Philanthropy Podcasts Part II

I got a lot of feedback to my podcasting questions.

Beth Kanter, an absolute expert on nonprofit technology issues, responded on her blog saying:

“Not unless you tell me exactly how long the podcast is and give me a text transcript or summary of key points.”

Text transcripts would be no problem. How long would people like the interviews to be? Leave a comment and let me know.

Corey Pudhorodsky, who produces the 501c3 Cast that I referenced, said:

“It might actually surprise you that I agree with Tom’s Segway analogy in some ways. Podcasting hasn’t matched the hype that it initially received from mass media when it first hit the scenes. Though the general public has heard of podcasting, it still isn’t part of most people’s every day lives. But I think that those who have adopted the medium (as producers and listeners/viewers) would argue that it has greatly changed the way they consume media.

Podcasting is better suited to serve the long tail, niche groups with special interests.”

Even though philanthropy is hip and cool today, it is still far from being truly a mainstream subject. Aside from interviews with Buffet and Gates, most American’s have never heard an interview with important people in philanthropy. After I taped the segment for Benefit Magazine Radio, I asked if anyone knew of any regular philanthropy focused radio shows. I can’t find any and no one has pointed one out to me. So a philanthropy focused audio show is still about serving “the long tail, niche groups with special interests.”

Susan Herr, who authors the excellent blog Philanthromedia, had the following feedback:

“I am recording my first podcast today so I am in the thick of your question (and maybe some actual insights soon.) Two comments: 1.) I am thinking of podcasts more as streaming media that you can listen to as a different voice when you get to someone’s web page. The podcasts I am doing will be offered by Community Foundations of America to community foundations as a way to spice up their websites. 2.) The Business Week series is sooo poorly produced (they don’t even edit out the phone ringing at the beginning of an interview!) I think these things have got to get to the point quickly and let listeners know why might want to hang on.”

The Business Week series is poorly produced. Especially when compared to Britt Bravo’s Big Vision Podcast with its music intro and professional, polished sound. How important is production quality to you? I would like to be able to interview people from all over the country and so recording phone interviews seems like the best option. But that means the sound quality won’t approach Bravo’s recordings.

Finally, Albert Rugesa said:

“It’s all about putting as few barriers between my desire for content and the content itself. If I could just say it, or even think it, to make it so …”

I want readers to simply be able to click one button to instantly launch an audio file. If you want to subscribe to the feed and listen on your iPod later, that’s great. But I primarily want to make it very easy for people hear the thoughts of people they otherwise would have no access to.

So thanks to everyone for the great feedback. Once we get this going, I’d like to invite as much involvement as possible from readers. I’ll let you know what interviews I’m getting ready to record and ask you what questions you would like me to ask. And I’ll always be on the lookout for readers’ suggestions of who to interview. Let me know who you would like to hear and I’ll try and work it into the initial schedule.