2012.05.29
Mason Adams — reporter, commuter, podcast listener — wants your thoughts on podcasts
Mason Adams
Hi RefreshRT readers. I’m Mason Adams, the Roanoke city hall and politics reporter, and you can usually find me over at the Blue Ridge Caucus blog — but today I’m interested in your thoughts on podcasts.
Podcasts are essentially radio shows you can load on an iPod or other MP3 player. At one time the Roanoke Times regularly produced news-related podcasts in which senior editor Dwayne Yancey or another editor would interview reporters about upcoming stories.
Today, the only Roanoke Times writer regularly recording podcasts is music reporter Tad Dickens, who uses them on his cutNscratch music blog to interview and play songs from bands with upcoming gigs in our area.
Tad tells me those podcasts — especially ones featuring well-known artists — might draw up to several hundred listens over time. Two of his recent podcasts, featuring Roger McGuinn and Mother’s Finest, each drew more than 1,000 listens.
I’ve been thinking a lot more about these recordings since I moved to Check last fall. My commute grew from 10 minutes to 45, so I spend a lot of time in the car each day. I fill that time by loading up my iPod with a variety of shows — everything from BBC audio documentaries to a whole slew of comedy podcasts.
I listen regularly to The Economist’s weekly “Money Talks”, CBS’ “Face the Nation” and Slate’s Political Gabfest.
So that’s got me wondering:
– Do you listen to any podcasts? Which ones?
– Would you listen to Roanoke Times-produced podcasts? What would you like to hear – a round-up of the daily news, beat reporters discussing what’s happening in their worlds or a mixture of both?
– For commuters, how do you spend time on your daily drive? Do you listen to music, to the radio or to something else?
– Particularly for those who don’t always have time to read the paper or stories on roanoke.com, would you listen to an audio version of the day’s news stories?
Follow me on Twitter, @masonadamsRT or friend me on Facebook. I’m looking forward to your feedback.
Incredible. Just… incredible. You know the point I made yesterday about being labored with daily polls as a customer? How I just wanted you to do your job, and to stop forcing me to do it for you? You remember that point? I didn’t think so.
It’s probably beyond your capability, but empty your mind and think about this.
Steve Jobs never did polls to find out what potential Apple customers wanted. He just directed his people to create what the people should desire, even though the people didn’t know they wanted it. Seems like it worked out pretty well for him.
So, what will the RT poll for tomorrow be? I can scarcely contain my eagerness.
Comment by crooked road — May 29, 2012 @ 7:56 am
I don’t listen to any podcasts, never have either. I probably wouldn’t listen to any from the RT, it’s not how I want to spend time honestly.
I do commute, it’s 20-30 minutes each way, and I generally listen to music or sports talk…96.7 the Alternative Project, or 1430 ESPN Blacksburg. Sometimes I’ll plug my phone into the Auxilliary input on my stereo and listen to Pandora or a MLB/Detroit Tigers game I’m listening to though.
I can usually scan through either the main or mobile RT sites pretty quickly to see what interests me, so I’m not sure any audio versions would be of benefit to me. But I;m sure someone would possibly find them useful.
Also, I’ve had problems posting comments via my Android-powered phone…all 3 times I’ve tried posting to different RT blogs, even after entering my info and hitting the checkbox, it says the password is invalid and denies the comment. So, I’m finding I use the mobile site even less now with that glitch in place.
Comment by Other John — May 29, 2012 @ 9:45 am
Crooked Road: If polls bother you, please stop looking at them. They have been helpful to us because we get a pretty high response rate to them and it’s another way to interact with our readers.
You seem to enjoy leaving comments as feedback, yet you’re offended by the very nature of this blog, which is asking for feedback. Please consider that contradiction.
– Kathy Lu, RefreshRT team member
Comment by Kathy Lu — May 29, 2012 @ 9:52 am
Same as Other John. Never have listened to a podcast and don’t expect that to change. Same thoughts as video stories. I can consume info faster simply by reading vs listening or video and I see the RT’s core business to be reporting of the news.
I spend a lot of time on the road and I do listen to my music through my ipod/car stereo integration. Sometimes Pandora through my android phone and bluetooth/car stereo integration. Never talk radio, rarely news. Maybe NPR in the evening.
