Take one part good old fashioned pub crawl and add another part podcasting and you’ve got yourself a Podcrawl. Podcrawls have been taking place in the UK for years and Podcrawl 2016 is happening later this month in London. The event is being organized in part by veteran podcaster Rowley Cutler of the DarkCompass show. Cutler reached out to me about covering the event here on Podcaster News. I asked for some background on the event and here’s a transcription of our exchange with some minor corrections for syntax, etc.:
PCN: When was the first Podcrawl, how did it come about?
Rowley Cutler: Before I started Podcrawl in its current form, Adam Curry (of The Daily Source Code) started an office for Podshow in London and got together a group of podcasters in the UK. He called it a Podcrawl (although the group did not move from pub to pub).
In 2008, The first Podcrawl came about by chance, actually. I was listening to two music podcasts, Pete Cogle’s PCP Podcast, and Peter Clitheroe’s Suffolk ’n’ Cool. These two guys had known each other for a while and (had been) podcasting for a few years.
I overheard a conversation relayed between them that they would both be in London at the same time and (that) they should meet up. I then contacted them and said could I come along. Once I announced that the three of us were meeting up, then it snowballed and quite a few (people) came, around 15 at one point. It was just a few beers in some pubs in Soho in the centre of London, having an interest (in podcasting) together makes it all the more fun. Over the years we’ve had impromptu acoustic sessions, artist itnterviews, and (podsafe) music swapping. We’ve been mistaken for rugby supporters at one point when we were all wearing the same polo shirts, kindly donated by a brewery we were plugging (because we liked the ale so much).
PCN: How many participants usually take part in Podcrawl?
RC: It’s usually just a small crowd, between 6 and 20, with people coming and going throughout the day. Its all very informal. We only ask to share their photos, recordings, and experiences. I don’t think we’ve ever wanted to do a convention or festival, as our shows are different (in style). It’s the common ground that we have all walked on; Building a fanbase, knowing what you’re talking about, and how your podcast is put together.
PCN: Is everyone invited to attend, or only podcasters? Only UK podcasters?
RC: Anyone and everyone who has an interest in podcasting (can attend Podcrawl) and not only UK people either – we’ve had podcasters from Portugal and Australia appear at Podcrawl – it’s always great to see new faces. It’s sometimes a bit bizarre when a listener or someone new joins in on a Podcrawl, how quickly they start up their own (conversations), or ideas bounce of people to make their shows more social and easier to manage. We all try to keep the technical side of podcasting low at these occasions, but it sometimes does get a bit geeky.
Podcrawl 2016 will take place on Saturday, August 20th. The crawl begins at the The Argyll Arms in London. Throughout the day, Podcrawl participants will be posting about the event on social media with the hashtag #podcrawl. If you’d like to join in the fun, check out this event page on Facebook for more information.
Take one part good old fashioned pub crawl and add another part podcasting and you’ve got yourself a Podcrawl. Podcrawls have been taking place in the UK for years and Podcrawl 2016 is happening later this month in London. The event is being organized in part by veteran podcaster Rowley Cutler of the DarkCompass show. Cutler reached out to me about covering the event here on Podcaster News. I asked for some background on the event and here’s a transcription of our exchange with some minor corrections for syntax, etc.: