“Laboris gloria Ludi”
(Work hard, Play hard)
It was exactly five years ago today, that I published the very first episode of my podcast: Phedippidations.
July 4th, 2005 was a Monday, and I had recorded the audio the day before, on a Sunday. My original idea for a format was to record a show that featured one of the many essays that I had written over the previous five years.
My wife had always encouraged me to take those essays and publish them in a book; but I had a few problems with that: first; no matter how creative or entertaining those essays might have been my name is Stephen Walker, NOT Stephen King, and no one was going to buy a book of my essays on the topic of running. That would have been very silly (and presumptuous) of me. I strive not to be so vain. Besides, I felt that those essays were better suited for a blog.
In April of 2000, a little over ten years ago, I registered the domain STEVERUNNER.COM. My friend Jim gave me the idea for the name: I was a runner after all. I started posting weekly essays and articles on the site; and began writing a monthly article for a website that’s still out there titled “Run The Planet”.
In early 2004 I came up with the bright idea of recording the audio of my reading some of the essays I was posting at Steverunner.com as well as some of the “Answers to Running Questions” letters that I had composed on RTP. I got the idea originally because I had been helping a friend at a local radio station set up a sub carrier transmission of a radio reading service for the visually impaired, and I thought that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to provide an optional link on my website for blind runners to be able to hear what I had written.
Also, I was an on air Dee-Jay for four years at my college radio station; so I had a little talent for talking into a microphone…and I stress the word LITTLE.
So this fifth year anniversary of Phedippidations has it’s roots in the tenth year anniversary of SteveRunner.com. I came up with the blog title of “Phedippidations” when I started receiving email responses from my essays…the word is kind of derived from the name Phedippidees and the word Conversations….since was having conversations about running with my readers.
One of the best things about podcasting, in general, is that content creators like myself are not speaking into a vacuum. I’ve done that as the morning guy on 91.5 FM WJUL: Real Underground Radio…speaking into a microphone with only the occasional listener feedback on the Inside Line. Sitting at the light subdued lonely Wheatstone console of main studio A, it sometimes felt like my frequency modulated transmissions were going out into the vacuum of space, to be heard only hundreds of light years away from now when some alien intelligence might ponder over the musings of “Steve YEAH Walker New Hampshire
Today, when I publish an episode of Phedippidations I get…well, let’s just say A LOT of emails (I’ll spare you the actual numbers)…and if what I say is considered even slightly controversial the number of emails reach a level that not possible for me to answer (as I hope you’ll understand) but my point is that there are at least ten of you out there; really listening to what I’m saying…and that’s much more meaningful than having a local audience of commuters tuning in to hear me drone on and on about the weather, traffic and spinning records.
Podcasting is a media so perfectly suited for the running lifestyle. Just as we schedule our runs in advance, we can schedule what we listen to ON those runs, in advance.
We can multi-task the time we spend out on the roads and by listening to a podcast, exercise our brains and feel a camaraderie with the podcast host or producer: especially hosts and producers who are fellow runners like the podcasters you just heard: real people with a shared passion for this sport we love so well.
When I first started producing this goofy little podcast about running, the idea of clipping on a microphone and apparently talking to yourself while out on a long run seemed like a ridiculous idea; but today there are over 70 running podcasts listed on the runningpodcasts.org directory! This idea of recording a podcast and listening to other podcasters completes a mode of communication and conversation not possible with traditional old media; such as radio.
The other really cool thing about podcasting is that it allows for the artistic expression of thoughts, opinions, and observations of our lives. You know me as a middle aged, middle of the pack, slightly asthmatic runner from New England who appreciates good wine, like Bordeaux, Malbec and Cab Franc, who enjoy’s a great baseball game with the Worcester Tornadoes or my beloved Boston Red Sox, and likes to rock out to amazing music, like that from Great Big Sea, Jim Fidler, Matthew Ebel or the amazing Paul Durham and Black Lab…these are all elements of my life that you’ve heard on this show: when I’m tasting or talking about wine and telling you about the grapes I’m trying to grow, when you hear me at the old ball park singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” or when I present for you some amazing creative commons pod-safe music on every episode of this show.
I think that’s one of the things I most appreciate about running podcasts; that they’re NOT always just about running: they’re about the lives each of the podcasters are living: it’s better than so called reality TV because there’s no pretense involved: we are who we are, for better or worse: but we have this one thing in common: a love for running and for living our lives to the top.
These podcasts we produce are a permanent record of these lives we are living; audio files that will be heard long after you and I have run our last road race, and shuffled off this mortal coil. They are important because they document the way to live as the good animals we were meant to be; and it sets a good example to anyone who listens now, and in the far future: of how to live a life of meaningful joy.
