ABS Live Radio Show/ Call - in instructions/ show #1

Our initial show will air live Sunday November 14th at 1 PM Pacific Standard time.

For a global time wold clock:
timeanddate.com/worldclock/

To take part in the talkback show simply follow this link (blogtalkradio.com/talkingolf) at the appropriate time and you will be taken to a page like that in the picture below. To call in from the US toll free the number is 877 455-9497.
For those outside the US you will need Skype to call in free but it is free to download and use. Just go to skype.com and follow the download instructions. You will also need either built in speakers and microphone on your computer or, preferably, a set of headphones with microphone (it makes for much better sound quality).

Week #1
Sunday November 14th 2010

Special Guest legendary Sportswriter and Author Al Barkow
with Lag and Rod Morri

traffic.libsyn.com/talkingolf/AB … _remix.mp3

Our first show Sunday the 14th San Francisco time 1 PM will feature legendary Sports Writer Al Barkow who some of you here are already familiar with. Al will be open to questions and be discussing a variety of topics along with Rod and myself.
Make sure to call in and join our discussion.

Will try to listen in tomorrow…it’s my grandson’s 7th birthday tomorrow and not sure how the day will end up. I have mentioned to him that we could spend time on the computer listening to real golfers…he hasn’t quite bought into it so far. We’ll see. If he is more into cake…gun toys…Lego’s…and such…I might be playing those. But I might develop a headache at the right time which requires solitary confinement near my computer.

Almost like watching a football game during a wedding…never done that :wink: RR

Will the show be able to be heard after it is over? I am unable to listen live, but I would like to go back and hear the show at a later time.

Thanks.

Hi Impact Bag,…yes the show will be available to listen to afterwards. After each episode we will post a link to the show in this thread so all the episodes can be listened to again in whatever order you wish. If this first one is a success I will also set up an itunes feed so those with iTunes can have the shows automatically download whenever we do a new one (and even put them on your iPod to listen to in the car or wherever suits you).

Look forward to hearing people’s feedback…

I’m listening to this now… just a note in case Lag or anyone reads this while it’s still on air. Everytime a caller can’t be heard (most of the time) I then get an advert and I’m disconnected and so I have to call back, at which point it always seems like I’ve missed something as the discussion seems to have moved on. I think the host is doing something that disconnects all calls. Interesting discussion, however…

No problem here Teddy.

Skype was v easy to use…although had to log back in after call (not sure if I had to do that or not though)

Hi Teddy and thanks for the feedback. I am trying to work out what I was doing wrong. Apologies for those who had this happen and hopefully by next show I will have it sorted out. The podcast will be available within the next hour or so and there will be a link to it in the first post of this thread for those who wanted to have a listen. Thanks again to Lag for being willing to try this experiment and Al for taking the time to be on the show.

Rod, John, Al,

Great show. Great stories. Very entertaining.
Good luck down the road.
Thanks.

  • Choice of time definitely worked for me (8am).
  • I did get tricked though :slight_smile: I was listening to the ‘TalkinGolf Live’ stream waiting for the ABS session to flow in, but then realized I was listening to an archive of a previous live session and ABS had already started on a different stream.
  • Enjoyable content.
  • Great radio voice and continuity Rod
  • Interestingly, the least call lag was with welshdentist via skype. The lag on Danny’s telephone call made obviously made conversation tricky.
  • Any dynamic range controls Rod? Peak I never saw over about 50%, typically 10-15%. Initially very quiet for me until I hooked up some external amplification.
  • I can’t remember if a chatroom was started but if it wasn’t, these things have worked great during live presentations I’ve been involved in before. They somewhat steer the show where the listeners are wishing if the host is passively watching the live comments. Also great for when someone misses a word or concept or ambiguity, other listeners can help out or host explain further.

Hi guys, Lag will probably be posting this link in the first post of this thread (and will do so after each show so we have a handy index) but I thought I would put it in here in case anyone who missed the show was interested in listening. You can either play this file direct over your computer or download it and save it for later (or if you’re techincally savvy even put it on your iPod or mp3 player). As always, any and all feedback apprecited.

traffic.libsyn.com/talkingolf/AB … _remix.mp3

Steb, fantastic feedback and thanks for taking the time to post. Also, thanks for the kind words. As for the sound control and quality, unfortunately I am at the mercy of BlogTalkRadio. Sometimes it is better than others and sometimes it is just horrible. There isn’t much I can do for the live show but the podcast link I post later is a cleaned up version hosted on a different server who don’t compress the files as much and hence the quality is much better. (I also have a very col program called Levelator which goes through and makes all the voices equal volume…very handy).
I didn’t start the chat room this time but will certainly do so on future episodes (and also for TalkinGolf). I’ve always been a little reluctant because it can be very hard to concentrate on all things at once plus keep up with the conversation (particularly when someone like Al is odds on to drop a nugget of gold requiring further discussion at any given moment!). However, I think your point about listeners being able to communicate with each other as well makes me less nervous. I won’t have to watch the thing constantly which will work well.
Thanks again Steb, invaluable input and all hopefully making for an improved product next time.

Rod

Hi guys,

I have just listened to the show this morning here in the UK having downloaded the MP3 that Lag put up. I can echo what Steb said, I was really very impressed. Rod I think you are an excellent host and Al and Lag I can listen too forever. Really great stuff so congratulations to all involved and I really hope you keep it going. I am sure the technical problem with connecting callers can be resolved, though I did wonder actually whether it was a technical problem at all and that some people had just dialled into listen rather than to ask questions and that’s why you had the silences.

Great job all round.

Cheers, Arnie

Arnie, thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed it. I think you may have hit the nail on the head with this diagnosis for the caller problem. I have a plan for the next show which should hopefully resolve this problem.

Rod

I just listened to the first half of it and it’s just great stuff. Congrats and well done, Lag… smells like a revolution…
Btw, Al, that’s no slouch of a Snead impression! Excellent…
On a side and humorous note, I kept waiting for Rod to break out with a Richie Benaud- “Oh, what a catch, WHAT a catch!”
Next time you should start the show with “Welcome back to the ABS, it’s great to be with you on the forum for the first time todayy”…
Cheers…

Rod,

I downloaded this link and all I heard was you talking. I can hear you asking questions to Lag and Al but no reply. It is actually a very spooky thing to listen to because you ask questions and then no sound and then you laugh and then you talk some more and then like you are are having a conversation by yourself.

I tried it in both Chome (google’s browser) and Safari (Mac’s browser) both were the same. Is there something wrong on my side?

Hi Impact Bag…that certainly sounds very disconcerting. I’ve just tested again in Safari and realised I have saved the file in stereo…my voice left channel, Lag, Al and caller on the right channel. Do you have two speakers working properly? My guess is you right speaker is playing up. I don’t normally save in stereo (a mistake that I promise not to repeat) but at a guess that si where your problem will be.
Has anybody else had this problem?
Apologies for the mucking around and let me know how you go…

Rod

By the way, I am just uploading a re-mixed version so nobody else experiences this issue. Should be available in about 30 minutes…

Rod