Category: Podcasting

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Compression is not in the NPR dictionary

Dear National Public Radio,

I really enjoy listening to your podcasts. Being someone who used to work in the network, I understand the content that you guys offer with your podcasts. The new is incredibly informative and a great addition to my playlists when I go running. The five minute updates clue me into news happening around the world that I’ll usually look into future among my many RSS feeds.

I also like the other content that you guys offer. The Whad’Ya Know stuff is great. I’ve been listening to Mr. Feldman for as long as I can remember. Although it’s just a small portion of the weekly program, his satire is quite humourus.

What I was to know is… why do I always have to crank up the volume when I listen to your podcasts? It’s annoying. I get that there is a certain “style” to the way NPR does things. I have also run into a number of arguments in the broadcast engineering world to know about the dislike for compression among public radio enthusiasts. To each their own, but this is podcasting we’re talking about.

When I’m in the shower, CNN podcasts are perfect. Once your news update hits, I get nothing but some mumbling. And if I decide to switch my playlist up when I go running, my ear drums get blasted when music follows said news update because I have to turn up your stuff just to understand the content. Listening to Feldman on the podcast produces some of the same mumbling followed by laughter from the audience. I completely miss what was funny and shouldn’t have to rewind to catch it.

And for the love of god, shorten up the intro and outros. That beginning music is one thing, but you can be way more brief in telling me thanks for downloading your five minute news summary. Perhaps it’s the ads that drive me even more nuts. The non-commercial rule of thumb doesn’t apply so much to podcasts, and I doubt the FCC is going to or can regulate that.

Just give me the news, and let me be able to hear it without having to crank the volume all the way up.

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RadioZoom Episode #111 – Six Song Donut Spectacular: September 2006; Farewell to WOXY.com

A little late getting an episode out this week, but I’ve been battling an all out attack on my sinuses for the past six days. That being said, #111 is up and ready for download.

WOXY.com ends a long running history of being one of the best sources for alternative, independent music today. In this six song(plus two), I pay my respects to one of the greatest radio stations, terrestrial and internet-only, to have ever existed. All songs in this episode were artists that I discovered through WOXY, tracked down, and received permission from.

Today marks another page in rock and roll history. Septmber 15, 2006 will forever be the day that the music stopped, for good, from WOXY.com. Even if it begins again, it will never be the same as it ever was.

56:00 minutes
radiozoom.net

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Podcasting and the Meta Argument

At BarCampVancouver, Ryan Cousineau[wiredcola] led a session called “Sturgeon’s Revelation”[wiki]. The idea that “ninety percent of everything is crud” was the center piece of this session, applying it to pretty much everything that exists in the world of Web 2.0[wiki]. The main topic of focus, however, was podcasting[wiki].

Darren Barefoot made a recent post regarding social networks and podcasting, citing that the resources are not there for the medium as there is for photo, video, or link sharing. This idea speaks a lot to what Cousineau was getting at with his session, and much of his thoughts on the topic is posted on his blog.

When it comes down to it, there is not an easy way to share content within a podcast unless you listen to it. You can’t Google search for information that can be found in a podcast. There are such things as show notes and tags that people apply to the material that they publish, but not everyone does it, nor does everyone do it the same way.

The only solution to this problem is to transcribe podcasts in their entirty so that anyone searching for a topic can locate it in your podcast as well as anywhere else on the web. Quite often, this is where people with low opinions about podcasting derive their argument, and I’ve heard this thought propelled by a lot of bloggers. Yes, blogging is a very quick way of publishing information for the world to read in nearly real time. It is instantly indexed, searchable, and archived.

Generating audio for a podcast can be done in the same way, but often is delayed and ineffective with being timely. The podcast itself, in its raw form, is a bunch of ones and zeros, and no one has developed a way to index the contents of a podcast so that it is searchable across the internet. No matter how great of material that you have in a podcast, some one finding that gem of information inside forty minutes of a mp3 won’t happen unless they download it and listen.

This is where I start to agree with the point that Cousineau is saying and the thoughts presented in Barefoot’s post. The conversation that you can get from podcasting is vastly different for the ones that happen through blogging, Flickr, or YouTube. “Feedback” is the better word for what goes on with a podcast. Continue reading “Podcasting and the Meta Argument”

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Sticking to a schedule for podcasts

Allow me to continue a long standing discussion among podcasters and critics out there in the medium, but when is the best time for putting out podcasts?

