Podcast 581-Disruption

Podcast 581-Disruption. The 1950’s and 60’s Are Never Coming Back. Disruption is Radical Change with profound effects, usually Permanent.   I’ve tried to determine the root of the feeling we all seem to have that something is wrong. It comes down to a major disruption of our business, industrial, governmental and cultural processes.Podcast 581-Disruption started out to be a podcast about the industrial revolution and the 1950’s in the United States. It’s a theme I return to regularly, especially when I talk about technology.

The Industrial Revolution caused disruptions from the time it began until it peaked in the 1950’s through the 1970’s. We’re in the early stages of a technology revolution on a scale the world has never experienced. I call it the second industrial revolution. It is a technology revolution and will cause profound disruptions.

Some call what we’re living through the fourth industrial revolution. I use the term second industrial revolution because I think breaking the Industrial Revolution into parts minimizes its impact. We’re in the early stages of a disruption as significant as the Industrial Revolution has been overall. What I call the Second Industrial Revolution will have more impact on humans and the planet than the first. The effect of both concepts should not be underestimated.

One of the cultural effects of the ‘turbo’ into the future is longing and nostalgia for the past. The Post World War II period in American History appears to be one of those times when the world could be easily explained, people understood their roles, people of different races didn’t mingle and The United States was number one with a bullet. The problem with this idea is, the late 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s only exist in perfection in dreamy memories and pictures of Marilyn Monroe. Pretty pictures, faded with time. A time when ‘everyone’ was working. When small towns were strong, and big cities were booming. Yet even then, the beginning of the decline of one age and the dawn of a new were in the making.

Not all the gifts of the technology revolution are good. The gifts of technology can be used for dark purposes as well. Religions that spread like viruses. ‘Conventional’ war on an unprecedented scale. Surveillance and mind control of populations that are supposed to be free, to the point where they ask for laws to control speech. What seems like a dream to some, will be a nightmare to others.

This revolution will not be stopped though. It will flow around any obstacles put in its path. Much of the texture of the sense some have that ‘something’ is wrong can be expressed in fear and hate. ‘Fixing’ whatever is wrong, means going back to a world 60 or 70 years ago? A world that no longer exists. Much of the industrial revolution is based on centralization. Today centralization is being disrupted to the point of destruction by decentralizing technologies. What do we need to prevail, given these challenges?

Dealing with this change is a question of how we conduct our own lives and ensure our own happiness and freedom.  We’re living through the beginning of the greatest disruption in human history. It might be the greatest age of human beings and this country yet. Saying things change isn’t descriptive enough. Disruption means radical change. In Podcast 581-Disruption-The 1950’s aren’t coming back, when are we going to stop complaining about what is being done to us, and start taking charge of our lives and our world. When are we going to start looking forward and not backward.

Sponsored by Hydrus Performance and X Government Cars.

Podcast 542-Music

Podcast 542-Music. I’ve been threatening to do a podcast about music, so here it is. Finally. It turned out better than I thought it would, although I learned right away that I have entirely too many tunes on my computer for one podcast to do it justice. Music has the power to transport us from one place to another. I don’t think I am unique in suggesting that sometimes the best thing to do is to crank your ‘stereo’ (meaning computer, iPod, iPhone or whatever) to top volume and sit on the deck, just listening. This is an activity I don’t engage in often though. In producing this podcast, I had such a good time, I’ll have to spend more time listening to music in general. Of course, when the headlines and the political news, and the day to day crap – and that is what it is – gets to me, I can do more music podcasts. Don’t want to overdo it, but then again, it’s not done ’til it’s overdone, right? For the purposes of Podcast 542-Music, we’re gonna take a little journey from Soundtracks and Blues music, mid sixties pop to soul music and memories of sitting on the steps on summer nights listening to the radio, to the FM Rock or “Classic Rock” era, through the 80’s to some Trance and Dance music from today. Yeah. I forgot the 90’s even though a lot of tunes on my computer are from the 90’s. I could have done a podcast about each one of those eras, and had tunes left over. Finally, the only disclaimer here is that my experience of music is almost wholly inside the radio, that is working in radio, from the time I was about 12 all the way through to now. I think about music in terms of my podcasts, so I am a little weird. Also, these are not full versions of the songs, so you won’t be ripping music I paid for. Plus, I talk over a lot of it. But, it still flows pretty good. Sponsored by Hydrus Performance and X Government Cars.

Podcast 513

Advice for Podcasters. When I introduce myself as a podcaster at business network events, and events where I speak, or when I am singing the praises of podcast advertising to potential clients, they often say, “I want to do my own podcast”. I often have people ask me to tell them how to podcast, how to post their podcasts, what microphone I use, how I record and so on. I don’t give Advice for Podcasters, but this week a FaceBook announcement that a ‘big convention for podcasters’ would be held soon, triggered a response and the need for some Advice for Podcasters. The event includes a lot of radio people who will be on panels on which advice to podcasters will be presented, including ‘critiques’ of podcaster’s podcasts and ‘suggestions’ for what they need to do to ‘sound better’. If you’re a podcaster, should you listen to radio people when they give advice about how to ‘sound better’, or podcast ‘better’? First, podcasting takes a lot of work and effort, especially to stay in it and especially to make any money at all in it. We’re working on the monetization part, but who knows where the solutions will come from as far as making more money. Right now, about 25 percent of the public listens to podcasts – according to radio researchers. I think it is probably much higher, because it’s very hard to assess whether people listen to podcasts and how long they listen, when they listen. There’s no question podcasting – as all on demand services – are going to grow by leaps and bounds as smart phone penetration increases, and as new and more powerful iterations of these devices are developed and purchased. Let’s face it, radio is a contracting industry, and while people in the radio industry don’t like to hear it, it’s a sad fact that the old girl just ain’t what she used to be. What’s amusing about the radio industry is, radio people seem to think they ‘know’ how everything should be done, and aren’t shy about telling everyone else what they should do, and how they should do it. After pooh poohing podcasting for years, companies like Hubbard are jumping into the podcast business (Hubbard Radio just bought a huge share in Podcast One, for example), in an effort to establish a beach head in podcasting, even though everyone in radio will tell you how dumb podcasters are and how terrible they all are. Radio people are trapped in a paradigm, a specific approach to what they do. This approach is what has killed the business, and it will probably never get fixed. The same thing is happening to broadcast television, and movie studios and record labels to a lesser extent. This is a good podcast for you if you’re thinking about podcasting or doing anything creative today. Creative people; artists, writers, musicians, and DJ’s have tools that never existed before, and the ability to reach audiences we would never have been able to reach before the very real technology revolution. This is a change that calls for Revolutionary Thinking. Should you spend thousands of dollars to hang out at some radio convention and have them listen to your ‘tape’ and tell you what they think? Well, my Advice for Podcasters? This podcast is free. Listen to it first and see what you think. Sponsored by Hydrus and Brush Studio in The West End Saint Louis Park.