Comment by Ernie — May 29, 2012 @ 10:34 am
KL – Ah, so just don’t leave ‘that kind’ of feedback? That’s cool. Best of luck to you.
Comment by crooked road — May 29, 2012 @ 10:36 am
‘RefreshRT we want your input’
Hmm. Okay.
Comment by crooked road — May 29, 2012 @ 10:39 am
Other John, Ernie:
Thanks for your thoughts. I used to listen to a ton of sports talk radio back when I covered Franklin County and was traveling back and forth to Roanoke. I still like to tune into broadcasts of NFL games when I’m traveling on Sundays.
What I found, though, was that I could cut a lot of the advertising and talk about stuff in which I had no interest by moving over to podcasts. I like following the NHL, for instance, and there’s very little discussion of it on 1240. But I subscribed the ESPN’s Hockey Today podcast about the time of the all-star game and have kept up that way. It’s one or two 20-30 minute podcasts a week, and I’m still getting more than I got from 1240, and without all the ads interrupting every few minutes.
For a while it was the same with Pardon the Interruption: I always got home too late to catch it on TV but could always listen to it driving to work the next morning. It’s a daily podcast and so got to be a bit much for me, though.
Thanks for the input.
crooked road, I don’t think there’s a poll attached to this. I did ask a few questions to try and focus some of the conversation, but I asked because I’m legitimately interested in the responses. We’ve talked a bit about doing a short Blue Ridge Caucus show once or twice a month, but I’d like to know whether there’s an audience for it before we put the time into producing it. Likewise, I’d like to see a more broadly distributed audio version of the Roanoke Times, but that’s an easier sell if there’s a demand for it.
– Mason Adams
Comment by Mason Adams — May 29, 2012 @ 10:49 am
The few podcasts I listen to – all but one of them are audio-only – are for entertainment or learning, and have content I can’t get elsewhere (case in point: “Mountain Stage” *shakes fist at WVTF*). Some years ago I also listened to a BBC World News podcast, but keeping up with it every day got to be a chore, so I cancelled that subscription. Now I’ve got a public radio app on my iPod that lets me listen to BBC news pretty much whenever the mood strikes.
I think, in order for a Roanoke Times podcast to be successful, it would have to offer content not accessible in print or online. For those who are visually or learning disabled (or learning English, for that matter), a podcast offering the news of the day could be very beneficial, though there you’d be “competing” with WVTF’s reading service. I could also see video podcasts that go into greater depth into stories that had to be cut for space in the print edition doing well, as well as, perhaps, the occasional fun piece that shines the spotlight on the newsroom or the editorial desk or the neighborhood supplements. One of the things I like most about the Times’ online presence, though, has been the growth of blogs and the comments and conversations they invite and the interaction between Times staffers and readers, and I don’t know if that kind of engagement is something that can be translated to a podcast format.
Comment by Laura — May 29, 2012 @ 11:06 am
Laura –
Thanks for your thoughts. You might check out the link in the entry to the BBC “Documentaries” series. There’s a few per week, but they’re not all of interest to me so they’re fairly easy to sort and delete. The other thing is that most of them don’t go out of date very quickly. I listened to the “Migrants of the Caribbean” episode this morning. It’s from May 10 but is still fresh. (On the other hand, I’m not all that interested in British royalty so I’ll probably delete “The Art of the Monarchy” episodes.)
– Mason Adams
Comment by Mason Adams — May 29, 2012 @ 11:14 am
Oh, and PS: I’m definitely going to subscribe to “Mountain Stage” when I get home tonight. Thanks for mentioning that.
– Mason Adams
Comment by Mason Adams — May 29, 2012 @ 11:16 am
I’m a pastor in Roanoke, but I also work as a hospice chaplain so I end up spending a lot of time looking through a windshield every week, and listening to a lot of podcasts. I really enjoy WNYC’s Radiolab, and This American Life, and I always listen to NPR’s Planet Money, KCRW’s Left Right and Center, and the Economist’s Money Talks. Plus a number of sermon podcasts, including some from other local churches (there are some very good preachers here in Roanoke).
I would definitely listen to a podcast produced by the Roanoke Times, either a rundown of what is in the paper that day, or highlights from the past week, or something that addresses specific areas like music or politics. That would be great actually.
