Tuning In to iRadio

 

Welcome to BlogTalkRadio’s Politics Today for Monday, July 14. I’m your host, John Smith, coming to you live from Washington, D.C., as I do every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

We’ve got a fantastic show for you this evening. Joining us later will be presidential frontrunner Barack Obama, who’ll be taking your calls and questions - so be sure to email us at PoliticsToday@BlogTalkRadio.com. We’ll be talking with Senator Obama about his newly chosen running mate, John Edwards.

But first we’ll chat with a former commander in chief - Bill Clinton - about how he sees the race playing out. Welcome, President Clinton . . .

 

That’s a sample intro that was suggested in BlogTalkRadio’s newsletter this week. But before we get into that, let me introduce myself. I’m Jenn Sierra, and most folks know me from the Ft. Hard Knox blog or Facebook group. I’m honored to be included here. I’m still learning about blogging, social networking, and SEO, and am looking forward to sharing my experiences as I go along. At the very least, perhaps they will amuse you.

Blogging here isn’t the only thing I tried for the first time this week - I also tried my hand at live iRadio. So far, I’ve produced four podcasts using this method; the best of those four is this one, Why you need a Facebook account, and what to do with it, and as you’ll be able to here, I still need A LOT of practice. I know I also have a lot to learn, but this is what I’ve learned so far:

• Creating a host account on a major blog radio is a great way to push your blog to the top ten of a Google search.

   

  The blog I created this account for is only about six weeks old, and is already at the top of a Google search under the name of the blog, with the BTR account listed second.

   

• You need to decide who your primary desired audience is, and select your iRadio features accordingly.

   

  If you primary audience is the community on the iRadio host site, or an invited group of listeners whom you’re wanting to participate in a discussion, then by all means, use the chat feature, and encourage people to call in. If your primary audience is not on the iRadio host site, and will be listening to the podcast later, consider that they may not want to listen to your constantly responding to chat room questions that they cannot read, and your trying to be a good host to your chat room listeners. You do have the option to simply host a “private” show with no chat room, and this may be a better option. If you think you’re going to want to edit the show for the podcast, a platform other than live iRadio might be a better option.

   

• Hosting and Producing a professional live radio program is at least a two-person job.

   

  It is humanly impossible to do a good job of simultaneously generating quality content that is entertaining to the listeners, handling all the technical issues of running a live show, and attentively managing a chatroom with 20-30 listeners or more. I’ve tried it an was unsuccessful…of course, I’m brand new at this, but I’ve also been listening to experienced hosts who try to produce and host their own shows, and time and time again, something falls between the cracks. Either the host spends half the show thinking out loud while trying to deal with technical issues, or talking to chatters (which is boring to listen to if you’re not in the chat room), OR, the host does a great job of talking and entertaining the customers while the people in the chat room get into fights with each other, creating a nightmare for the host to sort out and deal with later.

That’s what I’ve learned so far. There will be much more, as I go along and figure this out. Stay tuned.