Podcasts

[doglover44]

Is there any road geek podcasts out there ? always wonder if there was

[vdeane]

The only one I know if is the Gribblenation Roadcast.  I think there may have been another attempt or two that didn't take off.
https://anchor.fm/gribblenation

[webny99]

I had actually considered starting a thread about podcasts, but not to find out if there were any roadgeek ones (I'm not aware of any), more just as a general discussion topic (in off-topic, though, not General Highway Talk).

There's four that I listen to with some regularity. Two are weekly, two are ~twice a week. Three are sports related, one is politics related.

[Big John]

I will bring up my ignorance, but what is a podcast?

[Scott5114]

I remember back in the day the Wikipedia roads editors made a couple of attempts at making a podcast over Skype, though that was more about the goings-on with the project than the roads themselves. I think we decided it was too awkward and time-consuming so we dropped the idea without releasing anything.

I will bring up my ignorance, but what is a podcast?

Basically a radio show, but distributed as mp3s on the Internet instead of over the air. Usually produced weekly or on some other sort of regular schedule.

[webny99]

I will bring up my ignorance, but what is a podcast?

Basically a radio show, but distributed as mp3s on the Internet instead of over the air. Usually produced weekly or on some other sort of regular schedule.

Yup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

[hbelkins]

I will bring up my ignorance, but what is a podcast?

Basically a radio show, but distributed as mp3s on the Internet instead of over the air. Usually produced weekly or on some other sort of regular schedule.

Or, a show broadcast on regular radio that's made available after the fact for mass distribution in podcast format. Some are subscription services (the late Rush Limbaugh's "Rush 24/7") and some are offered free (Mark Levin's show.)

[Max Rockatansky]

The only one I know if is the Gribblenation Roadcast.  I think there may have been another attempt or two that didn't take off.
https://anchor.fm/gribblenation

To that end I think we are getting fairly consistent putting out content.  I speaking for myself I tend to record stuff if I have something on my mind I think is interesting.  Case and point would be the last one I did about the Rattlesnake Grade and Redwood Highway on the South Fork Eel River. 

[rschen7754]

Some state DOTs make podcasts which might be of interest. I'd have to go through each state and see which ones have interesting content.

[JoePCool14]

Some state DOTs make podcasts which might be of interest. I'd have to go through each state and see which ones have interesting content.

Glad to hear those tax dollars are being used wisely.

[Scott5114]

Some state DOTs make podcasts which might be of interest. I'd have to go through each state and see which ones have interesting content.

Glad to hear those tax dollars are being used wisely.

I mean, is it really that far off from paying someone at the DOT to run a Facebook page?

[hbelkins]

Some state DOTs make podcasts which might be of interest. I'd have to go through each state and see which ones have interesting content.

Glad to hear those tax dollars are being used wisely.

I mean, is it really that far off from paying someone at the DOT to run a Facebook page?

Or a Twitter account, or a YouTube channel, or a website?

Originally, agency public affairs/public information offices were set up to deal with the press almost exclusively. They sent news releases and answered questions from reporters. That was how agencies communicated with the populace. Over the past 10 years, there's been a major change in the approach to government communications. Now, the push is to communicate directly with the people, to get the word out to more folks and to bypass the press, which has its own agenda and may overlook things that motorists need to know. (A newspaper may be more interested in who gets a contract and how much the CEO contributed to the governor than how traffic will be affected by the construction work).

Very little of my time is spent actually writing formal press releases or taking calls from reporters. Part of that is my market. I have one commercial television station, a handful of radio stations, no daily newspapers, and bunch of weeklies. Any press releases for immediate, short-term incidents would be out of date by the time they could appear in the media. The majority of my time now revolves around social media. Our radio and TV stations follow our social media channels (FB and Twitter) and can relay that traffic information, and will call if they need more details or want an on-camera interview. Even the weekly papers use their social media outlets to pass along timely information to their followers.

Some DOTs are even using Pinterest, although I'm not sure how an outlet that's mostly a haven for hobbyists and crafters is relevant. More and more are on Instagram, but since it's now a part of Facebook, I don't really see the point in having two separate presences.

[Scott5114]

I almost ended that post with "is it really that far off from what H.B. does every day?" but figured it would be weird if you didn't end up posting in the thread yourself.

Some DOTs are even using Pinterest, although I'm not sure how an outlet that's mostly a haven for hobbyists and crafters is relevant. More and more are on Instagram, but since it's now a part of Facebook, I don't really see the point in having two separate presences.

I used to like Instagram a lot, since it seemed like the userbase there was a lot more relaxed and fine with following accounts they didn't know, but since Facebook bought it and tightened the screws on the algorithm, it's practically impossible to find new followers. (I've never figured out how to actually get people to follow a page on Facebook.) The main difference between Instagram and Facebook now (other than the fact that Instagram is focused on images and video and you can't do text posts or links) is that Instagram users tend to use hashtags to find posts a lot more than Facebook does.