Electric Sky » Podcasting

Relaxed release schedule for summer 2007

Mark — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:59:16 +0000

You may have already noticed that I haven’t been releasing shows regularly for the last few months. I needed to forgive myself the weekly production schedule during a particularly busy spring. I plan to produce a few shows over the summer on no particular release schedule and will be back into regular production in September.

Have a great summer!

Check your iTunes subscription

Mark — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:12:54 +0000

I had some problems with the iTunes page for Electric Sky in July.Â After almost two weeks, iTunes identified a problem on their end and corrected it.Â That fix has apparently broken all of the iTunes subscriptions to Electric Sky that predate the fix.

If you were subscribed to Electric Sky through iTunes prior to August 6, you will have to unsubscribe then resubscribe in order to have your subscription remain current.

What is Electric Sky?

Mark — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 15:30:53 +0000

ELECTRIC SKY produces Podcast programs that feature engaging, creative and critical ideas and great music.

PORTRAIT is a weekly, short format Podcast that offers a narrow field of view about a particular subject, person, event or theme, in 10 minutes or less.Â The theme song for Portrait is Big Foot by Robert Farrell.

LANDSCAPE is a 30 minute Podcast in which individual segments contribute to a more broad view of a subject. Each edition is in the form of a magazine, documentary, or investigative radio show.

You can subscribe to Electric Sky’s Portrait and Landscape through iTunes , or by using a standard RSS subscription program.

ES2 is my breakout show; a behind the scenes look at Electric Sky, and more.Â It’s my opportunity to share outtakes and insights, and occassionally I’ll ramble on about something completely unrelated.

You can subscribe to ES2 through iTunes , or by using a standard RSS subscription program.

The One has arrived

Mark — Thu, 04 May 2006 04:44:35 +0000

For me, terrestrial radio’s model of linear listening (as Tod Maffin describes in an article on his site) has become increasingly difficult to accomodate. Even more so since I became a voracious consumer, and producer, of Podcasts.

Enter the CBC, the only radio station in Canada worth listening to. Earlier today, it launched a suite of Podcasts that cover a full range of its most popular and influential Radio One programs, regional programming that so many are dependent on, and some programs that are only available as Podcasts.

Congratulations to the CBC for reinventing itself!!! Now, if only they would open up their archives for Podcasts.

The One arrives today

Mark — Wed, 03 May 2006 10:58:20 +0000

For those of you who have been asking, this serves as a reminder that The One is coming, today.

Celebrating one year of Podcasting

Mark — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 03:48:23 +0000

April 29th marks the first anniversary of Electric Sky. So much has happened in the last year – it’s almost hard to comprehend. I’ve learned a million things and met a lot of great people that I now call friends.

To mark this milestone, I have relaunched my website with a new look and a revamped logo. Thanks to Nico for all of his hard work!

Robert Farrell launches Podcast

Mark — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:00:18 +0000

My good friend, Robert Farrell, has launched a guitar instruction podcast. Bigfoot, from Robert’s CD Elegant Chaos, is the theme for my Portrait shows.

TRI-umph

Mark — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:25:29 +0000

It’s official. I am now producing three podcasts! My latest Podcast initiative, Growing Enthusiasm, is about adults and children discovering life and was launched last night with the release of our Tobogganning episode.

Growing Enthusiasm launch coming

Mark — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 11:00:36 +0000

As if two Podcasts aren’t enough, I’m about to embark on another Podcast project. Growing Enthusiasm is a new podcast that will be launched in the next week or so. It’s about the discovery of life, for the first time, by parents and their children. In the meantime, a quick teaser is available for download from the site.

CBC Podcasting Survey

Mark — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 11:00:23 +0000

The CBC is running a podcasting survey to better understand how it should develop its on-demand strategy.

The survey takes about 5 minutes to complete. Please take the time to complete the survey and help the CBC create a world-class service.

*** UPDATE 051225: The survey has been completed and the link is no longer valid.

Canadian podcasting gets a shot in the arm

Mark — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:00:06 +0000

Bob Goyetche (Bob and AJ show, Catfish Show, Mostly Tunes) and I have launched a new podcast called the Canadian Podcast Buffet. The mission of the show is to promote all-Canadian Podcasts, Podcast news and Podsafe music.

