Fireside Chat: Preseason Week 2
>> 8.23.2010
photo by M. Tremper
I finally got a real, live, sort-of microphone setup going for my Fireside Chat podcast--and on Sunday night at 11:00, several folks charitably tuned in to listen and to chat. Save for a minor oversight that put the kibosh on my intro/outro music, and save for a fantastic interview from SI's Tim Layden, this was the best Fireside Chat yet. If you dig The Lions in Winter, and you don't mind a little interactive Lions-related Web 2.0 sports internet talk/chat radio/stream/cast stuff, give it a listen.
If you like it? Check in again next Sunday at 11:00.
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8 comments:
Ty,
I like your articles. They are interesting and insightful. Your chats are terrible. They sound unprofessional and honestly remind me of a 17 year old high school student that is failing his audio visual class. Again, I like the site and your passion for the Lions. I just think your chats are hurting your reputation rather than helping it grow.
In 10 seconds of searching I was unable to figure out how to download the show to put it on my iPod. Is there a way to do that? If not, I will probably never listen, even though I would like to.
Brian--
Ouch.
Well, thank you for your honesty. I appreciate it. I know I'm not "there" yet, but I'm always working to get better. Over the past year-and-a-half, this blog is much more than it once was; I hope the podcast can follow a similar arc.
Peace
Ty
DerylG--
Yeah, I'm trying to get it through the iTunes process right now. Ustream records in a format iTunes doesn't like, so it'll require some tapdancing--but you'll be able to download it via iTunes soon.
Peace
Ty
DerylG--
It's under review by the iTunes Store folks, but if you open up iTunes, hit "Subscribe to Podcast," and enter the URL http://feeds.feedburner.com/thelionsinwinterfiresidechat, that should do it.
Peace
Ty
Brian,
It would be helpful if you were a bit more specific than "I just think your chats are hurting your reputation rather than helping it grow."
By day, I'm a web programmer and if I had a nickel for everytime someone called me up and led off with "the website's broken", I'd be doing something either much more or much less noble with my life.
What about the chats could use some work? How could Ty improve them? Are they such a wash you think they can't be saved?
Give some real feedback and you might see some real results.
Jim and Ty,
Let me reiterate that I really like the blog. It's part of my Lion's daily fill.
Hopefully constructive criticism:
-If you have intro music and no one can hear it, I wouldn't have 20 seconds of dead air. Edit it out for the website.
-Seems like you are slightly mispronouncing some players names: Delmas, Ndamukong, Avril...
-The first 10 minutes it was very obvious you had no game plan for what you were going to talk about. During the first period, it's clear you are thinking about 2 words in front of what your mouth is saying. This was accentuated even more by using the word, "Uhm" every other sentence.
-You used Dwight Freeny as a small DE compared to LoJack or Jason Hunter. Freeny is listed 268 and LoJack and Hunter are 271.
So my experience of listening to your blog was (Chronologically):
1) What's with this intro music???
2) He's never done this before and it's hard to listen to someone stumble over their words
3) He doesn't know how to pronounce the player's names (14:55 to 15:13). Reminds me of those terrible preseason announcers.
4) I'm beginning to count the "Uhm"'s...
4) Dwight Freeny is a lot smaller of a DE than LoJack? What???
I have to give you a lot of credit. I know it's really hard to go on a 30 minute monologue. I would suggest you practice as much as you can of the chat on tape before you do it live.
Brian--
First, thanks again for reading, and for listening critically despite the flaws. Your issues are absolutely valid.
First, with the music, I've been doing this weekly for while now, and the handful of "regulars" and I have been joshing back and forth about the jazzy intro music. To everyone listening in for the first time on Sunday, the lack of music wasn't a funny inversion of the usual, it was just dead air. If I'm going to try to promote the show and get new listeners, I have to remember that there might be new listeners listening. Derp.
As far as inexperience goes, yes, I've only rarely done podcast/radio shows before. When I was a kid, I used to do local radio commercials, and my mother's been in Lansing-market media sales/buying for nearly 30 years--so I do have a little bit of background in production and the like. Recently, I did a couple of phone interviews, and I've been a guest on another podcast, The Knee Jerks. I received pretty positive feedback from those, which is why I decided to give regular podcasting a whirl.
You're right that I freewheeled a lot this past episode, largely because I hadn't actually seen the first half of the game. Some of the improvisation was also due to taking questions from the audience, who (of course) asked stuff that I hadn't necessarily prepped for.
To that end, when I mentioned Freeney to contrast with Lo-Jack, I was thinking of smaller, pure speed pass rushers. To be fair to myself, I mentioned Dumervil and Orakpo along with Freeney. Regardless of actual poundage, Freeney isn't known as a guy who can be as tough against the run as he is fearsome around the corner, like Vanden Bosch is. Maybe Freeney wasn't the best example on the planet of an undersized pass rusher, but I don't think it was a three-question-mark reach.
Pronunciations need to be right. I instictively mispronounce the long A in "Avril" as a short A, and you're right, that has to stop. But I'm pretty sure I got Ndamukong and Delmas right. For a guide on "Ndamukong," check out his official website (http://www.suh90.com), hit "SUH TV," and select "Nike Commercial". The first word is "Ndamukong." That's how I've heard him, and the coaches, pronounce his name, and that's the way I say it.
When it comes to the actual preparation, I can guarantee that the folks that do this for real don't write out every word they say ahead of time. In fact, I tried doing that at first, and found that no matter how much mojo I tried to read it with, reading just doesn't sound as fresh and organic and interesting.
As I said initially, I'm not "there" yet, and I know that. I'm working hard to get better, though--just like I was far from "there" with the writing last year, and I've worked hard to get better at that. I hope you'll come to enjoy the podcast as much as you enjoy the blog.
Peace
Ty
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