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Hi all,
The guys at http://thebrewingnetwork.com. do not have their broadcasts available as podcasts as of now, they will be available soon ( that's what they say on their site). The casts are available as downloads in mp3 format and once you get past the first 10 -15 min. of palavering, the rest of the show is pretty good.
My hope is that if GM will have a podcast, the self promo/non-sensical, fill the air-time with jibber -jabber will be excluded. It is nice to project the friendly atmosphere in the studio to your listeners, but filling 20 min. with it tends to push the limit. I had the ability to skip most of it (the second time I listened :'() but were it not for that, I would have said The H%$L with this and moved on. The other podcasts, while shorter, will give you a brief news update and then get to it.

Ted - seeking knowledge, not drunken jibberish, has enough of it on his own :-\
 
I have to say that if I put in the time (all of it my personal time at this point) to create and maintain a podcast for GM, there will be *some* self-promotion, since advertising and promotion is the *only* form of income for Gotmead. Right now ads and clicks are bringing in around $150 a month. I'm not exactly getting rich here. At current prices, I can't even afford to drive to the grocery store for gas (LOL).

Can't eat on that, folks. I'd like to take this full time, but a lot of work will go into generating enough income for me to pay some bills before I can. And that means promotion, ads and whatever else I can come up with. The only other choice is to make this a subscriber site, and I'm pretty sure y'all don't want that. (Heck, *I* don't want that!)

:::Click the Ads! Click to Google! Support Gotmead and its advertisers to keep the site up and free::

Vicky - finally got Redstone Meadery Live!!!!!
 
Hi all,
From what I gather, thebrewingnetwork.com people are in some way associated with B3. I think that podcasts would be a great way to advertise the Got Mead site and get more people to log in. The format I *see* on most podcasts is adds, promos, e-mail from listeners, topic of the day. Ends with *thanks to....promo, people involved with the podcast, ask listeners to visit the website, submit ideas*. Many podcasts are promos with a lot of info on the topic chosen, but it would seem to me that what drives the entire venture is promoting ideas, sites, etc. There is a form of podcast ranking (by iTunes?) and the more people listen/donwload, the higher you go in ranking. I believe it would be a great way to promote Got Mead and also the Homebrewer group that Oskaar has been talking about. What better way to let people world wide know about this great site and the start of a group dedicated to the advancement and recognition of home mead brewing?

Ted - *steps off the soap box*
 
I think we can all agree that this could be a really good thing for GM and mead making in general. Just among the regular posters, we have the technical savvy, the on-air skills, and the desire to do this. Those are the pluses. But what are we lacking?

Maybe just a plan of attack.

Vicky might be the most over-worked person I've seen in a long while. Between the Redstone site job and other real world (read that, income producing) projects, AND the bazillion things she wants to work on with GM, up to and including doing it full-time, she's got both ends and the middle of the candle burning brightly. She's had on-air experience, and, of course, she's the world famous Gotmead Meadwench, so she's the only logical choice for the position of host. Now, every show needs a producer. Obviously Vicky is Executive P. in this regard, with the final say on everything, just as with all other things GM-related, but if we want to keep her sane, somebody else needs to step up and do the actual work of assembling the talent and technical processes involved, and putting together a basic structure for the show. I'm talking about somebody who will recruit any of the help needed, either from the ranks here at GM, or elsewhere, and who will put together a format outline for Vicky to go over. This same person would then need to organize the actual workload, research any equipment or computer programs needed and either get somebody to buy them for the show (or lend them anyway), or ferret out the best possible prices and submit them to Vicky for approval and purchase.

