#353 Refreshing the Fedora Podcast
Closed: no action needed 3 years ago by x3mboy. Opened 3 years ago by computerkid.

Hey everyone! I've noticed that the Fedora Podcast has slowed down over time. I would like to help with bringing it back and volunteer to work on it. I've also have a few ideas to help improve it in some ways.

The audio of @x3mboy (the current host) can be problematic at times so an upgrade for his microphone would be a good idea. I spoke with @michaeltunnell , from Destination Linux Network, and he recommends getting the Samson Q2U. @michaeltunnell recommends the Q2U because it provides good audio quality while only costing around $70-$80 USD and since it uses USB & XLR it doesn't need any additional hardware like an interface though can also transition to use one in the future.

I noticed that the Fedora Podcast accounts on some platforms are under the name @x3mboy , which could be problem at some point. It would be better to have everything related to the Fedora Podcast under the in Fedora name so Fedora is in control. Additionally, since the Fedora podcast uses the Fedora trademark, it being under a non-Fedora publisher name could be confusing to the audience.

The Fedora Podcast is currently using the service Simplecast. @michaeltunnell , of DLN, recommends Fedora Podcast use Fireside.fm instead because it is a cheaper service and offers more value for the price. Fireside is not just about pricing though, they also give us more abilities such as a built in website, storage for the audio files, and automatic RSS feed management. We can also migrated the simplecast feed directly into Fireside.fm fairly easily so the current content will be archived in Fireside. The RSS system for Fireside.fm will also allow Fedora to have a custom domain/subdomain to be used such as podcast.fedoraproject.org/rss rather than the current style of being locked to the Simplecast URL.

Fedora Podcast also seems to be publishing on Soundcloud as well which may have negative results as it creates audience splitting and since Soundcloud isn't intended for Podcasts, the pricing is more expensive than it's worth. Michael, of DLN, recommends that Soundcloud be retired in favor of Fireside and various streaming platforms instead.

Previously the Fedora Podcast did not appear to have a release schedule, which would help with consistent growth. It gives people a time when they know a new episode will be out. I would suggest either a bi-weekly or monthly cadence.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you will consider this.


Hi @computerkid. I really appreciate your enthusiasm, but it's not clear what you are asking the Council for. The technical aspects, in particular, you can work on directly with @x3mboy. Eduard is a member of the Council, but that is incidental to his role as podcast host.

Hi, We will work on this. Let's keep this open to see what parts can be worked on and probably will need the help of @riecatnor

For sure! Keeping it open is best.

On Mon, Feb 15, 2021, 9:36 AM Eduard Lucena pagure@pagure.io wrote:

x3mboy added a new comment to an issue you are following:
Hi, We will work on this. Let's keep this open to see what parts can be worked on and probably will need the help of @riecatnor

To reply, visit the link below or just reply to this email
https://pagure.io/Fedora-Council/tickets/issue/353

It sounds like we're going to go with Fireside.fm, right @x3mboy ? It will be about $12 less yearly, but it gives us a better website. As I mentioned in the first ticket, we should probably put it under the Fedora name, so we'll need help from @riecatnor , and the council might have to re-approve it, I don't know. The nice thing about fireside is we will be able to point podcast.fedoraporject.org to the fireside site, which can be the single point of entry for the podcast. As in to give people the Fedora Podcast, we just give them that URL, rather than 4 URLs. Fireside's website let's us integrate all the other feeds(spotify, itunes, etc) as buttons on the main site. I think we'll also want to rebuild all the old feeds like using fireside's built in CDN stuff under the Fedora name.

We'll also need infra to help set it up with the right domain. @smooge @kevin

We'll also need infra to help set it up with the right domain.

Best to file a ticket in https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/ when everything is ready to go.

I know we sponsored a new mic for @x3mboy a while ago. If it's time for an upgrade or other equipment, we can probably swing that.

On the regular schedule: maybe this could be accomplished by alternating between interviews and other-style discussions on a regular basis? I'm not committed to that, just thinking maybe it'd be easier to pull off? Doing an interview every week is a lot of work.

We'll also need infra to help set it up with the right domain.

Best to file a ticket in https://pagure.io/fedora-infrastructure/ when everything is ready to go.

My bad, I will file there once we are ready. Thank you.

I know we sponsored a new mic for @x3mboy a while ago. If it's time for an upgrade or other equipment, we can probably swing that.

On the regular schedule: maybe this could be accomplished by alternating between interviews and other-style discussions on a regular basis? I'm not committed to that, just thinking maybe it'd be easier to pull off? Doing an interview every week is a lot of work.

About the microphone, I was unaware that he had a new one, I'll look into it and get back to you.
On the schedule, I certainly don't think we could record an interview every week. Here are my thoughts: We couldn't really do anything every week and mantain a good quality. A couple ways we could solve this would be, to go with seasons, or to go bi-weekly/monthly. Either way I do agree with you, we need to mix it up, have some news, some discussion, some interviews, etc. If we set up a season style we could record stuff ahead of time, build episodes, and then release them on a schedule regardless of when we recorded them. That would work for interviews but not for news. We could also go with the traditional style of making an episode, releasing it, without delays. I think this topic is something that we should discuss and decide what works best for Fedora.

I've created https://pagure.io/fedora-podcast/ to help organize this. If you need access, let me know, I'll happily give it.

Glad to hear, you're going with Fireside. if you want some assistance with setup like migration or DNS stuff just let me know. I've got some experience with this portion. :sunglasses:

A consistent schedule is optimal because people know when to expect new episodes and that helps audience growth. I suggest a bi-weekly (once every 2 weeks) because it is often enough to be considered frequent but not so often that it becomes difficult to produce.

Regarding interviews, I would agree with @mattdm that rotating the content would make that easier. In fact, I think interviews should be intermixed in regardless because if it is always interviews it becomes hard to get to know the hosts of a show as the person interviewed would always be the primary focus.

This kind of podcast would also allow for multiple episode recording batches so you could record 2 episodes per session making the commitment to record be only once per month if the release cadence is every 2 weeks. Essentially, you could record an interview and then a monthly news thing on the same session and release the news first so its more timely and then the interview. Just some food for thought.

I would also suggest Fedora Podcast have at least 2 hosts or maybe 3 if possible. The reason is because doing a podcast with co-host is much easier and provides a lot more flexibility. I am making this suggestion because I learned the hard way that a single host podcast is quite difficult. :smile:

I am not sure if @computerkid is interested in hosting or not but I think that could be a pretty cool and unique approach.

I agree with all of this @michaeltunnell . I'm not going to say I'm the best person for the job, but I'd certianly be happy to co-host if @x3mboy would have me!

More than happy to get you in the show @computerkid

We had a consistent schedule, and it was indeed bi-weekly

Metadata Update from @x3mboy:
- Issue close_status updated to: no action needed
- Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)

3 years ago

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