What's your opinion on the podcast so far? (Poll)

[Matt Derrick]

Hey folks, I just wanted to check in and see what people thought about the StP podcast as it's been going so far. I've been experimenting a bit with various formats and technologies trying to find a 'voice' for the show that feels appropriate/relevant to the StP audience. In episode #9 we tried a bit of a 'theme format' for the show as opposed to our usual 'interview' style, and I think it went well; it was a bit too long for a live stream, but might work better in an audio podcast format. I haven't gotten things set up on services like iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify yet since we're still kind of feeling out where to go with this thing.

Also, do you feel it matters if the show is live or not? I do really enjoy having the live chat to interact with, but live streaming with multiple people has some severe technical hurdles that have gotten in the way (see episode #9 for a great example of multiple problems we had). I've toyed with the idea of doing audio-only on the youtube stream (which would eliminate many technical hurdles), but i don't know how attached any of you are to seeing our talking heads on the screen

So as mentioned, right now I'm trying to decide where to go with this thing. Should we continue with the interview-only format in a Joe Rogan style of podcasting? Or do you like the format where we pick a theme to discuss? Or perhaps a little bit of both? Maybe three weeks of interviews and one info-podcast/themed-podcast a month? I'm open to ideas and really more than anything else I'd just like to know what the audience wants

 

[Jimmy Beans]

Personally I think you should do what you feel like doing. If you do this entirely based on what everyone else wants, you might get burned out. You seem to have a pretty good ability at building things that people come to, so in my opinion I think you should do it just like you built STP. You didn't poll anyone you just went with what you thought the world needed and what felt right to you and it's a success.

Idk I just think if you have these tight parameters set in place it might start to feel like work assignments. As far as live, I feel like it's kinda fun to have that option but maybe it doesn't have to be that way every time? Like maybe you could do a couple live streams a month, themed discussions with the live chat and then you could set the interviews aside and do those off air?

I think it'll be best if you just do whatever the fuck you want to do though. Go back and watch the old JRE couch podcasts. It's fucking garbage, but people still watched. I think at some point it became clear to Joe that the couch wasn't great and so he made a change and it got better. I think you can only do so much with people that aren't in the same room with you.

I think we have a whole lot of interesting people that contribute to this site and personally I'd love to see some of them interviewed. Maybe that's a poll worth putting up. Which STP users would you like to have as guests, then just make it an open poll. Look at those contributors of the featured threads, there's so much good shit in there.

I'd love to see an interview with Wawa, or Koala. What's Wizehop been up to? That could definitely be a good interview right? Dameon seems like an interesting cat, outlawloose? I guess that's more or less what I would like to see as a viewer, more of our people and aside from that, just do it however it feels natural for you.

 

[MadAndy]

I'm about the same number of episodes into my podcast as you are, so take my advice with a big grain of salt...

I think one thing that might help to grow the international following for StP as a platform, would be to try and book guests from different parts of the world (maybe like devoting one or two episodes a month to people active in squatter communities from all over the place, and learning about what makes them different and similar to other communities... or that could just be your thing for a whole string of episodes). Then they'll bring their own local networks along with them as listeners and as possible new members to the StP community. Thanks again for having me on!

 

[Matt Derrick]

Personally I think you should do what you feel like doing. If you do this entirely based on what everyone else wants, you might get burned out. You seem to have a pretty good ability at building things that people come to, so in my opinion I think you should do it just like you built STP. You didn't poll anyone you just went with what you thought the world needed and what felt right to you and it's a success.

Idk I just think if you have these tight parameters set in place it might start to feel like work assignments. As far as live, I feel like it's kinda fun to have that option but maybe it doesn't have to be that way every time? Like maybe you could do a couple live streams a month, themed discussions with the live chat and then you could set the interviews aside and do those off air?

that's great advice, and i think you're right, i'm going to keep doing what i think is entertaining or interesting.

I think we have a whole lot of interesting people that contribute to this site and personally I'd love to see some of them interviewed. Maybe that's a poll worth putting up. Which STP users would you like to have as guests, then just make it an open poll. Look at those contributors of the featured threads, there's so much good shit in there.

that's a great idea, i'll likely put up a poll like that soon. before starting the podcast i wasn't totally sure i'd have enough guests but after it got started i feel like we've always had some interesting people worth talking to and will continue to do so for some time.

I'd love to see an interview with Wawa, or Koala. What's Wizehop been up to? That could definitely be a good interview right? Dameon seems like an interesting cat, outlawloose? I guess that's more or less what I would like to see as a viewer, more of our people and aside from that, just do it however it feels natural for you.

i agree all those folks would be cool to talk so and some i've already reached out to so hopefully we'll see them on the podcast as scheduling allows. definitely looking forward to talking with all of these folks!

I think one thing that might help to grow the international following for StP as a platform, would be to try and book guests from different parts of the world (maybe like devoting one or two episodes a month to people active in squatter communities from all over the place, and learning about what makes them different and similar to other communities... or that could just be your thing for a whole string of episodes). Then they'll bring their own local networks along with them as listeners and as possible new members to the StP community.

i agree i would like to have more folks from outside the usa on the show, and that's something i will definitely start working towards by sending out a few emails today to some folks i know that i think would be fun to talk to.

all that said, i think the way i'm going to do this going forward is to concentrate on doing the podcast weekly as an audio-only format, but still publishing on youtube along with all other major podcasting outlets like itunes, stitcher, etc. I'm still divided on weather I should do that live or not. I do enjoy the interactivity of the live chat, but the technical hurdles of juggling multiple live video streams is really frustrating and I'm kinda over that. I'm going to play around with it this week and see how i can make that work.

i would like to start making some youtube videos and maybe a once a week livestream just to bullshit with the stp community, in addition to the podcast.

my plan down the line (once i get my van and back on the road) has always been to interview people in person and on video and publish on youtube. i've always pictured it being a kind of joe rogan looking thing (in terms of camera angles and whatnot) in the van so maybe the podcast will switch to a video format once im traveling again (although it would still have an audio-only version on the podcast networks mentioned above).

so yeah, that's what i'm thinking right now, of course any opinions you want to share are welcome.

 

[MadAndy]

i think the way i'm going to do this going forward is to concentrate on doing the podcast weekly as an audio-only format, but still publishing on youtube along with all other major podcasting outlets like itunes, stitcher, etc.

How are you planning to host your podcast? I publish through Libsyn, and when I publish it automatically publishes to tons of podcast directories, and I can also track where my downloads are coming from, down to like the province in Romania or Nigeria. I'm not an expert, but I've done a fair amount of research, and there seems to be a consensus that you want to make it as easy as possible for your listeners to access your show on as many platforms as possible. You have to pay for Libsyn, but it's reasonable, makes publishing to tons of directories a one-click thing, and you ca track where people are tuning in from. Happy to jump on a call and discuss that and nonprofit stuff if you're interested to learn more.