Our first show was published on December 1 and featured news of Tod Maffin’s cross Canada podcast tour, promos and profiles of the Podictionary and Decoder Ring Theatre podcasts, and a podsafe song by Christa Couture.

Please tag my Frappr map

Mark — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:08:58 +0000

Well, since everyone else seems to be setting up Frappr maps to find out where their listeners are, why shouldn’t I?

I would appreciate it if you could tag my Frappr Map with your name, location and even a picture.

And… no… I wouldn’t jump off a building if everyone else did.

Electric Sky joins Rogic Podcast Conglomerate

Mark — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 02:39:51 +0000

I have officially joined the Rogic Podcast Conglomerate. You’re probably wondering what that means. Essentially, I have joined a group of podcasting friends who are committed to producing quality programs, and supporting each other in the process. Don’t let the word “conglomerate” mislead you. There is no money to be made (currently) in what we are doing and this is not a financial transaction. Podcasting is a labour of love and the Rogic group is a dedicated and talented one. It’s a priviledge to call these people my friends.

How does this affect you? The only change to Electric Sky is that the forums board I had has been disabled in favour of the forums board at rogic.com/forum (the Forum link in my Tools menu has been updated).

The member shows at this time are:

Bob and AJ show – buddy-cast
Catfish Show – couple-cast
Electric Sky – interviews/documentaries
Mostly Tunes – podsafe music
Podquiz – trivia quiz
Zedcast – skits

Idols are coming

Mark — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 23:00:56 +0000

I am producing Locked Out Idol, an all-in-good-fun talent competition of the locked-out CBC staff here in Ottawa. I am having difficulties finding local musicians and music-scene personalities willing to participate in a parody of the critical Idol judges (they’re concerned about how their comments on performances by the CBC folks may affect their careers).

Just one week left

Mark — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 13:24:46 +0000

There is just one week left before I do the draw for an autographed copy of Sonny Landreth’s live CD, Grant Street.

For more information on the giveaway, check out Portrait – Sonny Landreth.

CBC picks up The Feed

Mark — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 01:07:48 +0000

An announcement on The Feed entitled “The Feed” Moves Ahead on CBC Radio! makes it official.

Congratulations to Tod, and to the entire Canadian Podcasting community. This is a huge stamp of approval.

Public Radio Podcast Directory

Mark — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 23:00:17 +0000

I am the new node editor/owner of the Public Radio Podcast directory, publicradiofeeds.com, joining Ben Kenney of theWatt, who took over the Canadian Podcast directory, canadapodcasts.ca, in answer to Tod Maffin’s call for new directory owners.

Have a great vacation, Tod!

Who is Tod Maffin?

Mark — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 23:41:59 +0000

[NOTE: While this is good Podcast material, I find myself blogging it at the moment. Perhaps a show will follow.]

Many of us Canadian Podcasters talk a lot about this guy named Tod Maffin. So, who is this guy, anyway?

If I had to characterize Tod’s role in the Canadian Podcasting community, it would be this; Tod is our leader. He is the champion of quality podcast content and personalities. This is a significantly different role from the roles filled by Adam Curry and Dave Winer, and is key to the success and sustainability of Podcasting.

We can all learn a lot from his passion and dedication to radio in all forms.

Thank you, Tod!

Mark — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 05:15:58 +0000

Wow! I didn’t see it coming… Tod Maffin, who has been instrumental in building and nurturing the Canadian podcasting community, is winding down his podcasting activities to get back to his true love, terrestrial radio.

Tod’s contributions have been nothing short of remarkable and his absence will be a significant loss to the community.

Cheers to you, Tod! Thank you very much for everything. And, please, stay in touch! I’ll hear you on CBC!

The Feed pilot now available

Mark — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 01:32:27 +0000

Congratulations to Tod Maffin on a great pilot episode of The Feed.

And… way to go Canada on having such a great selection of quality Podcasts!!!

Coming soon on Portrait: Relay for Life

Mark — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 02:19:35 +0000

It’s a long process to put together the kind of show I am hoping to put together with all of the audio I got at the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay For Life last weekend at Carine Wilson Secondary School in Orleans, Ontario.

I am still working away and hope to have the show out this weekend. Thanks for your patience.

