This week I was asked to guest host on the Swim Podcast and it ended in mutiny. The Swim Podcast is the official podcast of the fshbwl, a project I'm involved in. This week one of the usual co-hosts wasn't able to do the show and I was asked to fill in. About 10 minutes into recording the show I mutinied.
Over the past few years I've become picky with my podcasts. Most of the time, though not always, when I record an episode it feels right. If it ever feels bad it's time to stop recording and figure out what's wrong. So, that's what we did.
What I discovered was 2 things. First, it was kind of dreary. The joy just wasn't in our voices. Personally, I think I sounded like that boring dry teacher. Think Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off saying "Bueller, Bueller, Bueller". Second, we spent the first 10 minutes asking our listeners to do something for us. What kind of podcast is that? One where we are a little dry and ask people to do stuff for us. That's just won't do.
So, we switched things up. We rewrote the show on the fly. We switched hosting roles. The focus of the intro became the competition we are holding on the fshbwl (with prizes) and we discussed the question "What is the balance between enjoy Gods creation and using what we have been given to help others?" Best of all, we turned the focus from us (the hosts and fshbwl) onto the listeners.
Now comes the hard part. Does this change up work? I'm not talking about me as a host. I'm talking about style, direction, and focus. As we try to make this podcast useful we love to hear what people think.
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