That’s why we produce these shows…because I’m telling you this fellow runner: something you already know deep in your heart but something that we have somehow GOT to get across to others, be it through personal examples or a moving pictures expert group dash 1 audio layer 3 standard digital encoding formatted file downloaded to your iPod:
Life is short, but it should be long enough and to take to the roads and become a runner is one certain way to live that life to the top: which is exactly what is expected of us all.
"Podcasting is the most personal and effective application of new media technologies. There's nothing more persuasive or personal than someone whispering in your ear."
- John Wall, co-host of the Marketing Over Coffee podcast and author of the RoninMarketeer.com blog.
John Wall is a fellow runner who I’ve had the honor of running with back in 2005, when this goofy little podcast first began. His take on the media of PodCasting is the most accurate and truthful description of what we have here that I’ve ever had the chance to read.
But the question arises as to whether, after five years, podcasting can still be considered NEW media. I mean, is it still new? Really?
Here’s the thing: live in denial if you want; I’m kinda bummed out about it myself, but newspapers are dying…furthermore fewer people are listening to commercial radio, trust me…I have a lot of friends in the Boston Market, and if they’re all losing revenue (and believe me, they are…it’s crazy how much their audiences have dwindled) and if TV viewers are flocking to YouTube, Hulu, and iTunes for their content…then what is to become of the OLD media?
Well, that seems obvious: they’re going to flock to new media formats like podcasts. We’re already seeing this, just check out the top ten podcasts on iTunes; they’re no longer the independent shows that used be to out there, these days it’s all commercial network productions like CNN, NBC, CBS and the others.
I think this is a good thing for independent produces like myself and the really great podcasters you heard from today. See, the corporate network kids are stamping their little feet in frustration with the knowledge that podcasts like Phedippidations has been out here many years longer than they have, and that as a podcast with a very niche audience; my show is competing quite well against their podcast.
While they have to sink thousands of dollars in promotional material and advertisements, just to get listeners and viewers to subscribe: a show like Phedippidations only has to use word of mouth: and, probably even more importantly: persistence and longevity to compete against the big boys.
Somewhere right now, in some New York City office building, a network program director is throwing donuts at his computer right now as he listens to me say that and he’s screaming “THIS GUY IS KILLING US”, and he’s stamping his size 6 and a half feet; they’re little…that’s my point, see, he’s frustrated, and while he won’t admit this to you in person, the fact is just now; as he heard me mention the size of his teenie tiny little feet…he peed his pants a little, yeah, I know…freaky huh? Makes you feel kinda bad for the guy. I feel bad, I really do…and that has to drive him CRAZY.
Because for all their money and talent and giant studios with world famous peronalities: I’m the guy who is whispering in your ear…and you have chosen to listen to me, not them…and that means you’ve made a choice.
You might never listen to another episode of Phedippidations again, or maybe if you’re new to the show you’ll go and listen to the back catalog of shows: over 238 of them for you to listen to as a record of the last five years of my life. It’s fascinating to consider that so much of me is out there in MP3 format, audio that I myself have not listened to in years…but the shows are all out there, for free…and you can chose to do with them what you’d like, they’re all covered under a creative commons license: I made these for you…here…TAKE THEM, burn them to a CD and give them away to friends…it’s your choice.
Because podcasting is all about the freedom of choice. For five years I’d dedicated over 3,500 hours 1,807 runs and races and 8,072 miles of my life to my running and this show. Maybe it wasn’t the best produced podcast in the podosphere, maybe it lacked the commercial production quality of MSNBC, FOX, NPR, CBC and BBC…but here’s the thing that I understand and THEY lament: we compete in an open playing field, and while they are looking for the largest general audience they can attract and spoil; I’m just looking to make a few friends; and as someone with deep ties into the commercial broadcasting industry I can tell you quite sincerely that this fact DRIVES THEM CRAZY!!
So my final message today is not to the ten of you who have expressed such kindness to me over the past 5 years of podcasting; for which I am eternally grateful, but instead I want to send a message to the old media major networks out there, like ESPN and Runners World, and any other newspaper, magazine, radio, television or cable broadcast or publishing organization who are stamping their tiny little feet in anger and frustration about the success of Phedippidations.
And that message is this:
GET OVER IT.
It’s a brave new media world; and we’re more than happy to have you onboard the pod-o-sphere; we knew you’d get here eventually once you overcame your ridiculous stance that podcasting is just for nerds…with all due apologies to my son John who is still on the fence about that.
I see great things for podcasting, and am most excited about the increased ease to entry into this medium, and the possibilities which will open as more and more voices enter the fray.
If you’ve ever thought about starting your own podcast; now it a really good time to do so. Come on in…the tide is high, the sun is shining and the water is warm.
Thank you for all of your kind words and support over the past five years. I think you know how much that means to me.
Steve “Runner” Walker
Son of Glenn
