The PODCAST AWARDS: Is this the best out there?

I recently was told about this site. It is an award site for individual Podcasts to obtain awards for their programs. I think, in theory, this is a great way to praise the work Podcasters do. However, in looking at some of the finalists, I noticed some Podcasts were not even mentioned. (Major Nelson, SquadXP, GamerAddictHotline, TheWidget, GamerAndy, TheVideoGamesShow, GoNintendo, PS3Countdown, and XBLR) I was curious why.� Is the “PODCAST AWARDS”� more or less a way to get� Podcasters to� promote their site, or is it truely what the populus thinks. I am under the impression (from looking at the way the awards are run) that it is a little of both. The� Podcast must refer it’s listeners and non-listeners (forum members, friends, etc..) to vote at Podcast awards. Thus bringing heavy traffic to the awards site. In return the “Winner” of the awards gets traffic directed back at it. � . So I ask: Is this a true depiction of excellence in Podcasting, or is it merely a way for PodcastAwards.com to build a large web-site?

-Carpal Out

Posted by: LIVE on LIVE on July 28th, 2006

11 Responses to “The PODCAST AWARDS: Is this the best out there?”

Rusty Ranchero Says:

July 28th, 2006 at 11:51 am
You are treading into heavy water here.� But, let\’s examine…

To answer your question… I think PodcastAwards.com is doing what no one else is. Since, IN MY EYES,� they appear to be the ONLY organization giving awards, it\’s not fair to criticize how they go about determining how the awards are won.

BUT you are right about PodcastAwards.com using the actual podcasters to promote their site. FREE advertising to bring traffic from a massive amount of outlets does benefit the podcastAwards.com site. There is no doubt about that.� With all that traffic coming to their site, they can totally rake in the dough with advertising.� And spending little or no money at all to promote their own site.

With that said, PodcastAwards.com can use ANY method they see fit to determin \”The Best Podcast\”. And who ever wins is certainly that, according to PodcastAwards.com.

It\’s like the movies, you got Emmy awards, Academy Awards, Sundance, CANN, ect. I have not bothered to search for another site giving out awards as I am not really interested in it at this point, but obviously in time PodcastAwards.com will be put in its place as the \”true\” authority for best podcasts.

And Finally I see your point that the method of having \”The People\” decide who is the best is not necessarily TRUEly the best podcast. But at the same time, if that podcast gets soo many votes, then how can you say they don\’t have more listeners and fans? A show with more listeners and fans can be argued a better podcast.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS!� PodcastAwards.com is not the place I would like to go to to find the \”best podcasts\”.� I prefer a method like the Oscars, where a set panel of professionals determine the best podcasts.� Maybe there is or will be another website soon that will jump on this band wagon and get that ball rolling.� � I wonder if PodcastOscars.com is available…

-Rust.
Jeter Says:

July 28th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
i was at some of the sites browsing around and the ones that got selected were HEAVILY asking members to vote for them..so no in my eyes it’s not a true reflection of the best out there..i mean no Major Nelson??? no GamerAndy?? come on.

this isn’t the way to choose the best. i prefer a Major Nelson over all of the finalists. but that’s just me.

so i agree with Carpal. it’s in NO WAY a representation of the best. how could a site even pretend to have been ‘chosen’ when all they did were beg for nominations.

the true test of a site is being nominated for something without promotion. none of these ‘finalists’ fit that bill.
Godfree Says:

July 30th, 2006 at 8:23 am
I read your post about the awards and everyone has their opinion about it. Now are we at Gamertag Radio the best out there? Never been saying that and thats up to the people but I know for a fact our radio show been working very hard almost 2 yrs straight. We ain’t no Microsoft, none of us are getting paid from our shows, and so on. See alot of people ignore the podcast awards while some of us mention it to our fans.

I support every podcasts out there and will never bash no one because that’s not my type of thing. Been subscribe to your podcast since episode #1 also Dreamstation, VGN Radio, Podtacular, Gonintendo, and many more. I will continue to support. Alot of people might not like us due to taste of style or music but we always will bring interviews almost every week. All I will say is people should check our past episodes and press that the show been getting instead of us not getting credit for the work we’ve been doing. That’s how I feel… take care.
Chris Paladino Says:

July 30th, 2006 at 8:45 am
I guess as one of the nominees - I too should chime in on this one.

The sites nominated looked like independant podcasts. Major Nelson’s podcast is backed fully by microsoft. Major Nelson also gets a salary from Microsoft - and has access to a wide array of Microsoft resources (such as other employees working on different xbox aspects.) Does he have good guests and an informative show? Absolutely.

As far as pretending to be chosen? We were nominated by fans. Did we ask people to vote if they like our show? Absolutely. Do you remember the last time a President of the USA DIDN’T ask for votes from the public?

At least 3 of us nominated for gaming (Gamertag, VGN, and Us) are supporters of the indy podcasting scene, we actively pimp other podcasts, none of us get paid for any of this, and we help support each other. I heard admins of many podcasts calling everyone else crap - that’s their (and some folks on this site apparently) perogative. I won’t resort to kicking the other little guys.

I don’t know a TON about podtacular - only spoken with them a few times - they seem cool enough. The Side Scrollers seem to have the same “superiority complex” that many folks here have. I’ve never talked bad about any indy podcasts. The fact that Side Scroller adminiistration posted in their forums that they are up against “some pretty bad - but popular - competition” stinks of amateurism to me. To each his own I guess.

VGN, DreamStation, and GTR have been around for over a year - we’re pretty mature considering the medium - I dont’ know enough about Podtacular or Side Scrollers to know their lifespans, but let’s face it - podcasts are a dime-a-dozen. Anyone can make them - it’s a competitive field, so to be nominated - to us - is an honor.

If you don’t like the show - that’s your right. The fact of the matter is that next year - YOU vote for the people you want to win - just like everything. We don’t market or promote - we don’t have a budget to do that. If you enjoy today’s TV and Radio (ie: the guys with the money are what’s on TV and Radio) then great - but I hope that never comes to podcasting.

So I stand by the show - I stand by the other shows who I have spoken with, and if you don’t like our show that’s totally ok - next year nominate and vote for the guys YOU want to win. That’s the beauty of the awards.

As far as folks slinging dirt? Go for it, most of the time I probably won’t dignify the critisism with a responce - quite frankly if 10 or 1000 or a million people hate the nominees - too bad - fix it next year. I don’t know what else to say about this issue.

-Chris Paladino
www.dreamstation.cc
MrCarpalTunnel Says:

July 30th, 2006 at 11:17 am
I appreciate your comments. You both have good shows. I have been trying to get Gamertag on our show since ver 10, and have always listened to thier podcast, it is one of the shows that inspired me to do a Podcast. One thing we tried to do was not emulate what other podcasts were doing. However, my post was not asking if the Shows were good. It was asking how the process actually works, and is it the best way to find out who the best Podcastsers are. If you noticed there were a lot of Podcasts that were not even mentioned. I did not even know about the awards until a week ago.

I am not saying that if you, or any other Podcast wins, you don’t deserve it. I am merely saying that it seems more like a way for PodcastAwards.com to piggy-back off of all the hard work Podcasts do, and therefore get a lot of traffic to their site. Thus (in the end) the Podcast Awards win.

Someone also compared it to the Oscars. He is my take on that:
BLOCKBUSTERS seldom get awards. (although they deserve it)
Indies get the awards a lot. (Because of Association and favoritism)

However we can all agree, the Oscars very rarely depict who the PEOPLE thought should win.

-Carpal
Chris Paladino Says:

July 30th, 2006 at 11:27 am
I have had my concerns and doubts about how the awards work. It looks to me exactly like you put it.

A site came out - called themselves the award - and for 3 months they get a TON of hits. Then they go into dormancy mode for 9 months till next year’s awards. Heck - all the categories don’t even have sponsors yet!

I apologize if I came off as defensive - as you can imagine - after being nominated many people are crawling out of the woodwork to say how “all the shows nominated are crap” or something to that effect. I’m trying to stay classy - yet at the same time defend myself slightly.

As far as the process - You have folks nominate you, they can do it once per day per email. You can also vote the same way.

You and I both know that the voting can VERY EASILY be rigged. Heck, I could make 1000s of gmail accounts to myself and sit for 2 hrs. every day trying to win. It’s not a fair system. Do I ask folks to vote? Yes. Do they complain about the podcast award website - yes.

I agree w/ everything you said - the current award system is NOT a true representation of what is going on in the gaming podcast community - I DO apprecaite that it’s independant podcasts that are in the running, and I think your concerns of the podcast award website are valid. The one HUGE winner IS going to be the podcast award website with a TON of traffic.