Now, if on-air promotions are a necessity of this, then they should be embraced and integrated into the basic structure of the thing. GM would get mentioned constantly on the show. Advertising space availability on the website would get mentioned, as would the GM hats, shirts, etc., and the soon-to-be-seen GM homebrew supply store. So long as it doesn't turn into an infomercial, there's no need to be shy or ashamed of this. GM will be offering a really cool and entertaining source of info, and it has things for sale. No big deal. Hell, for that matter, why even stop at promoting GM? Vicky could offer commercial or "sponsorship" space on the podcasts to potential advertisers, getting this thing to pay for itself. This has a few bright points, since on-air ads are both timely (the latest podcast episode) and eternal (the archived podcast episodes): for the low, low price of blah-blah dollars, they get an ad that keeps working for them long after the show was first posted. On-air commercials don't have to be slick, and, really, don't even have to be commercials -- "This week's program is brought to you by Thus-N-Such Homebrew Supply, who stocks everything for the home beer, wine, and mead maker, on the Web at thusnsuch.com; and by Bloody Hangover Meadery, currently offering a seasonal selection of very fine small-batch melomels, on the Web at bloodyhangover.com." This wouldn't even take twenty seconds of airtime, but it would pay for the podcast. This is how it was done in the early days of radio, and it worked just fine to cover the bills.

Memento has already raised his hand for the behind-the-scenes production work. That would make him technical director at the least. This is a huge leg-up for a project like this. So...who wants the thankless job of Producer? People should NOT be shy about asking for it -- if you think you can do it, and you want to do it, then please say so. Even if you're not sure if you can do it, but you kinda-sorta think you want to try, say so. If several someones want to try, then great -- Vicky can choose a Producer, and an Associate Producer, and the workload gets divided up nicely. Personally, even though I'm a stay-at-home dad, I don't have the time to devote to this as a Producer-type person, so I'm out. I can say this, though, from personal experience: when you're in charge of a production, and it's going poorly, you'll want to commit hari-kari in the bathroom -- but when it all works, and it goes the way it's supposed to -- man...it's just plain magic! And when a reliable group is formed, and a couple of shows are under their belts, things will start to fall into a pattern and get that much easier.

This really can happen. And it really can be good.

-David
 
Ted, I agree that lots of good info will drive traffic to Gotmead, but I have to agree with David's ideas about doing it like an old-timey radio show, and both promote Gotmead and the shopping it will (soon) have, as well as sell some time on each 'cast to advertisers.

Right now, Gotmead only costs about $100-$150/month to keep up and running (not including programming time, thats just software/hosting and such). My goal is to get the Gotmead revenues up to around $2K per month. That will let me eat, and let me put a significant sum into the site as well. I'd like to invest in an ad software package that *doesn't* re-write the pages every 30 seconds, and the shopping cart and mods will cost probably around $1200 by the time I've got everything in place. Plus there is blogging software, podcast software/hardware, more hosting space (we're eating up what I have), mirror sites for redundancy, mailing list costs (I use Constant Contact), plus a number of other things that need doing.

My time is going to be much more my own after this week. We launched Redstone Wednesday (go take a look: http://www.redstonemeadery.com and tell'em you heard about them on GM when you order), and that was the only site project I had on the hook, so I'm basically not generating 'real' work after that. Once I finish doing taxes this week, my time is my own. I'll be finishing putting the rest of the GM pages into the new format, and adding a lot of content. Then the new stuff starts, beginning with a shopping cart and a honey shop. I'm hoping to have all the new stuff in place by Xmas.

As far as producing, editing and such: I would of course want to retain final approval of all 'casts, since my site name is attached to it. I wouldn't mind being host, I like doing radio, always did, but I think we need 2 hosts, if only because my life is a bit crazy most times (I'm also a stay-at-home mom while doing all this stuff), and you should always have an alternate/partner.

Re producing, I'll admit that I have no experience at it, and will gladly hand it off to someone who does. Ultimately I'd like to buy the equipment needed, but right now, Gotmead runs off what I can glean from the personal budget, which isn't all that much, so the loan of needed tools will be necessary, at least for a while.

