NOTE: I’ve added some additional polls based on early input.
I’ve been toying with this idea for a few months. As many of you know, I currently work in radio, having done TV for 25 years. Logically with that background, with the clear success of WUWT, I’ve been approached more than once about doing a live weekly radio program. Here’s what my radio voice sounds like.
You’re listening to WUWT (click for MP3)
I’ve looked around a bit at what others are doing, for example at the “science” section of BlogTalkRadio. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I didn’t want to be in the same listing with the other people there. Sheesh what a nuthouse.
Doing a radio program is a big commitment. It is also expensive in that I’ll have to setup a home studio and streaming server. My current radio station isn’t properly equipped with live Internet streaming and I worry about breaking what is running now by adding new software and hardware. The last person who tried a hardware/software experiment on live production systems took us off the air for about 15 minutes and is no longer working there.
A radio program also has rewards in that it can reach many people who might not turn to blogs. It also offers a chance to have guests, much like guest posts on WUWT.
I wouldn’t limit the format to just climate, since the namesake is rich enough to cover most any topic. There’s also such a wealth of news each week to easily fill an hour long program.
I welcome input on the idea, and also any software/hardware combos that might be recommended for live radio streaming. I already have several ideas, but readers often surprise me with new ones.
And if I do it, what would be the preferred format?
Audio, video, or both?
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Dear Anthony,
I very selfishly voted for you to not bother broadcasting. As a Kiwi living in the UK who intends going home in the next couple of years, I am worried that radio might divert some of your effort into a media that would be pretty much unavailable to me.
Selfish, I know, but your blog is essential daily reading for me, as are a small group of sites that appeal to my other interests. I suspect that the MSM is dying, which is sad, but I suspect this has been brought about by poor quality information, an excess of sensationalism and a lack of real investigatory journalism, particularly in the sciences. I, for one, rarely buy a newspaper now, when I once could not get through the day properly without devouring at least one newspaper. Many years ago I and a business partner owned and managed a small weekly sports paper, so my love of print runs deep and I see quality journalism as an essential part of a civilised life, but most of what passes for journalism in the UK is either timid or a rant, neither of which appeals to me, and the bias toward CAGW is quite alarming.
Regards,
Alexander
Video would enable the posting of graphs, which are often needed. How about random posting of short videos to YouTube, but with a standard length and professional format so that TV stations could rebroadcast them? You could do interviews with notable climate heretics. That way you needn’t do too much prep. work.
(To repeat, I think WUWT needs full attention, and that someone should be engaged to share the workload if you divert into broadcasting.)
Ran across this and thought you’d find it interesting.
http://wiki.fool.com/Motley_Fool_Money_Radio_Show?source=ihpsitas0000001&lidx=1
On vacation, haven’t been here lately, nor read all these comments. Only you know whether you have the time and energy to add another commitment to your already-extensive (backbreaking?) schedule. I would guess that if you could put together an hour or two of commentary a week, pulled from this blog, then it wouldn’t take much time—if you had help getting podcasts added to the website, archived, etc.
Under my ‘Cousin Lynn’ hat, I do four hours of radio a week (“Hillbilly at Harvard,” honky-tonk country and bluegrass on WHRB-FM [Cambridge, MA, Saturdays 9 AM – 1 PM Eastern, streaming at WHRB.org]—shameless plug!), and while I program on the fly and spend only Friday evenings reviewing new CDs, it’s exhausting enough to pretty much kill Saturdays. You’re an old pro, of course, so an hour of chit-chat might not add too much, nor detract any from the energies you devote to this terrific blog. Maybe worth an experiment, but not more?
/Mr Lynn
Actually, I would like to suggest you organize the show as a virtual world machinima live broadcast on treet.tv. A friend of mine, Professor Robert Bloomfield, has a show called Metanomics on Treet.tv and it doesn’t require he have any special equipment whatsoever.
I recommend you not commit to a set weekly schedule, as per John Ratcliffe and Invarient. Keep your time/family flexibility. Do videos when you feel like it and have a cool topic or a fascinating guest. Post the links on this blog so people can watch on their schedule. Rather than a lot of editorializing about the AGWers, I’m far more interested in solid science covering a broad array of topics. Fresh ideas and authoritative information from you and your guests would offer a unique resource for your worldwide array of fans to tap into.
Best of luck, whatever you decide!
Kate
Here’s a better idea: Try to get a once-a-month or once-a-week slot on Fox. You could start with a late-night slot. Fox could rebroadcast it, or parts of it, in regular slots if it proved popular and acceptable to them. This way you’d reach a larger audience.
Anthony,
I really admire your energy and vision! Several folks have commented on the dangers of spreading yourself too thin. Let me second that! You have a wonderful voice, so that’s an asset, but I dabbled with some podcasting and it sucked up a ton of my time. Pulling together the content was the hardest part. Recording wasn’t so bad.
So a recommendation is that you might ask for volunteer support to help compile your content from what you already have on WUWT. No doubt there are some talented people who are willing to pitch in, as your experience with your other volunteer projects has shown. You might also find someone who can try to book guests for you, since that is also time-consuming.
Then, you can do the voice work without necessarily taking more away from your already insanely busy schedule. Content, message, and voice would be all you; you’d just have solid support for your important message.
And sorry, no I’m not volunteering. My background doesn’t include any real communications training or experience. Worse, I’m in Japan so the timezones don’t work too well.
Whatever you decide to do, you will have an enthusiastic audience. Best wishes on this new endeavor!
A radio show might be a good idea.
You probably already have a notion of how such a program would be structured – a call-in show or whatever. Occasionally I’m frustrated by the brevity of some threads, which do not allow a single issue to get fully explored. A radio show might allow you to bring experts on air and pick their brains for several minutes. People who are gluttons for technical (or other) details might even write in questions. Giving one guy the third degree would bring more focused information to light, and force smart people here to think of as many questions as they have answers (no offense). You have a lot of candidates for a good brain-picking here on WUWT, and others might be called upon to sacrifice themselves.
In any case, thanks for the blog. As it is, it’s a great source and forum for the science-minded and the science-hungry.
Stream with optional graphics – (for the charts, photos, etc.) i.e. you can toggle them on or off. Then SELL the video portion. i.e. set up a subscription which lets subscribers watch the broadcast live or canned on video. The video premium would be valuable for education, pool coverage of volcanoes, hurricanes, space walks, B roll etc. It’s a bunch more work but could make money. Lots of talk radio is done this way (Rush?) and with a strong page view base like yours, you’re bound to sign up enough subscribers (not too much $$ though) to cover the startup costs.
If you have nothing else to show, just do what Imus and Stern did early on – add a couple auto pan cameras to cover you at the microphone. And HAVE FUN!!!
FYI Anthony:
Odiogo’s amazing high quality text-to-speech service is free for bloggers. It works with WordPress and many other blogs.
“Odiogo is compatible with all blog engines that publish RSS feeds such as Typepad, Blogger, WordPress or Overblog. Enroll in the service now and we’ll let you know when the audible version of your blog is ready. The generated MP3 files are stored on our servers. You don’t need to worry about technical integration tasks or bandwidth.”
“Odiogo’s media-shifting technology expands the reach of your content: It transforms news sites and blog posts into high fidelity, near human quality audio files ready to download and play anywhere, anytime, on any device.”
Create text-to-speech (TTS) podcast from RSS feed for iPod, iPhone, MP3 player and mobile phone
There is a sample on their home page.
Check out how Odiogo’s service is used here by clicking the small “Listen now” button under the article’s date:
http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2010/04/25/jury-rigging-the-federal-commerce-clause/