Now You Can Listen To Sixteen:Nine – The Podcast

May 6, 2016 by Dave Haynes

Closeup of audio microphone on stage background

Sixteen:Nine now has a podcast – a series of 25-35 minute interviews with people who are running interesting companies, doing intriguing things, or have something valuable to say about digital signage.

The plan is to release a new episode every week, but we’ll see what kind of rhythm gets established (and, of course, whether anyone is actually listening).

880x880-podcastsI’ve become a big fan of the media format. We live in a short attention span, micro-content world. It’s hard to get many people to read long-form interviews. Podcasts allow people to consume longer-form media on their terms and schedules – whether that’s riding a commuter train, driving to and from work, or running on a treadmill with the earbuds in.

A couple of things particularly appeal to me:

1 – I get a chance to go a lot deeper into subject areas than is possible in blog posts – which tend to involve 1 or 2 quotes and a whole bunch of paraphrasing. And I can do it with a digital recorder, instead of trying to decode my godawful handwriting.

2 – Interview subjects get a much better platform than press releases or white papers to talk about their companies and ideas. Video interviews at trade shows are kinda sorta OK, but tend to look very stilted and controlled, because there are lights and cameras and a buncha people watching. Podcast chats are far less formal. I was even thinking part of my format would involve having a drink as we talked, but then I realized if I did 3 or 4 podcast interviews in a day at a trade show, the last interview would probably get a little colorful. Or I’d nod off.

Ideally, I’m doing most of these in person – which means grabbing people at trade shows and conferences, or when I am passing through a city. Skype works, but you are at the mercy of bandwidth and routers.

So far, I have three interviews live and ready to stream, and I’ll put up posts for each of them. A 4th one is being edited right now.

If you have ideas on who I should chat with – a boss or someone really interesting – send me a note.

You can subscribe on iTunes or Google Play, and then take Sixteen:Nine with you on your commute, or your walk, or use it to slip into a fugue state on your sofa. Here’s the RSS feed.

I’m not aware of any signage podcasts out there that are built around interviews. The guys at Noventri have been doing a podcast for a while now, focused on introducing the technology and best practices.

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