How many of you blog readers would be interested in IMAOnDemand, an audio version of the blog that you would download to your computer and listen to at your convenience?
There’s so much confusion about the IMAO Podcast (“Podcast? No, I can’t listen to podcasts… I don’t own an iPod”) that I’m considering a change that would re-brand the weekly IMAO audio productions as “IMAOnDemand” in the hopes that more people listen.
The bottom line is the bottom line: I am not seeing a growing number of downloads for the IMAO Podcast, our audio is being ignored by the mainstream media that normally fawns over any poorly produced but politically far-left podcast (I count a grand total of “0” stories done on right-of-center podcasts like StarkCast or unashamedly right-wing podcasts like Republican Radio but no fewer than seven mentions of far-left “entertainment” podcasts in the past ten weeks of New York Times’ stories on podcasting), and I’m not seeing a return on time/money investment here.
If you like the IMAO Podcast, comment in our forum or send us an e-mail to let us know podcast@imao.us
AFTERNOON UPDATE: Here are some of the comments we’ve received about the IMAO audio content so far…
If you just change the name (EXCELLENT IDEA!) make it something obvious like “IMAO on MP3” or “Audio IMAO” so the doofi like me don’t ignore it for 7 weeks because we don’t HAVE one of those Ipod thingies.
-Squirrel on Crepes
I don’t download the podcast because I view IMAO when I should be working… and work + speakers don’t mix.
-Charles
I have no intereste[sic] in any audio content. I prefer to read because it is faster and quieter and can easily be done in bits and pieces as I work or whatever.
-Bolie Williams IV
thanks but no thanks …. I enjoy your blog just fine without audio …. usually means no one in the office is aware of what I do during my breaks (from reality)
-pete
I seriously don’t think you’re doing half enough to promote the podcast if getting mentioned on the NYT & more is your goal…
-Francesco Poli
EDITOR’S RESPONSE: Our goal is not to have any IMAO audio productions mentioned in the NYT… our goal is to have 10,000+ downloads per week of our audio productions–the left-wing podcasts that have been mentioned in the NYT do enjoy those kinds of download numbers while we are hovering at 4,600 per month and all of our requests for media attention are ignored. I am sure that if Glenn Reynolds, Michelle Malkin, the guys at PowerLine, La Shawn Barber, and Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs would talk about the IMAO Podcast on their blogs, we wouldn’t even need a mention in the NYT.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE UPDATE: For the large number of IMAO readers who say “I can’t listen to audio at work”, the solution to that is a cheap USB Drive from any local electronics store like Best Buy. You can download the IMAO Podcast as an MP3, pop in the USB Drive into your work computer, transfer the MP3 to the USB Drive, and take the USB Drive with you to listen on your PC at home. The $16 USB Drive from Best Buy I mentioned is a great investment just because it is more convenient than a floppy disk and can hold hundreds of digital photos, thousands of documents, or up to 5 IMAO Podcasts at a time.
POST-PODCAST POSTING UPDATE: I want to thank everyone who has given us great feedback on the IMAO Podcast… which will now be called IMAudiO. We hope you all enjoy the latest episode!
FIRST!
No really, I don’t download the podcast because I view IMAO when I should be working… and work + speakers don’t mix.
Charles.
I think more people would download your podcast–I mean audio blog, if you uploaded it first…
(Posted before #13 is up)
I have no intereste in any audio content. I prefer to read because it is faster and quieter and can easily be done in bits and pieces as I work or whatever.
I continue to read the site, though.
IDEA: Change my phone line to a 900 number and let kids call me for their very own personalized Crappy Bedtime Story.
(with their parent’s persmission, of course wink wink)
Don’t worry, Kevin. You still get the regular long-distance rate number.
I wouldn’t miss the IMAO Podcasts for the world! For some reason, my iTunes doesn’t automatically update the Podcasts. Not a problem since I check back with you almost daily. I just have to manually update my podcasts and voila! IMAO that I can listen to.
BTW, I love Sarahk’s “Yeeha”‘s.
