The birth of a podcast - Project Kazimierz

update - May 19th 2015

Podcasts are live. both off the website and in iTunes.

Introduction
I've been telling friends about the power of podcasting for many months. I grew up in a household in Oxford England with no TV, but where the BBC radio was always on. The money I earned as a 9-10 year old went on a radio which cost GBP20 in 1976, about GBP100 in today's devalued pounds.The great thing about radio compared to TV/film is that the pictures are so much better. I completely understand and get the idea that video is very powerful, and that Youtube, film and live performance can offer an different, more immersive experience. one of TED Curator Chris Anderson's brilliant TED talks compares the revolutionary power of on line video to that of the printing press. Still - reading a book or listening to a talk has its advantages, both in the way you and the ideas interact, and of course the functional aspect. You can listen with your eyes shut, while you are driving, cooking, or even trying to get to sleep.

Often people come to podcasts because they offer a time shift.. Offering "the radio" when convenient,. Later you discover podcasts are better because you get to choose to listen to the content that suits your interests. If you like to listen to entrepreneurs, there are almost unlimited choices.

The downside is just the same as that of the digital economy overall: lack of scarcity means that you can drown in low quality content. Even the relatively successful new media houses like The Week in Tech - TWIT - alone produce more shows that you can imagine. The way in which the presenters talk up the products and services of their sponsors is disconcerting, And TWIT is a relatively high quality show. Big media houses, CNN, NPR, BBC, had a reputation to protect and were limited to 24 hours a day. Talented BBC producers and production values meant, and even mean, that switching on BBC World Service or BBC Radio Four was a bit like wandering round a book shop. You might well find something interesting because the cost of publishing a book is a filter against low quality content. The same cannot be said of random internet surfing because the cost of creating content is so close to zero.

The world has changed. Free global distribution of content is a fact. The revenues of even the best "old media" properties are falling as subscription and advertising revenue decline, while Google posts revenue growth quarter by quarter as digital and on line marketing takes an ever large slide of the available cake..

How does this lead to a podcast? The entrepreneurship podcasts I listen to are often full of interesting content. Mixergy.com, Entrepreneur of Fire, and many others Eventual Millionaire At the same time the American focus, while useful for me (as my personal business model is often bringing the best of the USA to organisations I am involved in here in Europe) is not really what I wanted to do. I interviewed John Lee Dumas here I lacked experience of how to combine a podcast with my other activities. When I met Sam Cook at an Open Coffee Krakow event I was hosting in Google for Entrepreneurs Kraków last year, and discovered his podcasting experience, I noted immediately he was not just talking about it but doing it. When he came on board for the TEDxKazimierz project, things began to fall into place and we met a week ago to make sure that our objectives were aligned in launching the "Project Kaziermierz" podcast. We decided to answer some questions about what we were doing together

What are you planning and why are we doing this podcasting series ?

We both have in common an interest in business, international affairs, the impact that technology and the internet is having on media and publishing business models, a love of the city of Kraków, a sense of the talent in the both Kraków and Central Europe that deserves a wider audience. We are both fans of TED and TEDx and read The Economist from cover to cover. We have a sense of being in a place where the global trends such as globalisation and historical circumstance offer potential that is still to be fully exploited.

2. We both have a sense of wanting to make contributions to the local community by bringing it a global audience. We want to be useful, sharing ideas, inspiration, tools and techniques, educating and hopefully entertaining our audience.

3. We both want to learn, and believe that we can gain understanding from talking to entrepreneurs, and other “doers” who are changing the world through their actions.

4. We want our podcast to be a repository of thought leadership… a hub around which talented and intelligent people can share and distribute their ideas.

5 We are interested in exploration of entrepreneurs’ motivations, their journeys and stories, letting them talk about the key moments in their lives

We already have recorded three interviews. Sooner rather than later we will be on "air" (updated 15th May - we are "on air" now) see links above.

About Sam

Sam Cook is a U.K.-U.S. citizen who has a former career as a U.S. Army Cavalry Officer, and a professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Sam left the Army 2 years ago to pursue his lifetime passion for education and publishing online. While he was in the Army, Sam founded Prism Communications.

Sam's reputation as a high quality online digital publisher earned him a speaking spot at the Online Conference in Australia with James Schramko's Superfast Business.

http://www.superfastbusiness.com/business/from-army-officer-to-successful-business-consultant/

Sam got his start in publishing with the site Triathlon Research he has built a list of 25k Triathletes and a monthly podcast downloads of 20k per month on his podcast that has featured multiple world champion triathletes in the sport of Triathlon. He specializes in putting on high end events and camps for athletes across the world.

Website - http://triathlonresearch.org

Podcast - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/triathlon-research-radio/id844093567?mt=2

He also has started a podcast and business site called Business Research group, which has connected him with the top business minds in the U.S., including Dean Jackson, Joe Polish, Dave Asprey, Jordan Harbinger, and Ari Meisel.

Website: http://businessresearchgroup.org

Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/business-research-group-radio/id904773108?

He recently moved to Krakow, Poland to found a new digital publishing company.Information about Richard Lucas can be found here