I want to thank everyone who so quickly gave us thoughtful replies about the comeback of the RELEVANT Podcast. The podcast is a lot of work—a labor of love for us—and we’re glad that so many people care about it and want it to be the best it can be.
I have to say, I agreed with virtually all of your suggestions. The audio quality on the Shane Claiborne interview was not up to par. The middle part of the podcast felt dense (some said boring) having so many long segments back to back, and we definitely need to not shy away from the personality and banter. Balancing substance and fun is a hard line to walk, but we’re determined to get it right (and not forsake one for the other).
To that end, I want to tell you about some changes we’re making:
This weekend’s edition features an interview with acclaimed graphic artist Chuck Anderson. We also have an audio review of the upcoming Andrew Bird album (it’s great) and a live performance by Sleeping At Last. That’s a lot of stuff.
So, we’re going to try a tweak to our long-standing model and look to SNL for some guidance on how to incorporate music—namely breaking the music performances into one-song segments that’ll appear at the midway point of the podcast and later in the podcast. Two 4-minute songs will inject nice “breathing room” into the podcast much better than one 10-minute long chunk of singing and talking can.
Likewise, I agree completely that we need to not lose our unique emphasis on interaction and personality. In my opinion, last week’s podcast was good, but it wasn’t fun enough. So, one idea we’re going to try is having a Listener of the Week that we’ll call during the feedback segment. (Basically, everyone who writes in feedback will be asked to include their phone numbers in the email. We’ll read feedback like we do now, but will call our favorite reply.) Some of the most classic podcast moments came out of listener interaction on the games, etc., and I’m really looking forward to this new feature each week.
And last, but certainly not least, I completely agree with the vast majority of replies that said we need to fill the fourth chair. So, today we filled it. I’m thrilled to officially announce that starting next week (not this week), Jesse Carey is rejoining the podcast crew. Yes folks, the man who brought you so many classic podcast moments is back. He’ll join each week via Skype just like Adam.
See, you speak and we listen. And all is right with the world.
