As some of you have noticed (some of you have asked about it), Audio Johnapedia has slowed considerably in recent months, to a point where some people probably think I'm done with it for good. Well, that's not necessarily true. At this point, I'm still trying to figure out the direction I want my talking to go. When Audio Johnapedia started in July, I instantly enjoyed doing it, so much so that I was doing it every day for a few weeks. Then it slowed down and gradually slowed to a point where it's in need of a retooling.
I wish I could claim that I've just been really busy and that's why I'm not doing Audio Johnapedia, but that's not true. I've just grown bored with the direction it headed. I have a few half-assed ideas for how to improve things.
Co-Hosts and/or Guest Hosts: This is a big one. It is arguably an integral change. Shows just can't exist with one person talking, at least not long-term. The first few episodes went swimmingly alone but then eventually, the sound of my voice and only my voice became tiring. I don't view people who have asked about this in the past as a reflection on me--they're listening, after all. I view it as the reality of talk shows. Conversation and/or additional insights are invaluable and make for a more engrossing product.
I don't really have a Rolodex of contacts or people who I think would be interested, but if you are interested in having some sort of on-air role (if I switch things around to something even close to a full-time co-host, I would change the name of the show, to which I have no particular loyalty), let me know. It doesn't matter if you don't have any experience or you're unsure of how good you'd be--it's an amateur show and there's infinite leeway to experiment. I don't know many specifics about them, but I do know that there are multiple avenues to recording multi-person audio communication (not only would you not have to be in the same location as I am, but since my only microphone is attached to a headset, you'd pretty much have to NOT be near me),
Changing the Production: With the exception of a couple of shows, most were posted to this Blogspot page through a file created by Movie Maker. There are pros and cons to the format, but unfortunately the cons probably create inherent limits to increasing the show's popularity (listener questions were always well-received, but if people aren't listening, the segment is impossible). One easy solution is to put all of the videos on YouTube, but one that I see as having even more potential is iTunes Podcasts. iTunes offers plenty of podcasts and it doesn't appear that it is too terribly difficult to make it onto the iTunes store--it just requires complying with their audio formatting. Unfortunately, I am technologically inept and reading through the specifics is a fruitless endeavor. Any ideas or ability to expand the show would be appreciated.
Developing a Format: At first, the idea of a "format" scared me, because it made things seem more buttoned-down than I wanted. But now I recognize that by applying a format, by the loosest definition of the term, is for the best. Even if the format is something extremely open-ended, like "here is a single segment on a single topic which may be about sports or may be about music or may be about politics depending on how I feel", it makes the show something more than a rambling, incoherent mess. Co-hosting, I think, could solve this problem to an extent because it wouldn't just be me talking about what I know about--I know baseball and football and I know rock music and I know gangster movies, but these aren't the only things that warrant discussion. So, ideally, getting somebody more in tune with areas in which I lack knowledge could create more interesting dialogue.
If you are interested or have any ideas regarding anything I wrote about here, contact me via Twitter, phone, e-mail (johnjf125@gmail.com), however would be most convenient for you.
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