I download the mp3 every Monday and listen to it via a cheapo MP3 player at work. I was very dissappointed to see there is not one this Monday. Anyway, as it is the only part of my Monday routine that makes the God-forsaken day bearable, please don’t stop.
I also listen to the IMAO podcast when I’m supposed to be working (with headphones, of couse), so I’d be disappointed if I had to come in and gulp work on Monday morning….when the podcast comes out on Monday morning, anyways. 😉
I think thats a great idea, id subscribe
The podcast is the highlight of my mondays. This morning a sat at work refreshing the page every minute waiting for my weekly fix. A friend of mine, currently at marine boot camp, had just one request before he left: Make sure every IMAO podcast is downloaded onto his ipod. Thanks for the free entertainment, and for heavens sake post the 13th podcast.
They crack me up! I wake up Monday morning and the first thing i think is Frank J screaming “I JUST PEED MY PANTS!”
You could maybe break the thing into smaller bits… making it easier for us listeners to e-mail individual bits out to people. Or so we can skip the ones that we’re not partial to.
I thought “IMAO for the non-deaf” was kinda cute 🙂
But personally, a no-thank-you to a fully audio blog. Who actually does listen to the podcast on iPods or similar portable MP3 players anyway?
Seriously, I want to know.
BTW, I seriously don’t think you’re doing half enough to promote the podcast if getting mentioned on the NYT & more is your goal… fame isn’t built in a day, or seven, or 7×12 AFAIK.
thanks but no thanks …. I enjoy your blog just fine without audio …. usually means no one in the office is aware of what I do during my breaks (from reality)
pete
Screw the other people in the office! If they’re not listening, they’re either wackjob moonbats or people who are totally and completely ambivalent to the welfare of our country!
Or they just have no sense of humor.
I listen to your podcast everytime it comes out, it keeps getting better and better, and where’s today’s podcast?
I listen to it while i run. It makes the mind-and body numbing experience more acceptable. However, it occurred to me during the last broadcast that the material, while well-written, very funny, and well produced, is also very obviously very TIME consuming to create. So I wouldn’t blame you for not doing it anymore.
If you just change the name (EXCELLENT IDEA!) make it something obvious like “IMAO on MP3” or “Audio IMAO” so the doofi like me don’t ignore it for 7 weeks because we don’t HAVE one of those Ipod thingies. The only reason I tried it one day is because I finally bought an Ipod(for other reasons, sorry)!
I listen to exactly two podcasts and yours is one of them. I regularly make my Kerry-voting husband listen. It would really bite if you stopped doing them. Maybe you could occationally do My World and any of the SarahK stuff as an MP3 if you ditch the weekly podcasting.
I like the podcasts. I think you guys are getting better with each production. I like the idea that the material is different than the website. I’m like these other guys that their Monday is just not right without a podcast from IMAO.
I also would like to know if you guys are going to put the earliest ones on the archive site. I didn’t keep them and I’d like to give them a listen again. I don’t use an IPOD or mp3 player. Now, I just download them on a memory stick and use media player.
I like the podcast, but I think y’all might not have enough material yet for a weekly one. It’s like SNL, there are some really funny bits, but the stuff they do right before 1am is worthless.
Perhaps consider going biweekly or monthly for a little while in order to give yourself some more things to develop; or, conversely, 10-15 minutes instead of 30.
Also, more Yee-Has.
Def. keep & expand the podcasts. I’m a late addition to the hapenin’ IMAO party scene and catching up on the back-broadcasts has made me feel much more at ease (seeing as I can’t carry a gun) while exiting post-haste the liberal/metrosexual-infested Fruit Loop (I daresay it’s a morass) here in DC every weekday.
The name issue’s a bit thorny, though: maybe IMAudiO? Just don’t let the Luddites keep you down!
BeemerEater,
Man, I was going to suggest that name in the next brain storming session.
nooo we hates the podcasts!!! haaatttteeesss it!! precious.
I just don’t like audio. I grew up on the computer reading websites, and reading is how I’m most able to absorb information.
The podcast is always either to fast to understand, or so slow that it is annoying to listen to.
I like the podcasts as well but as has been mentioned by a few others, I don’t download and listen to them as much as I would like due to the office environment.
