About these Authors
Matt May is a Web accessibility specialist, and has written on the interaction of people and technology since 1995. He keeps his own weblog at
bestkungfu.com, and produces a podcast called
Staccato, which features Creative Commons-licensed music.
Alex Williamsblogs, consults and produces unconference style events, where people immerse in DIY media. These are fun occasions, designed for people who want to get together with authors, artists, technologists and leading thinkers to converse, eat, listen to music, write, shoot photos and post podcasts and videoblogs. Alex also works with companies to establish DIY approaches, where writing, photography, voice and video come together to create new conversations and communities. Alex is currently fascinated with digital photography. His girlfriend calls him a Flickrholic. Send Alex a nice message: alexhwilliams at gmail.com.
Nicole Simon loves blogging and podcasting, dashed with an European view. As consultant she helps to facilitate such tools for business purposes or personal publishing empires. She can be found at
cruel to be kind and on her private blog
Useful Sounds.
Roland Tanglao is a well known podcasting enthusiast and a passionate advocate of blogs, RSS, and social software as a means of online expression for people, organizations and businesses. He is a prominent participant in the blogosphere and online communities and one of the founders of Bryght and as Bryght's Chief Blogging Officer reads hundreds of blogs daily. He graduated from the University of Waterloo, worked at Nortel Networks where he ran its first internal corporate blog, has has been blogging since 1999, and was the first business blogging consultant in Canada.
Alex Williams
Matt May
Nicole Simon
Roland Tanglao
1. Andy Wibbels on May 3, 2005 9:47 AM writes...
Compelling/exclusive content. Granularity. Babble-less-ness. Personality.
Permalink to Comment2. Tim on May 3, 2005 11:23 AM writes...
First and foremost, an exceptional podcast has to scratch an itch in the listener. An itch to be informed. An itch to be entertained. An itch to be connected.
Exceptional podcasts provide a service to their community.
This in itself is no different than conventional media (radio, TV, print). But whereas traditional broadcast media serve geographic communities, podcasting serves psychographic communities.
Due to production costs, television and radio programming must serve communities that are large enough to be economically viable (in a marketing sense). Or their production costs must be underwritten.
But podcasts do not (necessarily) have such large production costs, thus they can be 'viable' on a much smaller scale and for much smaller communities than is possible with traditional entertainment or information programming.
Since podcasting is simply a delivery method, an exceptional podcast contains many of the same elements that make up an exceptional radio broadcast. The quality of the host is of course key among these.
Further, podcast producers have a much greater latitude to produce what they choose without worrying about FCC restrictions -- though clearly this fact, in and of itself, doesn't equate to 'exceptional' podcasts.
In summary, podcasts can be cheaper to produce than traditional programming. Thus, they can be viable for small communities as well as large. We will see an explosion in experimentation. Listeners, producers and marketers will all interact in a combination of both new and old ways.
From this, I think it is clear that the definition of what is 'exceptional' will expand as well.
What makes podcasting unique is that it fits well within our lifestyles. It is content delivered when WE want it - not at a predetermined time or delivered while we sit in front of a TV or computer screen. It is 'on the go' content.
Permalink to Comment3. Evan Schaeffer on May 3, 2005 2:45 PM writes...
The discussion would be more useful and relevant in terms of actual podcasts. For example, Adam Curry has announced his "podcasting stars" at Podshow.com, which include Dawn and Drew, Michael Butler, etc. Are these shows "exceptional"? Why or why not? What role does popularity or audience demand play in the equation?
There is also a divide between subject matter and technique. I assume that the discussion of the "exceptional podcast" will apply to both?
Permalink to Comment4. Tim on May 3, 2005 6:05 PM writes...
> more useful and relevant in terms of actual podcasts
I've listened to The Dawn and Drew Show several times and for the life of me, I can't figure out what people like about it. I've listened to Curry sing its praises and still I'm unimpressed. Same with Yeast Radio.
But others have voted with their ears. The rankings at Podcast Alley indicate at least a few people disgree with me. That's OK.
Personally, I think IT Conversations is exceptional - 5 stars.
But what I personally do or don't like isn't really relevant here. If someone finds a podcast entertaining, or informative, or connecting, then it may be considered exceptional - even if the audience is only a couple hundred people.
Consider this: I think we will see the eventual emergence of a number of podcasts dealing with medical issues. Someone with a terminal illness might record a series of podcasts relating their personal experiences with the dying process.
Clearly, this would not be the stuff of popular culture. But it may be of exceptional value to someone facing the same illness or members of their family.
In the end, I don't believe 'exceptional' necessarily equates to 'most popular'.
Permalink to Comment5. Jessica Swesey on May 3, 2005 7:02 PM writes...
I agree there has to be some hook for the listener: it's either information they're looking for or entertainment, or maybe both. The podcasts I enjoy have reeled me in with either of these things. I like Dawn and Drew because of their personalities, as with Adam Curry's the Daily Source Code.
Permalink to Comment6. Craig Patchett on May 3, 2005 11:43 PM writes...
I just did 20 minutes on this for "Behind the Scenes." Check it out at http://www.godcast.org/categories/behindTheScenes/2005/04/18.html#a1080
Permalink to Comment7. Curt Taylor on May 4, 2005 2:37 AM writes...
With respect to a "hook" I tend to look at this from another perspective. What makes a podcast good or bad depends on the what is motivating the podcaster to do one in the first place. We all have a story to tell, some are just more motivated to share then others.
DNDS was interesting at first, but it turns into blather after a while. It started with them sharing their lives and personal realities, but they seem to have drifted into a podcast about their podcasting and a little bit boring.
Permalink to Comment8. Tim Elliott on May 4, 2005 9:53 AM writes...
The passion of the podcaster for the subject matter, solid information not easily found in other mediums, combined with pleasing production value are what I think makes for compelling podcasts.
Examples:
Permalink to CommentReel Reviews Radio - http://reelreviewsradio.com/
Just My Opinion - http://pbcliberal.users.blogmatrix.com/
Evil Genius Chronicles - http://www.evilgeniuschronicles.org/
9. Tim on May 4, 2005 12:26 PM writes...
When I was young, I had a next door neighbor who insisted on listening to baseball games on the radio, even when the game was being televised. He insisted the game was somehow 'more real' when it was relayed by the radio announcer. He felt radio announcer had 'more passion'.
Permalink to Comment10. Tim Copeland on May 4, 2005 6:18 PM writes...
One of my favorite podcasts is Digital Flotsam.
http://www.digitalflotsam.org
Exceptionally well-produced and entertaining to a broad audience.
Permalink to Comment11. simon on May 4, 2005 9:15 PM writes...
I'm waiting to read a single point that differentiates podcasting from tradition ... I will not hold my breadth ... we simply have a new technological medium ... the needs of the consumer remain the same ...
Permalink to Comment12. Tim on May 5, 2005 11:03 AM writes...
Simon: I agree. I see podcasting as a renaissance of audio rather than something totally new. The most significant differences now however are (1) low cost of both production and distribution and (2) the ability to easily distribute world-wide. This will allow a tremendous amount of experiementation that wasn't possible before. Still, you are correct that many of the traditional measures of 'exceptional' are not going away.
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