The new format, my vision and “visual insound”

Mark — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 13:05:06 +0000

One of the biggest problems that I have faced as a new podcaster, is trying to nail down a vision for my show – something I didn’t consider when I first decided to get into Podcasting. This isn’t easy because the most interesting format to me is the magazine format. However, I have enjoyed the process of putting together what I will call a storycast – something I did by accident in show 8, and apparently did well.

How does one unify those two very different formats? I mulled this over, and combined it with some comments made by some fellow Podcasters. The result is that I decided to treat Electric Sky as though it is a station, and break out my two styles into different shows.

Today, I unveiled the first of those two shows (both named by a very smart woman); a short-format show called Portrait. Each installment of Portrait will focus on a single event or theme which I will package in 10 minutes or less and release at least once a week. Landscape will be a long-format show, any installment of which could be magazine, documentary, or investigative, and will be packaged in 30 minutes or less, probably only once or twice a month.

So, what is visual insound? A very smart man told me that radio is the most visual of all mediums. I agree. Using my new format, I hope to introduce you to new ideas, new people, and new music. Recognizing that I need a way to describe my new format and my Podcasting vision, I played with some words a bit, and changed insight into insound and made it visual. Voila… visual insound!

All day with All In A Day

Mark — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 04:06:03 +0000

What an educational experience! I had the opportunity to observe CBC’s All In A Day team in action as they put together today’s show. I learned an incredible amount about show planning, story selection and development, interviewing, and of course, broadcasting. (UPDATE May 22, 2006: I have produced a documentary called Making All In A Day)

The team was very accommodating, making themselves available to answer my questions and generally talk about podcasting, broadcasting and work experience. Naturally, I got a lot of audio footage so expect a soundseeing tour, which includes great advice and insight, very soon.

I arrived home to discover that some books I had ordered online just two days ago from CBC (CBC Radio Skills, CBC Radio Style Guide, and Storytelling with the Camcorder) had arrived.

As a result of my experiences today, coupled with some conversations I have had with other Podcasters, I will be making significant changes to the format of my show. Stay tuned!

I owe a debt of gratitude to Sarah, Darrell, Mike, Julie, Andy, Linda and Brent. Thanks a million!

Documentary input… honestly!

Mark — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 04:31:37 +0000

I am currently working on a documentary about honesty and I need your thoughts on the subject. What am I looking for?

Your definition of honesty
How important, or unimportant, honesty is to you
Have you ever been lied to
Have you ever lied
Did you lie today
Have you ever been badly hurt by a lie (explain how)
Do you remember your first lie
Did you ever get caught lying (what happened)
etc…

Anyone who submits comments does so knowing that they could become part of the documentary. All comments will remain anonymous.

Submissions can be typewritten or audio-recorded in MP3 format sent via email.

Thanks!

Recording phone interviews for a Podcast

Mark — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 19:27:09 +0000

One of the technology challenges I had in putting my early shows together was how to record a phone interview. My first ever interview for the Electric Sky was with Art Turner. For that, I set up two microphones and navigated an elaborate mess of stands, cables, keyboards, papers and my speaker phone. It wasn’t pretty, and the sound quality wasn’t what I had hoped for. In fact, there was so much bleed between the microphone I used on myself, and the one I used for the speakerphone, that in the final edit, I only used one of the audio channels in my editing software.

My next thought was to record a Skype or Skype-Out conversation directly to the computer on which Skype ran. Like many of you, I learned that doing this causes incredible feedback on the other end of the connection. That makes it very hard for the interviewee.

The solution I adopted is not elegant, though it works. It involves a computer with Skype installed, a block of Skype-Out time (for interviews with guests without Skype), a Logitech headset, my iRiver and the male-to-male mini-plug cable included with my iRiver. Here’s how I make it work.

I plug the microphone of the headset to the microphone-in connection on my computer. Then I plug the iRiver mini-plug cable from the headphone out of the computer to the line-in of the iRiver. Then, I plug the headphones into the iRiver headphone jack. Do not plug the USB cable in to the iRiver as that will overide all other operations except file transfer mode. Now, I’m cabled and I’m still able to listen to the audio on the headphones using the iRiver to provide the audio feed to the headset.

Next, I set up my iRiver to record an external line-in source and set a reasonable audio level (maybe 45-50) using the iRiver control panel. Then, set your operating mode to Line In. Leave the iRiver on. On the computer’s playback mixer, I usually set the Master volume fader to about halfway, the Wave fader to about halfway, and the Microphone fader quite high, almost full.

