Last week, I put out the call for critique to this site as a whole. I haven’t got around to implementing some of the great suggestions yet, but they are coming – and to everyone who left even the slightest of suggestions, I thank you.

Today though, I’m hoping to shake the tree just one more time. This time, I’m looking for notes on the podcast. With its next episode, The Matineecast will be turning two years old. For me, such occasion is the moment to pause, take stock, and perhaps try some new ideas. But for that, I look to you: my listeners (all seventeen of you).

Again, be as brutally honest as you want to be – tear it to shreds if you feel inclined. I might not take every single note and run with it, but I can’t make any improvements if I don’t face critique. The only non-starter is upping the frequency. Between co-ordinating shows, sitting down and recording them (often face to face), and leaving myself enough time to give it some post production, the bi-weekly format is a must. Beyond that, fire at will…

What changes or improvements would you like to see on The Matineecast?

17 Replies to “I’m On The Firing Line pt. 2 (Podcast Feedback Please)”

  1. I’m going to take a page out of the Ryan Helms/Univarn books and suggest a big ass more gmanreviews needed 😛

    I dunno. I like it. I would listen more often if I saw the films you discussed more soon (i grammar bad).

    1. I’ll take the GMan quotient of my show under consideration. Just out of curiosity, do you ever just skip past the reveiew section, or come back to them after the film comes out?

  2. Dammit, I’ve been beaten to the punch! Bah humbug. Either way, I tend to agree with gman about the reviews being one of the big reasons I don’t listen and comment as much as I used to.

    Though one of the biggest hurdles for me in terms of listening to the podcast is time. I don’t have an mp3 player so I can’t listen to them on my way to work (and since I carpool it’d be awkward anyways). So the only time I have an opportunity to do so are weeknights and weekends and I have about 50 other things I want to do in that time I never get the chance to do so.

    When I am able to listen, I seldom have an hour – especially considering the backlog I want to check out – so I usually skip through the introductions and reviews for movies I haven’t seen.

    1. I have a habit of listening to podcasts at work and when I’m playing PES at home. I mute the TV, play football match after football match and then I listen to all sorts of podcasts.

  3. I write a huge response the last time you asked about changes. I don’t think anything is fundamentally wrong with it. The question is what do you want to do with it? Do you want to reach a bigger audience? If so, take a leaf out of the big guns books – how do they format their show? How do they use sound/clips? If your target audience is “people like you”, remember that you know your films incredibly well … but not everyone is like you and they surely don’t know their films as well as you do. Is it to inform? Is it to educate? Is it to share you recent passions and interests?

    The problem is, film review podcasts are everywhere (S&J podcast obviously had the same problem)- so what makes yours unique? (and you can’t say “well I am presenting it” because what specifically, is different about your personal tone and mannerisms?)

    Like I said before, either don’t change a thing – or make a dramatic change/completely change the fundamental structure to it.

    Then again, I hardly have a huge podcast to show as an example! And I never managed to snag a Lammy. he he.

    1. What I want to do with it is grow it organically…so a bump in listenership might be nice, but I’m hoping I can achieve that while still doing what I do best.

      You mention informing and educating. Those are somewhat trickier elements of the show, since I’ve realized that a lot of people lately – and not just my listeners – are sidestepping content that they know nothing about. For instance, the next episode is going to feature discussion on MELANCHOLIA, and I’d wager that it’ll have a very low listenership since so few of those who listen to my show have seen it.

      Like my writing, my audio content is just another way for me to foster discussion on the films that catch my eye. However, the big key to the show (for me) is the neverending string of guests and listening to what they have to say. Sometimes they are fellow podcasters, sometimes it’s their first spin behind a mic.

      Whatever tweaks I make to the show, I want them to be tweaks that highlight their contribution…not just my own.

  4. I hate to do a “me too” reply, but that’s not going to stop me from essentially echoing everything Simon just said. There is nothing essentially wrong or in need of “fixing” on your current podcast. The real question here is one of what you intend to do with it. It becomes a question of refining what you have and turning it more into what you want it to be or more into what you think it should be.

    I’m not a fan of dramatic changes unless there is a strong desire for them or a desperate need for them. You’ve built up an audience who expect a certain thing from your podcast, and you don’t want to alienate them.

    Like Simon, I can’t point to a huge podcasting audience of my own, and I’m currently on a podcast that has just undergone significant changes (my presence being the biggest of those changes). So take anything I’ve said with a massive grain of NaCl.

    1. I’m worried we’ve shot him down. He’s put himself on the firing line and we’ve kille dhim with our comments. RYAN! WE AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE!!!

    2. Well said good sir. I suppose the reason I ask this is that the podcast more than the site (which faced critique last week) continues to evolve as it approaches its fiftieth episode.

      Were I not having some issues with my feed right now, I’d suggest you go back to episode one and listen to what I started with…or even episode seventeen which was one of the last ones before the last round of changes.

      My show is good – but good things can always do with tuning up, and that’s what I’m after. Not looking to raize it, just rennovate it. Any thoughts?

  5. I have given my feedback already but I do want to chime in with Simon and Steve. As I have said before I think you have the easiest podcast to start off listening to. For example I started out listening to the Lambcast, Milfcast and Demented Podcast shortly after finding the Matineecast and it was the one that I stuck with the most.

    Now I’m a big fan of those other podcasts as well but to be honest it was not that easy to get into their formula as yours.

    I also have a suggestion for a upcoming top 5. In the Filmlocker episode on David Fincher you mentioned the term “schlock” director. I’d love to hear your top 5 films directed by “schlock” directors. Maybe you have to take another chunk of that shelf of doom but I would love to hear that discussion.

    1. I aim to be accessible, so I’m happy to hear that is working out. With that in mind, is there anything about the films discussed, or the show itself that makes it less accessible?

      A schlock five, you say? I will do what I can to work it into the mix.

      1. Well we have talked about spoilers before and you know my opinion about them.

        I actually wouldn’t mind if your blog feature “watching it for the first time” or what its called would be a nice stand in segment for the new slang if there is nothing interesting released or for some other reason it doesn’t work with a new film.

        Here’s another top 5 for you: Five films that you don’t need to watch again.

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