the other viewers – yeah, like your picture. But if you don’t want to be seen, there’s still a way you can call in; see below.
You can use any device with a camera and mic to join in – desktop, smartphone, tablet, whatever. And you don’t need any special software on your device. What you do need is to use the Google Chrome web browser; it’s available for all devices, and it’s easy to download and install… EXCEPT: If you’re on an iOS device – iPhone, iPad, etc. – use the Safari web browser that comes built-in to those devices. (However, if you’re on a Mac desktop, you still use Google Chrome.)
Load this page in that browser, and then push the big button at the top. This will take you to our virtual greenroom, where you can choose and check your camera, mic and speaker output:
Type in your preferred screen name at the top (this will show up on the screen next to your image). Note that on the “Camera” pull-down right under the preview image, one of the possible selections is always “No Video”; choose this if you do not want your image broadcast, thus:
Under the “Advanced Settings” we strongly recommend leaving the defaults for echo, stereo and mic volume. The last selection in this box depends on your previous choices: if you’re using your camera, you should be able to choose your output resolution here (nothing wrong with leaving the default selection); if you disabled your camera (see above), you will be able to upload a screen avatar in this spot (and if you’re not using your camera, we highly recommend you do that).
When you’re done with all this, hit the “Join” button at the bottom. You will be placed in the caller queue, in the order you called in. When Jim selects you to join him on-air, the screen will split, and you’ll take up the right side of it. When you’re done, hit the “Leave” button on the bottom right of your screen.
How and Why to Call In
We will be taking callers for the third – the last – part of the show, usually after our featured guest for the evening. And you can talk about anything you want – Jim’s monologue, the featured guest, a previous caller, or you can even promote something you’re working on. Only real rule: no on-camera nudity. Although we are not bound by FCC rules, most of our distributors will cancel us if this happens too often. If you do this, Jim will hang up on you immediately.
Bottom line: As far as we can tell, no television talk show has ever done this before. This is all new – we’re making history here. So we really encourage you to call in. Please take part in this madness….