Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Arbor Update Podcast?

20. December 2005 • MarkDilley
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Edward Vielmetti thought out loud:

Now what we need is an Arbor Update podcast.

I am interested in learning how to do it, is anyone interested? (someone that knew how to do it would be good too!)



  1. Ron Suarez is a local podcast guru. He has lots of irons in the fire these days and may be too busy to get anything going himself, but he might be a good resource person for information on how to get started.

    Ron’s Network Downtown site is also a good place to look for people:
    http://www.networkdowntown.com/members (free sign-up)
       —Laura F    Dec. 20 '05 - 02:36PM    #
  2. Ready for a good laugh?

    What the heck is a podcast?
       —todd    Dec. 20 '05 - 05:13PM    #
  3. Todd: podcast = audio-blogging.

    Think iPod + broadcast; somebody hosts a podcast, and, periodically, your computer downloads the latest episodes/posts to your iPod, so that you can listen while riding the bus.
       —Murph.    Dec. 20 '05 - 05:41PM    #
  4. What Murph said, except without the iPod or blogs :)

    You can listen to podcasts on your computer, your MP3 player (whether it has the word “pod” in its name or not), your CD player (if you burn them), your TiVo…

    As for blogging, there’s a lot of non-blogging content. Some of my favorite podcasts are NPR shows like On the Media and audio from professional conferences like IT Conversations

    A couple easy ways to get started:
    Go to Odeo and look around. If you sign up you can manage your subscriptions on the site and use their sync tool to automatically download new episodes of shows you subscribe to.

    Or you can use iTunes and their podcast directory to browse and subscribe to podcasts all from one application
       —George Hotelling    Dec. 20 '05 - 06:19PM    #
  5. Mark,

    Technically, it’s pretty freeckin’ easy. IMO, the “hard” part is figuring out the program format (just reading headlines / posts? digesting discussions? doing interviews? taking calls? featuring local music? how frequent to release? how long? etc.). All that could be adjusted with experience, but it merits some careful consideration before getting off the ground. The other “hard” part is just finding the time to do it. A simple 20 minute podcast could easily take 2-3 hours to produce.

    All you need, technically, is a microphone, a computer and some audio editing software—there is decent free software and a mic < $100 is all you need for simple voice recording. I can teach you how to upload it to AU and include it as an “enclosure” with posts, so folks could point their podcast catchers at our RSS feed to “subscribe” (or just click and download the ones they are interested in).

    The other important skillset is learning how to record, mix and edit audio into something listenable, as well as learning how to speak for “radio” ... but its a young medium, so you have time to learn. :)
       —Scott T.    Dec. 20 '05 - 07:18PM    #
  6. Yes, Podcasting can be done by anyone with a computer, a microphone and an Internet connection – - but remember when Macs came out in the 1980’s and anyone could do desktop publishing!

    My first shock was realizing that you cannot necessarily just plug into the “record input jack” of your computer. You need to know the difference between microphone in and line in. And using a USB audio solution is a lot better. Condenser microphones are different from dynamic microphones and you can damage equipment if you don’t know what you’re doing. M-Audio sells gear you may want to consider.

    A really helpful book is Podcast Solutions
       —Ron Suarez    Dec. 20 '05 - 08:30PM    #
  7. I’ve never used it, but ODEO offers recording through a browser or via telephone – in case anyone is feeling creative/daring/LO-FI.

    And to the person who took away the drug comments; thanks.
       —FAA    Dec. 22 '05 - 12:27AM    #
  8. (You’re welcome. Looks like they’ve hit the same few, old posts several times today, and I’m sick of deleting the comments, so I’ve turned off commenting for those posts; hopefully that’ll stop the problem?)
       —Murph.    Dec. 22 '05 - 02:08AM    #
  9. I’m surprised we got this far along before someone bothered to figure out to spam here. We don’t have any protective measures in place other than “forced” preview.
       —Scott T.    Dec. 22 '05 - 03:56AM    #
  10. It looks like a TXP spam bot is making the rounds. We got hit at CHS this week too.
       —Matt    Dec. 23 '05 - 01:59AM    #
  11. Whoa! You should collaborate/work with blackbox radio, which already podcasts, and can always use additional volunteers, because it takes many hours to put together a few minutes. Meetings are monday at 9pm at WCBN, and are open to new folks all the time (although they might be a little sparse between now and the first of the year).
       —sarah    Dec. 24 '05 - 07:23PM    #
  12. That’s what I was gonna say. Blackbox radio is already doin’ REAL radio and these newfangled podcast things (with content sometimes found here[?]).
       —Brandon    Dec. 24 '05 - 07:56PM    #
  13. I am down with that. Could we pull together a short initial training?
       —Mark    Dec. 24 '05 - 11:25PM    #
  14. hmm… definately. let me bring this up at the next blackbox meeting, see what people think about in terms of a good time. training would be most useful at the station, where all this equipment exists. of course, there are many of us who work on the show that could explain more diy ways to produce radio. For starters, check out audacity, a multi-track, open-source audio editing program. You just need a mic-in on your computer (or to sound really good, a mixer), as well as a microphone, to record from your laptop.

    is any time a good time?
       —sarah    Dec. 29 '05 - 11:21PM    #
  15. well we are a loose collective of folks, so just pick times that are good for you all, and those of us interested will schedule it.
       —Mark    Dec. 30 '05 - 04:51PM    #
  16. Yes, what Mark said. I’m personally free anytime next week; after that, evenings or weekends.
       —Murph    Dec. 30 '05 - 05:32PM    #