I love reading your blog (esp. the recent “A Story, Bit-by-Bit) when I take a break.
The only time I can listen to the podcasts are on those rare occaisions when I am the only one in for a period of time.
Perhaps, as mentioned by others, you could podcast less frequently.
The name “podcast” isn’t personally a problem for me (I know what an audio file is), But if it helps clarify, I thought the IMAudiO name sounded clever as well.
_Randy
Power to the people…at least, to these whos at least figured how to fill them thar pesky voter agit-tration forms out ‘n stuff.
(Sorry, FrankJ; just read your pet peeve posting today)
And speaking of pesky forms, I think it’s fair to say that, if you’ve survived a visit to your local DMV, you should be able to figure out the whole podcasting thing. After all, we’re the ones who gots to do all the thinking anhou!
I personally look forward to the podcast every week, and i listen to them not just when new, but now that they’re on my mp3 player, both in the car and at work…i’ll have to try to hook some people i know, then.
I haven’t actually listened to a single one yet, though I’ve downloaded the past eight or so. Now that I’m back at school I’ll have more time to listen, and I’ll be able to give better feedback once I do.
Until then, I’ll just say that I prefer reading to listening; it seems more convenient. But I’m prepared to believe that I’m missing a lot of funny.
I should also add that I’ve quoted the podcast far too many times to be healthy
I downloaded it for the first time and found it quite funny, will DL in the future.
I enjoy the IMAO podcast a lot, actually. I’ve listened to all twelve, and am quite glad that I have. In fact, that’s the reason that I myself have started podcasting.
Keep up the good work, folks!
the ‘cast is well done, but I find myself almost getting around to downloading it but not quite. I can read your blog a bit at a time while doing other things. The podcast is good but it requires paying attention for relatively long periods of time, and I can’t listen at work. So I guess it is not so much better than the print blog that I feel compelled to stop and listen all that often.
I love the podcast, especially Harvey’s 50 states series. You need to do at least 38 more podcasts.
I kind of like the blog, but someone telling me about the podcast is the whole way I found you. For what it’s worth, the podcast is what keeps me around; I have other sources for news.
Be this the end of spacemonkey’s audio career?
I LOVE THE IMAO AUDIO BITS! Whoever does “W” should do more of that! I haven’t commented on the podcasts before because the internet at work SUCKS and frequently this form doesn’t work. I, fo one, will be sorely dissapointed if these delightful bits of funny do not continue!
I’m not quite sure what everybody else is going on about. I am one of those people who can’t wait for Monday morning to get my IMAO podcast fix.
I don’t listen to the podcast or read IMAO at work. Are there really that many people who have internet access at work but don’t have it at home?
Release podcast 13 or I’ll kill Spacemonkey!!!
I dig the pod cast.
At first, I was like “I don’t even have an ipod” But then I was like “I do have a computer with an MP3 player and headphones” So, I ate up a bunch of my bosses bandwidth and downloaded all the archives I could find.
Sadly, I mised the first few weeks…
I download the podcast while at work and then download it to my phone to listen to while driving home. (One of those pda/phone things that can play mp3s.)
You all crack me up, but being a Texan and a male I am a bit partial to Sarahk. SpacemMonkey’s bit about Senator whineavitch was a real hoot!
Please keep up the good work! I appreciate that it is quite a bit of work. I do enjoy the current format but if you need to change it to capture some of that crazy blog money I will understand. Thanks, Frank, for making me just a little smarter!
Yee-Haw!
I really enjoy the podcast. I listen every Tuesday on my way to work. It is the only podcast I listen to.
“I love the podcast, especially Harvey’s 50 states series. You need to do at least 38 more podcasts.”
I agree with this fully. you can’t do a 50 states thing and not give us 50 states.
Plus just think, in the end…boom thats a cd compilation that i will gladly shell out money for
and i’m also in catagory of those hooked by the podcast more than the blog
I love the podcasts, but the music sometimes is too loud relative to the voices. I’m often having to turn up and down the speakers in the middle of the podcast, and that’s not fun. But other than that, I wub them.
