Uke Chat Poll

As many of you know, I've been hosting an Internet Radio Show called UKECHAT that has a call in feature, live, plus an archived service that allows you to listen on demand.

My free trial is about up, and the renewal is $39 per month or $399 a year. This is simply not in the budget, so I'm putting it out there and trying to brainstorm other options.

The stats from the previous shows are revealing: most listens are archival, not live.

If I switched the format to an interview only show, I could still take questions via email and then pre-record the show and interview via Skype, post it as a podcast and people could listen on demand. This would, however, eliminate the live phone in element of the show. But, the costs would be reduced by over a third, so I could probably keep this going myself out of my UAS fund.

If we kept things as is, I'd need sponsors, ala the public radio model.

So I put it to a non scientific vote.

NOTE: I am NOT ASKING YOU FOR MONEY HERE! Just your thoughts! The poll is anonymous, so be honest! I can take it

Thom:

I always try to tune in live, but on Saturdays my wife is home from work, and I always have a long list of honey-dos to perform then. Several times, I have had to tune in late, or just listen to the archive because of it. For that reason, the podcast thing is pretty much what I do anyway.

I do think the "liveness" adds something to it. I have overheard at least one dealer say he might be interested in being a sponsor, but you would probably have to contact several to get commitments. Manufacturers would also be a good source for funds - we are not talking about a lot of money. You could run free ads for them.

The show is excellent, and you could try a paid subscription format, but I am not sure how many would pay how much to do that. 40 people paying $10 year would cover it. Of course 80 folks at $5/yr is even easier, but its still a new show and not widely known off UU (I don't think).

I listen to the podcast during the work week, because on Saturdays I'm usually out and about doing something involving playing the ukulele! But I do enjoy the call-in element even though it's not happening in real-time by the time I get to hearing it.

I just started listening to the archived shows, and I think it is a good show. I might consider being a sponsor, but I would be interested in getting some info on the viewer numbers first. I am a big podcast listener, especially on the Mac news subject. It might be easier to do a 60-90 min. show, and do a call-in option every other episode, if you want to save money. I think pre-recorded interviews would be nice. When people know how to log in with Skype, you will get more live call action, I think.

–Lori

I never knew this existed and, therefore, don't feel comfortable with any of the choices in the poll. My personal feeling is, if you can get sponsors, keep it going and make a few bucks at it, if you can. You don't want to start resenting doing all this for no return.

That said, how do I listen to this program?

Papa Tom said:

I never knew this existed and, therefore, don't feel comfortable with any of the choices in the poll. My personal feeling is, if you can get sponsors, keep it going and make a few bucks at it, if you can. You don't want to start resenting doing all this for no return.

That said, how do I listen to this program?

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Papa Tom - Go here. You can download the archived shows and listen them as podcasts, or listen live tomorrow at 1 pm EST.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ukechat

Here is another idea. I used to listen to a lot of Podcasts on iTunes. Some of them were free and some not. I wonder if you could get the show on there, Thom? It would increase listenership (I think). There are several ukulele podcasts on iTunes, so you might get the spill over. iTunes does not host the Podcasts on thier servers, so even if you go that route, you would have to arrange for server space, which would of course cost money.

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/creatorfaq.html

Its a new show, so I would not expect listenership to have taken off yet. Still if you are potential commercial sponsor, it might be worth a few bucks to get in on the ground floor.

Such is the silliness of online radio. What I would recommend is use a video streaming site like Ustream.tv and skype to do the live show and record the audio with your computer using garage band and publish it as a podcast. Ustream is video AND audio and its free. check out mixergy.com for an example of what can be done on the cheap. $40/month is ridiculous for someone just starting something, so you shouldn't pay it.

Oh Also, I'll be on Thom's Show today so everybody tune in please 10am PST

I have listened to the show via podcast and the content is fantastic! I really enjoy it and the podcast works best for me.

Unaware of it till now but properly will not have the time to engage but all the best.

Prefer to listen live, but when you switched to Sat, it ruled out that possibility.

I am catching up on listening to all the episodes, and they are really good. I think you should also offer the archived episodes on iTunes, where you should get more viewers who are browsing for podcasts. I like iTunes, since it is great for updating all your podcasts at once, and it is easy to then load onto an iPod (and we know there are lots of iPods/ iPads out there). Even people who want to use an Android phone can use Double Flip to upload iTunes playlists. Sometimes I listen to podcasts at home, but I like also to listen to podcasts while walking, or at the gym.

–Lori