Coal Burning Downloaded Radio Show (Podcast)

During burning season, would you listen to a 15-20 minute weekly or bi-weekly downloaded radio program about burning coal (most likely a clickable link, where the file is in .mp3 format).

Poll ended at Wed. Apr. 18, 2007 11:19 pm

Yes
28
97%
No
1
3%
 
Total votes: 29

 
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coal_kid
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Post by coal_kid » Mon. Mar. 19, 2007 11:16 pm

Question / Summery: During burning season, would you listen to a 15-20 minute weekly or bi-weekly downloaded radio program about burning coal (most likely a clickable link, where the file is in .mp3 format).

Background:
I’ve been turned on to “podcasts” recently. A podcast ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting ) is a downloaded radio show. Most come in .mp3 format, the same format you have been using to download music for years. Anyone can download the shows via a weblink, they aren’t just for people with Ipods.

There are podcasts for everything from, news, comedy, political, all topics. If you happen to have an ipod or portable mp3 player, you can take your radio show with you.

I find myself listening to shows while reading the forum. Once a week when I’d be catching up on the new posts during burning season, personally I think it would be great to listen and/or participate to short 15-20 minute weekly show.
It would be easy to put together a conference-call type show using Internet calling like Skype, and recording software. The regulars would be in the “coal panel” or “coal bin” (inset clever name here)” they would run the show. People could email a special inbox with questions. The regulars would talk about what they have been reading on the forums, offering their advice. I’m sure some of the time would be the regulars talking about current projects and tweaking. Guest callers could call in and talk about their projects or questions (it wouldn’t be live, it might be picked from an email). There is also the possibility for sponsorship too. It would be a lot like the forums now, but a radio show.

Maybe for next year it could be done.


 
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Richard S.
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Post by Richard S. » Tue. Mar. 20, 2007 5:34 am

I'll add a little more as to how this will work, this radio show could be delivered via RSS feed or directly from a webpage. RSS is a fairly new but simple technology. For those of you unfamiliar with it you may have noticed this icon on IE 7 or on webpages. :

When you see this it indicates it has a RSS feed, you can subscribe to the feed. The feed can contain anything from text to audio, for example I could provide a feed with links to all new posts, you can then subscribe to this feed either with IE or other software. The feed is automatically downloaded by IE as it's updated. A quick look at the feed and you could see what's new as opposed to actually opening the site. There's an example of this on the Classifieds page:

The same for the audio file and as indicated by Coal Kid this integrates with other devices such as Ipods. Of course this isn't practical for just one monthly show but if you have many shows or text feeds you subscribe too the benefits are obvious, once subscribed the updates are automatic. This will also be available via a direct link on a webpage somewhere.

I'll be adding the RSS feeds for the posts and such and haven't done so yet because I'm waiting on the final release of PHPBB3 which should be arriving shortly. Anything I add now to this forum will pretty much have to be redone so there is really no point in adding anything.

So basically the question is if you want to have a radio show I'll provide the resources if there is a few people interested in being the hosts. In essence it would be no different than any other radio show except it's delivered via the Internet.

Attachments

rss-icon.jpg
.JPG | 46.3KB | rss-icon.jpg

 
Bob
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Post by Bob » Tue. Mar. 20, 2007 9:14 am

coal_kid wrote:Question / Summery: During burning season, would you listen to a 15-20 minute weekly or bi-weekly downloaded radio program about burning coal (most likely a clickable link, where the file is in .mp3 format).
I might listen if it were available but my initial reaction is that I prefer written information--I can read it at my own pace which is generally much faster than listening to verbal discussion. Additionally I find that I can sort through things much faster when written and skip over things that I am not interested in.

