Editor’s Diary: The Pitfalls Of Podcasting

This week, “Friend” Editor Angela shares some of the pitfalls of podcasting.

Sometimes, when I sit down to write this Editor’s Diary, I wonder what to write about. Not so this time!

The last one has been exceptionally busy at “Friend” HQ for a variety of reasons.

On Friday, we said goodbye to Digital Ed Iain, who has left us for pastures new. We’re going to miss him – especially his dry sense of humour and dreadful jokes!

Iain’s upcoming departure put the pressure on all of us, because he had a busy schedule of podcast recording to complete before he left. However, we were happy to help.

Challenging

Working from home makes the logistics of recording an episode of Reading Between The Lines challenging.

Stories have to be shared by e-mail. And microphones are shuttled about between team members’ homes by courier.

Iain asked me to take part in two separate recordings, which I agreed to immediately. Making our podcast is great fun! And so a mic was duly dispatched to my home.

It arrived in a sturdy plastic travelling case, much to the bemusement of our friendly local delivery driver. It looked a bit like a bright yellow Lego lunchbox!

With just minutes before I was due in the virtual studio, I unpacked the contents of the case. And – disaster! The special cable needed to connect mic to computer was missing.

No Cable!

I searched and searched again . . . removed all the foam packing . . . even turned the case upside down. No cable.

Had feline friend Zorro pinched it when I wasn’t looking? He had been very interested in the travelling case, after all. He loves a box!

But no, not guilty.

Mr PF Ed came through to see what the commotion was about while I phoned Iain to say they’d have to go ahead without me. No cable. no mic – and no way to take part in proceedings.

I had just resigned myself to missing out on the fun when Mr PF Ed saved the day.

In his box of long-redundant cables and connectors – saved “just in case” – he’d found a substitute cable to fit both mic and PC. It came from, of all things, a PlayStation controller.

Only slightly later than usual, I was part of the discussion! But if I sound a little less composed than usual at the start of the episode, you’ll know why . . .

And in case you’re wondering, the missing cable eventually turned up in the home of the team member who’d last used the mic. Mystery solved!

For more from Angela’s Editor’s Diary, click the tag below.

For more from the “Friend” team, read our blog here.