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What Drives Us - Podcast Episode #1

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Danny, Jan 22, 2010.

  1. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    I am happy to introduce the first episode of "What Drives Us", a new Prius/green car podcast hosted by myself and Russell Frost of PriusOwnersGroup.com. Our first guest is Tony Schaefer, a long-time moderator here on PriusChat.com. Hosts: Danny Cooper & Russell Frost Guest: Tony Schaefer Episode #: 1 Time: 1:33:59 Subscribe to the Podcast in iTunes Topics covered include: Looking forward to hearing your feedback!
     
  2. Taran

    Taran New Member

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    Feedback: Needs a download link, not everyone likes or uses iTunes for podcasts.

    I listen to about 12 podcasts a week, not a single one of them through iTunes.
     
    3 people like this.
  3. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Is "1:33:59" --

    one hour, 33 minutes, 59 seconds

    Gulp!

    My daily commute is ~20-25 minutes and I typically listen to news. As a suggestion, you may want to stretch it out and have weekly podcasts.

    GOOD LUCK!
    Bob Wilson
     
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  4. Flying White Dutchman

    Flying White Dutchman Senior Member

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    ok.. next time try to keep it within 30 min?
    did not yet lisen to it. dont have i tunes
     
  5. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Congratulations on getting top billing. Danny Cooper @ Russell Frost. I noticed over at POG, Frost just refers to the link as "What Drives Us". Did he lose the coin flip?
     
  6. Taran

    Taran New Member

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    I'm seeing people say keep it below 30 mins, but personally, for me, at least an hour to an hour and a half is the sweet spot. 30 mins is way too short.

    I like to listen to podcasts while I'm at work to fill the day, so the longer the better for me usually (since I need to fill 8 hours).
     
  7. Danny

    Danny Admin/Founder
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    Thanks for the feedback so far. I will be adding a link to download the podcast soon and will also be adding a way to stream it directly on PriusChat.

    This is our first shot at it, so it's all a little rough around the edges. I think in future episodes we'll try to keep them around an hour or so and maybe have an "intermission" in the middle to break up the content.

    If you can play MP4, here's a download link: What Drives Us - Episode #1
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. ronhowell

    ronhowell Active Member

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    Do you ever do any work?
     
  9. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    I listened to the podcast today and am grateful that you guys are making an effort to put something like this out. I took notes and I'm sure you guys have learned much already just from producing the first one.

    1)I saw the FB post about it on my iPhone, when I hit the link it didn't work on the iPhone. So I went to iTunes directly from my iPhone app and did a search...not remembering the exact name of the podcast I searched prius...nothing. I searched Priuschat...nothing. I had to go back, find the exact name and search for that. What I'm getting at is that some sort of tags need to be added to allow more people to find this podcast by searching for more likely terms than just the name. Also, I couldn't find a way to subscribe to future podcasts.

    2)The deep bass music at the beginning was too loud and a bit annoying...make it a nice subtle background music.

    3)TOO LONG! Pick a topic or two and stick to it. This would have been a great 30 min.-45min. Detroit Auto Show edition. It seemed like you guys would touch on stuff, then drift into something else, then bring back the topic.

    4)You need a counter-point person--think about Mike & Mike. Someone needs to disagree once in a while and provide the other side of the discussion.

    5) You talked about EVs a bit, but not one freaking mention of Tesla!! Wth!?

    6) Did I mention it was too long?? How about some editing of some of the "ummm"s, and dead air and repeat comments?

    7)Did I mention I still liked it? My wife, however, was quickly bored despite a pretty good interest in hybrids.

    8) Consider a formula layout... 1st 5 minutes intro; 10 min "News and updates"; 10 min. Topic of the week; 5 min. Tip of the week. Obviously not necessarily just like that, but it gives you a window to work within, forces you to keep things moving, provides a predictable format that people can look forward to each week. I have some CDs I get on Emergency Medicine--while the format varies a bit for special occasions, it's usually pretty predictable....1)Chat with an expert on the topic, 2)Cover specific cases to give examples with the expert chiming in, 3)Wine and/or beer of the week! I look forward to #3 when listening to #1&2.

    Anyway, good job, glad you guys took up this job and I look forward to future episodes.
     
    2 people like this.
  10. Taran

    Taran New Member

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    I'm not sure how someone can't work and listen to something at the same time. In fact, this is a new concept to me. I've never worked somewhere where people aren't at least listening to the radio or podcasts.

    Can you not listen to things and preform actions on a computer at the same time?

    I do graphic and web design, it's rather easy to preform my job and enjoy either music or a podcast at the same time.

    I was unaware that I had some special ability not found in other human beings.
     
  11. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Tony braggin' about his winter mpg's . . .

    baahhhh . . . he's a hack.

    :p

    Hey folks, if the length of the podcast bugs you, listen while you surf PC. Works for me.
    ... or if your spouse is trying to get you to listen to them ... you can just turn up the volume real loud!

    :rip:

    .
     
  12. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Thanks for putting in the effort guys. I enjoyed listening to the show once I had access beyond iTunes. :)
     
  13. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I totally agree except that I can not listen to talk radio or similar spoken things while working. I listen to music and when I'm reading or writing I switch to classical so I don't have two verbal streams running through my head at the same time. (it's bad enough that I already have multiple voices in my head at any given time)

    I was invited. :)
    Besides, I know I'm not the highest of the hypermilers out there; I'm just the best looking. :cool:
     
  14. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I love your sense of humor my friend. :D
     
  15. Russell Frost

    Russell Frost the whatdrives.us guy

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    Thanks for all the feedback. Since there are few times when person can think of everything that will make a large group of people of happy, feedback is critical.

