If you enjoy the interview, please give it a Sphinn.

I really enjoy doing interviews, and so if you have some interesting questions you would like to ask me for your blog, please let me know.

Thanks for reading eXtra for Every Publisher – xfep.com.

Could you please introduce yourself, what you do, and where people can find you online?

Sure. My name is Brad Leclerc. I’ve been blogging on and off pretty much since the advent of blogging, but didn’t try to make any money at it until pretty recently when I starting writing on TVGawker, and to a smaller degree, SolarHype. I’m also very active in the Newsvine.com community (you can find my account at brad-leclerc.newsvine.com) which is probably what started me thinking that there may be a way to get my online hobbies working for me to pay my bills, thanks to their revenue sharing system. I’m hoping that within another year or so (or less!) I’ll have enough fairly stable income from online sources to completely avoid a “traditional” job altogether and focus on my online projects, such as the VineCast, my newest project…and first podcast.

And that is the main reason I am interviewing you today, you have been working hard on bringing back the long dead podcast series the VineCast. Can you tell me a bit about the VineCast and your involvement with it?

The Vinecast was started originally about 2 years ago by a Newsvine user (or Viner, as I would usually say) who goes by the name “Dom Pody”, and others, and was setup like as a round-table discussion about Newsvine.com, be it news or articles posted to the site, or “meta” topics about Newsvine itself by an assortment of always changing panel members (a bit like Leo Laporte’s “This Week in Tech”, with less production value hehe). They came out with a new episode every few weeks, including one in which I was a panel member), and then it sorta dissolved away due to the people involved “having a life”, so to speak.

I tried reviving interest in it a couple times, and there were a fair amount of people who wanted more episodes, but no one really ready to take the reins, and at the time I was still working full time and didn’t have the time to do it myself either. That’s changed recently as I shift more and more of my focus on online endeavors, and so I basically said “Screw it, I’m bringing this baby back, and better than ever!”. Being friends with Dom, he gladly transferred the original domain to me (http://www.thevinecast.com), and I began to work out just how I was going to make it happen. Got myself a co-host(Viki Gonia), and started sending out invites to be on the panel to all the Viners I can stand to talk to. As of now I’m doing all the recording/editing and everything else beyond the actual podcast, which I happily share with Viki, and whoever else is around on recording day.

Why start a podcast around a community driven news site?

Why not? Really though, it’s the 21 century, what’s a community without a podcast? Don’t get me wrong, it’s not the only newsvine related podcast, but all the others focus on one persons column. A sorta recap of the things they personally have written or seeded (linked to) on Newsvine. The Vinecast is different. It’s about everything Newsvine has to offer. We talk about what other Viners are talking about, including taking suggestions and requests to try to get certain Viners on the panel, or pimping a project a Viner is involved with, or talking about whatever drama is going on…it’s about more than just the news aspect of Newsvine. It’s about the people that use it.

How long have you been a Newsvine member and what do you think of its evolution over the last while, your thoughts on the MSNBC ownership would be especially enlightening?

I’ve been a member since January of ’06, while it was still in Beta, thanks to an invite from a good friend of mine. You may have heard of him, he runs a little site called XFEP. There have been a LOT of changes since then, some of the best was the addition of groups, customizable user columns, and editable comments (though the 5 minute limit on editing comments still gets me sometimes). The revenue sharing is always pretty nice.

My thoughts on the MSNBC ownership are long and complex, but basically I suppose it boils down to “it COULD be awesome, which a pile of serious changes…but as it stands it’s pissing a LOT of people off and causing a lot of grief for a good number of users”. On the next episode of the Vinecast we will be discussing the MSNBC situation at length, along with some of the by-products of the ownership change and flood of new users, so if you want a lot more detail, that will be out on Wednesday.

Can you tell me about the production of the podcast? What hardware and software do you use?

I have a dual-core AMD system I’m using as my primary (and amazingly my ONLY for the moment) desktop machine, and I’m doing all the recording/editing on that, using Skype with the “power gramo” extension, and Adobe Soundbooth. I really want to start upgrading a few things, like sending Viki a better mic, but for now at least, it’s pretty low budget stuff. I’ve really just been working with what I already had, the investment is just “time” at this point.

Could you tell me a little bit about the time line for producing an episode? How long does it take to record, edit, and publish each episode?

It takes about an hour to record (though the first episode was longer), another hour or so of editing and cleaning up the audio a bit if needed, and 20 minutes to setup a show notes articles on my Newsvine account, and setup the new entry to the podcast feed (pretty easy with WordPress and podpress). All that is typically done on Tuesday night, and I’ll send the audio to be embedded into the show notes article, since that’s not a public feature of Newsvine…yet. Then the next day I post the article live to Newsvine and add the podcast to the feed, and we’re off to the races, so to speak.

You always have others on the podcast, can you tell me how you pick co-hosts and any other details regarding those assisting you with the show?

Well, Viki has been a Newsvine friend of mine for quite some time, and after meeting her in person at a Vinemeet (a gathering of Newsvine users offline) a while back, I thought she’d make an excellent co-host for the Vinecast, and she agreed to fit it into her busy schedule because she’s just that awesome. The other guests are picked basically on a first come first serve basis unless something special is going on.

The Vinecast is supposed to be about the community, so any Viner that wants to participate is welcome to come on at some point(so long as I can stand them I suppose…and even if I can’t, that might make an interesting episode). We are trying to get differing opinions on things, so variety of guests is key. We also take requests from listeners about who we should have on, and contact anyone people seem interested to hear from to see if they’d join us for an episode.

