New Wired Podcasting Article

I’m quoted in a new article on podcasting on Wired.com. Where the first one was an introduction to this new world, this one (same author, Daniel Terdiman) is more of a sanity check after a few months of serious podcasting. Here’s one paragraph that tickled me from the middle of the article:

For core podcasting fans, the most recommended podcasts include the full complement of IT Conversations, Curry’s Daily Source Code, Slusher’s Evil Genius Chronicles and Kevin Devin’s In the Trenches.

You might think I’m excited about being a most recommended podcast but for me the real kicker is Kevin Devin being recommended. I claim some small credit for mid-wifing that podcast, since Kevin wasn’t sure he was going to do more than a single cast after his first one (which was not In The Trenches as we know it now). He sent me some audio feedback asking for criticism. The show sounded great on a technical level but the only issue was that he spent a fair chunk of it saying “I don’t know if I’ll ever do this again, I don’t know if anyone cares what I have to say”, which is not the way to engender listener loyalty.

I encouraged him to focus on the stuff that was obviously of interest to him, which was the heavy duty IT stuff from the sys admin perspective, and to commit to that. Voila! From that, a very good and popular podcast – on a subject that had to that point been unrepresented in the podosphere – was born. This is why the inevitable charges of “elitism” bother me so much, with the implications that there are efforts to keep people out. That is exactly the opposite of what really happens. It isn’t just that I try to invite people to this party, in some cases I browbeat them to show up.

I’m not trying to sound like a claim jumping egomaniac here, wanting credit for other’s hard work, but I do want to point out that I feel just as happy when folks I encourage succeed as when I do. To me, that’s the absolute best part of this community, the mutual support of the podcasters (for the most part). I suspect this aspect will fade over time but for now I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

Update: I was worried I might have been overreaching but Kevin Devin sent me an email confirming that he sees it the same way. I quote with permission:

You have every right to claim the midwives role with my podcast…
had it NOT been for you, that first podcast would have been my last.
It has been a VERY pleasurable experience thus far as I’ve met some
REALLY awesome people along the way that I would have likely never met
without the podcast.

Thank you, Kevin. I’m delighted to have been able to help, and pleased as punch that things are going well for you.