Month: March 2018

The Whickers Radio and Audio Funding Award

~ jen

The Whickers were established in 2015 to fund and recognize original and innovative documentary. They seek to use the generous legacy of their namesake, pioneering broadcaster Alan Whicker, to support emergining film and audio documentary-makers in the production of authored programmes and to recognize exceptional audio that has already been broadcast.

Podcasters might be interested in The Wickers Radio and Audio Funding Award (RAFA). The deadline for applications is May 1, 2018. Shortlisted applicants will be notified at the end of July 2018. Shortlisted applicants will pitch their projects to the judging panel at Open City Documentary Festival in September 2018. Award-winners will be announced at the Open City award ceremony.

The Radio and Audio Funding Award (RAFA) is awarded to an emerging audio producer based anywhere in the world to produce an original radio or audio documentary which fulfills the core criteria detailed below. A main award of £7,000 is awarded to an audio documentary-maker to produce a feature-length programme. £3,000 goes to the runner-up.

Some Criteria Includes:

Authored Story:

  • A story-teller with demonstrably strong interviewing skills
  • Demonstrates passion for the subject whilst retaining fair-mindedness
  • Demonstrates a real sense of independence
  • Personal but not partisan
  • Wry humour welcome
  • Strictly no “Whicker impersonations”

Curiosity:

  • Spirit of inquisitiveness that leaves viewers wanting more
  • Tells us about something new and unexpected about the world
  • Excites wonder
  • Understands how wit can illuminate the toughest or most nuanced real life drama

Original Use of Technology:

  • Playful with story-telling means – breaking new ground and/or using old ground to re-invent new style

Those who are interested in entering The Whickers Radio and Audio Funding Award should visit their website for full details. There are other criteria to be aware of.  They also have put together a very informative FAQ.

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Now has a Podcast

~ jen

It was only a matter of time before goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s “lifestyle brand” launched its own podcast. The goop Podcast will likely attract people who are big fans of goop and who regularly make purchases of goop products. In my opinion, the podcast might also attract people who strongly dislike goop and who want to make fun of the podcast.

Gwyneth Paltrow and goop’s Chief Content Officer Elise Loehnen chat with leading thinkers, culture changers, and industry disruptors – from doctors to creatives, CEOs to spiritual healers – about shifting old paradigms and starting new conversations.

New episodes will be released every Thursday. At the time I am writing this blog post, The goop Podcast has released a trailer on February 23, 2018, and its first episode on March 8, 2018.

In the first episode, Gwyneth Paltrow talks with Oprah Winfrey. The description of the episode says “Their wide-ranging and honest conversation spans everything from Oprah’s favorite acting role to her perspective on the MeToo movement and “the culture of enough” to be the one life truth she knows for certain.”

They also talked about books, and the show notes on goop helpfully link to a page in the goop shop where you can purchase books that Oprah says you need to read “if you’re going to be a human being.” Right away, I can see the potential for The goop Podcast to be a marketing/sales tool.

As you may have heard, goop has been involved with at least a few controversies. Gizmodo reported on June 22, 2017, that goop was selling Body Vibe stickers that it claimed were “made with the same conductive carbon material NASA uses to line space suits so they can monitor an astronaut’s vitals during wear”.

Gizmodo also reported that a representative from NASA’s spacewalk office told them that they “do not have any conductive carbon material lining the spacesuits”. Body Vibes later made an apology for mischaracterizing their product. This is not the only product goop sold that has been criticized for its dubious health claims.

Dear Media Seeks a Podcast Producer

~ jen

Dear Media, a podcast network powered by Digital Brand Architects (DBA) believes that media is changing. They are on the front wave of that sea change. With an emphasis on female hosts and voices, Dear Media will place women, their stories and narratives, at the forefront of conversation. Dear Media is seeking a Podcast Producer.

We are currently looking to hire a full-time podcast producer with experience in the podcast space. We are looking for a producer to help record and produce multiple shows per week with multiple talent/hosts. The office and studio is in West Hollywood, California and we are ready to hire.