 
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Post by Richard S. » Tue. Mar. 20, 2007 10:34 am

I agree Bob but this would be more for the fun of it kind of deal as far as the radio program goes.
Additionally I find that I can sort through things much faster when written and skip over things that I am not interested in.
That's pretty much the idea behind RSS feeds, let's say for example you're a commuter and have a laptop. Any feeds you are subscribed too will be downloaded say for example as you're getting ready to leave for work. You can browse through the feeds while commuting, on your lunch break etc. For example I can set up a feed that's updated once a day with all new posts. In the case of the radio program you'd be able to listen it because it was automatically downloaded... This of course is more practical for content that is updated daily.

 
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Post by LsFarm » Tue. Mar. 20, 2007 10:57 am

So after all these years of making those airline PA announcements to the flight attendants and passengers, I can now be a 'for-real' radio guy??

:lol: :o :lol:

Greg L.

It may be a lot of fun, but will be a responsibility for someone to get recorded each week.

,

 
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Post by Richard S. » Tue. Mar. 20, 2007 11:28 am

Well as far as recording that's pretty simple, I don't have streaming ability on this server and have no plans to purchase it at the moment either, it doubles the cost.

I haven't investigated the options yet but the broadcast can also be heard live anyone would be able to chime in. Using Skype as Coalkid suggested looks promising. Skype is basically a telephone over the Internet but it's free for Internet calls, only reason it hasn't crushed landlines is.... well it's not a landline. Anyone wants to kill their long distance bills take a look here, only thing you need is an Internet connection. Even works for video, many people aren't even aware of these services.

http://www.skype.com/download/

As far as using skype you would just have to set up a conference call, anybody should be able to connect to it. Record for the file for anyone that can't listen real time. I'll provide FTP access for whoever is recording to upload the file.

That's the basics but I may be able to set something up on the server itself, again it's not something I've looked into extensively so I don't know what the possibilities are but even using the skype method would not be that hard to set up.

 
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Post by Richard S. » Wed. Mar. 21, 2007 8:47 am

Looks like the "ayes" have it.

So coal-kid when's your first show. :P

Once phpbb3 comes out and I get everthing straightened out I'll set it up shortly after, I still have that calculator on the backburner too.


 
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Post by coal_kid » Wed. Mar. 21, 2007 5:48 pm

First show? Good question.

I'm looking at the 2006 "new posts by month". Everything starts slowing down in April, and doesn't start to pick up until August. A few of us could get together and do a show sometime late August / early September.

Anyone thinking about participating might want to pickup a good headset / mic or better yet a Skype phone. A skype phone is a simple usb sound card, with a speaker and microphone that is shaped like a phone. They sell Skype phones at most electronic stores, 100s of places online, and even Wal-Mart now. They are inexpensive.

 
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Post by Richard S. » Wed. Mar. 21, 2007 6:44 pm

Well I was joking, there's other reasons for the severe drop off in April, that's when I started tinkering with the search engine optimization. A "you have to break it first" thing. It won't be quite as bad this year. Realitically though late August sounds fine with me. Once I get something together to try I'll let you know.

Before anyone goes and buys anything let me see what is going to be required if you want to particpate. I'm pretty sure this won't work very well for the live feed if you're on dial-up.

 
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Post by coal_kid » Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 7:37 pm

coalman
I check out this link and view the demos. Doing everything we talked about is all done in a slick pre-packaged solution.

http://www.talkshoe.com/se/help/videoDemos.html

I downloaded a Leo Laport (from the old show “The Screensavers”) podcast and listened to it today, and he was using it for his callers on his Podcast (I'm sure that was a plug). You can call in with a phone, skype, voip phone. Or just chat. It makes a live podcast very simple.

This will make it easier for all of us. Its supported by ads, but it would save A LOT of time. If the ads get in the way, we can always do it a more manual way.

I'm going to download it and play with it.

 
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Post by Richard S. » Sun. Mar. 25, 2007 7:56 pm

coal_kid wrote: Its supported by ads, but it would save A LOT of time. If the ads get in the way, we can always do it a more manual way.
That would not be something I would use, I'll find something give me some time. The open source community will have something available, I just haven't looked yet. :)

 
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Post by pvolcko » Mon. Mar. 26, 2007 8:11 pm

If you're wanting to do a live call in type show then TalkShoe is definitely worth looking in to. There is also Paltalk if you want to throw live video into the mix. There are probably others that offer similar live/call in services, but these are the two I've had some experience with.

