HERE'S AN IDEA...

I've done a couple of Hacker Public Radio episodes thus far, and I've 
found that I very much enjoy them.  While I don't really have a lot to 
say, tech-wise, I do like saying my piece.  I have an idea, kinda-sorta 
based on the HPR model, but allowing for a slightly freer scope.  What 
if there was a show where the invited hosts were allowed to talk about 
any aspect of technology, open thought, or free culture?  HPR allows for 
that sort of thing to an extent, but I'm thinking of something even 
broader: a show where the hosts' thoughts are encouraged on a wide range 
of topics -- from religion to politics, to technology, to writing, to 
cooking, to whatever.  The thing that keeps it from bogging down into 
evangelism or screed is that the hosts are approved by a consensus of 
the admins, with the goal of getting intelligent, dynamic, reliable 
people who are interested in talking on a variety of topics.  In fact, 
some of the people could be sought out to talk on specific topics they 
have special knowledge of.

The show could be available in a variety of feed formats, with the focus 
on free/open codecs -- though mp3 might be a possibility too.  I mean 
mp3 IS popular.  It's not my first choice when I download content, but 
it's a lot of people's.  Actually, that's just an idea.  It would be 
something for the admins to talk about.  For the matter of that, I'd 
like to see speex get wider usage for podcasting, and maybe that could 
be an option here (though it limits music and such).

I'm imagining a show wherein a group makes the major decisions, and has 
the power/responsibility to keep the shows and the accompanying site up 
and running.  Each would be able to post episodes as they are sent to a 
centralized directory somewhere, and would be able to keep the RSS/Atom 
feeds working.  A group would run it all, and major decisions would get 
made by consensus.  I'd even like to see a lot of freedom with regard 
to content: any codec the presenter chooses would be cool; any TYPE of 
content would be cool too, from screencasts to fiction, to photos, art, 
or even software code.

It's all just an idea right now.  I mentioned it to a friend already who 
has shown little enthusiasm for the idea.  Others have shown a bit more.  
Maybe because of the work involved, maybe because of the perceived 
redundancy with HPR, people seem to have a wait-and-see attitude.  There 
does seem to be a crying need for something, but maybe it's only myopia: 
maybe something like this already exists out there in the Free Culture 
world somewhere, and I just haven't seen it.  It wouldn't surprise me a 
bit: I miss most things, and the collective world of podcasting is big.  
Very big indeed.  The key is to have a show inclusive enough that you 
can present a compelling PIECE of it.  Time to network, I think.  Oh 
joy.  And I'm just so good at that.