Recently I started up a podcast for my Masters program at UBC. I am working towards an MFA in Creative Writing (so eminently useful and practical, I know...), and there had been a discussion going on in the program for some time about starting a journal, or a magazine, and while there had been slight mention about podcasting, it wasn't until this year when a couple of students got going on the discussion boards, with some serious intent, about really starting a podcast.
Well, I had spent a few years in radio, and had been podcasting as far back as 2001, before the term podcasting had been coined, and before, in fact, the iPod had even been introduced!
I'd taken a hiatus for a couple of years from 2007 to 2009, but in 2010, at the request of my boss, I got back into podcasting in a serious way.
So when the call came for starting a podcast, I was ready to go. I contact the principals in that discussion, all full of vim and vigor, and immediately got back a response, which in essence was - "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we need to form a committee, discuss what a podcast might be like, form an editorial board, gather a larger group of people to take part in the communal decision making..." and it went on.
Nothing, nothing like a podcast ever happens by committee. There always needs to be a driving force. A center. A focus. Other people are brought in, encouraged to contribute, but you always need someone with their foot on the gas.
So after few more e-mails where I tried to persuade them to just start the ball rolling, at least, I got nowhere. Why, these folks even felt the need to go on the boards and obliquely mock me ("We need to build something that will last...not just be some guy who will flame out").
You know, that's cool. That's fine. I let them know that I was sorry they felt this way, and that I'd be going ahead and getting a show going, and that I was looking forward to listening to their podcast when it got rolling. But, that said, I wanted to get a move on, and I did.
That same week, the podcast was up and running.
I made a website, a comments wall, an email address, set up the online storage, and produced the first episode. I've recently submitted the podcast to iTunes for consideration, and I am waiting to hear back from them. From what I read, I may have jumped the gun, because they like to see at least three episodes in the can before they consider it.
Episode 2 came out last week, and I am working on number three as we speak. So maybe I'll just have to resubmit it later!
It's a funny thing when you tell people you are going to do something, then you go do it. More often than not, those same people are "caught off guard" or "surprised." I got word from my program administrator that a few people were upset. Luckily, there were far, far more people who were eager and enthusiastic about taking part.
So now it's "On with the Show!"
Well, it's actually not so adversarial as that. I was really hoping there would be this team in place, and we could pool our skills. I wasn't aiming at a "This'll show 'em!" sort of message, but perhaps it came across that way. I feel bad about that, but I'm also a fan of a lot of podcasts, and one thing in common with all of them is that they all just started, then grew and evolved as they went along. The Nerdist, Adam Carolla, Starship Sofa...
ReplyDeleteIntention and perception... they always seem to be at odds.
Hopefully, as time goes on, I be able to get people involved more regularly, so that I can take my foot off the gas a bit.
James, again, great stuff. So many great ideas get squashed by stalling,meeting, discussing,etc. etc. until the energy simply fizzles out. Thanks for being the 'centre' of this. Fabulous!
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