The Hobson and Holtz Report - Podcast #29: May 2, 2005

Content summary: Listeners' comments (on communication strategy, measurement, champagne and tea "from our Australian correspondent"; on communication impact of blogs; podcasting at Les Blogs; identifing a blog author; equipment for mobile podcasting); Doc Searls at Les Blogs; Business Week's cover story on blogs; lots of developments with podcasting; upcoming interviews in May; suggestions for co-hosts and panel discussions; blogging conference in New York.

Show notes for May 2, 2005

Welcome to For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, an 81-minute conversation recorded live from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Download the file here (MP3, 32.5MB), or sign up for the RSS feed to get it and future shows automatically. (For automatic synchronization with your iPod or other digital player, you’ll also need software such as the FeedDemon RSS aggregator, or the free ipodder or DopplerRadio).

In this edition:

Intro:

• 00:30 Shel and Neville introduce the show; Shel on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
• 09.47 Listeners' comments with Shel, including 1 MP3; how to give your feedback; show notes

Features:

• 26:24 Doc Searls' presentation at Les Blogs - what blogs are and what they're not
• 40:01 Business Week on blogs - the evangelical cover story and who it's aimed at
• 48:56 Developments in podcasting - Warner Bros, Paris Hilton, Disney, Adam Curry' and Ron Bloom, PR and marketing. What are the connections?

Short Takes:

• 69:02 Upcoming interviews in May - Mark Elbertse, CEO, Tulip Computers, on May 11; Peter Clifton, Editor, BBC News Online, precise date to be confirmed.
• 71:12 Suggestions for guest co-hosts and panels on the show - let us know what you think
• 72:25 Blogging goes mainstream - conference tomorrow in New York

Outro:

• 73:15 Shel solo on next Thursday's show with recorded contribution from Neville; show notes; how to give your feedback; about the music and the band; outro music

Links for the blogs, individuals, companies and organizations we discussed or mentioned in the show:

Intro - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, iPod, Bourbon Street, Mid City Lanes, Virgin Records, Charles Pizzo, IABC, Lee Hopkins, Alan Weiss The Ultimate Consultant book, Douglas Armour, Wendy's, Microsoft, Lloyd Davis, Les Blogs, Matthew Gertner, Sony Walkman MZ-NH700, Vivanco, Constantin Basturea, Loic Le Meur, Les Blogs coverage, Global PR Blog Week 2.0, Mike Manuel, The New PR Wiki, Ned Lundquist, Pete Shinbach.

Features - Doc Searls, Cluetrain Manifesto, Linux Journal, The 1st Amendment, FCC, Society of Professional Journalists, Washington Post, eWeek, Business Week on blogs, Leonard Witt, Michael Strangelove, The Internet Business Journal, Steve Rubel, Blogspotting, TypePad, Warner Bros, The House of Wax, Paris Hilton Podcast, Adam Curry, Daily Source Code, Captain Morgan's Rum blog, Barbie blog, iPodder, Chris Thilik, The Simple Life, Nicole Ritchie, Internet Movie Database, Disney, Disneyland, Michael Geoghegan, Podcast Alley, GM Fastlane Blog, May It Please The Court, Adam Curry's & Ron Bloom's strategy podcast (MP3, 106Mb), ipodder.org, Podshows, New York Times, Infinity, Sirius Satellite Radio, Adam Curry's Podshow press release, KYOURadio, Daily Source Code, Skype, SkypeIn.

Short Takes - Mark Elbertse, Hans Mestrum, Peter Clifton, Keith Sheldon, Wilma Matthews, Dan York, Craig Jolley, The Gillmor Gang, "Blogging Goes Mainstream: Is Your Company Ready?" conference, Robert Scoble.

Outro - Umphrey's McGee, The Bottom Half, Etree.org, For Immediate Release, A Shel of My Former Self, NevOn.