You guys have not been having the internet radio program long enough to be saying that, Mr. J.
Don’t get discuraged. But why not call it what it is? Its an internet radio program.
As for the show… it sounds fine to me.
Give it time… you’ve really just started! Really.
I think you have more listeners than you know. (not knowing this is a common mistake made by many in broadcasting) A bunch of people can listen to any one download(could be happening).
Keep up the podcast! I’m one wackys who own an “overpriced” iPod, and with a 45 min to an hour drive to work each day, it’s a treat to listen to the imao podcast at least one of those days.
Alright, I finally downloaded it, and it’s good! But now I’m gonna lose 30 minutes a week…oh well, it’s worth it. 🙂
As for the content: Well done! By interspersing the various segments you keep the listener’s attention well focused. The voice talent is excellent.
Thank you!
I love both the Podcast and the Blog. I read the blog for a break and listen to the podcast (headphones) while performing the more mundane aspects of my job. That said, I would be annoyed by an all audio blog as I can read the print version much faster than y’all can speak and be understood.
PS As a native Hoosier, PLEASE do at least 2 more podcasts. I want to laugh at Indiana.
The podcast is a good thing, man. I do listen to it at work since we all have headphones, and so far I haven’t been canned for laughing hysterically and almost falling out of my chair. But I wait until the attorneys leave before I start… I do find it hard to concentrate, I keep getting distracted, since I’m usually reading a webpage at the same time, and I keep having to skip back. Not a problem though. 15 minute ones is an idea worth considering. I totally agree that you have to give us all 50 states. FFAtFS is funny in text, but 1,000 times funnier out loud!
I find it hard to believe that thte IMAO podcast is not loved by one and by all. Sarahk’s singing and reviews, Harvey’s fun facts about teh 50 states, and Mr. Simon’s bedtime stories ALONE are worth the price of admission (that price being hours of DL time for me). The only reason I don’t mention everyoen else is because the skits change per week for everyone. That there is even the slightest suggestion of discontinuing it should be considered heresy. It is the best podcast online, and I DO vote for it.
But, honestly, be this the end of podcasting for IMAO?
Your podcast is hilarious and I love it. Please don’t stop! Please? You haven’t even made fun of Ohio yet, and we’re easy to pick on! And how will I learn about science except on the podcast? And ninjas…and really crappy (but funny) bedtime stories? Keep up the good work with the laughs and stuff.
I enjoyed the roundtable. Sometimes the best humor comes from spontanaity (sp). Anyway, I enjoy the podcast, so as everyone else says, Dont Stop.
Fix the audio for some of you guys like Cadet Happy.
I have to pause, turn up the volume, play and lower the volume every time he speaks!
I miss the Roundtable too, and I think that Sarahk should always review something or at the very least sing.
All your podcasts have been awesome! I hope they are here to stay.
I have no technical issues at all with the audio, and while i liked the roundtable, I don’t need to hear it all the time. There has not been a single podcast you’ve done that I found lacking.
BTW, I put up links for my paltry readership to follow to this site and your podcasts as they are released.
Also BTW, You covered all the states I’ved lived in so far and you are SO right on the money.
Keep it up!
Dear IMAO,
You do a fantastic podcast, and I make it a point to listen to each several times. They’ve been something to get me through a REALLY rough personal time. Keep in mind the bastards at Apple put Al Gore on the board of directors. They are naturally going to push left as hard as possible – Jobs did more acid than half of Woodstock, for cripesake. He does good computers and stuff, but don’t expect political genius. And even if people downloaded you ten to one over some lefty turd, don’t expect much there either. Dawn and Drew – the lamest road accident of a podcast, is still in the top ten every week at Podcast Alley. Sensible people aren’t the audience for a lot of this stuff. YET. IMAO should pimp themselves more and in more places. That should generate more crossover. It’s really up to you and to us – don’t expect Gore to help, other than by being good material, that is.
I love the podcast! Please keep it up. Its the only podcast I listen to.
The podcast is awesome. I can’t get enough of spacemonkey’s sexy voice. Also after every episode I feel like buying a IMAO T-shirt even more.
