There Can be Only One!
Hahahah. Sorry, I forgot to link the threads regarding the "why podcasts suck and are a disgrace to the radio media community" commentary response I made on Episode 27.
When I read it, I was pretty sad hence my tone during the comments.
Why Podcasting Sucks-WoW Radio
The Top 10 WoW Podcasts thread comments
"Podcast propagators and uninformed media hype-bots would claim that podcasting is 'so easy, anyone can do it!' Yeah sure, they can do it. BADLY. They can waste people's time and bandwidth listening to tosh that wouldn't even attract the ear of a drunken lonely fellow in a pub let alone a consistant audience online."
I think there's a huge misconception about the podcasting community. We're pretty level headed folks. I have no aspirations to become famous or well known. And I can't see Sam, Starman, Renata or Cromley waking up in the morning going, "GOD I'm so bloody famous. I need my own green room! I'm sooooo popular it hurts!" At least I can't see it.
I'm not even hear to entertain so much as I am here to express myself as a WoW player and a person genuinely interested in exploring a few meta ideas.
That's what separates most podcasters from radio personalities. THEY are excellent on-air personalities... WE are just mere personalities. I guess I don't get his argument because I don't see anything wrong with both sides. It's like comparing an accoustic live performance of a song to a studio recorded one. They both have advantages and are about personal taste and mood really.
10 comments:
Alachia,
I can understand why a post like this could get under your skin and possibly make you wonder if there are really a lot of people who share his beliefs. The answer is yes there are people out there that will feel the way he does, the problem is that far too often in our society when a person doesnt like something, it gets labeled as "crap" or "junk" and that person will go on a crusade to have the offending item removed from existence. My answer to this is no different than my answer when it comes to violent TV shows/video games, pornography or hell even certain literature, If you don't like it, don't look at it!
I have listened to your podcasts since I got my iPod back around episode 24. What draws me to your podcast and to Starman and Renata's are that I am getting to listen to real people who are putting their personal time and thoughts out there for everyone who wants to listen to hear them. I enjoy your show for a different reason than I enjoy World of Warcast. With their show, I am listening for insights to the game as they have seen it. I listen with my technical mind at work trying to absorb what information they are delivering.
With WoWCast, I listen for a completely different reason. I like to consider myself a deep thinker and once I heard my first show I fell in love with the concept of what was being presented to me as I felt that my emotional mind was being stimulated. To me your podcast was a reflection of honest emotion and free thinking. Your passion for the game is obvious but what drives me to listen is how you provoke my thinking towards other aspects of my metaverse life (a term I never knew before WoWCast!). I get to share that part of me that really wonders about my virtual being and how it affects me. And to be perfectly honest Alachia, your voice is rather captivating....
But let me get back to my point. Despite what this Biscuit guy has to say, podcasting was IMHO not designed to be a replacement for professional radio so don't let his opinion keep you from enjoying this outlet that you have.
I was one of the people that made Alachia aware of this little nugget.
The thing about TB is that if you read that thread, all he talks about is how many numbers he has, as if that's the end-all, be-all of what defines a good show. I've listened to Blue Plz! and quite frankly, I don't like it. I don't like the style, I don't think it's entertaining, and I can't stand TB himself. I think what he did was rude and unprofessional. The problem is that I'm sure he started crap to boost awareness of his show. Clever.
What really started bugging me is when TB started naming podcasts that he doesn't like. It just goes to show that he doesn't "get it". Those of us that are doing these shows don't care too much about numbers. We do it because it's a creative outlet. I don't rag on the other shows because I like them, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't post something on the net saying how much the other shows suck. That's unprofessional.
moonknight: thanks for the kind comments about our show. We don't feel like we're competing against anyone else. All us podcasters have a good relationship with each other. We don't talk on Vent every day, but we have our own style and at the end of the day, we feel that each of our shows compliment each other. I can see someone saying they like a certain show the best because it appeals to their aspect of the game more than another show. If that happens, it's exactly what we set out to do, even if someone says they don't like ours. I wanted Warcast to be the "Screen Savers" of WoW. I think I did just that. Anything after that is gravy.
And here's another wonderful thread where TB goes off on some of our favorite podcasts:
http://www.wcradio.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5504
In any case, I've had more years of experience in radio than TB. Twice as much. I don't run around flaunting it. That's his style. Fine. I think he crossed the line, though.
And to be honest (and Alachia knows this), I feel blessed that she's doing her show.
*
BTW: I forgot to mention that you don't have a green room, Alachia, but you do have a green WALL :D
Holy crap. Sorry, but this TotalBicuit person sounds like a total short richard.
Who CARES if podcasts are amateur? It's just another great online medium, like blogging. The single best thing about podcasts is that they're made by people who are NOT professional. People who make the mistakes. It's more human than many other forms of online media for that very reason.
I like seeing podcasts evolve. Listen to Pottercast today, and then see what they sounded like back in August '05. It's an evolution, and the best part is that you get to hear people talking about the things they love the most.
