Oberon Zell, co-founder of the long-lived Pagan zine/magazine/ezine Green Egg, and Ariel Monserrat, its current editor, have started podcasting.
On “Over to Oberon & Ariel” this Wed. June 1, our special guest will be Sylveey Selu, founder of the Pentacle Project. Learn what the Pentacle Project is and how you can help. The Pentacle Project was formed to help Pagans become aware of the attacks on Pagans in the Bible Belt by extreme-right Dominionist Christians. Learn about the rising wave of militant, uber-fundamentalist Christians, what they think and why they are a threat to the rest of America, not just Pagans.
Ariel and I are planning many exciting shows to come, with compelling topics and fascinating guests. Through more than 40 years of publishing Green Egg, both in print and now online, Ariel and I have come to know the most interesting, knowledgeable, and erudite personalities on the leading edge of Gaea’s evolving consciousness. Join us on “Over to Oberon & Ariel!”
You can hear or download their first attempt here, via Witch School’s Blog Talk Radio channel, “Pagans Tonight.” Oberon and Ariel do not come on until an hour into the podcast—before that is an hour of Witch School founder Ed Hubbard maundering about tornadoes and what not.
I wish them well, but my considered opinion is that verbal podcasting is harder that it seems. (Musical podcasting seems to work better.)
You have the format of two people, usually not in the same room, making forced small talk—or even a bunch of people, not in the same room, kicking topics around and making in-jokes with each other. (Example, NSFW.)
Howard Stern does it better—and I don’t listen to him either much.
Maybe I’m just grumpy because I see no time in my day for listening to an hour or two of chat. My 80 minutes of car commuting used to provide lots of listening time, but you won’t hear me saying that I want to go back to that!
The only Pagan podcast I ever listened to had a similar problem. It is, essentially, new format radio, and the podcasters that do it best usually have some kind of background or experience in radio. The art of talk radio is a lot more difficult than it seems. Also, for people who write or take part in projects where other sounds/language can inhibit rather than help, talk based podcasting is less than ideal. I’ve frustrated more than a few people who really – REALLY – want me to follow their podcasts because of that.