Onsug and Nightscape

I've spent too much of this week moaning about various things, so I thought that I'd round the week off by telling you about something I like. As you may have noticed, I've been experimenting with podcasting for the past few months, with mixed results. A large part of my inspiration for these attempts has been the Overnightscape Underground (Onsug), an on line radio station in the form of a series of podcast programmes by various contributors, that you can download and listen to at your leisure. Before I stumbled across Onsug, I had the idea that podcasts were complex things, requiring multiple hosts, audience participation and such stuff. However, thanks to Onsug, I realised that the monologue-based podcast could be a fascinating and rewarding format, not to mention cheap and simple to create. So, if you don't like my podcasts, blame Onsug!

But seriously, Onsug is well worth visiting, featuring a huge range of podcasts, covering a variety of topics and featuring a plethora of presenters, not just from the US, but from Europe as well. It's a wild and wonderful place and, best of all, it is all created by 'ordinary' people like us - no bloody celebrities telling us about their tedious lives and plugging their latest albums/films/TV shows/haemorrhoid creams etc. If nothing else, Onsug offers a fascinaing insight in other people's lives. The prime mover behind Onsug is Frank Nora, who also has another project: Nightstation. This a streaming radio station, consisting of 6-8 hour segments put together by Frank and various other Onsug contributors. These include all manner of fascinating open source material, including music, old radio programmes, and adverts, all linked by the host's narration. It really is quite fascinating. I often listen to it as background whilst working on line. Anyway, give it a try. If you listen to it on the Nightstation website, there's a fair chance you'll run into one or more of the presenters and chat to them there. Trust me, it's good stuff and deserves your support.