Podcasting – Start to Finish – In 10 Months

The following is a detailed statement about my experience being a podcaster, from when I started in Early December 2005 until two weeks ago when I completed my final episode of the Global Geek Podcast. I am going to talk about the difficulties of starting. You will read about podcasting the good, the bad and of course the ugly.

I was first bitten by the podcasting bug back in September 2005 when I read in a PC magazine, yes a paper magazine, about the joys of producing internet radio shows for others to download to their PCs or iPods. I was of course intrigued and checked out a “podcatching” client and found myself using FeedGarner. I looked for a podcast about technology and found GeekNewsCentral. I delighted to the show immediately. Todd Cochrane was THE MAN! I was amazed at how cool it was and wasted no time in getting in contact with him. He was full of nothing but encouragement and even read my email out on the air! I was stoked. It wasn’t long before I started to have ideas about having my own podcast. It was to be called “From the Director’s Chair” on my fifth episode, I applied to join the TechPodcast Network, and quickly become as involved as I could there. The FTDC gained some popularity, and it wasn’t long before my show was getting more than a few listeners. The podcast was hosted on Liberated Syndication, Libsyn for short. The cheapest service at 5 USD a month. I even got some fan mail from a few devoted listeners! There is nothing better than getting an email from someone saying that they enjoy your work, and that you have some talent. It’s even better when you get to guest on a friends podcast, which I am pleased to say I had the opportunity to do several times in this last 10 months. Check out Tech Help Weekly, it was my first appearance as a guest on a podcast.

FTDC started to change shape around the 10^th episode. I conducted my first interview ever. The victim: Tee Morris Co-Author of Podcasting For Dummies. I learned a few lessons early when conducting interviews. Always..always – check your levels before you start. I know it’s pathetic, but when I started with all this stuff I didn’t think about checking levels before hitting record! I interviewed a good few other cool names in podcasting including Andy McCaskey of Slashdot Review Podcast, Joe Klein of PodcastVoiceGuys who I am pleased to say is one of my closest friends and advisors now, and a few others. People really dug the interviews and I was pleased with how the show was going, the audio quality could have been better as it was just recorded on a crappy headset/mic. I didn’t have my Behringer recording suite yet. It was around this time that I started using the recording application CastBlaster from Podshow.

From the Director’s Chair continued only for 17 episodes when it merged with Global Geek Podcast. That show was spawned from an idea that my to-be partner and I had when in a conversation of chance. Dave Gray and I started talking one day on a recommendation from a mutual contact. I think the first time we talked was a 6 hour conversation. Dave and I just clicked, and still do. I knew I wanted to do a podcast with him from the moment he told me he was interested in producing a show but didn’t really know how he was going to go about it. We worked on the idea of titles for a few hours and after consulting multiple people settled on the title that stands today. Global Geek Podcast was produced every weekend but one since the first available download. I appeared on every show up to number 18 when I moved onto other projects. Dave and I have a mutual friend, the voice behind the Knightcast Podcast who has replaced me as co-host on the show on a permanent basis. I was not unhappy with any aspect of the show or Dave and my partnership. In the two weeks since I left the GGP I have been greatly pleased by the leaps that the show has made. Not only has the new co-host got what it takes to carry the role with professionalism and distinction, but they have managed to procure a sponsor for the show. I am really pleased that it is accelerating.

So a couple of weeks ago, my life as a weekly podcaster came to a rather unceremonious end. I learned today that in the October 2006 issue of .Net Magazine the GGP was featured as the number 2 podcast that should be on your iPod. How cool is that?

So it has been a long road, in a short time. I accomplished a lot and a little in the time I was a podcaster. I enjoyed working with a lot of the people who I met during this time and am pleased that we have remained in contact and even friends. This is not to say that I will not return to podcasting one day, sooner or later. I don’t think I would come back to a weekly audio podcast, maybe something in the video variety, like Robert Scoble but not for a little while, plus I would have to come up with something new to talk about!

FTDC Merger with Global Geek Podcast

Listeners and Supporters of the FTDC:

From the Director's Chair Podcast has made an exciting move in its development, we have merged with the other podcasting venture to which I am partnered to, Global Geek Podcast. A podcast about two hemispheres with two geeks delivering cool tech news with a funny edge.

Content delivery will be slightly different, and the RSS Feed has obviously changed. The FTDC RSS Feed will be changed to the GGP Feed. Here is the information you will need.

Global Geek Podcast at http://globalgeekpodcast.com

Global Geek Podcast RSS Feed at http://globalgeekpodcast.com/rss

I hope that you will join me over on GGP and will continue the voyage we have begun together and I look forward to hearing from all of you via email, skype, ODEO Message, and of course you can comment over on my blog at Seb's Random Thoughts.

Thank you for your listenership and support!

This letter was issued yesterday on the official From the Director's Chair website. After long thought, deliberations with Dave Gray, and finally a skype call to Todd Cochrane, everything has been decided and is moving ahead. I started From the Director's Chair back in December 2005 and it evolved several times under it's first title and course. The experiece of producing a podcast on my own is certainly something I find incredibly valuable to take to the new show, GGP.

When I started, I remember wanting to give up after only a couple of episodes because I was not getting a big enough response from people, and for some reason I thought I deserved one at that stage. I now know after doing a solo podcast for just under 5 months that feedback is few and far between, but when you do get it, it's amazing.

I find it a bittersweet goodbye to my helm, although I am in 50 percent ownership on Global Geek Podcast, From the Director's Chair, was entirly my creation, there was nothing on that show I didn't want, do, create, interview, you get the picture.
When FTDC started, I was already listening to, and trying to participate in shows on the TechPodcast Network at TechPodcasts.com. From the beginning I believed in the mission on the network, to provide child safe, and educational material. I joined the network at my fifth show, meeting the requirements, and in the last 5 months, I have become heavily involved in the TechPodcast Network, now affiliated with TechPodcasts, I produce Tech Podcasts This Week, every other week, Admin on the site forums, and generally participate in the network as much as I can. I really believe in where Todd wants to take the network and want to help us all get there.

Global Geek Podcast has taken From the Director's Chair place on the TechPodcast Network.

Now that FTDC is no longer in production, the Libsyn account I created for the show, has no need to remain active much longer, I will give it until my last day of paid time and then terminate the account. Please update your bookmarks with the GGP website, which in the coming weeks will also be undergoing a massive re-do.

I do want to thank all those who have encouraged me over the last five months with From the Director's Chair, its been a rocky-smooth road, and I have had a blast, now phase 2, with my great friend Dave Gray is in affect.

See you on GGP all comments are welcome.