Some Responsibilities Include:

  • Schedule time with Dear Media studio and Talent/Hosts
  • Record in studio and edit podcast on a weekly basis
  • Work on multiple shows each week
  • Provide mp3 file or recording to upload to host account
  • Communicate with sales team to make sure advertisement schedule for each show is seamless
  • Provide talent/hosts with “reads/advertisements” each week before and during recording session

Qualifications Include:

  • Bachelors degree
  • Past podcast production experience is preferred
  • Minimum of 1-2 years of full editing audio experience
  • Minimum of 1 year video editing
  • Proven experience producing and editing audio files using Adobe Audition

Software Skills Include:

  • Adobe Audition
  • Skype
  • Photoshop (preferred)
  • Adobe Premier and After Effects (video & audio a plus)
  • Proficiency uploading to podcast hosting platform

Those who are interested in this job should visit the Dear Media want ad on LinkedIn to find out more details. It was posted 40 days ago (at the time I am writing this) and is still up. My best guess is that Dear Media has not yet filled this position.

Accusonus Launched the Audio Tech Podcast

~ jen

Accusonus builds next generation audio repair and music creation software. They develop their own patented Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technology in order to enable previously unimaginable sound processing workflows. Accusonus has launched the Audio Tech Podcast.

Get the most important audio headlines in less than three minutes. Each week, veteran audio and DJ journalist Markkus Rovito spotlights the top stories from the industry. Now you can stay up to speed on the gear and tools you love and use everyday.

The Audio Tech Podcast brought to you by Accusonus is described as a NewsFlash podcast. The first episode was released on February 13, 2018, and the most recent episode (at the time I am writing this blog) was released on March 12, 2018.

The first five episodes cover highlights starting from the 2018 NAMM show and include headlines from Ableton, Avid, LANDR, Output, Splice, Teenage Engineering, and more.

NAMM stands for National Association of Music Merchants. The 2019 NAMM took place in January at the Anaheim Convention Center. There’s always a lot going on at NAMM, and it is easy to miss things.

I think starting the Audio Tech Podcast by covering some of the more interesting parts of NAMM is an excellent idea. It is the perfect podcast for those who experience “fear of missing out” on audio and music tech news.

RadioPublic Introduces Paid Listens

~ jen

Is your podcast too small to be considered attractive to advertisers? Does your podcast focus on a niche group that advertisers don’t know what to do with? RadioPublic might have a monetizing solution for you. RadioPublic has introduced Paid Listens.

Jake Shapiro is the Co-Founder of RadioPublic. He explained why RadioPublic was introducing Paid Listens in a post on Medium. In short, RadioPublic believes creators should be paid for their efforts. They are building a marketplace and committing themselves to bringing on brands, advertisers, and sponsors that were previously inaccessible to the majority of podcasters.

With Paid Listens, we are changing the equation by guaranteeing payments to podcasters on RadioPublic, whether you have ten listeners or ten thousand.

Here’s how it works: podcasters make ad-free episodes available in their feeds, we place ads on our platform that bookend each episode and we pay participating podcasters for every listen on the RadioPublic apps for iOS and Android at a $20 CPM.

This might be a good opportunity for smaller podcasters who want to make money from their podcast, and who are willing to have RadioPublic place ads at the start and at the end their episodes. RadioPublic says it is fine for podcasters to keep “shout-outs, and obligatory grant-funding or crowdfunding messages” in your podcast. But if there are ads you have sold in a given episode, Radio Public may not count that towards your Paid Listens.

To start, RadioPublic is offering a $20 Paid Listen rate per thousand listens, or an equivalent of a $20 CPM. They acknowledge that the Paid Listens rate could go down or up, and make it clear that it is their goal for it to go up.

When you reach $25 worth of Paid Listens you are eligible for a payout. That amount equals 1,250+ listens on RadioPublic. There is a helpful slider tool at the bottom of the RadioPublic page that you can use to discover how much earnings per year your podcast could make from Paid Listens. If that sounds good to you, it is possible to sign up for Paid Listens on the RadioPublic website.

Teacher Removed from Classroom After Her Podcast was Discovered

~ jen

Podcasters need to be aware that what they say on a podcast could, potentially, cause them to lose their job. Such is the case with a teacher in Florida who was removed from the classroom after a HuffPost article revealed that she was host of what several news sites are describing as a “white nationalist” podcast.

Dayanna Volitch was a social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School in Florida. At the same time, she was hosting a white nationalist podcast and using the pseudonym “Tiana Dalichov”.

