Once again I realize that another month has gone by and I’ve only done one entry in the
previous month. I’m either one of those people that really lacks focus, but I think the reality
is that I really don’t have all that to say.
To those of you out there that have asked me time and again over the past several months “are
you still doing shows?” I just want to say thank you for caring. The truth is that I am probably
the biggest hypochrit to walk the face of the Earth. Every day I look at the other people that
are Hotcasts and I even ask myself why I’m not doing shows as well. It’s not that I don’t want
to do shows, believe me. I’d love to do a show. The big question that weighs me down every time
I think about it is what show would I do? The truth is I’ve been very blessed so far. I’ve got
the gear to do a broadcast quality television show, I’ve been able to do talk radio, and I’ve
been able to meet people I never would have before.
So, the question is what type of show to do? As things are now I don’t have things set up for
doing a pseudo-television show. Sure, I’ve got all the gear but I don’t have the space to set up
the green screen, the desk, the camera etc. without totally destroying our current home office.
Sure, we’ve got a much bigger house then we used to have but it’s a lot harder to convince my wife
that we don’t need a guest bedroom because I need to have a studio for something that I don’t get
paid for. Now, I could really go old school and move everything out to the garage the same way
that I had it set up in Antioch but then if I ever just wanted to edit videos or what have you
I’d have to do it out in my garage. (Then again when the heck do I edit anything and if I just
cleaned out one corner of the garage I’d easily be able to do this and get rid of some of the crap
in my computer room giving my wife more room for other things.) The other side of the coin is that
just because I have the gear doesn’t mean I can just magically create a show. There has to be
something of substance there before the lights and the cameras come on.
What about just an audio show? That’s a good question. Why not? I have to admit that there are
some reasons why I haven’t just done this. The first is that there has to be something a little bit
more to the experience then just the sound of my voice (it’s the Internet after all). A great
example of this is The Owl Prowl
with DS Bishop. Either
Bishop brings us an incredible look into his radio studio while he’s doing the show or, on the
rare occasion it is audio only, we get a slide show during the program that makes us still feel
connected to him and feel like we are getting more then the incredible radio show he’s already giving
us.
Another problem with an audio show is that my experience at Comedy World, although as short lived
as it was, spoiled me to some degree. If I do just do an audio program I really want to have a few
telephone lines, an 800 number, and I’d really love to field questions from folks to help them with
their computer problems. Aside from the financial responsibility, which I can’t really undertake without
a way for it to pay for itself, there is also the added complication that if someone is on a dial-up
connection (yes, there are still those out there) then they have to disconnect to call (let’s not
forget that there has to be an effort to get an audience to come to the site). Am I just using this
as an exscuse? Not really. If there is any type of show that I want to do, that show is a computer
help program.
There is one other reason I’m not doing a show, and it’s the most important one: time with my
wife. As it stands right now I work from 10 to 7 every day, and I’m more often then not home no sooner
then 8 PM. When you factor in dinner time, and the fact that my wife gets up a good three hours before
I do, I hardly get to spend any time with my wife as is. This means that sacrificing the time with my
wife to do a show just isn’t worth it to me. This means that the only time that I’d ever have to do a
show would be once a week on the weekends, but even now that feels like an encroachment on my personal
time with the woman I love.
So, there’s the who, what, where and why about me and doing webcasts. I hope soon to find some
way to work this back in to my life without sacrificing the other things that are important to me.
Just don’t give up on me.
-WW