If you have comments or questions about this show, or suggestions for our future shows, email us at comments@forimmediaterelease.biz, or call the Comment Line at +1 206 984 0931. You can email your comments, questions and suggestions as MP3 file attachments, if you wish (max. 5Mb attachment, please!). We'll be happy to see how we can include your audio contribution in a show.

So, until Thursday May 5...

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel's and my podcast blog.)

Comments

[Rob S]

I have to say that I've listened to the Paris Hilton podcast and it's terrible at best. It seems like it's off the cuff, without a lot of thought put into it. If someone tunes in to that and thinks it's representative of the quality and content of podcasts, then they will likely tune out of podcasts for good.

The strategy cast was too long, very boring and the file size was way too large. After listening to this I was very disappointed at what I heard. According to Ron Bloom, marketers are essential because they bring in listeners. I disagree. Marketers are part of the mix, but the producers come first. Without quality producers, the listeners will have no reason to tune in. I also agree with Dave Winer when he asks "Who is Ron Bloom, and why should he be the arbiter of what's cool in podcasting?"

KYOU and Sirius are not playing podcasts. Podcasts are media that enabled with RSS and delivered via the Internet with a worldwide reach. KYOU and Sirius are trolling for free content to pull into a dying medium. They are broadcasting, not podcasting.

[Heather Green]

Neville and Shel,

Thanks for the kind words in the podcast about the magazine article. Loved the show and the discussion on podcasting.

Just wanted to say, you're absolutely right about our goal in writing the story. We had long discussions and many rewrites, trying to figure out what information to present. But our goal always was to write something for someone who had vaguely heard what blogs were, but didn't understand why they should pay attention to them. That's why we decided to write it in the form of a blog (as close as we could get with the print version), as a sort of immersion by reading.

And FYI, to answer your questions. The cover was worldwide and our readership is around 5.6 million people.

[Neville Hobson]

Thanks, Rob, you make some good points. On the Paris Hilton podcast, I agree with you that it seems off the cuff. To me, though, that's a good thing: it is a good example of the informality of the medium generally. And I do think it has had a great deal of thought put into its overall format with the delivery that's pure Paris. I'd say the podcasts I've listened to so far show that has been done with the audience, the listeners, firmly in mind. I'm definitely not the target audience (I guess), but I like these podcasts! Refreshing in their off-the-cuff-ness!

I'd hate you to think that I'm a really awkward so-and-so (especially as I'm a growing fan of PodcastNYC and what you're doing there!), but I'm going to disagree with you re the Curry/Bloom strategy cast.

Yes, two hours is long, but it's worth a listen although I've not yet found the time to listen to it all. About half so far. And re marketers, that needs to be set in context. What Ron was talking about was how to engage marketers without losing the audience. And the marketer comes third in his 'puzzle list' (1. Listener, 2. Producer, 3. Marketer, 4. Enabler). He talks about his goal as being to "make it easy and desirable for millions of listeners to find a quality programme." That sounds good to me - and marketers will undoubtedly have a role although no one yet knows what that might be.

As for Dave Winer's comment, well, it's a good question I guess. But why not Ron Bloom? Why not anybody else with an opinion, for that matter?

Thanks for the correction re Sirius and KYOURadio. Re Sirius, I understood that the deal with Adam Curry to host a daily 4-hour 'podcast show' means that Adam will be broadcasting podcasts (well, MP3 files if we want to get picky) that podcasters have sent in to him.

Great - more exposure by someone who knows this stuff and via a medium that will reach millions (?) of people who otherwise might not hear it. Surely that's a good thing?

[Neville Hobson]

Heather, many thanks. Pleased to learn that you enjoyed the show.

Great to have that confirmation on our guesses re the goals for the BW cover story. And the news re your readership. Quite a bit more than I thought it might be.

I hope we retain you as an ongoing listener!

[Robin Capper]

Thanks for another interesting show. Just back from a computer free holiday (yeah) so have been catching up with the past few weeks shows while clearing the in-box!
Had some experience with Corporate vs Blog Vs Trad Media this year so was interested to hear this episode and read the Biz Week Story. (see linked post for details)