As far as promotions, I don't see why we couldn't integrate them even more than what David says. If we happen to be interviewing a meadery ('Meet the Pros'), then they would naturally want to sponsor that show (or could be more easily persuaded), as they get not only ad air time, but live time to talk about their place and their wares. Promotional? Sure. Are you interesting in the meaderies of the world and what they have to offer, both in meads and in advice to those looking to 'go pro'? Dang straight!

I know David doesn't have the time as Producer, but I've hopes of him being willing to offer his advice in the role of Production Advisor, when the in-line Producer needs some input from an outside source. Memento, thanks for volunteering the Technical Director stuff. That helps a *lot*. And David, I'd hope for your support on choosing the Producer(s), as I'm not qualified to make a wise choice.

Now, further on the Plan of Attack, what about format? I'm thinking perhaps a couple of regular features, some rotating features, and a random feature. Some ideas (feel free to chime in, shoot down, kibbitz, etc., these are suggestions only):

Regular feature:
- Recipes
- Troubleshooting your mead
- Commercial mead review
- Creating your own mead (figuring out recipes, ingredients, etc.)

Rotating feature:
- History of mead (Dan, you interested?)
- Meet the Pros
- Mead around the world (like that cool Argentinian mead Ben brought back, yum!)

Random feature:
- The International Meadfest (yearly, of course)
- Honey - what works and what doesn't, discussion of varietals and where to find them
- Renaissance faires (most serve mead - we could do a 'man on the street' thing)

Just some initial story ideas, lets see where we can go with this to leap from......

Vicky - doing clean-up on Redstone, finishing taxes, and chomping at the bit to really put in some serious time on Gotmead...
 
Ooh, ooh! Story ideas I can help with! Although, to be honest a great way of coming up with story ideas is simply to run through the forums and see what the hot topics are. That's a pretty good indication of what mazers want to know about. But here's some things I thought of:
  • a newbie feature: basic sanitation, good first recipes, worst mistakes from experienced mazers, where to get your equipment/ingredients, mead tasting, etc.
  • equipment reviews: what works, what doesn't, what you NEED, what is on your "dream" list, why stuff works
  • Ask the experts: listeners can email in questions and one of the GotMead experts can either email in a reply for the host to read, or if they have time and equipment can answer on the air (in my head this is the "Ask Oskaar" part of the program, but only if he agrees *grins*)
  • another random feature for you: legal issues

Some other stuff I was thinking of:
Figure out how long you want the program to be (30 minutes, an hour, variable?), then decide on what features you want to be regular and how long each of them should be.

I thought of another way to tie in the site with the 'cast. I think that having a recipe every show is a great idea, but the idea of listening 5 or 6 times while trying to write stuff down for it might get a little annoying. So my thought was why not have a worksheet for each program? Like a class outline. In pdf format, so it can be really nice and pretty. It could contain the recipe for the show, any facts and figures that were rattled off during the show (like if they were talking about specific gravities of various honey types, or something), a brief outline of the show, etc. etc. You could end each show with a "If you missed the recipe featured in this show, or would like contact information for someone featured on this show, please go to GotMead.com for a free download of this show's outline." You could also add in some advertising revenue by offering an ad for the show's sponsor on the download for an additional X dollars.

Okay, my brain is tapped for the moment, but I'm sure I can come up with more. *grins*
 
OK! *Now* we're talking!

Guys, I can't tell you how cool this is. I never would have thought of podcasting (ok, maybe I would have *eventually*, when my brain got uncluttered with all the current stuff I'm doing on GM), even though I see it every day in my marketing emails.

We're rolling with this thing, I think.

So, now we've got a very rough plan, some great ideas (way to go, Scout!), and a direction.

When do we want this to launch? What else do we need that we haven't discussed?

....and.....

will Oskaar be willing to chair an 'Ask Oskaar column?

::GD&R:: (grinning, ducking and running)

I'll do whatever I can on my end, though I'd like to request that we wait at least until I've gotten GM all into the new layout. The layout is done, I just need to cut and paste the page info into the new format.

