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There's an 10 part version of Lovecraft's 'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward' on the BBC sounds website. Purists beware it has been 'updated', but don't let that put you off. I normally find Radio 4 dramas far too smug and middle class, but this was made by an external production company and I really enjoyed it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06t51w8

:fhtagn:
 
I'm really enjoying "The Ghost Guys" someone on here mentioned.
 
I've been listening to the Dearly Departed podcasts lately that come out of L.A. Run by Hollywood historian Scott Michaels (also former boyfriend/partner of Graham Norton) and film producer Mike Dorsey it concentrates on the grimmer side of Hollywood and it's legends. It's dark, it's morbid, sometimes crude, always interesting and funny.
They focus on dead Celebrities and their weird lifestyles and also take a look at t/v shows and movies and the legends, true and otherwise that have grown up around them.
For anyone with an interest on the seedier side of the rich and famous (also the sometimes not so well known) tune in.
Ever wanted to know how Tiny Tim lived his life and died? Whatever happened to Pugsley Adam's (Ken Weatherwax) ashes? Listen in to fin out.
It's on the Podbean network, just search for Dearly Departed Podcasts.
 
I have been listening to a number of podcasts for a long time and recently a number have introduced extensive advertising and are additionally asking me to join Patreon and give them the cost of a cup of coffee each month. Some of the USA based ones are asking for $5 a month.
I subscribe to about 60 podcasts, some are good and I would listen to every episode, some less so and I can start listening but delete after a minute or so.
I may be wrong but I thought Podcasting was a hobby and I have been asking my Son about starting one myself (he has some GCSE’s in media) but it would seem that some are now looking for it to be an income stream. Some have recently started putting the second half of the podcast behind a paywall.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this. I’m happy to pay for 3 or 4 of the good ones but some of them can churn out poor quality podcasts on occasion. One of my real favourites has just put out two consecutive casts that fall below their usual quality which makes me reticent to give them a monthly fee.
Am I being unreasonable?
 
I have been listening to a number of podcasts for a long time and recently a number have introduced extensive advertising and are additionally asking me to join Patreon and give them the cost of a cup of coffee each month. Some of the USA based ones are asking for $5 a month.
I subscribe to about 60 podcasts, some are good and I would listen to every episode, some less so and I can start listening but delete after a minute or so.
I may be wrong but I thought Podcasting was a hobby and I have been asking my Son about starting one myself (he has some GCSE’s in media) but it would seem that some are now looking for it to be an income stream. Some have recently started putting the second half of the podcast behind a paywall.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this. I’m happy to pay for 3 or 4 of the good ones but some of them can churn out poor quality podcasts on occasion. One of my real favourites has just put out two consecutive casts that fall below their usual quality which makes me reticent to give them a monthly fee.
Am I being unreasonable?
Things like the excellent Folklore Podcast are free but if you subscribe you get extra bits, so you can get the basic service for free and if you want the whistle and bells then you can subscribe. There are also some books available so if you still want to help out but don’t want to subscriber you can buy some books and feed in money that way.
 
Things like the excellent Folklore Podcast are free but if you subscribe you get extra bits, so you can get the basic service for free and if you want the whistle and bells then you can subscribe. There are also some books available so if you still want to help out but don’t want to subscriber you can buy some books and feed in money that way.
I tend to listen to the Paranormal ones, a few true crime and some food based podcasts. It’s the paranormal and a few of the true crime ones that most noticeably are now adding the advertising etc.
 
I have been listening to a number of podcasts for a long time and recently a number have introduced extensive advertising and are additionally asking me to join Patreon and give them the cost of a cup of coffee each month. Some of the USA based ones are asking for $5 a month.
I subscribe to about 60 podcasts, some are good and I would listen to every episode, some less so and I can start listening but delete after a minute or so.
I may be wrong but I thought Podcasting was a hobby and I have been asking my Son about starting one myself (he has some GCSE’s in media) but it would seem that some are now looking for it to be an income stream. Some have recently started putting the second half of the podcast behind a paywall.
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this. I’m happy to pay for 3 or 4 of the good ones but some of them can churn out poor quality podcasts on occasion. One of my real favourites has just put out two consecutive casts that fall below their usual quality which makes me reticent to give them a monthly fee.
Am I being unreasonable?

Coming from the other side of the fence, you might be surprised at how expensive podcasting can be especially if you start getting some big download numbers. As well as being a podcaster myself, I also do editing for others and one of my clients is paying around £700 a month in hosting alone.

Even for the smaller hobbyists you have web hosting, podcast/data hosting, equipment and software and that's before you take into account research materials and other incidental costs. Before I was made redundant, we were spending around £20-30 a month on research materials, £50+ a month in travel to visit locations and often paying more than that for entrance fees as well as well as a number of other costs that add up quickly. Then you have all the time involved in researching, writing, recording, mixing etc. It probably takes us around 20 hours to put a show together from scratch.

When I was earning a decent wage we bascially swallowed these costs like many podcasts do but I don't see any reason why podcasters shouldn't have a patreon accout for those that wish to support them. In our case it is the only way we can afford to keep producing it! We don't have ads on our show so it is pretty much the only way we get any return on our costs and whilst we would love to be able to have enough coming in to allow us to do the show full time, I don't expect that will happen any time soon. We do keep all our shows free but patrons get some bonus material and physical rewards depending on their pledge level. I'm actually just sending out Christmas postcards to our patrons now.

