Podcasting Mania

Many have asked how I got into podcasting.. so I decided to sit down and blog about it.

Back in 2004/2005 itunes added this new function called Podcasts. I had heard about these a little bit prior to that but didn't really pay them much attention until itunes added them to their site. I remember doing searches for my favorite topics, Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, Facscape, Harry Potter and so and found so many great podcasts.

When I first started off I was listening to about 50+ podcasts but that only lasted a few months as my "free" time became less available I started to scale down my list. Soon there were good solid 15 shows including Treks in Sci Fi, The Signal and Pottercast.

Treks in Sci Fi was special because they had just started a forum and I was one of the first to join and frequent it quite a bit that I was made a moderator. Also because Treksf was all about the shows I love I use to send in listener feedback all the time and Rico would play my comments and it was kind of cool to hear myself on the podcast. So I started sending in listener comments to my other podcasts and soon it became a regular thing and the podcasting bug got me.

I started RPG (role playing game) on the Treks in Sci fi forums and soon it spawned into The Ready Room podcast which covered the happens of the RPG. I loved doing this podcast with fellow forum members Jen and Rick. It was almost like doing my own podcast but the topic was restricted to the Trek SF RPG game and I wanted to do more. Eventually the RPG ended and the three of us moved on to our own podcasts. Jen started the Anomaly podcast with her friend Angela while Rick started Take Him With You Podcast with his wife Amy... both are EXCELLENT podcasts.

So that left me to think of a topic I could do my podcast on. At the time there were thousands of podcasts and so many topics that if you didn't find your niche you could get lost in the crowd. At the time I was volunteering for a webseries called The Guild doing all their behind the scenes DVD stuff when it hit me. I should do a podcast about The Guild. There isn't one out there and since I "work" for them I'm sure I can get inside info and interviews with the cast and such... so Knights of the Guild Podcast was born. It's a huge undertaking to produce 2 to 5 podcasts a month but I love it. KOTG has really open some doors for me and has been a great experience. We're currently working on our third year and The Guild is about to start it's fifth season. I don't know how much longer I'll be doing KOTG but I'll keep doing it as long as the listeners keep downloading it.

Like The Ready Room Podcast, Knights of the Guild podcast is very specific in it's topic and I really wanted to do a variety geek show since I love many things geek. So in October of 2010 I came up with an idea for Epic Geek Out. I purchased the URL, created an email account, made a podbean website and twitter name. Got a logo made and a theme song. Then life got busy, my co-host (Jen) as unable to continue with this project for the time being so it took a back seat. I've tried several times this year to revive it but because of the show format it's making it very difficult to get things off the ground. I know eventually will get it going and it's going to be great.. but until I can devote a good chunk of time to it, it will just to have wait.

I've wanted to do a MASH podcast for several years now, I mentioned this to my partner at the time Harry (who's a huge MASH fan) but again it never went anywhere until earlier this year I was talking to a few friends and fellow podcasters (Meds & Al) and found out that both of them are huge MASH fans and suddenly this podcast was on the fast track and come February we released the first episode of MASH 4077 Podcast and it's been steadily growing in listeners since.

So now I'm doing two podcasts, I produce, edit, co-host, promote and manage both of these podcasts. Both podcasts put out at least 2 to 5 episodes a month and I spend roughly 40+ hours a week working on them. But my head it still churning up ideas for more podcasts. I have several idea for other podcasts based on some of my favorite TV shows, but at the moment they are just ideas. I have reached out to several "groups" and/or people whom I'd love to do a podcast on/for. I'm just waiting to hear their thoughts on the topic. One is definitely a go, just need to come up with a good format. I'll keep everyone posted.

But this morning while driving into work this great podcast idea came over me and I couldn't get it out of my head. So when I got to work I started to research the URL and with a little tweaking I got what I wanted, also opened a gmail account, twitter and podbean account for my new podcast...  Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast. (more details to follow in future blogs)

So I have 2 podcasts up and running, 2 podcasts prepping to go,  2 podcasts in the wings so many more ideas just waiting to be revealed. 

If you can't tell I love podcasting, just wish I could make a living at it. That's my next step, to sustain of living at podcasting.