The podcast is called Unapologetic with Tiana Dalichov. When I searched for it on Apple Podcast, I got a little pop-up that said “The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the U.S. store”. It no longer appears on Stitcher or Soundcloud.

Some of the episodes are, at the time I am writing this post, still available. Interestingly, the top of the TuneIn page includes a link to a website called Remso Republic, which brings up a 404 when I tried to search for Unapologetic with Tiana Dalichov. The Twitter account connected to the podcast no longer exists.

HuffPost reported that in the podcast “Tiana Dalichov” and a guest “railed against diversity in schools” and argued that science had proven that certain races are smarter than others. She also agreed with her guest’s assertion that more white supremacists need to infiltrate schools and become teachers.

HuffPost reported that the teacher “boasted about bringing her white nationalist beliefs into the classroom and hiding her ideology from administrators. She said when parents complained to the school’s principal about how she is injecting political bias into the classroom, Volitch lied to the principal and said it was not true.”

On March 4, 2018, the Citrus County School District posted the following statement:

The main thing that podcasters should take from this example is that one cannot truly be anonymous, forever, on the internet. HuffPost discovered that teacher Dayanna Volitch was “Tiana Dalichov” after finding a writing website that promoted the writing of the pseudonym.

The bio on that website include the age, city, and photo of Dayanna Volitch. HuffPost compared that photo to the photo of the teacher on the school’s website. In addition, “Tiana Dalichov” mentioned on the podcast that she was a teacher.

UPDATE: WTSP.com reported on April 10, 2018, that the Citrus County School Board had officially accepted the resignation of Dayanna Volitch during a school board meeting. The Citrus County School Board issued an official statement:

The Citrus County School Board has accepted the resignation of Ms. Volitich. The district will close the investigation this week and notify Ms. Volitich of the findings. Pursuant to the state statute 1012.31(3)(a) Ms. Volitich will have 10 days (from receipt of the findings) to respond before the investigation becomes public record.

Nerdist Podcast Rebranded as ID10T

~ jen

Earlier this month, Chris Hardwick announced the end of an era for Nerdist podcast. It has been rebranded as ID10T with Chris Hardwick, and will no longer be affiliated with Nerdist Industries. Instead, the ID10T with Chris Hardwick podcast will become part of the ID10T company that Chris Hardwick launched to sell collectible goods and host live events.

There is a rather lengthy description of ID10T with Chris Hardwick on iTunes:

I am Chris Hardwick. This podcast used to be called Nerdist. Now it is not. It is still basically just me talking about stuff and things with my two nerdy friends Jonah Ray and Matt Mira when they’re available, and usually someone more famous and smarter than all of us.

Swearing is fun, so we still do that occasionally. I hope you like this new iteration which is the same as before, but if a name hangs you up unhealthily I’m sure you will not hesitate to unfurl your rage not only in the ‘reviews’ section but also now on all the various social media platforms that have popped up since we started in 2010, effectively murdering blogs.

Hollywood Reporter interviewed Chris Hardwick about the rebrand. The Nerdist Podcast launched in February of 2010 and became the basis for Nerdist Industries, which built up a network of podcasts (and more). Nerdist Industries sold to Legendary Entertainment in 2012.

Chris Hardwick’s contract with Legendary Entertainment expired in 2017. He retains full ownership of The Nerdist Podcast and its library of episodes. But, Legendary Entertainment owns the name Nerdist. This explains the need for rebranding the podcast’s name, while keeping the content and style listeners have been enjoying.

The new name, ID10T, looked familiar to me. The About page on the ID10T company website reminded me of the meaning. “ID10T is a joke IT code that essentially means ‘user error’” You can probably work out how this code would be pronounced.

Content Stagecoach: The Booth Junkie

~ admin

Click Here to See a Larger Image...Humans have been traveling since – well, since Humans popped up, and what our collective travel experiences indicate is that there’s always something new to learn about. Time to Climb Aboard the Content Stagecoach and learn about new content!

We as podcasters are literally  GEAR JUNKIES. From the Podcaster that buys every new “thing” to the podcaster that WANTS to buy every new thing to the guy that HAS bought everything and it sits waiting in boxes in the basement – we are addicted to gear contemplation and acquisition. One of the most-focused cravings for is when anyone says or reads the word MICROPHONE. Ahh, microphones, the true luscious taste of digital sin, bitter the taste – that triggers visions of our available funds in a variety of all-too-limited bank accounts.