I was really surprised that we have so many patrons paying $5 a month and above. I was expecting that the majority would do $1 or $2 a month but the majority do $5 a month or more. It was actually quite humbling that there were so many people wanting to help support the show. I would still hope though that most podcast creators would take the view, as we do, that the support is really helpful but we will still produce the show for free for everyone to enjoy.
 
To be quite honest Fitz your podcast is one of the ones I would/will subscribe to. The spooktator is also one that springs immediately to mind. 4 good quality podcasts at a fiver a month I would not object to but, whilst I am still lucky enough to be gainfully employed, my wife retired in March and we are feeling the pinch at a halving of our monthly income.
 
To be quite honest Fitz your podcast is one of the ones I would/will subscribe to. The spooktator is also one that springs immediately to mind. 4 good quality podcasts at a fiver a month I would not object to but, whilst I am still lucky enough to be gainfully employed, my wife retired in March and we are feeling the pinch at a halving of our monthly income.

Thank you! That's very kind of you but don't worry, we don't expect people to go without just to give us money! I can certainly empathise with your situation, I got made redundant about 18 months ago and started my own business which is almost earning enough to pay the mortgage lol!

I do know what you mean though, we try not to shout about the patreon too much but I have listened to a few shows where they are quite strong on pushing it (though I get the feeling that this is more of a cultural thing for non Brits). The ones that put me off a bit are the ones that try and guilt you into it by saying that they're going to lose their house etc. I can kind of understand it if it's a one off surprise, like being due to unforseen injury etc, but expecting an income is something else.
 
As I said in the original post I was looking potentially starting a podcast with the help of my son but it would purely have been a hobby and I would have funded it myself as I would my other hobbies. I think with podcasting though I would be massively strapped for time.
The podcasts that are edited and the mispronunciations etc taken out are so much more enjoyable.
 
Well if you do decide to give it a go I can recommend some decent budget gear to get you started but you are correct in that the time involved tends to more than you would think! The basics of editing are fairly easy, without getting into much in the way of post processing, but once you are up to speed, it still takes about 3 times as long to edit as it does to record. (Again, happy to run you through the basics if you do decide to give it a go!)
 
I’ve been looking for an idiots guide to podcasting...so I may well take you up on the offer. I said to my son I wouldn’t consider it until I had a good couple of months scripts in place and knew I had the time.
Thanks for the offer...
 
I keep meaning to write something like that for my business site but I never seem to find the time, and a lot is specific to the program you are using to edit once you get to that stage. And then it's generally easier to find 'how to's on YouTube. It is quite a diverse topic though depending on how deep you get. I was lucky to have some music recording experience so I was already familiar with mic technique, editing and mixing. After that it is mainly just setting up a host and having a social media presence on the technical side.

It can seem overwhelming when you try and break it down, but at it's simplest, it's just talking into a microphone.
 

That's a really well made podcast. I got it through the Süddeutsche Zeitung:
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/journalismus-das-sind-die-podcast-tipps-im-dezember-1.4725261

They also mention the "Catch and kill" podcast about the Weinstein scandal:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-catch-and-kill-podcast-with-ronan-farrow/id1487730212

There could be an interesting podcast about the sect of Jeffrey Lundgren, but I don't have Spotify:
https://spoti.fi/2PsNeuI
 
I've listened to a couple of Alien Theorists Theorizing and am quite enjoying them.

On podcasters asking for donations, I think it's fair enough. If you listen and enjoy their work, why should they do it for free?
However, the likes of Unexplained are now including adverts which, although irritating, is another way for him to make money and I completely support that.
These people are spending hours of their time to entertain us - they should be paid for it, IF IT'S GOOD.

I write books, I expect people to pay for them.
Podcasters are doing much the same, only in a different medium.
 
Just on Alien Theorists Theorizing - I know every single one of us here is a HUGE fan of Aleister Crowley, so do yourself a favour and skip their podcast on him. They don't have a clue. Mispronouncing his name, saying his "Do what thou wilt" means "do whatever the fuck you want" and, most amusingly, saying he was the guy who invented 666, despite them knowing the Iron Maiden song which includes a spoken-word intro taken from the bible that includes the number. :boss:
 
I found a new one this week - The Great Unsolved. It's pretty good! I spent my days at work in the car listening to each episode in turn. It's generally unsolved murders, which I don't usually have any interest in, but I find this podcast interesting (apart from the ones involving children which I don't listen to).
First time I ever heard of Missy Bevers and, holy shit, the video footage of her murderer wandering about the church haunted me for a day or two. Creepy stuff! Definitely a guy IMO, and the comparison footage of the father-in-law....Wow.

Worth a listen. It sent me down a few of those proverbial old rabbit holes this week.
 
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That's a great list. I subscribed to a few from there. Now I just need more hours in the day to listen to them all.

For the past week of so I've been listening to 'Bigfoot & Beyond - with Cliff & Bobo' two of the guys from the 'Finding Bigfoot' t.v show.
Regardless of what you may have thought of the t.v show, the podcast is interesting as it's filled with stories from expeditions conducted by the two, sightings reported directly to them, interviews with people in the Bigfoot/Sasquatch research field, plus a little on other cryptids. I quite enjoy their banter.
 
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