LISTen trial season starts winding down

The last episode of the LISTen trial season is set to air on Martin Luther King Day next week. Once that episode posts the trial season ends. Review will happen as to results obtained during the season.

In my LISNews blog (something every user gets when they register) I have written heavily recently. This is not unusual. In many respects that was an attempt at the show being more interactive. While I do not have the necessary phone bridge to bring in guest callers there are other ways to interact.

The first is to drop me an e-mail. I do read e-mail and try to respond. I do attempt to respond to comments posted at LISNews. Although questions may seem defensive perhaps it should be remembered that I may just need more information to address an issue. Specificity helps in comments if I have to go back and review episodes or take other action. I cannot work miracles but I also do not metaphorically tear people's heads off in e-mails.

Three blog entries recently look at different facets of production in Las Vegas. In one post I discuss how it is difficult to get the necessary press credentials to be able to enter a major event to cover it. I also discuss the fall-out of something that continues to make it harder for folks like us as well as GeekBrief TV to get press credentials. The post looks at the cheapest event to cover in an original matter. As we have no travel budget, let alone any budget, such also highlights why I keep asking about money.

In a second post I tried to present an abridged version of verbal ranting by the show's audio engineer. Much of that was a reaction to advice that was reportedly passed out at ALA Mid-Winter. The advice that was passed out seemed to contradict much of the notions of good production presented in texts from c|net's Troy Dreier and video developer Keith Underdahl. Work continues on the course proposals mentioned in the blog post as I am shooting to have out in the mail this weekend.

The final blog post I refer to explains the listener demographics survey questions. The listener demographics survey helps us do many things as we look ahead to getting a pick up to continue into regular seasons. Who listens? Where do they listen? What do they do? In asking questions we hope to learn what segment of LibraryLand's population we are serving and present something good to you.

Where do I see things going? There are unclear calls for more original content while also allowing for it to be user generated. In much of the context of the Internet world that is hard to pull off. While TalkShoe is one service that can provide such frankly I do not like the audio quality that is provided at times. It also feels weird to use when in Nevada members of Congress use teleconferencing bridges like that to host their own "talk show" events to connect with constituents. I am not sure how to reconcile the two.

Is there a call for a show taking an applied look at new tech offerings and how such might function in the world of LIS? Do we need interviews and feature segments that would require travel across the country or around the globe? Is the status quo sufficient? On this we have seen no clarion call. I only caution that without somehow securing an underwriter or ad revenue donations are the only way to keep any of those three options going. The easiest one for securing ad revenue would be the first, I imagine, while the other two would require underwriting and generous patrons. The third one could get by on listener donations but those have to amount to something each month.

As it seems lately to always pop up, clicking this button may be useful if you want to contribute to keeping LISTen going: