Great stuff! Thanks for doing this! - Branden
These are so scholarly and informative. These are a real asset to Modernism Week! - Bonnie
These are short snippets of Palm Springs history. Creating short content is more difficult than rambling podcasts, so I appreciate the work they've put into the tight and entertaining scripts. - Mary
Great quick listen. I have really been enjoying the information! - Cindi
This is a weekly highlight and and love hearing these short bits of history and context for the city we love. - Anon.
Very interesting history! Nice job! - Kenny
I have learned so much from these podcasts! Thanks Bert! Five stars - Tommy
Hello from Calgary. We will attend Modernism Week. Planning our itinerary with the help of your podcasts! Great content! - Janet
These are wonderful! - Mimi
I love hearing about the drive-ins. My family used to go regularly to the Rancho Drive-In in San Pablo! - John
Hers is a story of success in the face of so much adversity. I think I would have folded right off the bat. I honor her tenacity and dedication to her family. She is an unspoken hero. And you have rightfully and compassionately shone a light on her, giving her recognition of the internal strength within her. God bless her…and God bless you for spotlighting her story.
- Jim
(Click here to listen to this podcast:)
COMMENTS:
The mechanics of this podcast
I've been asked how do I create the A Bert's Eye View podcasts?
It usually starts with a question. Someone on the bus, or one of my friends or colleagues will ask about a topic that they want to know more about. Or, I see something in the news, the XOXO Festival for example, that I think deserves an episode.
Then I start the research. I have access to newspaper archives going back decades, of course the Internet - which I discover in many cases is not correct - and then there are SME's, or Subject Matter Experts that I reach out to.
If the podcast is going to be about a place, I generally go out to visit it - like my podcast about the Welwood Cemetery or the airport.
Then I sit down and write a script using notes from my research. I have discovered that a 900 word script translates to an 8 minute podcast. Once we're (my wife is my editor) are satisfied with the script, I sit down in front of my computer and start recording.
For you techies:
I have a Rode NT1 studio microphone with an XLR output to a Scarlett 2i2, that feeds via USB-C into my Mac.
My Mac records using GarageBand, which I also use as a sound editor. For interviews away from my office, I use a very old MacBook Air (battery life on these cannot be beat!) and two Maono wireless mics that feed via a USB dongle directly into the MacBook. The wireless setup is the way to go when you are remote!
Once the vocals are recorded, and edited on GarageBand, I use Mureka.ai to generate background music. The interesting thing about using an AI music generator is that the person typing in what kind of music they want (me for example) ends up owning the copyright to that music.
When the vocal track and music are merged, again in GarageBand, it generates an mp3 file, and I upload it to Spotify, which uses an RSS feed to distribute it to Apple, Amazon, Pandora and iHeart Radio. The images accompanying the podcasts are either photos taken by me, public domain images from the Internet, or AI generated images. (The photo accompanying Marilyn's 100th birthday podcast is an AI example, as is the image at the top of this page.)
The research and writing of each podcast script takes anywhere from 2-20 hours, recording and sound editing takes about an hour.
Now you know!