Podcasting

I haven’t done much cross linking to work stuff. But I’ve got to say, my involvement in podcasting has been a lot of fun. It involves both my creative and technical minds (they sometimes talk to each other ).

Jeri & Nicole show: I approached GoTriad editor Jeri Rowe months ago about what he was doing on the radio. He’s on several radio stations (WUAG and WZTK) and does (now twice a week) some time on WXII (Thursdays and Saturdays). I was wondering if there was a way we could move all that to our Web site.

Then I heard an NPR report about podcasting and got hooked.

I talked Jeri into doing a podcast and got our online department on board. They came up with the concent of GoRadio. There’s been a little confusion both outside the paper and inside over GoRadio. It’s a channel that we hope to build, hosting lots of different content. Jeri’s show started out as GoRadio but has morphed into the Jeri & Nicole show (listen to the 6.10.05 show here).

Columnist Lorraine Ahearn sort of dropped her podcast, Lorraine Speaks, in our laps. She’s been recording some of her columns for some time, offered them up, and we add them when she does new ones. There’s a lot more room for improvement and she’s got a lot of great ideas. But time is the critical factor for her.

After listening to the Skinny on Sports, I knew there could be a great opportunity for us to produce a sports podcast. I threw out some names to writers Jeff Carlton and Jim Young and Jeff seettled on Radio Free Sports. Jim’s out for awhile, but Rob Daniels was jazzed about doing it. They did two podcasts then I went on vacation and the U.S. Open came to the area. There’s more to come, though. We’re not set up to podcast the Open, but ACC time…

I’d been toying with the idea of doing a podcast, too. With editor John Robinson and the staff developing the Town Square concept, I thought it would be great to talk to reporters about the stories they were working on. Lot’s of great stuff never makes the paper and some of the stories about the stories reporters wrote were just as good. I sort of got pushed (by myself, mostly) into starting The Beat, but it’s been a blast. I recorded and produced the last one myself. Sports editor Joe Sirera is fun to talk to and has tremendous sports knowledge.

We haven’t ironed out all the kinks. I’d like to bring all the podcasts under the GoRadio banner. I’ve got a ton of ideas and not enough time to pursue them. Taylor Webster and Kevin Lockamy have been godsends, producing the podcasts and creating the graphics. Thanks guys. I know how busy you’ve been with the redesign of the site.

It’s a work in progress, but I think one that will be well worth the time and effort.