FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

So everyone, we’re 3 episodes in and working on a fourth. What we want to know is what you think of the show. We want to please you. So here’s our first poll. It’s open-ended free response, but we’re looking for answers to the following questions:

• What do you want on the show?

• Who do you want to hear on the show?

• Is there something you really don’t like?

• Is there something you really do like?

• If you could change any one thing what would it be?

Thanks for listening and stay tuned!

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Interviews with different well known team leaders (ex. Bill Beatty, Andy Baker, Mark Koors, Raul (111), etc) and their ideas on how the challenges have changed, what they liked and didn't like over the years, how they have adapted to new things (alliances, autonomous, etc). That doesn't have to be the end of interview I just think it would be interesting to pick these ppls brain and find what their opinions on FIRST in any number of topics (design of the game, design of the robot, controversial rules, time constraints, resources, problems they've had certain years, etc etc)

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

I love all the episodes, they're very informative and I really do enjoy them. However, they can be a little boring at times, after a while it gets hard to pay attention to what your saying anymore. I think you should add a little more life to it.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

I really like them. One thing I do not like in particular is the in depth into mechanics but hey, that is a big part of FIRST, just not MY FIRST :).

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Well, I agree with Chase, the episodes are great and I like anything FIRST related, especially the interviews with well known FIRSTer's, but it does get a little boring at times. To tell you the truth, as I was listening, the odd thought came into my mind that the show was missing cheesy sound effects. All the radio stations have got 'em. ;) I think they might be there just for the purpose of waking people up between segments.

As far as additions go, a Mail Call type thing would be great. Listeners e-mail questions, then a person who can answer them competently gets invited and does so. I think something similar was done in episode 2 maybe?

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Personally, I find some of the segments to be a little bit less engaging than they could be. While the "History" section is cool, I could go online and read about the old games just as easily.

Personally, once the game is announced, I would love to see a section that explores a robot design idea. Particularly robot design ideas that are so wacky no one in their right mind would consider them. :)

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

I find that the episodes are a bit long, 35 minutes is pushing my attention span. Also I think it would be really cool if you had "Proffesor" Andy Grady in an episode.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Great episode this week. You guys are doing a great job, this week's epsiode was a little long though. Maybe add something new? Not sure what it would be, something to add a little spice or change to the broadcast.

Also, how do you know what teams have already signed up for the regionals? You guys mentioned this in the early part of the broadcast and I would like to look at this a little more indepth.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Thanks for the comments!

As for what teams have already signed up for which regional, take a look at http://www.usfirst.org/frc/public/, which contains a list of currently registered teams for each regional location.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

I do agree that it's a little too much like talk radio. Well, I guess it is talk radio. I tend to listen to it in the background while I'm going about my computer business. I'll tune in when something catches my attention. I'm not really sure how to fix that without going to a video format though.

I didn't notice if you guys already do it, but some sort of "specials" segment might be interesting. Instead of having the same segments every episode, reserve some time for something different. Sort of like a special report type of thing. Or, use that time slot to rotate between several different segments each episode.

As for those special segments, I have a few ideas:
-FIRST "nobodies" -> you interview some random FIRSTer that hasn't really made themselves a name in the community
-FIRST "somebodies" -> you interview the big shots
-teams in action -> report on what some team is working on or how they are doing
-There's Something About Lavery -> analyze Dave's latest posts to look for hints for next year's game.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

If you listened closely to episode 3, JVN spoke about having to make a "Waterproof Controller" for Dave Lavery, that's a "hint-hint" possibly about this years game or it might just be a distraction from what it really will be. Who knows?

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

I hear he also made a batch of flux capacitators recently :rolleyes:

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Out of legal Vex parts.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

And he's using my Vex transmission to get the robot to the required 8.8 mph (Yes 8.8, it's only Vex)


Seriously though, thanks for all your suggestions. And pay close attention to the out of the ordinary comments, you're going to need them all, and soon......

Meanwhile keep an eye for episode 4, should be here in a few weeks, stay tuned!

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

How about some rock and roll!

These guys are currently on a tour in Mexico, but they have a few activities planned for 06, from what I hear. Playing some of their music on the Podcast may provide support to keep their Chevy Van rockin' down the highway.


Andy B.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Few more topics

Game speculation for next year

Repeating robot designs over the past years

You could maybe have an episode about a special way to construct things or .. swerve drive, crab drive etc, and how to do it properly

Interview big name team leaders and ask them what makes their team so successful and stuff like that..

You have already been doing some of this - I like FIRSTcast

-Bharat

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

I think you need to examine the value of the "radio" format. What can you get out of radio/podcast/auditory media that you can't get out of textual information? The following things come to mind

• Getting a sense of people's personality. Hearing someone speak carries a great deal of peripheral information along with the actual substance of what is being said. Use this to your advantage, interview "famous names", people FIRSTers may want to get a better sense of outside their incredibly witty ChiefDelphi posts.
• Music!

Outside of those elements, I can't really see the advantage of "podcasting" (a term I absolutley cannot stand) over textual media.

A large part of what goes in to a good broadcast is the personality of the hosts. For instance, I feel I could recognize Matt Krass at a competition from hearing his voice and general mannerism of speech. Others on the show are a bit more reserved... I feel like I'm listening to NPR. Listen to a lot of good traditional radio hosts (Art Bell on Coast to Coast, despite having a lot of really insane guests, has an interesting style, and the BBC is the gold standard) and do what they do.

Oh, and I'd like to be on some time, I just need to cobble together a decent audio set up for recording.

Oh, and the most recent show is under-edited. If you aren't live, you shouldn't ever have awkward pauses. The second show was great in this regard, nixing dead air that didn't contribute to the flow or "naturalness" of the conversations. Also, add an amplitude envelope to the beginning of hosts phrases to elimnate that "airtraffic control" feel.

Another sound-editing idea would be to record each host as a seperate audio track (each person could simply record themselves... I'm not sure if the software you use is conducive to this) so you could equalize on a host-by-host basis. Some simple equalization could go a long way in making things sound better (the again, so could better microphones ;)).

I'm still eager to volunteer as both a host or audio editing lackey.

Re: FIRSTcast: What do you want?
 

Hmm? Music? :D *pokes Conor and Matt* I have yet another supporter for adding music!

Not necessarily. Some people on our show use simply their onboard soundcard and a headset, while others some use USB headphones (like I did in Episode 2), and finally, there are a select few who use tabletop microphones.

If you do wish to be a guest star or have a request for a specific guest star, shoot an email to firstpodcast@gmail.com with what you want to talk about or what you want them to talk about on the show, and we'll see what we can do!

Actually, each host and each guest star records themselves as a seperate audio track, though a few issues beween my motherboard and Windows XP (which have already been fixed) were causing problems with spacing and tracks just spontaneously moved themselves when I was doing the exporting process.

Honestly, the original raw audio is much worse than what you hear, and there is a lot of improvement between that and the final release.

Thanks again for the suggestions. Remember everyone, anything you say on these threads will be considered (assuming that the suggestion isn't too outlandish)!