If you want to do a show with a fixed set of co-located hosts and maybe a couple prearranged call ins you can do this with free and shareware software on your own system and all you have to arrange is hosting for the shows to be downloaded and figure out what recording and editing software you want to use.

I'd highly recommend doing some practice shows before you do one you want to publish for all to see and hear. It is not that easy to talk coherently and entertainingly for long stretches of time. If there is going to be more than one host it is also good to do some practice to establish a rapore and work out the kinks involved with either multiple mics co-located, call-in host(s), or a segmented show where a single host records a segment and the segments get edited together in post.

Also need to get some music, segment intros, bumpers, etc. lined up. Podsafe Music Network is a good place to start. People talking without non-speech breaks is very difficult to pull of successfully. You don't need sound effects or gimmicks, but something to break up the presentation and let people's ears recover from the sounds of the voices (even good ones) are nearly a necessity on a show more than a couple minutes long. And they help even in those cases. :)

I'd be interested in participating in this show in some capacity. Let me know if I can be of help.

Links:
http://music.podshow.com/
http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
**Broken Link(s) Removed**http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/
http://www.paltalk.com
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
**Broken Link(s) Removed**

 
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Post by coal_kid » Tue. Aug. 21, 2007 10:58 pm

At least 28 people want it... and so do I. It’s late August and the posts are going to start picking up.

I now have a Skype phone, the latest version of Skype, and the trial version of the Pamela MP3 call recorder for Skype. There isn’t much to the technical part of the podcast… if you want to see how a pro does it Leo my man shares his professional podcasting setup here:
http://www.twit.tv/podcastequipment

A basic show would not need all of that gear. A skype call in show wouldn’t be hard from the technical aspect, I think the creative aspect and production aspect can make or break it. After readying pvolcko’s post again I’m a little humbled. I guess I need to have some music queued up to show breaks and a good outline for each show. (The music may be crappy. I won’t have it tied into a mixing board. )

I’ll talk, I’m not the biggest talker about bs or random stuff… but get me talking about something I love, like burning coal. I can talk for hours.

Greg sounds ready to do some talking. Like he said, anything is better than announcing the same airline PA announcements. Maybe our admin could come out and play too… once the ball gets rolling who knows.

Practice sounds like a great idea. I think the outline below would be a simple 20+ min show that wouldn’t be boring.

Coal fourm / podcast Announcements
Next coal meet up.
New Fourm software update
Don’t Forget the Wiki

Hot forum topics
Is bit is hot or not.
Talking about e.alleg ‘s the heat exchanger setup
The Classic question. Stoker vs Hand fired
Used stoves
Chimney Advice
When to fire it up?

Talk about projects.
Gregs boiler progress
Other live “coal bin” members talk about there setup, what they are working on, etc. Mostly on coal heating topic.
Anything entertaining and educational semi-on topic. Semi-on topic meaning, keeping your house warm / efficient.

Call ins, voicemails, write in questions


Wrap it up
How to participiate
coalpodcast@ gmail ? or nepadigital.com
skype time for next show. (tba on fourm)
I might be able to provide a LD dial in # for voicemails (in .wav ) (everyone has free LD w/ cells anymore)

Notes :
1. Once a week.
2. Short 15-30 second music clip between segments…

Anyone that is interested in seriously participating semi-regularly, speak up.:eeeeek:

 
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Post by pvolcko » Thu. Aug. 23, 2007 2:02 am

I'm still in with whatever help I can offer and occasional participation in the show.

 
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Post by Duengeon master » Sun. Aug. 26, 2007 3:23 pm

It sounds like coal kid would make a great program director 8) sign me up 75 hrs a week behind a steeringwheel is very boring :) sirius does not have anything good on before 10;00 am anyway.


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