533: cyber.cafe: The 90s TV Show That Exposed the Internet's Wild Side - The Retro Hour EP533
The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)
The Retro Hour
4.9 • 558 Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2026
⏱️ 108 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, we’re joined by Wingham Rowan, creator and host of the pioneering ’90s ITV show cyber.cafe. Long before YouTube, Twitch, Tinder and social media, cyber.cafe explored the strange, funny and sometimes shocking human stories emerging from the early internet, from chat room romances and online communities to JenniCam, alien abductees, moral panics, bizarre websites and late-night web culture. Wingham shares brilliant behind-the-scenes stories from making one of the UK’s first TV shows to take the internet seriously, capturing a moment when the web was still mysterious, chaotic and full of possibility.
cyber.cafe: https://www.ninetiesinternet.com/
Contents:
00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories
49:52 – cyber.cafe Interview
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
Bitmap Books – https://www.bitmapbooks.com
Check out PCBWay at https://pcbway.com for all your PCB needs
PlayEXPO Blackpool tickets: https://www.playexpoblackpool.com/
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you’d like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://theretrohour.com/support/
https://www.patreon.com/retrohour
Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8
Website: http://theretrohour.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/
X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour
Show notes
MegaWiFi Online Play: https://tinyurl.com/4dd76pru
Adventure of Node: https://tinyurl.com/mwfvr62j
Elden Ring N64 Demake: https://tinyurl.com/3xjw88p2
Spyro E3 Statue Rescued: https://tinyurl.com/ydtj225p
Windows CE On N64: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGS9su_inBY
Switch GBA Link Cable: https://tinyurl.com/5n9bj8p7
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | People across the country are feeling all warm and fuzzy about their heat pumps. |
| 0:04.0 | Installing it during the renovation was an easy call. |
| 0:07.0 | The bathroom tiles, however. |
| 0:08.0 | It's much nicer than your boiler. |
| 0:10.0 | The place is just always warm and cozy like. |
| 0:12.0 | The government grant was the help we needed to start upgrading. |
| 0:16.0 | You get a lovely, steady temperature. |
| 0:18.0 | Walking around without waste slippers are you? |
| 0:20.0 | Feel all warm and fuzzy inside with a seven and a half thousand pound government grant |
| 0:24.3 | towards your heat pump at gov.uk. |
| 0:26.3 | U.K. slash clean energy. |
| 0:27.6 | Eligibility criteria applies the website for details. |
| 0:30.0 | Coming up on this week's show, a new RPG comes to the Amiga. |
| 0:34.2 | Install windows on your N64. |
| 0:36.2 | And we go inside the world of 90s internet culture with our guest |
| 0:40.0 | wing and row and the retro hour podcast is brought to you every week with our good mates |
| 0:52.3 | and bitmap books so we really appreciate them sponsoring our podcast. |
| 0:56.2 | And have you seen their brand new volume just dropped in the last week? |
| 1:00.0 | Fatal Fury, or as it was known in Japan, Garo Densetsu, the definitive guide to that incredible fighting game series, weighing in at more than 460 pages, all sorts in here as well. |
| 1:12.4 | Rear concept art from SNK's archives, exclusive interviews with the developers, and covers |
| 1:17.7 | the entire series from the early Neo Geo Classics to the latest city of the wolves. |
| 1:22.6 | You can get your copy right now at bitmapbooks.com. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Retro Hour, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Retro Hour and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.