Published in the July 3, 2012 issue of The Edmonton Sun.
Linda’s social media column can be found every Tuesday in the Edmonton Sun.
Podcast rocks
Podcasts are typically digested by a lone listener at their computer, in their home, on their phone, maybe during a commute.
It’s not exactly the most social thing, listening to a podcast. But that changed last week — at least for the Edmonton community, with the live show recording of The Unknown Studio, a local podcast that talks about all things Edmonton.
I’ll admit I’m not a podcast “expert,” but I’m pretty sure live show recordings with a sell-out audience are few and far between.
To mark their third season finale, The Unknown Studio hosts and co-producers, Adam Rozenhart (@bingofuel) and Scott C. Bourgeois (@scottybomb), put together a live show last Wednesday at Happy Harbor Comics featuring local talent, including musicians, a comedian, an author and much more.
The pair set up the event in a very Conan O’Brien, entertainment talk show format and recorded the hour and a half podcast in front of a live audience of about 50 Edmontonians — all of whom got word of the show through social media and spent the night tweeting about the show using the hashtag #tuslive.
I often preach that our social media community is very special and extremely involved both online and offline, but let me let someone else tell you this time around.
“They’re excited to support people who they think are doing something interesting,” Rozenhart says.
He says if it weren’t for social media and Edmonton’s very active online community, the live show — and the podcast itself — would never have been as successful as it was.
“We could do the show, but no one would listen to it if it wasn’t for the strong Twitter community in Edmonton,” Rozenhart said. “Social media is so critical.”
The experiment was considered such a success that the duo is considering holding a live Christmas show recording, with ticket proceeds going towards local charities.
They’d also branch out with their guests, inviting prominent figures like the mayor or an Oiler (for example) to participate.
How exciting it is that local, user-generated content can gain this kind of success with the help of social media. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Jeff Samsonow (@journalistjeff) and Sally Poulsen (@SallyPoulsen) put together a live show during the 2010 municipal elections that attracted the attention of Edmontonians as well.
It’ll be interesting to see what idea or project gains traction and local support from the city’s online community next.
I’m sure Rozenhart and Bourgeois’ successful experiment is sure to inspire others.
If you want to listen to the live show, the podcast should be available online Wednesday, just head to theunknownstudio.ca.
Some tweets from The Unknown Studio live show (#tuslive):
.@Doctor_Teeth: “Does anyone in the audience have a mother?” — @ericaviegas, master of the art of crowd pandering. #tuslive
.@williamfwatson: #tuslive solid crowd — all but one have seen the original Star Wars trilogy!
.@kat_szabs: It’s pretty cool, all the #yeg followers I picked up after last night’s #tuslive. The pressure to tweet good things is on!
.@unknownstudio: If you weren’t already aware #yeg is filled with fun, supportive people. Thanks to everyone who came to our live show tonight #tuslive