I love the podcasts.
If someone thinks they cannot play a podcast b/c they don’t have an Ipod, just count them out.
Thanks for the Podcasts. After several ninja attacks and whatnot interfered with the work day and destroyed the hard-disk with the IMAO Podcast archives, I’m now at work after 11 pm, and fighting off sleep. Re-downloading, reviewing old episodes and the pleasant surprise of today’s have provided anticipation and excitement again! Oh Joy, I say, even Spodio-do and Yee-haw!
I luv luv luv the IMAO Podcast! I subscribed to it on iTunes, so it automatically downloads every week to my computer and I listen to it on my iPod when I’m on the treadmill at the gym.
Ugh, the gym — hence my need for good political comedy (the Pinko 4 opening scene on the last Podcast was classic).
And it sure beats watching CNN with badly misspelled closed-captioning . . .
I’ve only got two things to say about IMAudiO (yes I think you should use that name, and no that isn’t one): Hilarious — the ‘casts remind me a lot of what a Chicago CB’er called “Marzipan” used to do (about 30 years ago); and this whole thing about iPods, or iTunes, being necessary is a joke: I dl the ‘casts straight onto my Palm LifeDrive from a WiFi hotspot near work (the PLD automatically sticks incoming mp3s into the pTunes Music folder).
The only trouble I have with IMAudiO is when I burst out laughing at it (I’m not supposed to be listening at work, hehe)….
One other thing you might want to consider doing:
Classic In My World(tm) in IMAudiO. You already have a W, I’m sure LS could do a great Ari Fleischer, and if you found a pit bull, you would have the Rumsfeld Strangler.
Oh, and the pit bull could play Chomps as well (audio version, obviously)
Yes, a name change would be good. I thought “podcast” was like a “webcast”, where everyone had to sign on at a certain time or something to listen to streaming audio. When I saw the first one was just an MP3 file, I was educated. 🙂
As for getting something in return – can you be more specific? Are you just after a larger audience, or do you need financial windfall from increased t-shirt sales and such? I don’t know what you can do about a larger audience. I know Laurence pimps you regularly on IFOC; maybe try to get Lee at Right Thinking into the act. He can be pretty relentless. 🙂 I think his crowd plus the Moorewatch crowd (he’s involved heavily with Moorewatch) would take to the podcast instantly.
Other than that – a CD compilation might sell, but I think you’d have better luck with posters. I can picture people buying movie-style posters about the IMAO adventures like rescuing Spacemonkey and the Evil Overlord Frank with flashy pictures and a few witty slogans. Maybe you’d better take a survey, though, ’cause I’m weird. 🙂
Hmmmmmm Posters.
If only we had a photoshop guy.
I wouldn’t have minded if you’d corrected my typo before posting my comment on your page. 🙂
I could download podcasts at home, but I don’t have any desire to listen to audio content. I can read faster than I can hear and I usually will listen to background music (or my kids, to make sure they are still alive and not in extreme pain) rather than audio content.
I don’t object to your making audio posts as long as you don’t stop giving me the same text content I’ve come to expect for the very reasonable price of free.
Bolie IV
Love ’em. Downloaded a mess of them to help my brother and I endure the boredom of driving thru Ohio and my eeeeevil SUV nearly drove off the road several times. Now I eagerly wait to get to work on Monday mornings (can’t believe I actually typed that!) to download my latest bit of audio goodness. I started to go thru withdrawals when it wasn’t ready to download yesterday.
I listen to IMAudiO (perfect new name) on my iPod; my brother listens to it on his el Cheapo .mp3 player.
I think that you guys should put a transcript of the podcast on the blog. That way, the people that like to listen will get to listen, and the people who like to read will be able to read it.
Just a thought
Normally I’d go for such a thing, but Frank J.’s high-pitched, squeaky voice is like fingernails on an especially right-wing chalkboard.
Oh, and I don’t have an Ipoop, or whatever you call it.
Frank’s voice is girly, but I get around this by playing the IMAudiO at 33 1/3 rather than 45rpm on my computer.
Is kevin asian?
I suggest asking this question in the IMAO Podcast forum