Comment by Charlie — May 29, 2012 @ 12:37 pm
Please have your podcasts. You can have each R/T staff record how great all of the other R/T staff are. If possible, put a scratch and sniff, Smug Button, so that you keep that smuggy feeling all day. Then you might want to report some news instead of scanner chasing. Look at your bottom line and think, no there will not be an Obama bailout for the newspaper industry. Go ask the owners of the NY Times. Hilarious.
Comment by johnny — May 29, 2012 @ 5:23 pm
I’m an all day NPR listener and I used to download/subscribe and listen to podcasts occasionally(for when I would be away from the house) but now with wireless interwebs I can just listen to whatever I want whenever/where ever I want it.
I guess if RT was do a podcast I would check it out for awhile. I could use something to replace Terry Gross in my daily listening line-up. She’s had some lame guests lately.
Comment by Brendan — May 29, 2012 @ 6:13 pm
@12 johnny: Thanks for your thoughts.
I don’t know if “smug” is the right word. More like “mortified,” every time I see my huge mug smirking at me from that blog post.
Although I still work the scanners on my weekend cop shifts a couple of times a quarter, I haven’t chased scanner traffic on a daily basis since I moved from the cops beat to a government beat back in 2005.
@13 Brendan: Thanks for the comments.
As more background, a couple of things inspired this. We’ve had one commenter on the Blue Ridge Caucus, who I think may have been crooked road but I’m not sure off the top of my head, suggest we talk more to some of our local analysts like Dave “Mudcat” Saunders. The last time he suggested that, I’d actually had a story in that same day quoting Saunders, but the commenter was looking for something longer. A political podcast would give us the opportunity for a looser conversation than what appears in our stories.
We’ve taken the stance that on the BRC, we try to give readers a look behind the news curtain, so to speak, by providing extra material, interview excerpts and statements from local & regional politicians that get usually get filtered into news stories. I envision a Blue Ridge Caucus podcast as an extension of that and a way to engage our audience beyond the political news stories that appear in the paper.
– Mason Adams
Comment by Mason Adams — May 30, 2012 @ 9:39 am
Sometimes I listen to an NPR podcast or something else that I am reading up on/researching, but thats about it. I have not listened to any of the ones here on the RT site.
Comment by Ken — May 30, 2012 @ 1:25 pm
I listen to “freakonomics” and “stuff you should know” good stuff!
Comment by Wilton Kennedy — June 1, 2012 @ 5:22 am
I personally listen to a few podcasts. I listen to the Nerdist. CNET news, Lifehacker, and BBC World Update: Daily Commute.
I’m not entirely sure if I’d add another Podcast to my routine, as I get overwhelmed sometimes and I don’t listen to all of them regularly. I may if it were relevant to me and I found it amusing and it grabbed my attention right off the bat, but I’m not entirely certain.
I am glad you all are working hard asking the readers what we want from our local paper. Steve Jobs was an innovator. He created new technology. You are trying to work with the existing technology to give a specific population something that they want. Asking a self selected group of people what they want out of a product isn’t a bad thing. If that self selected group doesn’t want to provide the information – they don’t have to.
So keep up the good work!
Comment by Meg J — June 1, 2012 @ 5:35 am
Thanks to everyone who took the time to write a response and post it here. I’m not one of the administrators or moderators here on RefreshRT, but I’ll continue to check back periodically to see if there are new comments.
As always, you can find me on Facebook, Twitter or on the Blue Ridge Caucus. You can also email me at mason.adams@roanoke.com or call me direct at 540/981-3253. I’m always looking for good stories about western Virginia politics and about Roanoke & its neighborhoods.
– Mason Adams
Comment by Mason Adams — June 1, 2012 @ 11:46 am
I found your site while searching for general information on the status of podcasts these days. I am considering producing one which would consist of taped phone conversations with an older Wisconsin dairy farmer (with his permission, of course). He’s one of those special characters you meet in life and I know him through some PBS programs I’ve produced about America’s old barns.
With his knowledge I’ve been taping our phone conversations for about 8 years now and I think it might make for interesting listening for probably urban commuters, but I’m not sure. And with all of the input it takes to produce a quality podcast I’m wondering if there is much of a payback there.
Just to add that thought, thanks —
TL
Comment by Tom E. Laughlin Kovia Productions — October 3, 2012 @ 1:44 pm