Behind Climactic

How are ebikes for going on adventures? When was the last time you went on an adventure in your local area? Or explored? How much range do you need to feel confident going out for a wander on an ebike? How confident do you feel riding on roads to get to the beautiful tracks away from the roads? All these questions answered, or at least discussed, in this short episode! Now that's value :D

Really, or should I say reelly?

Just weeks after moving back to Melbourne, I took part in a medical trial (!?) and in this second episode of a 6-part series, one for each week of the trial, I talk about the carbon footprint of cycling, how it's more than you think - but why that doesn't matter. And why carbon footprints are a dodge by fossil fuel companies. And why I don't pant on the train.

Just weeks after moving back to Melbourne, I took part in a medical trial (!?) and in this first episode of a 6-part series, one for each week of the trial, I explain what it is, why I took part, and what I learned while being scanned and tested.

While visiting my local area, after having recently moved, I'm visiting the large local cemetery.

Some thoughts on new years resolutions as an audio creator.

Mark's first video episode, trying out this new feature of Anchor.

Such great fun talking about podcast editing, a skillset that I only recently had the confidence to say I possessed, after 3+ years of being self-taught. @stephfuccio is a wonderful host, and @epodcaster and @AgentPalmer I learned a lot from. Enjoy! "This is our second LIVE podcast editing chat this month and I'm delighted to be joined by Mark in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Jason in Pennsylvania, U.S. and Jennifer in Texas, U.S. And, as you know I'm in Split, Croatia. We chatted live about our podcast editing challenges, lessons learned and how challenging content editing is." Get more of Stephanie Fuccio's Podcast Editing Plus at: https://podcasteditingplus.substack.com/

Recommendation: The Climate Question by the BBC World Service. https://pca.st/episode/c2606d76-1c51-4ea8-b2a3-72c18103a024

What will podcast festivals look like going forward? What will the Halfway Down Podcast Festival look like in March 2022?

Student Voice Network is a platform for helping young people find their peers and collaborators in taking positive social action. They asked Mark some questions about podcasting as a form of climate engagement. In order to answer those questions, here's a lightly edited record of Mark discussing and dissecting the power of podcasting for climate-engagement.

To a Lesser Degree from The Economist. A new podcast that's delightfully refreshing. The intersection of market-oriented pragmatism and climate crisis severity. Climate change, from the perspective of the market. Who knew this what, at least I, needed.

Podcasts are usually about the hosts. Not always, but most of the time a podcaster will intersperse their questions with anecdotes, their personal opinion, and jokes (some better than others). That's not Robert McLean's approach with Climate Conversations. This is an interview for Write Hear, Right Now - the working title of a newsletter and podcast about the intersection of podcasting and climate change. We're running a series of interviews with climate-engaged podcasters. Some of the podcasters highlighted will have overtly and obviously climate-engaged shows, others may surprise you in the ways they are engaging with climate. This is an interview with Robert McLean, a newspaperman turned podcaster, from Shepparton, a town in northern Victoria that straddles the banks of the Murray-Darling River, the lifeblood of eastern Australia. That river played a major role in Robert's story of how he became aware, concerned, and engaged with climate change. You can read an article that Robert wrote for the local paper linked here (LINK) or in the shownotes. This interview will be edited for length and clarity for the newsletter, and also be made available on the Write Hear, Right Now podcast feed, along with excerpts from Robert's podcast. Now, let's get started. Subscribe to the newsletter (Substack). View the blog.

Read this as a blog here.

Lately I've been feeling that same itch I felt 4 years ago. A craving for a thing I can't find in the content landscape. And it's got me thinking about whether I could fill that gap, and give value to the climate/podcasting space. A niche, sure, but that's fine - that's what podcasts and newsletters are great for! So if you're interested, check it out at writehear.substack.com.