    On the billing, it's Danny's and my show. You'll see that switch around a lot just because I want to emphasize that it's not really important whose show it is. It's "our" show.

    The length is a tough one and likely, there are always going to be some people who won't be happy with it. The only thing I'll say about length is this, neither Danny nor I had any specific "the podcast has to be this long" goals. The length of each week's episode is going to be determined by the content and the people participating.

    **Speaking only for myself** I'm a huge podcast geek. I listen to podcasts for a few hours every day. I hate short podcasts. The little five minute ones, even though some of them are brilliant, are a pain in the butt. The NYT's "The Ethicist" for example is a great podcast. I save a couple of months of episodes and listen to them in a group. All of which is to say, ideally, in my mind, this podcast will be anywhere from thirty to ninety minutes long each week.

    This is our first baby step, if you will, towards making a great weekly podcast about the future of personal transportation. There are lots of missteps and odd things but, and forgive me my parental pride, I think it's a good first step for two reasons. First, I think it works in general. Second, we're open to adapting and making it better every week.

    While Danny and I are the regular hosts, we want to feature guests every week. Tony was kind enough to make some time for us this week and I very much, given his great contribution this time, that he'll do a lot more episodes. I also want to invite others to be on the cast. I love the back and forth, intelligent back and forth (or at least entertaining) that bringing in more people will present.

    I hope that as more of you listen you will be kind enough to post your feelings about "What Drives Us" here. If you have something to say and want to be on the show, let us know. If you want to record something to inclusion I can't promise we'll use it but I can promise we'll listen to and seriously consider it (sort of the podcast version of "viewer mail").

    Thanks again.
     
  16. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    might not be a bad idea to segment it. most do. i do "Sci-Fri" from NPR news and they do a typical 2 hour show but posts the show in segments by subjects that run 5 to say 20 mins each.

    either way, i never turn my ipod off so i will check it out. probably take me a week to hear it all
     
  17. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    I started listening to the podcast last night and wanted to offer a few, random thoughts:

    • pace youself - there is a likely backlog of stuff you'd like cover but once the backlog is gone, filling content become a little harder. Anything from 30-50 minutes would be a good goal.
    • podcasts have no per minute cost - unlike broadcast media, the podcast production costs per minute cost are so much lower so it is easy to ... not be as tightly produced. Good editing improves the noise-to-signal ratio.
    • job jar - the late Harry Golden wrote the "Carolina Israelite" and used a job jar to keep story ideas. Thus if a production deadline is coming up, he could review past story ideas and fill content.
    • Mid-week release - most of my weekly podcasts are released Friday-Sunday. Avoid the 'crush' and schedule the releases for say Tuesday or Wednesday when I've usually caught up on the weekend crush.
    I like the relaxed tone and have confidence it will improve over time. You might consider some approach for audio, "Letters to the editor." A time limited, say 30-45 seconds, for folks to pose a question that you'll might answer either on the next or a future podcast. Think of it as queued "call-in."

    You might also consider ... someday in the future ... something like Pat Goss's car garage segment with video. I would have no problem with paying say $0.50-$1/episode to collect videos of Prius maintenance and operation tricks.

    GOOD LUCK!

    Thanks,
    Bob Wilson
     
  18. Bill60546

    Bill60546 Member

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    Ditto to comments made by Ol' Doc Evan.
     
  19. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Present company excluded, of course.
     
  20. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Actually I was just kidding about the billing. One of the banes of my existence has been that people seem to take me serious when I'm kidding and think I'm kidding when I'm serious. Which has led me to believe that I either have a strange sense of reality or a strange sense of humor OR most likely both. So let me preface everything by saying...I'm just kidding..

    But as your agent...I now expect 10%, I've obviously hit on the fatal flaw. Since when does "And" plus "It's "Our" show ever work? It's "our" show was what Batman told Robin. But who ended up never really driving and wearing the green tights? That's right...the guy coming after the "and". Never come after the and....

    Beauty and The Beast, Hall and Oates, Gumby and Pokey, Lady and The Tramp, Yogi and Boo Boo...Pinky and The Brain..Okay, maybe not Pinky and The Brain...but you get my point. The "and" denotes an addition, an add-on. "...and now with 30% more Russell Frost!

    Either this billing rotates from week to week, or I insist you close every podcast with the final 5 minutes in a segment called "And this is what Frost thinks!". Or "Frosts' Final Thoughts". You need something to keep the balance.

    When this baby takes off, and "What Drives You" becomes the new age Alternative Automobile Podcast equivalent of "Car Talk" this whole issue could become ugly. Sure it works for "Click "and" Clack" but they ARE brothers. Plus nobody really knows which one is Click and which one is Clack.

    Settle this now. Wrestle near a cliff in the darkened light of a campfire with two Prius sillhouetted in background, and pull Danny back up when he's hanging on the edge, it will be a bonding episode in your friendship and something to talk about in a future podcast.

    A future podcast of "What Drives You, with Russell Frost and Danny Cooper.

    As your agent, I insist.