Podcasting - A New Direction
An Epiphany... Podcast!
Thanksgiving
I haven't written a blog post for WA in a very long time. In fact, I haven't been very active on the community at all until very recently. However; I have been quietly trying out a few different projects with mixed results. Then, shortly after Thanksgiving of this year (2018), I had an epiphany.
It was a small Thanksgiving dinner. My sister and her husband, her daughter, two friends from out of town and me. During the dinner conversation, I asked my sister how her new podcast was going. She's a psychologist and, along with another psychologist friend of hers, had started a podcast about psychology and social justice. She told me it was going okay and we talked a little bit about my interview (yes, I did an episode about the gig economy). I think it airs on December 18th. Her podcast is called "Shrinks on Third" in case you're interested.
Anyway, then she told me her daughter is doing a podcast, too, with her friends - and they have abouty 5000 followers. Wait... What?? Oh, yes - podcasts abound, and they can be about pretty much anything.
After dinner, we all just watched some TV and talked some more before going our seperate ways. But that whole podcast thing. That got stuck in my head like peanut butter does, to the roof of your mouth. Over the next few days, it began to marinate.
I mean, here I am, an internet guy, building websites since before my sister new the difference between a browser and her desktop. Her daughter wasn't even born yet. And I'M the one without a podcast???!!
So, if I was to have a podcast, what would I talk about? What do I know about more than anyone else. What could I contribute to the world that would be relevant and helpful? And then it dawned on me.
Tales of the Road Warriors
Tales of the Road Warriors is a section of my very first website "Li'l Hank's Guide for Songwriters". I basically had built the site just to learn HTML duing the early days of the internet. It went on to become a very popular resource at the time, but it's pretty outdated now, having been replaced by sites run by the larger songwriter organizations such as ASCAP and BMI, or TAXI.
But Tales of the Road Warriors is a niche that is all about what I know and who I know. After all, "a road warrior" is basically anyone who is or has ever been (to quote my own site), "...on the road, in hotels, motels, performing in venues of any size, toured with a band, travel the country doing house concerts, play local gigs from tribute bands, cover bands, back up bands, one-man-bands…" Over the course of many years as a working musician, I have been a part of so many great stories, met so many interesting people and fellow road warriors with stories of their own. And so it hit me. I'm going to get those stories and use my podcast to share them with the world.
A New Direction
As of this writing, I have recorded conversations with four people. I plan to debut the first on in mid January. There is so much to do and I still have an awful lot to learn, but one thing I do know, it's not that diffrent from blogging and in fact is a great way to bring more traffic to the blog. A podcast website basically IS a blog, but instead of calling it a blog, we call them show notes. So, I secured the domain and have already built a partial site. Thing is, I started the site just before Wordpress 5 became officially released, so know I'll have to save what I have done so far, install WP 5 and be ready for the new year.
Because this Road Warrior is just getting started. A new direction, A new road!
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Good Morning Hal,
When I saw your post, I thought, now who is this? As you put a new picture and I am forgetful with names I could not immediately place you.
Nice to see you back with this new project. Wishing you lots of success.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Thanks, Taetske. I never left, just got busier on other projects. I built the site here and I'm working on that now.
I started with podcasting tutorials on YouTube. Being a musician, I already have decent equipment, but you can start with a lot less than I did.
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Hey Hal!! I’ve been gone since longer than forever, and just last week decided to check back in. It will be a gradual thing. So glad to see that you’re continuing to grow! Me too, but in a much more measured way. I still own groovy gray hairs but haven’t done anything on it for 2 years. Still on the slow road to retirement; working 10 hours a week and learning to balance it with travel and relaxation. Joe and I are embarking on our 4th annual Adventures in Snowbirding excursion in a couple weeks, this time to Syracuse ((grandsitting) and then on to Florida for a total of 2 months. Every once in a while we laugh about Squatty Potty and wonder how you’re doing. You haven’t been forgotten! Best to you on your new adventure. Cheers! Carol Ellstein
Thanks for the update, Carol. Glad you stopped by. I know what you mean about the "slow road to retirement". I couldn't have put it better.
On the other hand, this whole podcast venture has taken on a life of it's own. Although podcasting isn't new (been around about 10 years), it's beginning to catch on. I suspect you'll be seeing a lot more people getting into it. I'll let you and Joe know how it progresses.
Happy New Year
Hal
That will be great! You’ve always been way ahead of me in media sophistication, so I’ll look forward to your progress reports. Looks like you’ve developed a lot of new projects over time. Hope they’ve been paying off for you.
I think I’ll be doing my newest consulting gig via videoconferencing while I’m gone, which will be a newer experience. FaceTime with the grands is no big deal now, but videoconferencing still is.
Not sure what I’ll do with WA this time,or how often, but it’s nice to be back.
Happy New Year to you, too!
Carol