Gonzo Podcast July 30, 2006

Live from the Oregon Coast: Reviews of Ziggy Marley's "Love is My Religion" and Tom Petty's "Highway Companion"; sounds of the hike to Hart's Cove. Back in the studio it's podcast training and vocal training: how to get rid of vocal crutches!


Tim Gonzo Gordon Podcast Show for July 30, 2006

My first review on BlogCritics.org

...Where I rattle the amps and drums of Cracker. Check it out: Blogcritics.org: Cracker: Forever Rock 'N' Roll.

Gonzo Podcast: July 25, 2006

July 25, 2006: Blog updates, off-the-wall comedy, regular 'net stops:

• TimGonzonGordon.com/blog
• DigitalAudioWorld.blogspot.com
• Blogcritics.org
• Digital audio comedy from the 90s: "Theater of the Mindless"
• Seattle Mariners
• ESPN.com
• Postsecret.com
• LewRockwell.com

Tim 'Gonzo' Gordon Podcast Show Home Page

Wireless Women

A few years ago a female friend of mine dropped her landline telephone in favor of wireless. To me, it didn't make sense. Until I thought about it a little longer. She had no real reason to have both lines, and the wireless was the more obvious choice.

Since then a number of people I know have done the same thing, and in my personal world it's predominantly women who have done just that.

Have you dropped your landline in favor of wireless? Then you might be interested to see the results of a new study on women and their wireless phones.

Sprint Study Shows What Women Want When It Comes To Their Wireless Phones

For instance, women place personalization high on their list: individual ringtones, colors, etc. In fact, personalizing their wireless phone comes in as more desirable than personalizing their hairstyle. And oddly enough, tattoos are a distant fifth behind their computer screen, mobile phone, hair style and stationery.

Perhaps a photo of your new tattoo of your new phone on your letterhead - placed as background your computer desktop?

One in Twelve Download Podcasts

Terrestrial radio stations may see their grip on listeners slipping away thanks to the bratty kid brother: podcasting.

In a new report from Nielsen Media Research, stats show that about 9 million web users have downloaded a podcast in the last 30 days and 'a significant percentage, approximately 38%, of active podcast downloaders say they are listening to radio less often.'

“The incredible popularity of podcasting is the latest demonstration of consumers’ willingness to take control of their media experiences,” said Larry Gerbrandt, general manager and senior vice president of Nielsen Analytics.

"My God!" exclaimed myself. "You mean people like to skip commercials, bounce around a recorded program, or pick and choose the content they really like? No wonder they're ignoring corporate radio with drone DJ's and computer-generatled playlists!" Apparently I'm about to walk off in a huff.

Podcasts, much like their text-related cousins - blogs - differ from other forms of online media delivery, in that podcasts and blogs are being readily adapted by more and more businesses and organizations.

This bodes well for any person or organization that dips their toe into the podcast waters soon. Even now, it's still a new technology for most people, and if you position yourself as a podcaster in the near future, you'll be well-positioned to leverage that with your community, whether it's customers and clients or prospects....or just people that like whatcha do.

Start podcasting today, I say!

Digital Audio "On the Run"

Since I'm not a runner (have you ever seen a jogger with a smile?) this is little more than a curiousity to me, but the Nike iPod is, ahem, up and running.

Technology News: iPod: Nike iPod So Easy to Use, It Could Get You Off Your Duff

If this thing takes off even a little bit, I'm sure we can expect to see more and more of these hybird creations. Anyone for a barbecue fork with an iPod? iFork? How about a toilet tissue dispenser with an iPod? iDump. How about a condom that triggers the iPod to play your favorite song at the moment of truth? i-Fu--. Oh wait that's been done. I recall talking about that in 1990 when I was on the air at KISN-FM: a company had released a condom with a small chip that played a pre-programmed song at that moment. How they could tell the moment of truth is something that's always mystified me.

Okay, iNuff.

Podcasting Expands. Again.

According to Nielsen // Net Ratings, estimates that over 9 million Adult Americans have recently downloaded a podcast. (Nielsen//NetRatings Click here)

(all podcasters say it in unison: "Woo Hooo!")

And it's not slowing down. Michael Lanz, an analyst with Nielsen says that the portability of podcasts truly appeals to young, on-the-go audiences: "We can expect to see podcasting become increasingly popular as portable content media players proliferate."

