Coalcast, Anyone with Broadcasting Experinece?

I'd like to bring back Coalcast so is there anyone interested in volunteering? I'd like to get at least two people to be hosts . Certainly knowledge of the industry would be nice but not absolutely necessary, more important would be interview skills. Generally speaking this is going to take up a few hours of your time each month, we usually set a date of something like the first Monday but that is flexible.

A headphone and mic is required and at least a DSL internet connection.

Previous broadcasts can be found here: Coalcast Live Internet Broadcasts

This is great news, Richard!

I really loved the originals and learned a lot from industry insiders and professionals. What about offering questions posed to the guests via listener submittal?

I too agree these broadcasts where interesting. Iwould be willing to assist in topics, do not know if I would be very good on the "air".

I KNOW I wouldn't be .....

Slurred speech .... wheezing, sniffling, coughing ..... forgetting where I am ..... GREAT SHOW!

Hope you find some worthy candidates Richard.

Good to bring it back, but I'd just use the telephone, a conference call.

See: http://www.speek.com

I've used it for short Board of Director meetings. Worked well.

Yanche wrote:Good to bring it back, but I'd just use the telephone, a conference call.

See: http://www.speek.com

I've used it for short Board of Director meetings. Worked well.

Yanche for this you really need a headset and mic if you're the host for audio quality control. Even with that we could never get it quite right because I was doing it by ear. Patrick with his booming voice always ended up being louder than Paul, Paul would "doctor" the audio for the downloads. There is a chat program out there that is compatible with phpBB user database I've discussed installing before and that is route I would probably take. For guests who wanted to use the phones if I needed to do that I think still have a phone here with audio jack for headset I can tie into the computer.

EarthWindandFire wrote:What about offering questions posed to the guests via listener submittal?

We did that within the forum live, we would follow the topic in the forum and try and answer the questions posted.

Richard S. wrote:

EarthWindandFire wrote:What about offering questions posed to the guests via listener submittal?

We did that within the forum live, we would follow the topic in the forum and try and answer the questions posted.

Also tried to post notice on upcoming shows a week in advance so people could post into the forum thread for each show before hand. Any post-show questions that came in would either be answered directly or folded into the next show.

Richard S. wrote:

Yanche wrote:Good to bring it back, but I'd just use the telephone, a conference call.

See: http://www.speek.com

I've used it for short Board of Director meetings. Worked well.

Yanche for this you really need a headset and mic if you're the host for audio quality control. Even with that we could never get it quite right because I was doing it by ear. Patrick with his booming voice always ended up being louder than Paul, Paul would "doctor" the audio for the downloads. There is a chat program out there that is compatible with phpBB user database I've discussed installing before and that is route I would probably take. For guests who wanted to use the phones if I needed to do that I think still have a phone here with audio jack for headset I can tie into the computer.

I'm not sure you understood my suggestion for using a conference telephone call for the voice portion. It solves the audio equipment problem and uses the phone system to make the audio fairly uniform. http://www.speek.com works like this ... One person registers, then sets up a meeting time with a list of phone numbers. At the meeting time each receives a phone call and all are connected like a traditional telephone conference call. It's all free. It's a service provided by a new startup company based in Northern VA. What's new is the the Web interface for setting up the conference call.

I have not participated in past coalcast calls, but I assume there were less than a dozen or so active talkers. If yes, then the live audio of the conference call could be streamed to the forum and the forum site could be monitored for those that post questions.

Great idea. I like Yanche's idea with just using conference call. Providing its easily setup of coarse.

This forum has really become so much more than just a message board where one can post questions, create a poll, compare and debate stoves or politics and other current events. We all benefit from this site and should consider ourselves fortunate that it exists and is run so well by Richard and his moderators.

The Coalcast could be broken up into three main subject areas and eventually serve as a form of educational media.

1). Interviews of coal mining owners/executives and members of the Pennsylvania Legislature about the industry.

2). Discussion with coal appliance manufacturers about themselves and their product(s).

3). Town Hall style discussion from stove owners about specific stoves, their operation and unique issues/concerns.

To clarify number three, I think a discussion with stove owners, not manufacturers, would give a different perspective to a listener and could touch subjects and issues with a particular stove that a manufacturer would like to avoid or not address.

That's some great ideas EWT but getting those people interested is another matter, we did have a few guests like that. Dave and Matt did a show, Craig Isood from Hearth.com did one and Mike was part of another and also came back for some other shows. We'll definitely do show with homeowners, that's a great idea.

Having said that I still need at least one more person willing to give being a host a try, I have one volunteer but I'm going to keep who as a surprise. Schedule is flexible but we want to try and set one day each month.

I don't need professional hosts but if you think you might have what it takes to pull it off let me know.

Richard

I know it is early on with the planning but is there a tentative date for the first broadcast?

No.