Thankfully not mine, which I’m sure is something of a relief to all concerned. No indeed – dear Gareth, currently playing Edinburgh dontchaknow, has a podcast up. I was initially skeptical that it was, technically, a podcast at all, but it has an RSS feed and everything. L33t!
You can also find the feed on the iTunes Music Store here, which since Gareth’s site is on my server means, I assume, that I’m now serving stuff for Apple. Or something like that.
Is the show any good? Yes. Gareth and his chum Zog discuss weird noises made by F1 cars, and petrolhead websites including the perennial favourite SniffPetrol.com. It’s nicely hacked-together with samples and stings and all that, and they’re rather engaging as a pair. It’s the sort of double-act that could grow, and I hope they keep at it and give themselves time to settle into it. Also to develop the show’s format, since the interjections by Violet and Tycho (Gareth and Violet’s eldest son) are probably the most charming parts. There are a couple of minor technical blemishes – Zog is very quiet at some points – but they’re only noticeable because it’s otherwise a thoroughly professional production.
In general I remain to be convinced that podcasts are anything other than amateur radio shows run by people who shouldn’t be on the radio. Given that, I’d rather have more Radio 4, thanks all the same. Nevertheless, there must be many podcasts that are worth one’s time, and Gareth’s might fit into that group. We’ll see how it develops.
Incidentally, I’m fully aware that there’s a stones/glass houses element to my podcast criticism. But then, I’ve often been critical of The Daily Grind, and remain surprised when anyone actually shows up to read it.