Cross-post from
Site Staff Revamp/ Restructuring
This is where it would fit in: podcasts.
I've been
banging the drum about the format of our podcast ever since we started doing them, because they are still a long way away from being something I actually enjoy listening to.
First and foremost, a good podcast needs interesting, entertaining and knowledgeable guests. Everybody should have a reason to be there.
Obsidian [The Engineer] has just said that she is, relatively speaking at least, an expert on music. Now when we want to have a music-related discussion, we have someone to turn to (I know we have at least one other member with a similar background, but they haven't got involved in the recent "improving TLS" discussions).
I'm not forcing anyone into appearing on the pod, of course. I don't know how you would feel about it, Obsidian. But even if you didn't want to speak, you could still help us come up with some discussion points. And... maybe you could help us come up with interview questions.
We have a
highly talented musician who loves Final Fantasy on our doorstep. Am I the only one who has thought to set up an interview? He's clearly here to promote his work, so why wouldn't we take that a step further by putting it on the front page? We could do a written interview, of course, but I think a podcast would be the perfect format, as we could intersperse short clips of his medleys.
Unfortunately, our podcast organisation has been a mess almost from start to finish, and still sounds, more often than not, like a Skype conversation between friends that would have happened even if it wasn't being recorded. That's not a criticism of any individuals: plenty of people have said that they like the rambling nature of the pods we've made so far, and that's valid. All I'm saying is that if we
had taken a different approach, or if we choose to do so now, we can start inviting genuinely interesting people from outside TLS, like Marc Papeghin, to make our podcasts really stand out.
Here's what I'm proposing. Timezones mean that it's almost impossible to get everyone together for podcasts anyway, so let's run
two podcasts. One 30-45 minute show where we have a regular host, just one or two regular guests and a different special guest each time, where possible. Everyone would know what the discussions will be ahead of time and could prep accordingly. It would be a tight, snappy show which mainly focuses on our special guest and any new Final Fantasy developments. The other show would be a bit longer at around 60 minutes, would be open to anyone on TLS who wants to appear and would have a regular host of its own. The conversation would start off with something Final Fantasy related but would be free to take its own natural twists and turns. The show would be much more community-oriented and would highlight recent forum discussions, community events and other TLS news.
Both formats would still be under the same banner of "The Lifestream.net Podcast", so as not to make it confusing. One show would be recorded at a time that suits Europeans/Africans, the other at a time that suits Americans - sorry Asians/Oceanians, there aren't enough of you! Of course, people would be free to appear on the "other" podcast if they were able to make it at the right time, and we'd have to accommodate our special guests' timetables as well.
As much as I would love to get involved with the first of those two formats, because that's the type of show I like listening to, as Community Manager it would make more sense for me to run or appear on the latter. And if I do end up running it, it will appear once a month. Hopefully the "other" show will too, so that we'd have something new for our audience to listen to every fortnight.
I still believe that the podcast can be a shining gem of our front page coverage, if we put a little more effort in. That's why I gave it such a prominent role on my
most recent front page draft. What do you think?
Edit: by the way, none of that is aimed at the current podcast which Airling has been trying to organise. As I said before, I like the sound of that one, because it has a specific reason to exist: it's looking back at what we've done on TLS so far this year. Though I have to say I wasn't surprised when it didn't get recorded at the first attempt
One thing I'd like to see more of on TLS is people taking ownership of things. Once you've been given the go-ahead to do something, make it yours. Of course it's always good to read other ideas, but all too often that leads to things getting delayed or cancelled.