In other news, is anyone of you willing to write us a new 'how to make mead' basic newbie article? It would go here: http://www.gotmead.com/making-mead/

Back to Podcasting, I can create a new section easily, and have Adobe Acrobat (and I'm sure others do too), so creating a worksheet would be easy.

If I might offer a suggestion, we could also duplicate some of the content on the mailing list (which hasn't seen a newsletter in awhile), and put the recipes (and Ask Oskaar questions) there.......
 
a nice tidbit for the future: as of 2 days ago, iTunes and the new iPods now support video podcasts. :D Of course, those take up more space and more bandwidth for the site. I did a little test using the standard for video podcasts, and it was very impressive. Beautiful video quality. It is a true open standard, meaning that there will soon be open source software to encode to those specs (not like the proprietary and closed WMV).
 
Been following this thread with lots of interest, and all i can say is AWESOME!

I'd love to help, tho I wont have the time (or experience!) to produce. However, if you need help with articles/interviews etc (I was thinking I could do a report on teh Clinton War next year?) I'm more than happy to pitch in! Esp since I'd be a Canadian voice, and being based in Vancouver, I have access to a couple meaderies AND our new mead club -- we're having a tasting this sunday actually...I'll have to remember to take notes.

Nother idea just popped into my brain. A rotating/one-off feature on buying honey. What to look for, and WHERE to get it, depending on region...I know I've had a hell of a time finding sources in BC that arent stupid expensive.
 
Vicky,

I'm available, certainly, for sounding off purposes and giving my opinion. I'll PM you in the next day or so with my list of people from the Forums who we might want to look at recruiting, and they can be contacted via back-channels so as not to put them on the spot in public. Exception: Mynx, Brewbear -- you two have more to add than you know, and if you might even consider working on this, I'm certain you can do yourselves and GM credit. Production or radio experience is probably in short supply, so no matter who works on this, it will involve a learning curve. Personally, I'd start off by listening to a range of podcasts on a range of topics, just to get an idea of what's currently being done.

So far, on board we have Vicky, Memento, and Angus (cool beans on the newbie articles, man!). I won't even count myself, because I'm just a voice in the desert right now, and I've got some stuff going on that I simply have to focus on. I'm not very good at multi-tasking, anyway, which was a problem in the old days and would become one again, I'm sure.

The ball is rolling -- the trick now is to keep it going without getting squashed.

-David
 
Hi all,
I'd love to help in any way I can. I am in the process of applying for master's programs but heck! mead is more important ;D
As you know, my meading experience is very limited but I do have a computer and am quite able to use it.
Mynx, if you have a digital recorder or any means of recording, take with you to your mead event. Get *interviews* of the participants,it could be used.
Vicky, most podcasts i've listenet to refer the audience to their website for archived shows, links, etc. This should increase the traffic on the site. Having a brewing supplies store makes it even more enticing, you buy the suff and if you get in a jam, we, the forum elves, help you out.
Most formats are: stating the topic, responding mail from listeners, plug the site(your own), discuss the topic and plug your site, refer people to your website, thank those involved and direct the listeners to the website.
Angus, most podcasts are weekly.
As David stated, I agree that Vicky should have the final say so on the program.
I have listened to 2 shows that were interviews over the phone, so the only limit is our collective imagination and of course the hardware/software. Let's start with a list of what software we need to get the project rolling. I for one have some software I thought I need but never opened the boxes.Who knows, it may be something that's needed now and I have no problem contributing that.

Ted
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence LnB :)

Let me know what you need doin'! I'll pitch in my time for sure!

Hmmmn, I dont think I have any recording stuff...hrm... /breaks out her old minidisc
 
First question is hardware, then we can talk software. Because SW is dependent on what HW you use to record the podcast. Plus the HW is probably the hardest part (or the part with the most investment required). You don't really need any fancy podcasting SW. It's quite simple.