When I’m ready to record my interview, I press the record button on the iRiver, then start my call in Skype. The iRiver will record until you stop it, or until your battery dies (oh yeah, make sure you have a lot of juice in your battery). When I’m done, I stop the recording and then hook up the iRiver to the USB cable and retrieve the file onto the computer for editing using the iRiver Music Manager.

Show 9 coming

Mark — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 11:09:41 +0000

I had hoped to publish Show 9 last night (May 31). Unfortunately, there was a delay with my guest so I wasn’t able to get the interview done. Show 9 will get posted tonight (June 1).

A new look

Mark — Tue, 31 May 2005 03:42:54 +0000

Thanks a million to Slackhat for giving Electric Sky a much needed identity! A package of great blues/rock and roots music by two artists already featured in Electric Sky Podcasts is on its way to you.

Anyone looking for graphic design work, themes for Postnuke, or web hosting should check out www.slackhat.com.

It’s a mouthful

Mark — Wed, 25 May 2005 16:31:33 +0000

TMC cracked me up when she recorded a podcast ID for me in time for show 06. She followed the ID with “that’s a mouthful”. How can I resist that tag line! Thanks, TMC! A stinger for the show is in the works.

Podcasting and music

Mark — Tue, 03 May 2005 16:36:08 +0000

I wasn’t entirely surprised by Adam Curry’s comments (Daily Source Code, May 2, 2005) regarding the lack of creativity and vision of the record companies with respect to licensing their music and opening up back catalogs for Podcasters.

Unwittingly, or perhaps wittingly, the record companies are doing their best to hang on to an antiquated business model. They are failing to recognize, acknowledge, and embrace new opportunities and economies. This narrow mindedness has managed to strengthen the independent community (the competition) and may be the demise of the music giants. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. However, you can only imagine who will be blamed.

Their loss is our gain. There is an ocean of great independent music for everyone to discover. Podcasting is just one medium through which we can discover this great music. With this in mind, I have been collecting approval from a number of musicians, and their representatives, to Podcast their music. Electric Sky will include this great music, and the people that make it possible, in our shows. This began with Robert Farrell’s Woolly Mammoth on show number 1, and will continue with show number 2 which will be released later this week.

I have to say that I feel badly for the artists that are signed to the major labels. They are the ones that stand to lose the most in the new world.

Feedback module problems

Mark — Mon, 02 May 2005 14:22:43 +0000

I have discovered that the Contact/Feedback module is acting up. Essentially, any time you submit comments, the first attempt will fail and the second attempt will succeed. You’ll know that the submission fails if the Feedback form remains displayed. If it is successful, you will see a message thanking you for your feedback.

I hope to have this problem resolved in the next few days. In the meantime, feedback can be sent to ELECTRICSKYPODCAST AT GMAIL DOT COM.

First show recorded!

Mark — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 04:44:27 +0000

The suspense was killing me, so I finally recorded my first show. I will upload the show to the website as soon as I can figure out how I can make it available as an RSS feed.

Planning, planning, planning

Mark — Sat, 30 Apr 2005 02:56:38 +0000

It’s been a long week of work, family and planning a great Podcast which takes a fair bit of research. I’ve been listening to CBC radio, a collection of Podcasts and doing a fair bit of reading, including Tod Maffin’s e-book, “From Idea to Air” – I highly recommend it.

Since I’m in the final planning stages of the Podcast, I have started thinking about how to promote it, and have created a clip for Adam Curry’s Podcast, “Daily Source Code”. I can’t imagine how weird it will feel if it makes it to his show.

First sound test complete

Mark — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 15:56:15 +0000

A first sound test was performed last evening with promising results. The primary purpose of this first sound test was to record a conversation with my co-host using Skype while learning how to balance the local microphone, Skype feed and local MP3 audio feeds. We quickly discovered that there can be a real difference in the various levels. That is, if we increase the recording levels to accomodate the local microphone and Skype feeds, we can deafen ourselves when a local audio file is played. Not only that, audible echoes occur on the remote Skype end.

Catching up with my co-host and kicking out ideas for the show was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to sharing the results with you.

Electric Sky Podcast is coming!

Mark — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 06:03:41 +0000

I am currently organizing my ideas and planning out the Electric Sky Podcast. I hope to release my first installment next week.