It all comes down to a schedule, right? There should be certain things that people can count on with your podcast. Content, style, quality, frequency(as in how often you publish new material), and location. I could have said five, distinct elements, but there is way to much to consider or even begin to argue over what is and isn’t more important to think about. If you’re not careful, you can fall into a vicious circle, and I’m saying that based on experience.

For the most part, I like to have subscribers and listeners count on me to publish one, new episode every week. That is not as easy as it sounds. No matter how much or little that you create, you are constantly fighting with what is coming up for your next production.

RadioZoom is what it is, and I love creating content for it. The name itself will never limit me from doing what I want with it. It’s my creation to do what I see fit. Even that doesn’t make everything that much easier.

Continue reading “Sticking to a schedule for podcasts”

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RadioZoom Episode #110 – Vandigicam Flickr Group: Portrait Throw Down Meetup

I feel like I should write a little more about the fact that this episode is up and ready for download, but that’s enough material for its very own post. One re-dub and hundreds of edits later, episode #110 is ready for download.

I was invited to join the Vandigicam Flickr Group on their “Portrait Throw Down III” meetup that gathered in English Bay on August 30, 2006. Vancouver photographer, Rachael Ashe, contacted me with the idea that this event that she was leading would make for interesting podcast material. The location and people apart of the group were an excellent setting for documenting what a Vandigicam gathering is like. Rebecca joined me but participated in the photo-festivities while I ran around with a microphone. Yet another adventure into the people that make up Vancouver, and here is a portion of those people who share a passion for getting behind the lense.

I would love to have linked to everyone’s Flickr accounts that I met at the meetup. Gladly and unfortunately, there were just way too many people to recall nor would it be fair to list the few people I do recall while forgetting the rest. If you were there, feel free to post a comment with a link to your photos. Regardless, it was great meeting everyone!

55:39 minutes
radiozoom.net

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Here, there, and I swear I’m forgetting something

This week has been full of various projects and events. For starters, the concert at the former home of Matthew Good is still having some ripple effects. More so, the podcast Rebecca and I did to document the occassion after the fact is still going strong in terms of downloads. It was the most downloaded episode that I have released in a single day, on the day that it was published. A lot of that is in part from Good linking RZ#109 that from his website. Can’t thank him enough.

The Flickr Vandigicam meetup was a resounding success, and it appears that many of the past meetups are just as much so. There was nearly 30 people who showed up for the Portrait Throw Down III, and Rebecca even got in on the fun[miss604:post] while I recorded audio for a podcast to released next week. Lots of really fun people and just as many pieces of camera equipment. Be watching the RadioZoom website for that episode on Tuesday.

Darren Barefoot also put a call out to Vancouver bloggers to go check out his play[db:post], Bolloxed, during the Vancouver Fringe Festival. I sent him an email, and he graciously put Rebecca and I on the list. Being that we’re getting in for free, Barefoot is asking that we blog a review of the play. Of course, I offered to do some podcasting about it as well. I’ll take the mobile rig along with, capture what audio I can during the play, and even try to get Darren, the playwriter himself, on the mic.

I also want to encourage people to check out the “Fringecast” that is being put on by xpodradio.com. It’s a podcast about, you guessed it, the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Darren sent me a quick note to also inform me that he’d be appearing on there.

I’m also in the process of planning a new podcast, and that’s, once again, another hint drop. We hope to launch the project in the next few weeks, but everything is still in the planning stages. Listeners of RZ won’t be too surprised when it does land, but the scope of the podcast goes a little beyond what many podcasts are doing. Keep checking back as we get things off the ground.

Needless to say, without having any source of income coming from anything of what I just listed, I’m keeping busy.

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Starbucks is going to podcast

I kind of understand the angle they are going for, but for the love of god, why?

Regardless of whether you regard Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX)as an icon of everything good in the corporate world or a harbringer of the apocolaypse, we all have to agree that the coffee company is quite innovative. It comes as no surprise, then, that Starbucks is set to launch a podcast series.

The coffee retailer is rolling out a new “Coffee Conversations” program where the company will provide downloadbable audio on its web site. Starbucks said that the podcasts will cover coffee topics, including home-brewing, specialty coffee, and pairing coffee with foods. [bizpodcasting]

I can’t even joke to say that I’m excited for this. Yes, the idea is innovative. More businesses should consider doing ventures like this to help promote themselves and/or their product.