How do you promote your podcast, and what do you think the hook or demographic of the VineCast is?

Right now it’s primarily promoted through Newsvine itself. The show-notes articles show up on the front page of Newsvine within a few minutes of posting, and any Viners following me, members of “the vinecast” group (found at thevinecast.newsvine.com), anyone following the “vinecast” tag in their watch list on Newsvine, and of course anyone subscribed to the RSS feed, find out about it instantly. I also have been sending out a message on twitter (my account is twitter.com/bradleclerc).

The demographic is obviously focused on users of Newsvine. We do discuss a lot of news that’s not necessarily related directly to Newsvine itself, so there is something for any news junky…but yeah, definitely aimed mostly at Viners, or people interested in what’s going on in the world of Newsvine.

Do you have any plans for the VineCast in the future? Will you be taking on other co-hosts, or listener questions in the future?

We gladly take listener requests and questions, and there is no shortage of guests I’m sure. As for the future, we may start taking live calls (or making them) during the recording, as well as recording the whole thing live with listeners able to chat with us and influence the show in more direct ways. It’s only been a month since I’ve revived the Vinecast, and it’s already begun to change…who knows what the future will bring. It’s all about what the listeners want really, it’s about the Newsvine community, they’ll be the ones dictating any major changes that occur.

If you had one suggestion for a podcaster just starting out, what would that suggestion be and why?

Learn by doing. I learned more about podcasting while recording/editing/publishing the first new episode of the Vinecast than I did listening to hundreds of other podcasts, reading about podcasting, watching videos about podcasting, etc. Jumping right in is really the faster, easiest, and most fun way to really come to grips with the process.

Oh, and record EVERYTHING, ya never know when ya might need/want to produce a blooper reel .

A huge thanks to Brad for answering these questions. If you are a fan of podcasting, Newsvine, or socially reported and promoted news in general, feel free to contact Brad through the VineCast.

Thanks for reading eXtra for Every Publisher – xfep.com.

Jeff, the host, plans on discussing a number of topics with me including but not limited to:

• My work involving WordPress
• How did BloggingPro begin. How did it go from nothing, to something.
• Making money while blogging
• Careers in blogging
• Writing for and managing blog networks
• Personal experiences using WordPress

I am looking forward to discussing these and other things tonight, and hope that some of you will show up to listen live, as well as ask any questions you may have for me.

For instructions on how to join the show, check out the information page that Jeff has put up, as it can be a bit confusing to use TalkShoe for the first time.

Steven Finch: Hi.. well I’m Steven Finch and I’m currently the CEO of a new media company here in the UK named Insomnia. Additionally, you can find me at my personal weblog, Crenk.com.

David Peralty: So, new media means a wide variety of things. Can you tell me more about Insomnia and what they deal with?

Steven Finch: Well Insomnia is a media company. We currently have our majority of assets in the music industry, and we are just about to launch our first web assets, which is also based in the music market.

The first web asset is called Routenote, and is a music licensing and distribution company.

David Peralty: Crenk.com talks a fair bit about what is going on in the online world. It seems like you are joining two very competitive niches. What made you think that you could build a successful company, and blog in the current marketplace?

Steven Finch: Both companies are definitely in two very competitive markets, but two markets that I think are changing very rapidly.

Personally, I have been pretty much living on the Internet since a young age, and I have always taken notice of the Internet and where it was progressing. This, mixed with my knowledge in how business really works, seem to really help in the growth and progression of the company in both sectors.

David Peralty: So, as a CEO of a company, you must have an interesting view on the blogosphere. Do you think it will continue to expand endlessly or have people already reached their saturation point when it comes to blogs and online media?

Steven Finch: Well at this stage, it is definitely growing, but I always believe in information overload. Blogs are about having your say, but sometimes it is very difficult to find voices or publications that are actually worth reading. This will always be an issue when the blogosphere is continuing to grow.

David Peralty: Why did you end up choosing WordPress for Crenk.com? Did you try any other options?

Steven Finch: I tried blogger for a while, but it didn’t seem to have the customizations and plugins that I was after; hence, WordPress. It seems to be the most adaptable, and seemed to get my vote from the moment I started using it.

David Peralty: If other CEO’s are looking to join the blogosphere, what would advice would you give them? Warnings, tips, tricks are all good.

Steven Finch: A warning I would hand out is don’t ever personally attack someone, be it a blogger or even just a user of your site because at the end of the day, the users are always what makes or breaks an internet company, and loyal ones are very hard to come by.

Additionally, make sure you disclose all of your conflicts of interest, with regards to other companies, advertisers, stocks, and etc.

David Peralty: Do you have any blogs that are great inspiration for a new blogger? Be they technology, PR, corporate, or other?

Steven Finch: Well Xfep of course, but I am also a fan of Dosh Dosh for blogging, Read/Write Web for technology and also Centernetwork.com. Additionally, I have learnt a fair bit from Foundread.com.

David Peralty: And lastly, when can we expect Routnote.com?

Steven Finch: We are currently in private testing at the moment and should be opening to the public in approximately two months.

David Peralty: Thank you again for taking this time to talk with me. I would love to see more CEO’s get into the blogging world, be they new media or not. I am looking forward to the increasing build up of Crenk.com as well as the launch of Routenote.com.

Steven Finch: Thank you very much.