I've been practising using the video camera on my phone to see if it would be any use in filming little funnies for my YouTube channel. The quality of my camcorder is good enough but for convenience sake it might be useful to use the phone as you can upload it straight away (although there doesn't seem to be a way to keep what you have done externally as yet). My only disadvantage is that smart phones (or mine at least) that aren't made by Apple don't have the function allowing you to reverse the views, this means that trying to film myself is virtually impossible. However to look on the bright side I uploaded a video of Jack to Facebook and I was pleased to see that it didn't do that thing that iPhones do and make your video look like someone had stuck two strips of black tape over the lense.
It does feel as if I have hit a bit of a brick wall as far as work projects go so I am looking for reliable people to jump on board. Even though I am still working on scripts I sometimes wonder why I am bothering. Part of me wants to cut my losses and concentrate solely on the music side of my work, something I am good at and am known for. Is it worth me writing comedy to discover that I am not as good at it as I hoped I was? I won't spend too much time worrying because if I make something that I am proud of then that is all that really matters to me, but it will harm donations if someone doesn't like one thing that I put out then they will wonder why they should donate to an enterprise that they don't get anything out of, even though they presumably pay a TV Licence and don't watch everything the BBC puts out.
To coincide with this mini-crisis of confidence I have been thinking of ways to expand The Sunday Alternative. I have given up chasing the idea of getting the show back on the radio as I feel that the show is working better as a podcast. Although the radio show attracted a lot of attention around the world, the listening figures were nowhere near what the podcast gets so it has forced me to rethink the situation. Radio used to be the first port of call when a musician had a new single out as people trusted the radio to inform them of what was worth running down to Our Price for with pocket money burning a hole in their pockets. These days I see tweets asking for bloggers, podcasters, and radio presenters, with radio presenters no longer top of the priority list. Part of the reason for deciding that The Sunday Alternative no longer needs radio, (although radio, dare I suggest, needs The Sunday Alternative), is a sea change in how we consume 'live' media these days.
My daughter's generation bypass radio (she hates me having the radio on) in favour of music television channels and all of those Internet things so the idea of being told what to listen to by someone three times her age on the radio is alien to them. This made me consider my own listening habits and I was amazed to realise when itemising my radio consumption that I no longer listen to a great deal of live radio. Although I don't know how long it has taken for this evolution to take shape, it now transpires that I listen to far more podcasts (including podcast versions of radio shows). The beauty of this is that I can listen to these programmes whenever I like and not be beholden to what is being played at the time, even BBC 6Music fall a little into 'playlist' territory so it sometimes becomes a little tiresome (apart from Sundays when the DJs are allowed to play their own choices, which would make The Sunday Alternative an ideal show for the schedules, a mistake that they might have to live with for the duration now).
The Sunday Alternative when on radio suffered from fatigue at certain times such as when there was an England match on that night, or the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Now that I'm doing the podcast I have no idea when people listen but it doesn't matter because I know that people are listening at some point. As soon as I release it there's a surge of listeners but it increases during the week and has a slight but significant lift on Fridays. I am now planning a next step which will involve expanding the airtime of the podcast to maybe an hour to combine new music and live sessions but presented as if I was doing it on the radio as before. The revolution will be televised, but you can catch up with it and watch it at a time that is convenient to you.
My daughter's generation bypass radio (she hates me having the radio on) in favour of music television channels and all of those Internet things so the idea of being told what to listen to by someone three times her age on the radio is alien to them. This made me consider my own listening habits and I was amazed to realise when itemising my radio consumption that I no longer listen to a great deal of live radio. Although I don't know how long it has taken for this evolution to take shape, it now transpires that I listen to far more podcasts (including podcast versions of radio shows). The beauty of this is that I can listen to these programmes whenever I like and not be beholden to what is being played at the time, even BBC 6Music fall a little into 'playlist' territory so it sometimes becomes a little tiresome (apart from Sundays when the DJs are allowed to play their own choices, which would make The Sunday Alternative an ideal show for the schedules, a mistake that they might have to live with for the duration now).
The Sunday Alternative when on radio suffered from fatigue at certain times such as when there was an England match on that night, or the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Now that I'm doing the podcast I have no idea when people listen but it doesn't matter because I know that people are listening at some point. As soon as I release it there's a surge of listeners but it increases during the week and has a slight but significant lift on Fridays. I am now planning a next step which will involve expanding the airtime of the podcast to maybe an hour to combine new music and live sessions but presented as if I was doing it on the radio as before. The revolution will be televised, but you can catch up with it and watch it at a time that is convenient to you.
Listen to this week's edition of The Sunday Alternative here.
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February housekeeping
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