Leftybloggers Podcast for Massachusetts

Just the other day, I posted on the Bay State Progressive Blogger Yahoo Group that my fellow Bay State progressive bloggers should put our heads together and continue to reach out to as many people as possible. Only a small segment of the population actively reads blogs. Furthermore, as technology increases, more and more people are branching out to other forms of media. Continuing on this line of thought, I came to one conclusion: we need to create a podcast.

I was very pleased with the positive response my idea brought. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who thought about podcasting. Susan of Beyond 495 was thinking about starting one for her own site. Lynne of Left in Lowell was also high on the idea. With people who are clearly interested in podcasting, I figured I should continue to beat the drum and see just how high I've piqued interest.

Creating a podcast that represents the entire community would be both challenging and paramount. It's paramount because if suddenly 10 of us decide to create a podcast, we'll drown each other out. Unlike our Bay State blogs, which can easily be glossed over by readers using Leftyblog headlines and google, a podcast is something both more time consuming for listeners and difficult to tell just what each session is about. Creating a unified podcast will make it a much more successful venture and would likely even spawn increased readership for all of our blogs.

However, creating a unified podcast presents challenges: people live all over the state. Where would we podcast? Who would be the podcasters? Each website and all of our bloggers will have different ideas on just what to include on a typical podcast. Do we want to exclusively give commentary, essentially an audible blog, or should the podcast include debates and interviews? There will be challenges and it will be difficult, but I don't suspect any major problems. Certainly, the benefits of creating a unified podcast would outweigh any of these challenges, which would likely work themselves out over the long run anyway.

Lastly, creating a podcast is just one idea. The netroots is quickly growing. As more mediums become available, we can create a larger movement. Ultimately, we all have the same goal: to further the progressive agenda. We want progressive policies enacted, progressive politicians elected and progressive laws written. As the netroots have grown, so has the power of progressives. It is essential that we not allow our ideas or methods of delivering them to stagnate. Our entire movement was created in response to the old guard in Boston and Washington, let's not lose that edge. If anyone has any other ideas, speak up.

Thanks,
Ryan