Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2006

Ruminations on podcasting

So, what is a podcast, anyway? Frankly, the term does more harm then good. It leads people to be confused about what the darned thing actually is. Everyone always says they've not done any podcasting because they don't have an iPod. I've always thought of podcasting like a general word to describe several things, all of which are related. What do you think of when you think of the word "radio"? Are you referring to the device, the sound-waves, or the people talking or singing through the little speaker? All three uses would be useful. That's how I think of podcasting, or have thought of podcasting to this point. But, I've gotten in several heated arguments about this, because the term is meeting with a lot of resistance. People tell me an mp3 on a website is not a podcast. When I try to explain that it could be seen that way, they get angry. Or they tune out, which is even worse. In the weeks to come, I hope to clear up some of the language on my site, whi

500 posts on Charlottesville Podcasting Network

I don't want to disrupt the normal cycle of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network , so I'll just announce here that I've just posted the 500th post to that site. The numbers have gone up to about seven podcasts a week since we began providing audio archive editions of WINA's Charlottesville--Right Now with Coy Barefoot. We've also continued producing features, as well as providing platforms for other area podcasts such as The Food Geek and Gentech . Of course, there's also WNRN's Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call, which was the very first radio program we began offering up as a podcast. That led to me working for WNRN as a news reader every Tuesday and Friday, something that's revitalizing my desire to work as a news reporter. In the fall, I'm hoping to redouble my efforts to produce more pieces for Virginia public radio stations. So, you may ask how it's gone so far. Have I met my goals? Have I been successful? I've certainly had some media ex

Nielsen: We're number #182

According to Nielsen , Charlottesville has moved up three spots to become the 182nd television market in the country. In case you're keeping score, that's because we've got 83,850 "TV homes" in the area. Harrisonburg is the 181st market, with 87,630 television homes. I wonder what Doc Multimedia will think of this, and if it will help him get his desired HD?

The end of the summer

How can it possibly be August 18th, with students expected to descend on town tomorrow morning? Where did this summer go? It seems like I just recorded U.Va's graduation ceremonies. For that matter, where's the whole year gone? In about five minutes I'll be writing about how I can't believe it's Christmas. Is there a way to stop time, or at least, to slow things down a bit? Perhaps a way to pluck the strings of reality a little bit differently then we're used to? When I work the morning news shift at WNRN , I definitely feel very different. Waking up at 4:00 just adds five hours to my day, because I certainly don't get any more sleep. And now that I'm doing it twice a week (Tuesday and Fridays!) I wonder if I should readjust my life and just decide to wake early every single day. Now I'm talking crazy. But yes, the end of the summer, but of course, it's going to be warm for a while. While I walked my dog the other day I noticed all sorts of yello

Law and Order: Special Letters Unit

So, I have a tenth-month-old daughter. She's awesome. Anyone who doesn't have kids, I want to say, don't worry: It's great fun when they start learning how to speak. Josephine can utter certain phonemes which do represent things in the real world. Watching a human being learn to speak is fantastic. And, I am anticipating that watching a human being learn to read will be just as amazing and fantastic. So, as a public service, I want to announce something. Sesame Street has my vote as an absolutely cool television program. Now, now. Most people think Elmo has killed the show. Joel Stein even takes it task in a recent article. He quotes the creators of Wonder Showzen as saying "Elmo doesn't grow. People show him something and he laughs. He doesn't learn a lesson." And, okay, on that basis, yes, the show seems to be produced at a lower level of quality then when I was a toddler in the mid 70's. My dad used to brag that the show helped teach me how to

Three weeks gone by?

How did three weeks go by since the last post? For the life of me, I am a little unclear of how that happened, exactly. This entire summer is almost over, and of course, I'm wishing it will be soon because I'm ready for sweaters and jeans once more. I'm also ready for Court Square Tavern to re-open. I'm torn between working there and working there again. On the one hand, I'd like to be there for grand re-opening, but on the other, I've done okay without it, financially. But, really, three weeks since a post. On here, at least. I'm posting several things a day to the Charlottesville Podcasting Network site. But, nothing here. Part of this is because adding WNRN to my work week has sped things up. I've been reading the news once a week, but for three out of the past four weeks I've gone up to two days a week. This has meant rethinking my work week. It doesn't pay very much at all, but it has begun to take up a lot more of my time. July was not a h