So what hardware would be used? Cassette? Mini cassette? MiniDV camcorder? VHS tape? CD?

The SW I have can accept anything that I can plug into my computer in almost any format. CD, DVD, 1/4" or 1/8" jack, RCA plugs, firewire, USB.

To simplify this, how will the person recording the podcast actually do the recording?
 
memento said:
First question is hardware, then we can talk software. Because SW is dependent on what HW you use to record the podcast. Plus the HW is probably the hardest part (or the part with the most investment required). You don't really need any fancy podcasting SW. It's quite simple.

So what hardware would be used? Cassette? Mini cassette? MiniDV camcorder? VHS tape? CD?

The SW I have can accept anything that I can plug into my computer in almost any format. CD, DVD, 1/4" or 1/8" jack, RCA plugs, firewire, USB.

To simplify this, how will the person recording the podcast actually do the recording?
Click to expand...

Good point, Memento. If the basic format of the recording isn't much of an issue, then what needs to be considered is sound quality vs. cost. The most bang for the buck is what's needed. If somebody has a decent recorder of any kind that they can loan to the cause, that is best right now. They'd need to take a leap and send it to Vicky (as the host, the shows would be structured, physically, around her and her location). Barring this, somebody needs to research the recorders that are out there now and find out what's cheap and good. Digital is almost certainly best if we're starting with new equipment. Memento, as Tech Director, think you could take this on? Obviously, we're not talking about buying anything just yet, just learning about the state of the tech right now.

Headsets with decent microphones might be most practical, but I have no idea what the sound is like through them. Vicky would need to have the ability to record someone else (or several someone elses) in person along with her, so this would probably be, what, multiple input jacks needed? A multi-plug add-on jack that fits onto the input line? I don't know what would be possible on a super low budget.

A possible way to finance this would be for people to go ahead and buy whatever (cheap but good) equipment Memento says needs to be obtained, send it to whoever will need to physically have it, and "bill" the Podcast program. As Podcast-specific revenue starts to roll in (well...trickle in), part of this money goes towards compensating the donators. They'd have to wait a bit to get their money back, but it would happen eventually. This is just an idea, and would require a certain level of faith and good will, but it could get things moving along. Coordinating this would be the Producer's job, whoever that ends up being.

Just some thoughts...

-David
 
Hi all,
Since I stirred this hornet's nest, I will pitch in with the headset/mic combo. I have my eyeson a noise cancelling set. I will start with this and see what else is available ;D
I think that any laptop running XP or OS 10.x.x will be able to run the recording apps. What I was looking at last night was a new app. designed for podcasting, the link is in my previous post. It allows you to record, edit, insert clips and package for broadcast/load thru FTP. If any of you wasts to take a look at it....the trial version (30 days?) is free and the app. costs $50.
It sounds very doable to me.
Still wonder what Oskaar, Dan, Wrath et all think about this.
I am looking for some free time to download the app. and give it a go with some very basic (read cheap) equipment to see the limitatios.
As for recording, I guess digital recordings would be best, eliinatind the need for changing from analog to digital.
If I am not mistaking, I have an app. that allows the user to record all that comes thru the soundcard, ie while listening to a music broadcast online, I can record and save it as mp3.

Ted - runnning on fumes
 
Ted - that SW is XP only, otherwise I'd give it a try. I run OSX. There are similar programs for OSX. I figured I'd try them later, once we get the actual recording done, which would take the most amount of time.

Agreed that a digital format would be best for the recording. That would avoid the need for "realtime" conversion. Meaning for an analog source, you would have to play it to convert it. But digital, it would convert as quickly as your processor (or dual processors :) ) will allow. But I'd be willing to accomodate whatever recording means that people have.

I know that there are mp3 recorders. Creative Labs, Archos, iriver all have models with mic recording. That would be the easiest. Then they are already mp3 format.
 
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