Even though Mr. Lanz talks just like a geeked-out press release, he's right. iPods and other MP3 players are indeed selling like hotcakes (bought any hotcakes lately?) and with Microsoft about to jump into the fray before the Christmas rush you can expect the feeding frenzy to continue.

So if you aren't podcasting yet, it's because you're spending most of your time downloading and listening to podcasts.

Hey, some of my favorite podcasts:

• Coverville
• Beatles Podcast
• Podcast Radio Show
• Anything from KCRW
• KEXP Music That Matters

That's good for now...

Podcast Profit

Is is possible to put podcast profit into your pocket?

While podcasting is an exciting and challenging hobby to thousands of people, more and more folks are looking at is as a way to generate a few extra bucks.

But the question is: how?

After studying podcast profit for several months and talking to over a dozen people who can point to podcasting as a way to add income to their bottom line, I've come to the conclusion that there is no 'magic bullet' - no single answer.

Read the rest here.

B2B Podcasts Find Hungry Audience

Dana Gardner's column here (Research paper shows IT buyers are eating up B2B podcasts | Dana Gardner's BriefingsDirect | ZDNet.com is a great demonstration that podcasting is the perfect medium for reaching clients and prospects from one business to another. Or several dozen or hundred others, as the case may be.

Dana's commenting on this report, which unveils numbers that show podcasts, blogs, wikis RSS feeds and more are "are evolving into key elements of the B2B marketer's online toolkit."

The report's key finding is a no-brainer, if you ask former radio and TV folks: white papers and so-called dry information can be much more palatable and entertaining as a podcast than as a, well, dull white paper. Even if it has pretty graphics.

Are you podcasting? Are you looking at B2B podcasting? You should take note of this line in the report (thanks, Dana!):

"this group as a whole all but begs for more of this type of content to be delivered via podcasts, so the opportunity to address a real marketing niche within the B2B space firmly exists..."

Boo-yah! Learn to podcast here.

Figure out how to make money podcasting here.

Keep-a You Hands Off-a My Movie!

In one of the more eye-catching stories today, it looks like groups that have been editing movies to remove negative portrayals (?) of homosexuals or drug use, or religious reference are BREAKING THE LAW by doing so, and they'll have to cease and desist. Or maybe they can go to jail and get a first hand look -- nah, never mind.

But here's the story:

BetaNews | Judge Rules Movie Sanitizing Illegal

The judge sided with the movie studios, who put millions into their productions, saying that "the copyright owner is the one that can make the choice of what audience it wants for a particular piece."

So instead of taking out F-bombs and gratuitous skin from movies to make them palatable for a specific (read: 'prudish') audience, it looks like the potential viewers are now left to their own devices.

Either that, or wait until the movie comes to network TV. They wouldn't dare show that kind of stuff, right?

'Google' till you puke

Last year 'podcast' was the word of the year for the Oxford English dictionary. Well, Merriam-Webster is apparently not letting Oxford get all the glory. They've just announced that 'google' is entering their dictionary.

One big reason is that most folks use the term as a word meaning 'to search online' so yeah, it damn well better make the dictionary.

Of course, the word 'googol' is already in the dictionary, and has been for years. According to Wikipedia, "A googol is the large number 10¹⁰⁰, that is, the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros."

Hell, I remember thinking that 'googol' was the coolest math word when I was in the 7th grade. Now a misspelled version of it is the name of one of the most successful internet companies out there.

Some other words that have been tabbed for inclusion include 'ringtone,' 'spyware,' 'biodiesel,' drama queen,' 'soul patch' and 'unibrow,' which means "a single continuous brow resulting from the growing together of eyebrows."

What if your soul patch and your unibrow got together half-way down your face? Would that then be a nose-stache?

Podcast Update: Tim 'Gonzo' Gordon Show

This 15-minute episode explores my new personal blog as well as this older blog; Kevin Hogan’s Subliminal Achievement; take amoment or three to wish Huey Lewis a Happy Birthday, then offer up a short digital audio creation of mine from a year or two ago called “The Trance I’m In at One A.M.” Yes, Martha, you can do some odd things with digital audio!

Here's the Tim 'Gonzo' Gordon Show home page.