On the other hand, “coffee topics” by the largest, coffee corporation in the world is another thing. They’ll be able to tell you the best thing you can buy from the display case full of pastries that go along with their menu of drinks. That’s called a “target-cast”; a podcast that is intended to sell you a product.

You can’t throw a brick in downtown Vancouver without hitting a Starbucks. Now you can listen to the podcast while you do it.

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Recording with the Vandigicam group tonight

I was contacted last week on a podcasting request. This might be the first time that anyone has specifically requested me to do a podcast regarding a certain topic or event. Needless to say, I was excited at doing some recording during the Vandigicam Flickr group outing this evening for the Official Portrait Throw Down III.

Here’s some more info on the group:

Anyone is welcome to join the Vandigicam group and post topics and participate in discussions but we’d like submissions to the group pool to be limited to shots taken during a Vandigicam meetup.

The Vandigicam flickr group is a handy communication medium for those of us who are meeting through flickr. We post notices of upcoming meetings here, as well as notices of interesting events that are worth photographing.

We welcome ALL camera users – digital and analog! Vandigicam is not meant to replace the more general Vancouver group, it is just something extra.

If you’d like to contribute images to the pool please join us at one of our outings. We always welcome new members! [flickr: vandigicam]

Checking out the Vandigicam FAQ, anyone with any type of camera is invited to be apart of the group and attend their meetups.

My plan is to approach this in a similar manner as I did with the Metroblogging Vancouver episode[radiozoom#103] that I did about a month ago. With hope, no one will be too afraid of the microphone, and I stand a chance of learning something new.

And if you have any ideas about what I should be doing with the podcast, I am always up for ideas and suggestions. Head over to the RadioZoom site and let me know.

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WILT: Filmspotting

I recently re-discovered this podcast. Meaning, I’ve know about it for a long time but never listened in. And as you may or may not know, I have a thing about critics. Film, music, TV, or what have you, they tend to not be the types of folks that I pay not a lot of attention to. It’s a complete love/hate relationship that I have because, yes, I am a critic myself. How hypocritical of me.

During my days at KRUI, there were only two film review programs that I really enjoyed. The content was good, the personalities were enjoyable, and for putting together a weekly program without pay, they did an incredible job. I saw others try to do it and fall short. Some actually crashed pretty hard. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled onto this podcast.

Filmspotting.netFilmspotting[wiki] is hosted by Adam Kempenaar and Sam Van Hallgren from Chicago. They do a weekly podcast about, you guessed it, movies. They review the latest releases as well as discuss films they love, new and old. You can really tell how much these guys love not only what they do, but their passion for film is apparent in every episode. The production and overall quality of the podcast is superb, and the relationship these two guys have are visible each minute.

Interestingly enough, Adam was host of “Burn Hollywood Burn” during his days at KRUI around the same time I was there. In fact, I recall teaching him how to use the phones so he could put callers on the air during the show. So much of what was “Burn Hollywood Burn” has made it into the podcast, and it’s even better than I remember during his days on the radio.

However, this just isn’t a podcast. Once a month, these guys get to put their chops on air over Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ. The Top 5 and Massacre Theater have both made it to this project, and it’s something that any movie lover can come to appreciate. I can’t fail to mention that they do give away contest prizes, and free stuff always makes things better.

To me, this is how movie reviews should be. You can like or dislike the latest and greatest releases, but when it comes down to it, you can all agree that movies rock. No matter how much you complain about the price you pay at the box office, your love for the big screen will keep you coming back. And now, Filmspotting is a podcast that movie addicts can come together for and share that experience.

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RadioZoom Episode #109 – Matthew Good: Last night in Vancouver and a private performance

This episode was a long one, but I think you will understand why when you listen to it.

Matthew Good invited us into his home for a private concert on the last night that he would be a resident of Vancouver. Rebecca was fortunate enough to not only get an invite, but Good asked her to live blog the event for the world. Only 20 fans were invited, some from the local area while others grabbed a flight to be there with barely 24 hours notice. This episode is our attempt to share more of that experience. If you are a fan or a listener of this podcast, I hope you understand why we did this episode and maybe learn a little more about Matthew Good.

68:08 minutes
radiozoom.net