I recently had my Heil Fin microphones (used in our voiceover booths and The Podcast Bug) serviced and while putting a short polish on them, I was surfing through YouTube’s growing listing of digital libraries and – oh – whats this? A microphone review, for those interested in utilizing mics for voiceover. Very interesting…

After having clicked the fun image of a guy with a a couple of akin mics who also had wild hair, i clicked the proverbial “Play” button and what lept out of the speakers in my West studio was…

The Booth Junkie - In This Case: $50 Mic VS $1000 Mic...The Booth Junkie

In this particular episode, the host Mike greeted us all, put on his appreciative, crown-like  headphones and began detailing the always-fun-to-watch-people-hate “Blue Yeti USB Microphone” that is not only a good deal but a good starter, entry-level microphone that I myself have drop-shipped to people for interviews, live music collection and a number of other capture missions over the years. Without getting into too much depth, the bottom line is that I think the Yeti has become an easy target and for the most part is a shat-upon viable, variable tool that gets the job done fast for a very fair price and let’s you be “up and running.” Still, the Yeti has legitimate quirks and viable feature sets…

..and here was The Booth Junkie going over them all, with focused detail, clear experience in the realm of audio collection (in particular, voiceover) and an engaging voice that isn’t just seasoned, but FUN. Those of you that take in as much audio “listening” as I do in lieu of say radio or music will know the value of a good voice, but also – a personality. Mike DelGaudio (wait a minute, the guy has the word AUDIO in his name? Seriously? Yes, seriously) delivers a variety of details, perspectives and KNOWLEDGE that educates even someone that thinks they “know it all” when it comes to audio intake. There’s another facet of Mike’s gallery and it’s that there is FUN, yes, but also play. There’s a small, subtle dance being done between the capture of the content, the visuals that you get but also in the text’d dialog on screen. It’s a treat to be sure and one that leaves you satisfied as the episode goes by because it makes you wonder which mic it is you’re actually listening to because – I mean, we know, right? We know which mic is which right? Riiight?

While there are a number of episode styles in his library, one that captured my attention was his overall microphone review of a HUGE and growing number of mics. What’s also clear is Mike’s zeal in learning more about how the various mics (that both companies and other “Booth Junkies” themselves can loan to him to test) is his natural delivery of opinion, thought and not “THIS PRODUCT SUCKS”, regardless of the experience or happenstance. It’s all engaging, filled with well-paced content that makes you want to continue listening to more while glancing now and again to see what a short silence or “about-to-guess-about-something” phrase flip will deliver for the viewer. Inside another microphone comparison video (the $50 mic VS. the $1000 mic), Mike shares a divine process and nugget at the end that is something I’d LOVE to share here to explain how exemplary it is but hell – then why wouldn’t YOU go check it out, right?

The Heil Fin Microphone - Is Heading Booth Junkieward!The last nugget that should showcase my interest in Mike in general is one I can’t wait to share a follow up article about. Mike’s listing of microphones he’s put to the test and in digital voice-capturing battle is missing a KEY element. A shiny weapon that I myself have had as a sidearm in all of my studios for the last 12 years poised in all battles for podcasting and voiceover conquest. An always available tool that turns heads, collects bright sound and ushers in reviews, education and perspectives of all kinds. The Heil Fin microphone – is in-bound to Mike in the friendly East-coast-based confines as we speak for yet another engaging focus online. I. Can’t. Wait. It’s almost as if I am – addicted – to what he’s going to say? Where’d I put that mishapen’d spoon and rubber tube?

Turning to the digital pages that comprise YouTube.Com content today is a ROUGH road, but for those of us who like gear, let me confirm one thing: If you’re looking or detail about audio, in particular microphone-captured audio, by a guy named DelGaudio, with fun, engaging attitude that makes you send gear host-ward, then I have the PERFECT subscription to feed the poison stream of GEAR ADDICTION, and it’s right over here – you know the Booth – with the Junkie in it.

Tell him that Mike Wilkerson sentcha’.

Booth Junkie on YouTube
Mike DelGaudio – Voice Actor Website