4. Ben Whitmarsh, Founder of Awesome Panda Productions | The Age of Audio
Ben Whitmarsh, founder of Awesome Panda Production, joins Graham Brown in this episode of The Age of Audio. The Age of Audio is a series of conversations with thought leaders and changemakers in the world of audio. Podcasts, Radio, Social Audio, and Data are converging to create engaging and authentic content for a new generation of listeners. To get access to all the audio conversations and book content for Age of Audio, go to theageofaudio.com.
Ben Whitmarsh, founder of Awesome Panda Production, joins Graham Brown in this episode of The Age of Audio. The Age of Audio is a series of conversations with thought leaders and changemakers in the world of audio. Podcasts, Radio, Social Audio, and Data are converging to create engaging and authentic content for a new generation of listeners. To get access to all the audio conversations and book content for Age of Audio, go to theageofaudio.com.
Show Highlights:
• I didn't know what I wanted to do at all. I just knew I wanted to be involved in radio. And I wonder if that's what comes with an awful lot of podcasters now. Maybe they hear podcasts, they just get inspired and they want to get involved.
• It was at the point where radio in the UK was starting to go downhill, trouble seemed ahead. And that's another interesting thing. You could potentially argue that podcasting seized the baton there and the renaissance of engagement through rich audio storytelling, (which is one of the things that we are going to be talking about) could be directly linked to this.
• There's so much talk about bringing your authentic self, how you've got to inform, you've got to educate and all of those things are absolutely right. But if you don't bring entertainment, then you can be authentic as you like but nobody will want to listen to it.
• It's interesting that you mentioned being a musician there because I'm very much an amateur musician, but I do play in bands and have played solo over many years. I used to busk in Sydney. I did that for an awfully long time. It was terrific.
• My dad was a musician as well. And when I first started playing, he said the one thing you've got to remember is you've got to go onto that stage and you've got to make the audience feel that you've got everything under control. You've got to be in charge up there.
• I just feel that it's like, yeah, that's it's performance, isn't it it's storytelling. The best teachers were also the best storytellers, the best performers.
• And the people who are doing the podcasts I think are invariably incredibly passionate about what they're doing. Certainly, the ones that I listen to, they're incredibly passionate and they're very well researched.
• Performance really means putting yourself out there. Like if you were a musician. You don't leave anything on the table, do you? When you perform, you go live, you give everything and that takes everything out of you.
Show Highlights:
• I didn't know what I wanted to do at all. I just knew I wanted to be involved in radio. And I wonder if that's what comes with an awful lot of podcasters now. Maybe they hear podcasts, they just get inspired and they want to get involved.
• It was at the point where radio in the UK was starting to go downhill, trouble seemed ahead. And that's another interesting thing. You could potentially argue that podcasting seized the baton there and the renaissance of engagement through rich audio storytelling, (which is one of the things that we are going to be talking about) could be directly linked to this.
• There's so much talk about bringing your authentic self, how you've got to inform, you've got to educate and all of those things are absolutely right. But if you don't bring entertainment, then you can be authentic as you like but nobody will want to listen to it.
• It's interesting that you mentioned being a musician there because I'm very much an amateur musician, but I do play in bands and have played solo over many years. I used to busk in Sydney. I did that for an awfully long time. It was terrific.
• My dad was a musician as well. And when I first started playing, he said the one thing you've got to remember is you've got to go onto that stage and you've got to make the audience feel that you've got everything under control. You've got to be in charge up there.
• I just feel that it's like, yeah, that's it's performance, isn't it it's storytelling. The best teachers were also the best storytellers, the best performers.
• And the people who are doing the podcasts I think are invariably incredibly passionate about what they're doing. Certainly, the ones that I listen to, they're incredibly passionate and they're very well researched.
• Performance really means putting yourself out there. Like if you were a musician. You don't leave anything on the table, do you? When you perform, you go live, you give everything and that takes everything out of you.