Content Lite

I think I need to clarify something I was talking about a couple posts ago. When I made observation that the series of podcasts I'd been listening to during my last weekend obsession were light on actual content, I didn't mean to sound as if I was being critical. The fact is that the episodes I listened to were quite enjoyable, albeit inconsequential. However, I should add that this inconsequentiality was intentional on the part of the guy making the podcasts. That said, it does highlight a problem that many podcasters face - having made the decision to produce a podcast, what the Hell do you fill it with? What should it be 'about'? Actually, it was the same with websites in the early days of the web - people set lots of them up and many looked really good, but more often than not, it was painfully obvious that their creators then had little idea what to 'do' with them.

Luckily, I knew what The Sleaze was going to be about from the outset and I had plenty of material to set it up with, mainly salvaged from its brief existence as a low circulation underground print publication. But The Sleazecast was different - when I started I didn't have a clue as to what the format should be, let alone content. And it shows in the first six I put together - it's mainly just me rambling on monotonously, usually with some vague theme linking the segments of talk. It was after listening to other people's podcasts I enjoyed (particularly PQ Ribber's Bug Out) I finally decided that The Sleazecast should reflect my fascination with the more esoteric corners of popular culture. I also decided that there should be less chat from me and what there was should be broken up by examples of the pop culture I loved. All of which, I hope, is reflected in the new format I recently piloted here with the seventh Sleazecast. But getting back to my original point, there's no reason why being 'lightweight' in content terms should prevent a podcast, or website, for that matter, from being enjoyable. Indeed, some try so hard to fill themselves with content that is 'significant' and 'meaningful', that they lose sight of the fact that they are meant to be, in some way, entertaining.