Updates from Lockdown. With a focus on place-based stories, getting to reveal and engage with facets of community life, the extraordinary parts of normal life - Here Media is having a slumber of over Tāmaki Makaurau's COVID outbreak. Instead of doing locally-engaged stories, Here's one current member, me, is instead digging into production of three other projects. One is a second season of an interview show, distributed on a major podcast publisher in Australia. It's the ‘full stack', with series development, guest booking, script development, on-call production (being present during recording, making edit notes, making recommendations to the hosts), and then edit/publishing. Another is an audio adaptation of a weekly newsletter, This Week in Climate. This is a collaboration with the content team at a large job board for climate-engaged businesses. This involves a speedy turnaround of the pre-release newsletter, recording the script, editing the episode, and publishing within a couple hours of receiving the script. And finally, the third project is a Supervising Producer-type role, giving cover and quality control to a podcaster developing their skills. This involves feedback, mixing and mastering of episodes, publishing, and promotion assistance of the show. This year I also finished a project that I was involved in from inception, through development, recording and producing, and release. I was involved as Supervising Producer on that project. And that's a role that isn't to be found on podcasttaxonomy.com a great initiative by the podcast community to standardise the roles of podcast production (and help it develop, through greater clarity on roles, and pay). Speaking of pay, I was paid as the Supervising Producer, basically a consultant, on the completed series. I am being paid as the Supervising Producer on the current project. I am doing the audio newsletter adaptation pro bono, as I'm getting personal development value from it, and it's value to the site is currently speculative. And, as the full-stack producer on the second season of the podcast with the major network, I am doing the first few episodes pro bono, for personal development, but then negotiating a rate for the balance of the series, based on resources, time and effort. And there's an update from Here Media, and Maker Mark. I'm incredibly fortunate to have a stable and reliable income from my main employment, which is symbiotic with these projects. To be able to work from, and record from home. My thoughts are with the parents doing homeschooling, and those counting pennies with closed workplaces and disrupted lives. My list of privileges is long. So if I can help answer your questions, or help in any way, please don't hesitate to reach out! Reach me on heremediastudios@gmail.com, or send a voicemail from heremedia.studio. Thanks for tuning into Maker Mark, from Here Media. Stay safe, check in on your neighbours, and be kind to yourself. Kia kaha! Finished Projects Facilitate This! Current Projects Nourishing Matters to Chew On A Positive Climate This Week in Climate The Podcast Taxonomy podcasttaxonomy.com Music used in this episode Cach PKL by Blue Dot Sessions

Mark is walking to an appointment so opted to record some quick thoughts on the joys of enedited podcasts and one-take recordings.

Nathan Ryckman is an old friend. But I had no idea that while I was overseas he was going to start a poutine empire in Tāmaki Makaurau. I spoke to him in the kitchen of Churley's, Behemoth's brewpub at the top of Dominion Road, as he was about to run a kitchen takeover of the venue for the night. We talk poutine's origins and development, his own growth in hospitality, and the 'Canadianness' of poutine.

What it says on the tin. A chat with the couple behind Big Balls foodtruck. Also, their first festival experience. And, a crash course in RnV for the uninitiated.

Ryan Greene on memories of Baker's Cottage (Connoll's Bakery), managing the Garage Project taproom, the Beer Mile, and why the best days for the Fringe District are still to come. The pilot episode of a local podcast series about the traders, characters, and everyday people of the Fringe District. Artwork by www.leehowell.com

What's your post-publishing ritual? How do you unplug after you publish and promote?

I recently got a question answered on one of my favourite podcasts. It could have gone better. I respond to the answers from two of my favourite podcasters, and double down on my opinion that their perspective and beliefs aren't matched by their published output. In essence, they know that the climate crisis is an urgent topic, one as or more important than others, but look away from, and frequently ignore raising it on their show. In this episode I play their answer to my question, while expanding on my own perspective and examining their response. It's the most meta, and slightly terrifying, podcast episode I've produced. Enjoy!

It's rare that we say happy birthday to a place. There's formal events and excuses for corporate parties of course, but it's rare for the partygoers to observe, and celebrate, the birthday itself. To say, happy birthday, corporate office, or cafe, or train station - to celebrate the occasion of a milestone for a pile of bricks, wood, and plaster. Movespace is easy to say happy birthday to though, because mostly, you're saying happy birthday to a person. Kiran. The founder and creator of the Movespace community, who caught lightning in a bottle. Or, in a two storey building, halfway down Dominion Road. Three years ago, about this time back in 2018, two brothers had a space, and a dream, and they gave a creative co-working space a crack. What happened next is a winding road, and your narrator doesn't know most of those stories, just the broadest of strokes. But, it's hoped, going forward more of those stories are captured, so that those of you to whom Movespace means something can listen back, remember, and hopefully smile at fond memories. What follows is the Movespace 3rd birthday time capsule. Enjoy.

Recently a new episode launched, that Mark was Supervising Producer on. What does that mean? How can you work constructively on a production team? Listen in. Please send in any questions you may have.

If you find yourself awake before dawn, what do you hear? What sounds evoke the feeling of that time of day? On the Anchor app you can send me voicemail and I'd love to know what you think.

Mark Spencer, audio creator and lifelong audio addict, shares stories of project design and execution, and answers your questions.

Mark visits the local nature reserve.

Mark announces the To Be Titled Kings Arms project.

Some quick thoughts before arriving at Melbourne's school strike venue

Mark talks about psychoterratica, the trauma caused by distance from nature, while on the balcony with his cat.

Some thoughts on how we view science in our culture.