The Reach - Podcasting and other Portable Media Strategies

Well, don’t you just know that all the fun things happen at home while you’re on the road. Gio got a call from the Fort Worth Star Telegram while I was in London, that turned into this article and the subsequent posting to The Agency Blog. Blake Burris from Cocoa Radio got good mentions as well, not only for Cocoa Radio, but also for his additional distribution of CR through Media Swamp.

Since Gio has driven everything around the Media Swamp, it’s good he got the call.

6 days after returning from SE Asia, I turned around and flew to London for 2 days of a 3 day conference. I was asked to speak on a panel regarding technology and specifically on our efforts to podcast in “out of the way places”. I met people interested in utilizing this new trend (which obviously is newer in most other places in the world than it is here in the U.S.) as well as possibly funding some of the MPReach capital needs. Time will tell as to the overall interest, but I believe it was time well spent, both in terms of education and visibility. Thanks to those that made it possible for me to attend.

We were treated to nice digs, first class speakers, such as The Baronness Cox, former Deputy Speaker of The House of Lords, and great food. 1st class treatment from a 1st class organization.

Another podcast while on location (actually on the way out, while waiting for my flight at Gatwick), is over at The Media Swamp.

Or whatever. I’ve finished moving The Reach from the hosted version on WP servers to the installed version on my own servers. I think I’m caught up on writing about the recent trip to SE Asia - cities/countries we touched were: Taipei, Taiwan (but only for layovers); Hong Kong; Shen Zhen, China; Bangkok, Thailand; Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma); Bangkok, Thailand; Chiang Mai, Thailand; Bangkok, Thailand; Taipei, Taiwan. That was the itinerary, in case you wondered why Bangkok and Taipei were mentioned several times.

Well, after spending 10 days working 14-15 hour days in other countries, Thailand was somewhat of a relief. We still worked hard, but the combination of it being a more western city of Chiang Mai (very tourist oriented) and traditional business meetings made it seem a bit more like home. Include with it 90-100 F temperatures, and it felt like Dallas in the summer time - except for that it hit 100% humidity at times as well, without much rain.

Chiang Mai is in the northern reaches of Thailand, surrounded by beautiful mountains. It’s hot in the valley, cool in the mountains. Many westerners visit this city of 400,000 and those that have visited can usually figure out a way to retire here. While I’ve never lived outside the U.S., it seems that this could be one of the easiest places with which to adjust. Meaning that if you want traditional Thai food and the Thai experience, you’re on. If you want McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, et, you’re in business too. It is as inexpensive to live or as expensive. Bed and Breakfast - queensize bed, AC, garden, etc, try out Riverside House on Chiang Mai Lamphun Road for $15 nightly. Or you can find a 4 or 5 star hotel within walking distance. Your choice.
Enough English is spoken that low brow westerners like me can feel right at home. There are many educators and business people in the city that are western, so while they’re still a minority, there are enough to where you wouldn’t feel far from home.

We had great business meetings and were very encouraged by the response - there were many people who wanted to help us get a greater foothold for podcasting in SE Asia. Since there are many countries near Northern Thailand, it makes distributing audio and video content very easy in that geography.

Again, there is a podcast on The Media Swamp that I did while sitting on the patio at one of the four Starbucks on a busy corner in Chiang Mai.

In this post, I’ll not mention the name of the country we were in, but do a best efforts attempt to describe the environment and experiences.

We arrived after our time in Hong Kong and China, and entered a hot, dirty country that has beautiful people in it. This was only my second time to be in a third world country, and was still getting used to what to expect and what to plan on doing without. There really is no middle class - just the haves and the have nots. As you can guess, the have nots outnumber the haves. We were in a city of 5 million that had almost every type of transportation - bicycles (individual or as a taxi of sorts - rider standing up and passenger on the seat), scooters, taxis, buses (which were packed like sardines), to name a few.

We had a 30 minute commute each morning to where we were meeting, from the hotel near the airport. The hotel itself had good food and great service. Internet access was dialup and was frustrating for an addicted broadbander. No TMobile hotspots or Starbucks to be found here. (The last day we were there I finally found a broadband Internet Cafe, but too late to do anything about it). We stayed 6 days and really missed the people when we left. Some things just were not able to be found, but then again, we were able to purchase 2 HP/Compaq computers while in the country to give to people we did some work with - about the same prices as we would find here in Dallas, so I was pleased that we were able to contribute to the work these people were doing in such a way.

This is a country with many oral learners in it - and those that can read don’t have much access to printed material, in that it can be very expensive. Many different cultures and points of view exist here - learning to navigate the differences and work together is an interesting challenge - one that is somewhat unexpected. Racism exists almost everywhere in the world, I’ve come to learn. I do hope they can learn from us, but I do hope that we have an example that is worthy of learning from. We may not be the best example, but the U.S. has worked hard to acknowledge the issues and make some attempt to change. We have a Civil War in our history to mark the beginning of the battle for human rights. May others not have to go to that extent.