Video Pod Chronicles

The star of the show for me yesterday on Day One of Podcast Academy was Tony Kahn, director and producter of "Morning Stories," a luminous podcast and radio show of Boston's public radio station WGBH. I had not heard the show before Tony's presentation at the conference, and I've just begun to sample what's available on the internet. If you are subscribing to podcasts on iTunes or another podcatcher, his show is certainly a jewel to add to your collection. I spoke with him during a break to follow up on a comment he made about how to listen to yourself as well as the other person when you are conducting an interview.

At the dinner last night I sat next to Rocketboom's ace Boston correspondent Steve Garfield, who also happens to have joined forces recently with Eric Rice at AudioBlog, now known as Hipcast. That's the outfit which I use to post my podcasts. Steve has also done a great video interview with Tony which you can see here. Steve told me that Rocketboom is streaking into the stratosphere of new media success and that if I'm interested in becoming a Denver correspondent I am joining a long line of prospects. The next step would be to submit some video for consideration on Rocketboom's Human Wire. I just might do that!

I'm off to Day Two of Podcast Academy, full of new ideas and ready for more. You can hear all of yesterday's presentations here, and today's events will be streamed live on the internet. You can find the link here; you will need RealAudio to join in. Yesterday Adam Curry, the Podfather who got this podcasting thing going, was watching while Dan Bricklin, the inventor of the spreadsheet, did an of Curry's amazingly resonant voice. Oops. At this type of event, you get the feeling that we are all basically in the same room, no matter where we happen to be sitting.

Here is my interview with Tony Kahn, which has a good deal of background noise from talkative podcasters in the same room during a break:

Saturday, April 29, 2006

My parents this week hosted the Cambridge Musical Club's concert, a performance of Beethoven and Mozart by the Brando String Quartet . This brought a nice audience to the living room, as well as an unplanned guest appearance by one of the household's canine music lovers. The podcast includes comments by club president Holly Grinnell, a violinist, and a well-informed guest. It lasts 10 minutes.

Friday, April 28, 2006

I had so much fun giving a podcast demonstration to the staff of The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI) this morning that I forgot to take a photo until I was sitting on a bench in Boston Common looking up the hill to the Massachusetts State House. Peter Karoff, TPI's founder and chairman, followed up last month's breakfast conversation about podcasting with a request that I give a podcasting overview to members of his staff. With the help of a fast internet connection in the TPI boardroom and a projector, I walked the group through the creation and posting of a podcast comprising mini-interviews with Jason Born, Jane Maddox, Amy Zell, Peter, Ellen Remmer, and Cindy Hanshaw, aka Cindy Z. It took 20 minutes from turning on the M-Audio recorder to seeing the finished show appear in my iTunes library, and everything worked as planned.

Peter and his staff saw all kinds of implications for their work of promoting smart philanthropy. When he asked if I would like to help them move forward, I said "Of course."

Tomorrow I report to Boston University to begin a two-day workshop titled Podcast Academy 2. I will pay careful attention to the experts and will learn all I can about the podcast frontier. Sometimes I think I'm crazy staying up till 2 a.m. chasing some aspect of this new phenomenon. It was great to see the shared enthusiasm today at TPI as, one by one, the lights went on and the possiblities opened up.

Here is the demo podcast, about 5 minutes long:

Thursday, April 27, 2006