True, maybe some podcasts don't get it right. But they don't have to get it right for you as long as they get it right for someone.
Ah yes Alachia's green wall. It is very nice but I think a certain bisquik (lol) guy will have to top that and make sure that he has his staff posting what their MASSIVE green room looks like now.
You may now be able to make an objetive opinion of your own podcast. But as a listener, i think I can:
Your podcast is professional; maybe not the 'corporate lots of cash to spend on it' type professional but you show your opinions well. Your voice is clear, your opinions are backed up. There is a style to your podcast that is consistent and iirc you have never made negative comments about a peer podcaster or podcast (except of course you telling saying 'Fuck him' about TotalBiscuit but hey, I read all those comments when you posted the link. It's a lot more PC than my opinion about the a**hole.)
I have never heard of TB or his podcast before you spoke about it. He is just so up himself!
'i built the hill' in reference to king of the hill. You just want to heat up a poker and stick it in his eye.
Saying their podcast is the best, because of their numbers. Numbers prove nothing! 'The Best' is an opinion and everyone has their own. IMO I regularly listen to WoWCast, Taverncast and The Instance and to me... THEY are the best.
I could really go on.
Hope I didn't speak out of place on your blog.
I never heard of this Biscuit guy before this, and I have listened to many of the WoW podcasts. I would not be upset about this, this guy comes across as a complete (dare I say it?) n00b. He is using his "radio experience" to assume some sort of self-appointed title of "Lord of the WoW Podcasters". Nevermind that you are a professional architect (I think you mentioned this in an older podcast) and are clearly vastly more intelligent than any ordinary radio host.
Starman and Scott Johnson from the Instance are clearly very experienced in radio and production. The Instance gets its huge audience not from its information, but from its extremely high production values. If you played this on a car radio while driving with your Mom, she probably would not realize that it was not an actual radio show. Starman's show, while not as heavily produced as The Instance, is a great balance between excellent information and great production, and Starman is clearly a radio veteran.
I have saved my greatest compliment for you Alachia. You are clearly not a professional radio host. But you have one thing that no other podcast has: out of all of the hundreds of podcasts I have listened to (video gaming and otherwise), WoWcast is by far the most unique. There are hundreds of tech podcasts and video game podcasts (my two favorite subjects). You have the only podcast on online gaming culture, or the "metaverse" as you like to call it. Anyone can read the latest announcements from the Devs, but to actually provide interesting and relevant commentary on living in a virtual world is very difficult, and requires introspection and intelligence to present these thoughts in a clear and convincing manner, which you do in spades.
A few months ago I finally quit WoW. I stopped listening to all of the WoW podcasts that I had subscribed to, except one: WoWCast. This is because your shows have evolved to be relevant beyond World of Warcraft, this is a claim that no other WoW podcast can make.
On a side note:
I caught a few episodes of Blue Please and Taverncast about a year or so ago when I was gobbling up every WoW podcast I could find. I guess they were trying to be funny and informative. Although these podcasts were informative in a strict technical sense, they were not very funny. The most entertaining podcast I have ever found is done by two nuckleheads who don't have any radio experience: Massively Online Gamer (mogarmy.net). I can't listen to this at work or I will do an RL "LOL" in my cubeland.
/blush
Only 3 of the walls are green. I think that puts me in the clear :)
And it's not green green, it's more spring green.
I think more than anything though... I guess it irks me the most that someone feels they have the right to speak towards what "everyone wants" ..as if everyone's personal tastes are defined by figures, polls, and statistics. And then denouncing everything that's not part of popular enjoyment.
I read "Total Biscuit's" comments back around the time they were originally posted and I was pretty sure he was just mouthing off. I then listened to a couple episodes of his Blue Plz show to see if I was mistaken. I was not.
The professionalism of his show is questionable at best; The number of facts he gets incorrect makes it apparent that he shouldn't be so quick to trumpet it as a virtue that he works from minimal notes; I found his on-air personality to be unpleasantly like a morning drive-time DJ.
I'd considered adding my opinions to the Digg discussion or in the WCRadio forums, to let him know that despite his obvious pride in his show, others did not share it and were actually turned off by his style of "radio". I decided that there would be nothing gained by doing so. I just don't like the guy, so why spend the energy to attack him in a public forum?
I comment here, though, to lend support to your style of podcasting, which I very much enjoy.
Keep up the good work and please don't let mouthy, arrogant little twerps get you down.
Hey folks, Medros here of All Things Azeroth, and formerly of WoW Radio before TB became the owner. Yup, I am the one he was debating with in that thread. TB has a lot of experience in radio, that there is little doubt of, but for all clarity, his content is not podcast content, it is re-purposed content, much like the BBC he lauds, and even Leo Laporte's Tech Guy show. There is a huge difference between that and what we do. If I had the time to put out 11 shows a week, and build an entire network around it, well, other than it being a waste of time, I am sure I could get those numbers too. In the end, though, as Starman puts it, the numbers mean less than the fact that I love doing it, even if my audience was 1.
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