On the other hand - I do know it helps traffic for the sites nominated too. It’s a give and take.

-Chris
Godfree Says:

July 30th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Hey man, just want to say I apologized for coming here and thought soemthing different. Chris & I had the chance during an event in Redmond to talk about the awards thing too. So i know where you are coming from about this… Now about inviting us we would love to join in and be part of your show.

I remember one time Rusty invited us and we got on skype for the interview. Waited for over an hour and no one showed up for the interview. Recently everything been so hard for us to even record together. Miss Irie moving, Cyber no computer, Pinksage busy with school and work, etc.

That’s why haven’t been updating the site that much but I try to do what I can. Just want to say thanks for the fast reply. Just wanted to post my opinion about it..

Thanks for mentioning how we inspired you to start your show. That’s why we should becareful on what we say there are others young people that look up to us. Keep in touch and send me a friend request so I can kick you guys ass on UNO lol
MrCarpalTunnel Says:

July 30th, 2006 at 11:43 am
Ver well stated. However Chris, I won’t be the one nominating or tring to place XBLR into the awards. I only do the show (as a hobby) and this “awards thing” could further seperate the community by becomming a pissing contest. I will support the shows I like by telling our listeners about them. I will also concede that Gamertag and DScc deserve whatever recognition they get from the Awards. I was merely placing the story on our BLOG because a listener stated, “why are you guys not listed.” And the only answer I could come up with was, “why are all of these other Podcasts not listed as well.”

However after doing some research it would seem that promoting the PODCAST AWARDS on your site is the KEY ingrediant to the answer. Since this site does not reflect what we at XBLR are about (if it were about recognition I would spam ever message board with XBLR references) I have chosen to write about it, rather than become a part of it.

I however would love to get you on a show to talk about this topic further.
If you are interested let me know…
Chris Paladino Says:

July 30th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Totally understood Carpal.

I do (like you) the podcast as a hobby - and I don’t even have the admin rights to do the banners and stuff.

If you want to talk on a show or something hit me up - I’m totally up for it! (CPaladino@dreamstation.cc)

Thanks man, and talk to you soon.
Kevin J Baird Says:

July 31st, 2006 at 10:42 am
One of the reasons I always felt negative about podcast awards was because of the fighting between casts. Podcasting is such a young medium, and it is not an exclusive “Morning Show” like Howard Stern where you need to take listeners from another station to make your show great. There is room enough for everyone, unless you live in some strange hell that only allows 1 hour of podcast listening per day.

An awards show, however, causes people to choose a side. Dividing the market, rather than empowering it. Independent shows need backing and support, and then the critical issues that people point out can be rectified.

This year, we went after the award because I felt it would at least boost our audience numbers. I realize that some dudes will go back and say our show “Suxorz” or whatever, and that’s fine (I’ve been hearing it for over two yeas now.) but maybe some dude who has an open mind and doesn’t want to pick sides, can listen in.

We’ve always been open to having other podcasters on our show, and pimp their shows. We’ve always supported everyone, and when our audience numbers peaked at 12,000 listeners, we never once bashed anyone.

I feel that part of the reason we’ve had such a good run is because of support from shows like GamerTag and Dreamstation (And many others) that take the time to talk about our show in a positive light and not feel threatened. We do the same for them.

It’s a gamer mentality to view things as competitive, and there is some good in that, but there really needs to be more good gaming shows, and not this colusion to bring them down in favor of just one.

It’s not like there is any money going around, or we’re all fighting to gain marketshare. We’re all doing it to entertain and inform.

Again, I invite any of the nominees and finalists to email me Kevin at radio@videogamenews.com and I’ll let you be a guest on our show and you can talk up your broadcast and gain new listeners. I’m not the least bit worried about someone “stealing” them.

K
Todd Cochrane Says:

July 31st, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Seeing that this is a non profit event for us in that we take every dollar we bring from the sponsors and give it back to the podcasters in form of cash and prizes minus hosting, development cost etc. Last year we gave back nearly 4500.00 in cash and prizes to the podcasters plus a lot of time to manage it etc.

So until someone can come up or suggest a better way to do it without bringing bias’s into the process we will continue to do it this way. Is it perfect no but anyone that tries to do this will run into critics.

I encourage someone to go out and find the caliber of sponsors as we have and give everything back to the podcasters when the dust settles. You will notice there are no ads on the site that bring in ongoing income only sponsored links are on the site.